The Severance Season 2 finale is finally here, and honestly, it’s one of the best episodes of television I’ve seen in a long time. Not only does it deliver some long-awaited answers — yes, we finally learn what the Cold Harbor is, what those baby goats were all about, and what Mark was really doing with the numbers — but it also hits harder emotionally than I expected.
The episode starts strong with Innie Mark finding out what’s really going on from Devon and Cobel, and right after that, we get one of the most intriguing and emotionally charged scenes of the entire series. For the first time, Innie Mark and Outie Mark communicate directly through a camera, and it’s absolutely fascinating. Adam Scott is phenomenal here. He effortlessly shows us two versions of the same man that are similar in so many ways, yet completely shaped by different experiences and memories. You can feel the conflict, the desperation, and this growing but painful understanding between them. They argue, they try to reason with each other, but ultimately, they can’t fully connect.
What complicates it all is love because, by this point, it’s not just about what they want, it’s about what they need. One of them loves Gemma, the other loves Helly. And for either of them to be happy, the other has to lose the person they care about most. It’s brutal because neither of them is wrong. They’re both right in their own way, and yet, they’re completely trapped in a situation where there is no real winning. You can feel that weight in every word, every look exchanged between them. And what makes it even worse is knowing that, in the end, Innie Mark is doomed either way. He is there for one purpose, to finish all 25 files. Once that’s done, his existence won’t matter because Lumon won’t need him anymore. He’s just a tool to them, disposable the moment his task is complete.
Helly, meanwhile, has a tense, uncomfortable, and honestly disturbing conversation with Jame Eagan. He admits he doesn't love Helena. Not really. He’s disappointed in her because he can’t see Kier in her. He even confesses that he slept with countless women, trying to create an heir who carried Kier’s fire. That confession is interesting, not just because of what it says about him, but because of what it says about Lumon. At its core, it really is a cult worshiping Kier, obsessing over legacy, and twisting family into something transactional. It raises so many disturbing questions about the women he used. Who were they? Were they employees, trapped in Lumon’s web? Were they brainwashed, like Helena? How many lives did he ruin chasing some imagined version of Kier in his bloodline?
Jame then tells Helly that he finally found what he was looking for, and it’s her. Not Helena, not any of his other children, but Helly. Because Helly is fierce, rebellious, decisive, and willing to burn everything down to get what she wants. In his eyes, that makes her the true Eagan. No matter how hard she fights it, she’s still his. Still part of this twisted family and their cult-like legacy.
Back at Lumon, the tension builds beautifully. There is a sweet, almost heartbreaking little moment between Helly and Innie Mark. You know it cannot end well, but watching them joke, two people who only exist because of the worst corporate invention imaginable, is somehow so human it hurts. Then Cold Harbor looms over everything like a death sentence. No matter what they do, it feels like the end is inevitable.
Mark finally makes his choice. He wants to save Gemma. Helly gives him that final push, and the plan is set. But then comes the most absurd, nerve-wracking, Severance-style celebration possible: Mr. Milchick’s awkward little stand-up routine and a literal band playing after Mark finishes the file. It is so awkward and surreal that it is perfect. That is when the panic kicks in because Mark has to get out, but Milchick is hovering like a vulture. I was practically holding my breath. Thankfully, Helly figures out a way to distract Milchick, giving Mark the opening he needs.
Drummond, meanwhile, is preparing for one of the most disturbing moments of the episode: a baby goat sacrifice meant to guide Gemma’s soul to the Kier's door, according to Lumon’s twisted cult beliefs. Lorne (Gwendoline Christie) looks absolutely devastated, but she still forces herself to go through the motions. You can see how broken she is, how far gone they all are, trapped in this system where they are ordered to perform acts that horrify them. Just as Lorne is about to kill the goat, Mark makes his move. He tries to break into the Black Hall using the elevator, but the sacrifice room is just across from it, and the sound of him thudding into the door interrupts the ritual. That is when everything breaks into chaos. Drummond lunges at Mark, and a brutal fight breaks out. Mark is completely outmatched, and for a moment, it really looks like Drummond might kill him right there. But then Lorne, driven by pure desperation and rage, finally snaps. She steps in and saves Mark, almost killing Drummond herself. It goes to show how they are not employees. They are prisoners, forced to perform the same cruel or meaningless tasks over and over again, like machines slowly breaking down.
Mark forces Drummond into the elevator at gunpoint, but right as they are between floors, the worst happens: the switch. That elevator scene was everything. Mark holds the gun to Drummond’s neck, pure rage and desperation in his eyes. Then the switch happens. Innie Mark disappears, and Outie Mark is back. The terror, the confusion, and the horror all play out on Adam Scott’s face, and it is absolutely masterful.
Covered in blood and still in shock, Mark stumbles through the halls until he finds Gemma. Her innie is being forced to unmake a crib, cold and emotionless, while Lumon watches for any reaction. There is nothing. No sadness, no hesitation. At first, Gemma is startled, staring at this blood-covered man who just barged into her world. Then something shifts. Despite everything, she chooses to believe him. She chooses him. That choice says everything. Her miscarriage and her infertility did not break her. But her love for Mark got through the severance barrier.
What frustrated me about this episode was Innie Mark staying behind after getting Gemma out of the floor. It’s the Orpheus and Eurydice story all over again: He looked back, saw Helly, and it stopped him from leaving. And while I understand why he made that choice, it still feels like a decision driven more by the need to keep Mark on the severed floor for season three.
Then there is Helly and Dylan. Not only did they stop Milchick, but they somehow recruited the band in the process. It feels like the seeds of a revolution are finally being planted. Maybe season three is the reckoning we have been waiting for, or maybe Severance will surprise us again. It always does.
After a rather chaotic season with some pacing problems, Severance Season 2 sticks the landing. The finale delivers everything: a brutal fight, emotional reunions, philosophical gut punches, and somehow still leaves us wanting more. It finally gives us some of the answers we have been waiting for, but at the same time, it leaves just as many questions hanging in the air. There is a sense of relief in getting closure on certain mysteries, but the world of Severance still feels full of secrets we are nowhere near uncovering.
Rating: ★★★★½
Severance Season 2 is now streaming on Apple TV+.
About Severance Season 2
Premiere Date: March 20, 2025
Episode Count: 10
Executive Producers/Showrunners: Ben Stiller, Dan Erickson, John Lesher, Jackie Cohn,Patricia Arquette, Mark Friedman
Beau Willimon, Jordan Tappis, Sam Donovan, Adam Scott, Caroline Baron, Richard Schwartz, Nicolas Weinstock
Writers: Dan Erickson, Mohamad El Masri, Wei-Ning Yu, Anna Ouyang Moench, Megan Ritchie, Erin Wagoner, Mark Friedman, Adam Countee, K. C. Perry
Directors: Ben Stiller, Sam Donovan, Uta Briesewitz, Jessica Lee Gagné
Production: Fifth Season, Red Hour, Westward, Animals & People
Distribution: Apple TV+
Cast: Adam Scott, Patricia Arquette, Britt Lower, Tramell Tillman, Zach Cherry, Jen Tullock, Michael Chernus, Dichen Lachman, Sarah Bock, John Turturro, Christopher Walken
Synopsis: In Severance, Mark Scout (Adam Scott) leads a team at Lumon Industries, whose employees have undergone a severance procedure that surgically divides their memories between their work and personal lives. This daring experiment in “work-life balance” is called into question as Mark finds himself at the center of an unraveling mystery that will force him to confront the true nature of his work … and of himself. In season two, Mark and his friends learn the dire consequences of trifling with the severance barrier, leading them further down a path of woe.