Severance

Man.. That was a great episode, and leaves it at a cliffhanger where nobody knows where the story is going. I'm a bit disappointed at how many answers we didn't get this season, mainly

• What's Cobel's plan in all of this?
• Why did they kidnap Gemma and fake her death?
• What was the point in any of outie Burt's scenes?
• What's Asal Regabi's deal?
• What is Lumon actually trying to do? Cold Harbor is apparently about fully getting rid of past emotions when severed... But isn't that how severance worked in the first place??

And also the two fake-out "Mark is reintegrating for real!" episodes in the season left a bad taste for me. That sideplot had ZERO payoff or consequences.

And it's starting to get a bit difficult suspending my belief that there's only ONE security guy in the entire company that manages 50 some people.

This is one of the best episodes in the series, but the season overall is a lot weaker than the first. But at least we got Milchick dancing again.

This finale was fucking beautiful. I love that for innie Mark and Helly.

Feeling really sorry for Gemma breaking out of Lumon just to found herself separated from Mark again.

Also can we talk about Mr Milchick dancing with the Marching band?? Lord, the temperature in the house rose 30 degrees 🔥

I just finished the episode, and I don’t know if I’m ready to talk about it yet. But goat lady might be my new favorite character.

So it's discussed in the "after the episode" featurette but I want to highlight the beauty of the four part/four person Mark/Gemma transition scenes.

First we have Mark Scout finally find his wife, but she's an innie. It's tragic that Mark finally finds her, but she isn't her.

Then we get the true reunion. Mark Scout finally finds his wife Gemma. It's what he's been looking for the entire series. But it's tragic that w don't have time to explain or discuss anything.

Then we get two strangers. Mark S and Ms Casey. Sure they're familiar with each other, but they don't really know each other. It's a reminder of how tragic things were in season one, so close and yet so far.

And finally we get the reverse. Mark S and Gemma. Mark S dud his duty and saved Mark Scout's wife. But that isn't his wife. Tragically he can't save the one he loves. Best he can do is run away with Helly, but they have nowhere to actually run.

I don't know if this episode could satisfy my strong desire to just understand what exactly Lumon is doing here. The most dissatisfying thing is they didn't really answer what's going on with Cold Harbor. But aside from that I loved this season.

Like yes, more implications about Cold Harbor are confirmed. There seems to be a connection between Lumon and their aim to remove tragic memories, hence their approval when Gemma doesn't react emotionally to dismantling the baby crib. I can even see a future back story episode where Gemma is talking to the doctor character speculating about "what if you forget all the painful moments of your life?" before she is eventually abducted (or maybe she willingly chose to be severed at first?)

Then there's the whole, who is outtie Irving talking to? I speculate it's the Whole Mind Collective. I think we might see outtie Irving and outtie Burt again at some point, but have no idea what they'll be up to next.

Dylan had a satisfying end to this season, albeit kind of a repeat ending of last season. I'm pretty sure next season is going to be a search for meaning for him without his wife, without his work, and without anymore perks for them to lord over him.

I still don't know what the fuck James Eagan is doing though. I could have sworn they were trying to resurrect Kier, or give James a new body using Cold Harbor somehow, but there's so many questions as to why he's so interested in witnessing whether Gemma is so thoroughly a blank slate inside that room. Like, why? Why does James need her to be a blank slate with no memories? Is he trying to erase past sins like Burt? Are you developing an Endless Sunshine of the Spotless Mind kind of technology to sell to the masses? For the love of God, Ben Stiller, just tell me!! Lol.

And then we get to the climax, where Mark S decides to simply stay with Helly R. (or Helly E. As she indicates to Milchick in last episode). They built up to this beautifully. The conversation/confrontation between Mark Scout and Mark S. at the beginning was brilliantly written and I love how they portrayed it. It perfectly encapsulates the relationship the outties have with their innies. We've been rooting for Mark Scout finding and saving his wife this entire season, but the argument Mark S. makes is very compelling and in all honesty I don't blame Mark S. for sort of cutting it both ways at the end there. He saves his outtie's wife, but takes his outtie's time/life in exchange.

It's such a beautiful turn of events where Mark S. turns the tables on the outties and in a way says, "Y'know, you guys on the outside get to call all the shots and say what's important...but for once in my life I'm going to call the shots, I'm going to say what's important, and now, you all have to wait on us on the inside."

Its an interesting plot twist. And yeah, I've already seen the conversations elsewhere saying "But where will they go? This is such teenage romance schtick." Its a valid criticism, but I honestly think it's beautiful. From a practical standpoint though, yeah, the innie's are kind of in between a rock and a hard place. I like the theory that the innies will refuse to leave the building until more demands are met. Perhaps Mark S. will demand Helena never be allowed to exist again and Helly will be given complete control over her body...in exchange for him returning to be Mark Scout forever. Only for the reintegration to kick in fully once he finally leaves.

I theorize that Gemma will immediately go to the authorities and we'll see a sociopolitical drama unfold where Lumon tries to once again put out a PR Marketing dumpster fire. Or she'll be sent in to get Mark S. to compromise somehow so she can get her husband back.

Its an amazing show, but damn do I hate how it's become a more modern day Lost. I'm a selfish little plot pig and just want my questions answered now, oink oink, lol.

Anyway, nerd rant over.

A great episode to end the season, though it did confirm my suspicions that the writing has been heavily padded. If they had tried to build up to this episode any more than it would have likely spoiled some of the big moments and reveals, so instead they had to have several episodes (including one that was egregiously short) where very little happened to tread water until the finale. To distract from that, they tried to make those episodes as visually interesting as possible. I predict that once future seasons have aired, it will become quite obvious that the finale of this season should not have been a finale at all but rather the culmination of a second act coming in somewhere around the episode 7 - 8 mark.

Hell yeah, after several slow episodes in this season, we are finally advancing with the story!
🍿(⌐■‿■)🍿

Certified Milchick 🏃🏿‍➡️🏃🏿‍➡️🏃🏿‍➡️

My thoughts about rentegration not being white and black solution were correct, but it's a shame we haven't seen any reintegrated Mark in this season.

Mark S and Helly might have run into the ~~sunset~~ cold LEDs, but sadly there will be no honeymoon for them.

Next season's premiere must be stronger than this one, because they can't pull everything under the rug, and return to the previous status quo, like they partially did in this season.

Maybe third season should be the last one, to avoid dragging the story.

I’ve been a little mixed about this season, but this was pretty awesome. I felt like the first season ended in a way that opened up so many possibilities for season 2. This episode does the exact same. I have no idea where season 3 will go, but I am excited to find out!

Yeah still processing. Lots of unanswered questions but some cool moments for sure.

Was that Helly or Helena on the severed floor with mark?

Not stoked about cold harbor. Answers no questions, has some weird plot points, and just a super unsatisfying ending. What was the lead in earlier seasons asking if Gemma was more afraid of suffocating or drowning. Also 75 minutes long!? For what? Meh.

The final scene of Mark S and Helly R running down the hall panicked and giddy into a freeze frame zoom quotes Truffaut's The 400 Blows. In that film and several that followed, the character of Antoine Doinel, age 14, represents a younger facet of the director himself. He is an innie Truffaut, if you will, coming of age.

In the climax, the rebellious delinquent Doinel escapes from the reform school to which he has been confined and runs to the ocean. He looks around, without any obvious plan for what to do next, before looking towards camera in a freeze frame zoom that encompasses the uncertainty of his future from here.

On a less literal level, I wonder whether the freeze-frame and fade to red connects back to (outie) Mark and Devon's original after-image plan. We get a fading after-image of Mark S and Helly R and the implied question: "Who is alive?" Besides the literal sense when it referenced Gemma, that's obviously a question that goes to the heart of the show. Who is alive?

So I guess next season Mark and Helly are going to be hiding out on the severed floor while Devon and Gemma team up to break him out?

Now that the season is over, what was with all the babies in the opening credits? Was that just because of the infertility backstory, or maybe they're setting that up for something else? I was certain that there would be weird baby clones of the severed employees revealed at some point this season

The very ending of Mark S going away with Helly R was beyond stupid of him.

I get that he doesn't want to "die". I get that he loves Helly R. What Mark S just did set himself up to be in Mark Scout's state of tragedy before Mark Scout the took the job at Lumon before that Mark S gets destroyed forever.

There was nowhere for Mark S and Helly R to escape on the Severed Floor. They will be found, and quickly. With Cold Harbor done, there is no need for Helly R to be on the Severed Floor so she will never return as soon as Mark S and Helly R are found and Helly R is dragged back to the elevator to become Helena Egan again. So Mark S loses her making Mark S lose the love of his life, just like Mark Scout did when he lost Gemma.

Here's where the real hell begins. The Mark Scout/Gemma + Mark S/Gemma's brain process was interrupted (destroyed?) by Mark Scout on the black elevator floor. Except...... there's nothing preventing Lumon from simply wiping Mark S's memory by creating a NEW Mark S Innie! They even said in the episode that 24 Gemma Innies had been created, one for each "file"/room. So they can easily create new Mark S innie, put him in MDR, and drag Gemma back down to the basement again and force her through another 25 rooms. A new Gemma Innie is created in each one, so if they can create 25 before, 50 doesn't seem to be an issue. As for Mark Scout, they'll keep him in a prison somewhere just like they did with Gemma. Mark Scout will have no memory as NEW Mark S Innie and Lumon still gets the exact outcome they want from the first time around. Mark S is an idiot.

Original Mark S lost the love of his life, erased his own existence, and doomed Gemma and Mark Scout to hell on Earth trapped for the rest of their lives in prisons.

Lumon hired and severed a lot of people to have a kickarse band on that floor. I... don't mind I guess?