In the early stages of Season 2, the finale of the acclaimed, highly acclaimed Apple TV+ series “Severance”, one man engages in a dynamic debate that ultimately encapsulates a lot of content that makes fans of the show watch. The person he was talking to? He himself, through the old camera. Mark (Adam Scott) recorded the marked message. and Mark answered.
Founded by writer Dan Erickson in collaboration with producer and frequent director Ben Stiller, the company Severance has just renewed its signing for another season, focusing on a cult company called Lumon that allows employees to “cut off” work and family life by surgically inserting chips into their brains. The person who clocks every day – “Innies” – doesn't know what “Outies” are doing after exit time and vice versa.
At the end of Season 1, Mark's Innie leads his office partners Dylan (Zach Cherry), Helly (Britt Lower) and Irving (John Turturro) to perform “overtime accidents” that make them all live their lives briefly. That's what Mark learned that his Outie's wife, Gemma (Dichen Lachman), (assuming death outside) is still Lumon's Innie.
Season 2 is mainly composed of Outie Mark's efforts to reintegrate his consciousness with Innie Mark's efforts to save Gemma from Lumon. In the finale, two markers argue about whose needs are more important: If Gemma leaves Lumon, Outie Mark will terminate his work there – and in the process terminate Innie Mark?
“Selection” Season 1 arrived shortly after the pandemic, when people questioned how much life they spent in the office and how much they needed. As the story expands to the more survival mystery, it talks more about the idea of “rising and grinding”, sweeping many modern worlds where there are relationships or hobbies, or even good night’s sleep – considered doubtful. The finale of Season 2 brings some storylines inspired by our growing balance of work and work-life.
At the end of Season 1, Helly learned that her Outie is Helena Eagan, the daughter of Lumon CEO James Eagan and a descendant of the founder of the company Kier Eagan. Before being cut off again, Helly gave a public speech as Helena, elaborating on the inhumanity of Lumon's severance plan.
The PR consequences of the speech continued until the start of Season 2 as Lumon began working to put Innies’ mental health into practice. Dylan's Innie is visited with his Outie's wife (Merritt Wever), who brings a romantic feel to her husband's more confident, enthusiastic working version.
In the ending, Outie Dylan sent a letter to Innie Dylan and expressed praise for him to attract his wife. Dylan was inspired by the letter and bravely joined Helly, having their floor manager Seth Milchick (Tramell Tillman) and a parade band – sneaking around in the Bay to find Gemma.
The emergence of the parade band in the finale – from Lumon’s “Chronics and Joy” department, which is another reason many people love the show. From the 1950s to today, Erickson and Stiller deceived the decline of American office culture. Milchick is a Lumon True-Believer who uses few trinkets and over-top classification parties to inspire.
However, throughout the season, Milchick's belief in Lumon has also been shaken. He suffered micro-aggressions related to his race, and his boss was criticized by him for failing to control his direct reports. In the most spectacular scene of the finale – after awkwardly joking with an animated version of Kier Eagan, he brings the band – Milchick seems hard to summon real celebrations. (The robot Kier calls him “length” to no avail, a criticism of Milchick's performance commentary.)
The celebration was for Mark, completing another assignment that drove the season’s plot: a mysterious project called “Cold Port.” It reveals to Innie Mark about Gemma, Lumon has been using ships for multiple characters.
Outie Mark desperately hopes Innie Mark saves Gemma because Cold Harbour File is the last one Lumon needs to finish. Once done, Gemma and Innie Mark are likely to be eliminated.
“Severance Payment” has always intentionally vague its meaning, namely, the real functioning of the cutoff process and why the Lumon is so devoted to it. (These questions are for Season 3 and beyond.) The ambiguity has expanded to what happened to Gemma as she embraced a new personality and unconsciously guided on Innie Mark's numbers.
However, the show is very clear that this is the basic human nature of Nice, which is why life spent only at work is so unhappy with them, even if there are occasional cupcakes or musical illustrations. In the conversation between the two scores, Outie insults his Innie, who describes Innie Mark’s office with Helly (Who Outie Mark calls “Heleny”), which sounds like something cute and teenager, rather than what makes Innie’s work and life meaningful. The basic misunderstanding of Innie Mark's existence is what leads to the tense and exciting conclusions of this episode.
The season 2 finale is very long, one hour or more than 20 minutes. However, due to the deadline for the Cold Harbor, it has a strong momentum. Mark needs to finish the document (what he did…and hence the marching band) to set up an escape plan. Mark should be able to find Gemma when Lumon moved her to a new location in the office building.
The creative team and actors of “Severe” are fun to weave sci-fi elements in this episode, which is a heist thriller. When Mark finds Gemma and tries to drive her out of the building, they are both on the general weirdness of Lumon and the way their consciousness is transferred, depending on their ground. Sometimes they are Innies; sometimes they are foreign. (There is a sacrifice goat with Verve on at least the first floor, provided by Lumon's “Mammal Nursing” department. This is your “severance payment”.)
The robbery was successful. Mark takes Gemma from one of Lumon's exits, where she recovers her self. But then Gemma looked at Mark in horror, and on the other side of that door (still an Enni) chose to leave her and run back to Hurley. While Mel Tormé sang “Your Thought Windmill”, the season ended with Mark and Helly and ended together in the freeze frame. It's like the moments that have been torn from those sleek, stylish, ennui-laden movies from the 1960s.
This also brings us back to the early conversations of the series, forcing us to ask the question: Which mark do we really take root for? This is a show about how companies treat Gearman. This also shows that these gears have the right to gain their own personality, feelings and interests.
But this is not resolved at the end of Season 2: What are Mark and Helly running? As they go deeper into the machines that make them inhumane, perhaps they are content to know that at least they are making their choices – outings.
