Severance Season 2 begins and ends with Mark operating. Nonetheless, whereas watching this season because it aired on the 2025 TV schedule with my Apple TV+ subscription, I didn’t understand how completely it bookends itself. Now, the present’s creator, Dan Erickson, has defined the which means behind the 2 scenes, and I’m emotional.
Now that we’ve had time to course of the emotional Severance Season 2 finale, Dan Erickson is giving us extra to chew on. In a letter revealed on Deadline with a duplicate of the Season 2 finale script, the creator wrote about why that finale scene of Mark and Helly operating away from Gemma “scared” him. He defined:
The opposite second that actually scared me was the ultimate one, as a result of I knew we needed to get it proper. In a season that begins with Innie Mark bolting from an elevator to seek out his Outie’s spouse, we’d lengthy identified that his last act can be to show his again on her, prioritizing his personal life and love over that of his ‘actual’ self.
It hurts! Initially of the season, Mark runs across the halls of the severed ground by himself on the lookout for Ms. Casey (AKA his outie Mark’s spouse Gemma). Then, on the finish, when he achieved the objective he was operating towards firstly of the season, he instantly ran away.
That last scene by itself is painful, as a result of Gemma is clearly devastated by Mark’s selection, and outie Mark can even be torn up about it. Nonetheless, on the similar time, this second exhibits how innie Mark has asserted his autonomy and acted for himself and the opposite severed folks on the ground.
As Erikson stated, it was each “triumphant and agonizing,” and fascinated with it along with that opening scene solely provides emphasis to these emotions. Explaining all of that additional, the present’s creator wrote:
It needed to be each triumphant and agonizing, and talk the complexity of the journey he, Helly and Gemma have been on. I wrote a bunch of variations with plenty of dialogue, however ultimately, we realized that the entire story might be instructed on the faces of those unimaginable actors. I’ve by no means been so proud to have written a scene that largely simply consists of individuals saying ‘Mark.’
It actually is a outstanding second that’s unforgettable. To see Mark run away from the particular person and mission he’d devoted a lot effort and time to was extremely emotional. And it’s shifting in plenty of methods.
On one aspect, it’s tragic to see him flip his again on Gemma, particularly after all the things outie Mark went by way of to get her out. Alternatively, seeing innie Mark do what he thought was finest for him and run again in an effort to avoid wasting all the opposite severed of us was equally emotional, however in an nearly triumphant sense.
It was a serious step that totally solidified the rising battle between the innies and the outies, and the implications of Mark’s selection right here will doubtless be a serious level of Severance Season 3. It’s additionally a tough capsule to swallow, as a result of nobody is in the best or incorrect right here. Each variations of Mark have good intentions and try to avoid wasting themselves and who they love. Nonetheless, within the grand scheme of issues, each can’t get their means, and that makes me emotional.
Then, you add on the evolution of all the things between the primary time Mark ran by way of the halls in Season 2 and when he ran again into the halls within the finale, and it will get my ideas going and makes me very emotional in a posh means.