The Severance Season 2 finale left fans slack-jawed, as Adam Scott's Mark S. left his beloved Gemma (played by Dichen Lachman) in a Lumon stairwell.
The hit Apple TV+ thriller felt like everything was leading to this point in its second batch of episodes, as Mark came to realize his thought-to-be-dead wife, Gemma, was alive and was being held captive inside Lumon—the mysterious megacorp that he (and his severed self) works at.
This set both Mark's in-office and out-of-office selves on the path to save Gemma from the ongoing testing she was undergoing in the depths of the Lumon offices, something that came to a head in the Season 2 finale.
What Happened to Mark in the Severance Finale?
All of Severance Season 2 was leading to the moment where Mark S. saved Gemma from the clutches of Lumon management, thus spoiling the season's central Cold Harbor experiment.
However, Mark did not get the happy ending of being reunited with his severed wife that fans thought he was going to.
After Mark's innie (his at-work consciousness) worked with his outie (his out-of-work consciousness) to break Gemma of her Lumon bounds, the Macrodata Refinement (MDR) specialist did not go with his former lover.
The pair had made it to the Severed Floor exit and were essentially home free in the Season 2 finale, but that is when it all came tumbling down, at least from Gemma's point of view.
With Gemma through the severed barrier and now living this experience as her outie self, she watched Mark's innie turn back into the halls of Lumon with Britt Lower's Helly R (who had a significant journey of her own this season).
Season 2 then ended on a freeze-frame of Mark and Helly running through Lumon with alarms blaring and Gemma in the background crying in pain. But why exactly did Mark leave his wife behind? And what could it mean for the series going forward?
Why Did Mark Leave Gemma at the Stairwell in Severance Season 2?
Ultimately, this Season 2 cliff-hanger was Mark's innie asserting his dominance over his outie self and taking control as his own person for the first time.
Since the beginning of Severance, innies have been seen as passive to their outie selves. Sure, they lived their own lives and had their own thoughts and feelings within the halls of Lumon, but everything was ultimately at the behest of the outie. If the outie did not want to go to work, the innie ceased to exist.
This move, though, was Mark's innie grabbing the reins from his outie and showing that he has valid wants and needs as well.
The decision to leave Gemma harkens back to the conversation seen earlier in the episode between both Mark's innie and outie. In this unique back and forth, the two sides of the character clashed over what needed to happen in terms of saving Gemma, with Mark's innie arguing, 'Why would I save her if I did not even know who she is?'
He brought up the idea of being at risk of death/non-existence. If Mark's innie were to save Gemma, then what was stopping Mark's outie from never going to the Severed Floor again, thus removing his innie from the picture entirely?
Mark's outie claimed that the reintegration process he had been undergoing throughout the season would alleviate these worries, as it would combine the two sides of the character into one seamless consciousness.
Mark's innie showed great skepticism that this could ever work, and that it could be a ploy to simply erase his innie personality entirely. Mark's innie begged his outie to let him live, as he had fallen in love with someone himself, Helly.
The pair ends in disagreement, with it unclear whether Mark's innie will help his outie break Gemma out. It is not until Helly talks to Mark on the Severed Floor the next day that she convinces him, the way to bring Lumon down may start with saving Gemma.
Mark only agrees to do it because Helly is the one to suggest it, thus breaking free from the bizarre file completion party (that included the show's confusing and tense marching band sequence) and running to free Gemma.
With her saved, standing in the Severed Floor's emergency exit stairwell, everything Mark agreed to do was done. He only ever said he was going to break Gemma out, but never that he was going to go with her.
Then, as Helly comes into view over Mark's shoulder and Gemma beyond the bounds of the Severed Floor door, Mark's innie makes the selfish decision to turn back and go with Helly rather than hand off the baton to his outie self.
This is Mark's innie declaring for the first time that he has agency too and is not going to let some man from the outside (who just happens to also be him) dictate his every decision.
There is no telling where Severance will go from here, but it seems like a third season will put Mark's innie and outie at odds, as he attempts to spark what could be an innie uprising on the Severed Floor with Helly rather than trying to bring Lumon down from the outside with Gemma.
Thankfully, Season 3 has already been greenlit, so fans can rest easy knowing they will get some sort of answer to these looming questions of what will become of Mark, Helly, Gemma, and the rest of the Severance cast.
Severance Season 2 is now streaming on Apple TV+.
