[Editor’s note: The following contains spoilers through the Season 2 finale of Severance, “Cold Harbor.”]
The windmills of your thoughts, certainly. Not each massive thriller was answered by the Severance Season 2 finale — and the fates of many characters stay in varied phases of limbo. But the episode’s give attention to its core love triangle (or quadrangle, in the event you depend Adam Scott’s two personas as two separate individuals, which feels correct) did contribute an amazing deal to the viewers’s understanding of what the precise hell is happening right here. After which it got here to a detailed with a visually (and emotionally!) gorgeous closing sequence, a burst of maybe doomed romance and revolt left frozen as a second in time.
Going into the finale, now streaming on Apple TV+, essentially the most urgent difficulty was Mark’s work on the Chilly Harbor file, and its relevance to the half-life the imprisoned Gemma (Dichen Lachman) has been residing. No less than, that’s the place Mark’s focus is, resulting in a scene that was deeply satisfying to observe, even after simply two seasons: Mark Scout lastly speaking straight with Mark S., by way of the gadget of a handheld video recorder. Director Ben Stiller, together with cinematographer Jessica Lee Gagné and editor Geoffrey Richman, blends Scott’s two performances into an precise dialog with gorgeous class, eradicating the factitious trappings so the viewers can give attention to what’s being mentioned.
And it is perhaps some of the vital scenes of the present to this point (even contemplating what’s to come back). We get Outie Mark apologizing to Innie Mark for being created to dwell “a nightmare” for the previous two years, and Innie Mark, with only a contact of candy naivete, responding that “nightmare is the mistaken phrase. We discover methods to make it work, to really feel complete.” Outie Mark may really feel like reintegration is the best way ahead for them — however Innie Mark can’t belief that promise, and even his different self. Not with the whole thing of his existence.
Mark S. does find yourself serving to with the trouble to rescue Gemma, although — and now there’s a clearer sense of what Gemma wants rescuing from. What “Chilly Harbor” lastly reveals is that the numbers being crunched by Mark and the MDR staff characterize the “tempers” of a human soul: Particularly Gemma’s. “Each file you’ve accomplished is a brand new consciousness for her. A brand new Innie,” Ms. Cobel (Patricia Arquette) says. Or, put it one other means — each file is a brand new room on the ground the place we’ve watched Gemma be tortured all season lengthy.
The final file/room is the Chilly Harbor room, and what really lies inside seems like a powerful indication as to what the aim of all that is: Carrying the garments that she wore on the day she died, Gemma is assigned the job of deconstructing a crib — a job that ought to dredge up her deepest ache over not with the ability to conceive a toddler. But she is impassive all through. “The barrier is holding! She feels nothing!” Dr. Mauer (Robby Benson) exclaims.
Severance (Apple TV+)
The robust implication of all this, one which aligns properly with the chilly vibes of the corporate’s aesthetics and philosophies, is that Lumon is dedicated to basically eradicating all intense human emotion — utilizing its human guinea pigs to excellent not simply the severance method, however all types of psychological reprogramming.
Right here’s the tough bit: Why does Cobel say that Gemma will die as soon as Mark completes Chilly Harbor? Will she not be of use to Lumon, and thus simply disposed of (provided that she’s already legally lifeless, within the eyes of the world)? Or would that the ultimate room basically drain her of every little thing that when made Gemma Gemma? File that below Season 3 issues, at this stage.
Elsewhere within the halls of Lumon, there’s a sliver of extra perception into why precisely Lorne (Gwendoline Christie) spends her time herding goats, and bless her for taking the possibility to lastly get up for that treasured little child. (Applause to whoever was accountable for casting the child goat, you picked a jaw-droppingly cute one, making that sequence very upsetting to observe.)
Plus, there’s the full-tilt revolt towards Mr. Milchick (Tramell Tillman), as Helly and later Dylan entice the center supervisor whereas Mark goes on his rescue mission. Even the Choreography and Merriment staff will get concerned (and what a sight, to observe an entire dang marching band proceed by way of the antiseptic white halls).
That mentioned, Helly and Dylan don’t unintentionally kill a high-level Lumon worker the best way Mark does, so he’s in all probability in for extra dire penalties ought to he be caught. There’s a heist-like vitality to Mark’s descent into the darkest hallways of the constructing, between the “map,” the precarious plan, and the demise of Mr. Drummond (Darri Ólafsson). And it’s a heist, in a means — he’s stealing again his favourite particular person.
Mark Scout’s favourite particular person, a minimum of. As for Mark S., the episode ends with him selecting no matter time he can have with Helly over the oblivion that will include escaping alongside Gemma. Cue the Mel Tormé and a frantic dash by way of the flashing pink corridors — an try and flee no matter’s coming, but additionally a romantic gesture for the ages, stunningly executed. As they run, each Mark S. and Helly take a beat to get pleasure from the truth that it doesn’t matter what occurs, they’re collectively. No less than for now.
And we’re left with the 2 of them holding fingers, frozen in time, till the story picks again up once more. It theoretically gained’t take Severance one other three years to return for (an as-yet unconfirmed) Season 3, at least according to Ben Stiller. If/when it does, there’s no scarcity of fabric to discover — there’s a lot about Lumon, and the Eagan household, and what all of it means that’s nonetheless left unclear at this level. Even the one massive query “Chilly Harbor” addressed nonetheless left rather a lot unexplained.
However on an emotional degree, Severance supplied plenty of catharsis with out betraying the laborious realities of this premise. A premise that has gotten much more fascinating as a means of understanding not simply what it means to work, however what it means to be alive.
The primary two seasons of Severance are streaming now on Apple TV+.
