The ending of Severance Season 2 episode 9 was largely about [Spoiler Alert] Devon and Harmony taking the partially reintegrated Mark to the Damona Birthing Retreat to use its Outie-Innie switching mechanism to get Innie Mark to talk to Harmony regarding Gemma’s whereabouts. But then it was about Innie Dylan deciding to resign from Lumon because Gretchen refused to marry him. It was also about Burt taking Irving and his dog out of Kier and telling them to go away to some undisclosed location. And then Helly spent the entirety of the episode’s runtime figuring out the location of the Exports hallway. Apart from all that, Miss Huang’s Wintertide Scholarship program came to an abrupt end, and Milchick stood up to Drummond. Yeah, that’s about it, I guess. So, what did all this amount to? Well, allow me to speculate.
Irving Leaves
Burt randomly showed up at Irving’s house and read his notes on Lumon, where Irving had written that they were violent people. Then Burt insisted Irving go on a ride with him. He didn’t tell him to pack or anything like that. Maybe he told him to take his dog along on the road trip. But that’s about it. During the drive, maybe they exchanged a lot of words, but we, the viewers, only got to see a brief portion of it where Burt admitted that he was in charge of driving people around whilst being deliberately ignorant of what was happening to them after arriving at the destination. The whole thing had this very sinister vibe, where it seemed like Burt was taking Irving to decommission him, permanently, because of some tiff he had with Fields after that tense dinner. However, he just took him to a train station and told him to leave Kier and never come back.
Before leaving, Irving and Burt went back and forth about falling in love, being loved, not being loved, and how it was impossible for them to be together under the circumstances. Then Irving boarded a train with his dog, and Burt went back home. Irving said something about wanting to remember his affair with Burt, and Burt said that it’s better that he doesn’t. Does that mean that the severance mechanism exists on the boundaries of Kier Town, and as soon as someone leaves the place, they forget about it? I don’t know. Maybe it’s not that complicated. Maybe Burt just wanted Irving to leave and forget they were ever together in any capacity because he didn’t want to jeopardize his marriage with Fields, for reasons known only to him. In the 6th episode of this season, we kind of got a hint that he was working with Drummond to snoop on Irving. Hence, Burt was afraid that Fields would have Irving killed, so he thought it was better for him to leave in a train rather than in a body bag. Do you think there’s anything more to this than a tragic love story? Feel free to let me know.
Dylan Resigns
Gretchen told Outie Dylan that she had “cheated” on him with Innie Dylan. This weirded out Outie Dylan a lot, and he threatened to resign from Lumon, thereby erasing Innie Dylan from existence. When Gretchen met Innie Dylan at the Outie Family Visitation Suite later, she revealed to him that she had told Outie Dylan about their “affair,” and he wasn’t particularly happy about it. As soon as she began talking about putting an end to their “relationship,” Innie Dylan pulled out a ring that he had made out of pencil shavings or wood carvings, I guess, and proposed to Gretchen. Obviously, Gretchen rejected his proposal, and Innie Dylan decided to resign because he felt that his life was meaningless. Helly tried to convince him to stay and complete the mission that Irving had given him via the notes that had the directions to the Exports hallway. She even told him that Milchick had used the Outie Family Visitation Suite to get him not to care about his team members and he shouldn’t let Milchick win.
However, Dylan wasn’t in the mood to listen to Helly. He submitted his resignation form and entered the elevator. We didn’t see if Lumon actually allowed him to leave or not, though. Based on what I have seen in the 1st season, resigning from Lumon isn’t that easy, especially if one’s Outie hasn’t consented to it. Given how we’ve seen Outie Dylan express his desire to leave Lumon earlier in the episode, I guess that Milchick has no option but to accept Innie Dylan’s resignation letter, right? Do I care if he doesn’t? Nope. Do I care if he does? Nope. This was the conclusion that the character was heading towards anyway ever since the introduction of the Outie Family Visitation Suite. What else are we supposed to get out of Innie or Outie Dylan? An extended divorce drama between Outie Dylan and Gretchen? Is that something that viewers are interested in? If so, good for them. I, for one, think that his character should be retired.
Jame Discovers Helly’s “Trickery”
In this episode of Severance Season 2, Helly complained to Milchick about Mark’s absence. Then she pestered Innie Dylan. And then she tried searching for the Exports hallway by memorizing the directions in the note that Innie Irving had left behind. But while she was doing that, Jame Eagan showed up and told her that she had “tricked” him. What was that about? Jame was unhappy about the way Helena was running things over at Lumon. Cold Harbor hadn’t been completed by Mark. Irving was gone. Dylan was on his way out too. And Jame hated the way Helena treated her eggs. Now, if I have to guess, I’ll say that Jame was probably referring to Helena spending a major chunk of this season on the severed floor as Helly and then partaking in a romantic affair with Innie Mark. I don’t know how Jame wasn’t aware of that. I assumed that Helena did all that on Jame’s orders or at least after getting his permission.
However, it’s possible that Helena took that decision on her own after seeing how deeply Helly was in love with Innie Mark. I guess Jame had some other plans in mind regarding Helena’s marriage, which must’ve had something to do with the expansion of Lumon. You know, like a marriage of convenience. Maybe Helena didn’t agree with Jame’s plans and got pregnant with Mark’s child to avoid that outcome. Well, Helly also had sex with Mark. Either way, Helena and Helly have probably ruined Jame’s plans, and that’s why he is miffed that her eggs have been fertilized (yes, those chicken eggs weren’t just about chicken eggs). But why did Jame accuse only Helly of “tricking” him, not Helena? Look, the man is old. It probably doesn’t matter to him if he is talking to an Innie or an Outie. He is angry, and he can’t wait for his daughter to flip the switch in order to face his ire. That’s it. Now, the question remains that, if Helena/Helly is pregnant, will Jame force her to abort? I suppose we’ll find out in next week’s episode.
Innie Mark Meets Harmony
Devon drove Mark to meet Harmony on a hill where Harmony acted frustratingly cryptic, and Mark posed like that painting from Kier when Harmony told him to call Milchick and say that he was taking a day off for his mental health. Milchick either bought Mark’s ruse or knew that Mark was up to something and allowed him to continue with his plan because he himself was done with Lumon’s shenanigans. Right before his conversation with Mark, Milchick had a particularly tense confrontation with Drummond, where Milchick told Drummond to “devour feculence.” So, it kind of made sense for Milchick to subtly support Mark in his endeavors, instead of shutting him out of Lumon. Anyway, that ensured that Mark could get into the building, go to the basement, and save Grace. And I guess that was also the point of taking Mark to the Damona Birthing Retreat. Since Mark wasn’t fully reintegrated—or else why would Innie Mark come to the fore after entering the severed room in the retreat?—his Innie had to remember the directions to the Exports department. As for the reason why Devon asked Innie Mark to tell her the last thing he had told her, well, that’s because the last time Innie Mark met Devon, he wanted to tell her that Gemma was alive as Miss Casey in Lumon. That’s it.
The ending of Severance Season 2 episode 9 furthered the conspiracy theories around Mark’s parentage as Harmony told the guard at the retreat that she was bringing in one of the many women, pointing at Devon, who had been impregnated by Jame in order to get a room there. Sure, Devon wasn’t pregnant with Jame’s child, but who’s to say that Mark isn’t a result of one of Jame’s affairs and Harmony was actually telling a white lie? I mean, Harmony standing ominously in that retreat and only revealing the existence of the Exports department in the basement, or the fact that the completion of Cold Harbor will lead to the erasure of Gemma’s identity (she would die metaphorically), would be anticlimactic. Telling Mark about his ancestry will be a little more dramatic. Well, let’s see what the show has in store for us next week. I don’t think the finale will be impressive enough to overshadow this season’s shortcomings. I hope I am wrong. What are your expectations from the last episode of Season 2, though? Let me know in the comments.
