SPOILER ALERT: This article contains spoilers for the finale and additional elements from Season 2 of Apple TV+’s Severance.
The ending of Severance Season 2 provided resolution to some queries but also raised new ones, particularly when considering the penultimate episode alongside episodes eight and seven, which have redirected several characters onto new, unstable paths.
The concluding scene of the 77-minute episode “Cold Harbor” indicates numerous transformations expected in the freshly announced Season 3. Following a distressing series of events for Mark Scout (Adam Scott) — including the completion of the Cold Harbor file, inadvertently causing Mr. Drummond’s (Ólafur Darri Ólafsson) death, preserving Emile the goat’s life, and liberating Gemma (Dichen Lachman) from the Testing Floor — innie Mark chooses not to exit with his outie’s wife but instead to escape with Helly R. (Britt Lower), amidst an intricate relationship dynamic involving the dual aspects of his identity.
“This emotional journey has been building from the start. Innie Mark has his own life, distinct from Outie Mark. We initially meet Outie Mark as he expresses his desires, but through the first two seasons, innie Mark forges his own connections and attachments,” explained director and executive producer Ben Stiller. “The conflict arises since extracting [outie Mark’s] wife will effectively erase innie Mark’s existence. And isn’t he a legitimate person? Helly too? It’s an unavoidable clash that must unfold between them.”
The added complexity of Helly’s assertion to Mark’s innie that “I’m her,” referring to her real identity as Helena Eagan in the real world, deepens Mark’s dilemma. His innie expresses through a mind-bending video dialogue with his outie client that Helena won’t reintegrate as he has started to do.
“We hope viewers feel a division in their allegiance, perhaps siding with either ‘Team Innie Mark’ or ‘Team Outie Mark’,” said Stiller, emphasizing the genuine nature of the conflict.
In discussions ahead of the finale with Stiller and series creator Dan Erickson, they delved into Mark’s pivotal choice between Gemma and Helly, Harmony Cobel’s (Patricia Arquette) backstory, and the future for Irving’s (John Turturro) outie, among other pivotal moments that unfolded during the culmination of Season 2.
