![Mark, Gemma, and Helly as seen in Severance season 2 (Custom cover edited by Sportskeeda, Original Image [Apple TV+])](https://staticg.sportskeeda.com/editor/2025/03/06f2e-17425561244204-1920.jpg)
![Mark, Gemma, and Helly as seen in Severance season 2 (Custom cover edited by Sportskeeda, Original Image [Apple TV+])](data:image/svg+xml;charset=utf-8,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http%3A//www.w3.org/2000/svg'%20xmlns%3Axlink='http%3A//www.w3.org/1999/xlink'%20viewBox='0%200%2010%205.625'%3E%3Cfilter%20id='b'%20%0A%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20color-interpolation-filters='sRGB'%3E%3CfeGaussianBlur%20%0A%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20stdDeviation='.5'%3E%3C/feGaussianBlur%3E%3CfeComponentTransfer%3E%3CfeFuncA%20%0A%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20type='discrete'%20%0A%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20tableValues='1%201'%3E%3C/feFuncA%3E%3C/feComponentTransfer%3E%3C/filter%3E%3Cimage%20%0A%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20filter='url(%23b)'%20x='0'%20y='0'%20height='100%25'%20width='100%25'%20%0A%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20xlink%3Ahref='data:image/jpg;base64,/9j/2wBDAAYEBQYFBAYGBQYHBwYIChAKCgkJChQODwwQFxQYGBcUFhYaHSUfGhsjHBYWICwgIyYnKSopGR8tMC0oMCUoKSj/2wBDAQcHBwoIChMKChMoGhYaKCgoKCgoKCgoKCgoKCgoKCgoKCgoKCgoKCgoKCgoKCgoKCgoKCgoKCgoKCgoKCgoKCj/wgARCAAGAAoDASIAAhEBAxEB/8QAFgABAQEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAEG/8QAFAEBAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAABP/aAAwDAQACEAMQAAAAyVGg/8QAIhAAAQQBAgcAAAAAAAAAAAAAAQIDBBIRACIFBxMWM0Jh/9oACAEBAAE/AOJ8xmISRKahOS3RRKVPHpVDqlmu0nOAnXfkw+NtdPW6wTj7t1//xAAXEQADAQAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARED/9oACAECAQE/AMVaz//EABgRAAIDAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAECAAMR/9oACAEDAQE/AL1UBRk//9k='%3E%3C/image%3E%3C/svg%3E)
Severance season 2 finale episode aired on March 20, 2025, exclusively on Apple TV+. Ben Stiller directed the episode, titled Cold Harbor, which was penned by the show's creator, Dan Erickson. It has a runtime of 75 minutes and is the longest episode of the show's two seasons. The finale episode answers many questions but ends on a cliffhanger as it leaves the fates of Mark, Helly, and Gemma open-ended.
Season 2's episode 10 focuses on the internal struggle between innie and outie Mark to save their respective lovers. Mark is torn between his innie's love for Helly and his outie's love for Gemma. In the end, he rescues Gemma but chooses to be with Helly.
Disclaimer: This article contains spoilers for the Severance season 2 finale episode.
Why does Mark choose Helly over Gemma in the Severance season 2 finale episode?
In the Severance season 2 finale episode, Mark returns to Lumon to complete the Cold Harbor file while being monitored by Drummond and Mauer. He is unsure about saving Gemma as it puts his and Helly's future in jeopardy. When Mark emotionally admits to wanting a future with Helly, she reminds him that it's not possible as her outie is an Eagan.
Trending
With tears in his eyes, Mark proceeds to complete the Cold Harbor file. Helly hands him directions to the exports hall (where Gemma is trapped) before they sort the final cluster of numbers together. Once the Cold Harbor file hits 100%, Lumon pulls out all the stops. Milchick delivers a congratulatory speech on the MDR floor while standing next to an animatronic Kier Eagan.
He then invites the marching band from the Choreography and Merriment division for an elaborate performance as Mark's reward. Helly diverts Milchick's attention, giving Mark the chance to escape and search for Gemma. He runs past the maze of hallways to find the exports hall and briefly confronts Drummond before entering the room.
Mark walks past the dark hallway and takes the elevator down to the testing floor, which activates his outie (since he is outside the severed floor). He enters the Cold Harbor room on the testing floor and finds Gemma at long last.
The room contains a baby crib, similar to the one Mark had assembled in episode 7 in anticipation of welcoming a child with Gemma. Mauer instructs Gemma to dismantle the crib to check if the severance barrier is holding or if her memories leak into her innie's consciousness. He is delighted to see that innie Gemma does not feel any emotions or pain while picking apart the crib.
Outie Mark approaches Gemma, but she does not recognize him as her innie is in control. Nevertheless, he convinces her to step outside the room, which awakens her outie. Gemma immediately recognizes Mark and breaks down in tears while hugging her husband after nearly three years.
The reunited couple does not have much time to spare as Mauer comes chasing after them. They manage to get inside the elevator in time and kiss passionately. But they pull away as the elevator reaches the severed floor, and both of them switch to their innies—Ms. Casey and Mark S. He asks her to leave from the exit stairwell while staying inside the severed floor.
After stepping outside, Gemma pleads with her husband to join her, not realizing that he is an innie. He takes a step back and heads in the opposite direction where Helly is waiting for him. The innie Mark and Helly run through Lumon's hallways to the tune of Windmills of your Mind by Noel Harrison and season 2 draws to a close with their fates up in the air.
Mark's innie talks to his outie in the Severance season 2 finale episode
The Severance season 2 finale episode starts at the Damona Birthing Center, where innie Mark tells Cobel that the Cold Harbor file is incomplete, which confirms that Gemma is still alive. As they discuss an escape plan, innie Mark realizes that Gemma's escape will expose Lumon's sinister activities and lead to the end of all innies.
He pushes back against the plan and gets in an argument with his outie. Since the premises of the cabin can activate one's innie, stepping outside it causes the outie to take over. This allows Mark's innie and outie to communicate by recording messages for each other on a camcorder. The outie Mark urges his innie to help him rescue Gemma, but the latter defends his right to exist.
Outie Mark tries to convince his counterpart that once Gemma is saved, he will complete the reintegration process so that both of them can coexist, but innie Mark remains unconvinced.
Cobel tells Mark's innie that his number-refining work is tied to Gemma's mental state. She explains that every cluster of numbers correlates to one of the four tempers—Woe, Frolic, Malice, and Dread. By sorting the numbers, he was helping create building blocks for Gemma's mind. Moreover, every time he completed a file, Gemma's consciousness was split into a brand new innie.
Mark S. is hit with the realization that Gemma must have 24 innies, including Ms. Casey, since he has finished 24 files so far. Cobel states that Cold Harbor is the 25th and final file. After activating her 25th innie in the Cold Harbor room on the testing floor, Lumon plans to kill Gemma.
Mark and Drummond have an epic showdown in the Severance season 2 finale episode
As Mark was running around trying to find the exports hall, the head of the Mammalians Nurturable division, Lorne, was wheeling the baby goat Emile to Drummond. He plans to sacrifice the goat alongside Gemma and entomb them together so that the goat's spirit can guide Gemma's towards Kier in the afterlife. However, as Drummond takes his gun out to shoot the goat, he hears Mark in the opposite room.
Drummond punches Mark in the face, and a bloody fight ensues. He almost strangles Mark to death before Lorne points the gun at Drummond and tells him, "No more killing," as she despises handing over her goats for sacrifice. Lorne puts up an impressive fight against Drummond and is about to shoot him dead, but Mark stops her.
He uses Drummond to gain access to the elevator that can take him to the testing floor. Mark has the gun pointed at Drummond's neck the entire time, but as soon as they reach the testing floor, Mark's outie takes over and kills Drummond accidentally by pulling the trigger.
What happens to Dylan and Milchick in the Severance season 2 finale episode?
The scene between Jame Eagan and Helly from episode 9 continues in this episode as the Lumon CEO tells his daughter's innie that her fiestiness reminds him of Kier. He also mentions not loving his daughter as she does not resemble Kier, before adding that he has fathered several kids over the years in the hopes of finding Kier in them.
Furthermore, in the Severance season 2 finale episode, Dylan G. is surprised to find himself back at work and is sad that his outie rejected his resignation request. Milchick hands him a letter from his outie, in which the latter expresses his wish to become more like the "self-assured badass" Gretchen thinks the innie is. The outie Dylan urges his counterpart to stay at Lumon but leaves the final decision to him.
During the marching band performance, Helly locks Milchick inside the bathroom to help Mark escape. Dylan joins her by shoving a vending machine outside the door to prevent their manager from escaping. Milchick spends the entire Severance season 2 finale episode trying to break free.
Meanwhile, Helly convinces the marching band to join them in putting up a united front against Lumon by saying, "They give us half a life and think we won't fight for it." When Milchick finally breaks through, he is faced with Dylan and the entire marching band standing together in resistance.
Viewers can watch all episodes of Severance seasons 1 and 2 on Apple TV+.
