ScreenCrush: The Podcast! - Severance Season 2 Episode 9 BREAKDOWN and Ending Explained

Episode Date: March 14, 2025

Don't you mean how I eat? Hey, welcome back to Screen Crush. I'm Colton Ogburn, and these are all of the Easter eggs references and little things you might have missed in Severance, Season 2, Episode 9, the After Hours. Guys, this is the penultimate episode of Season 2, the final episode before the 76 minute finale, and I am very excited to announce that we will be joined by a very special guest for our season finale ending Explain video. That's right, a member of the Severance cast will be joining us for an exclusive interview following the season finale, and I am going to poke and prod them like Ragabi and Mark's head to get answers to all of our burning questions, following one I can only assume will be a wild hour and 16 minutes of television.

Now, in this episode, there is a huge Twilight Zone reference that I think could tell us a lot about what's coming, and I'm excited to break that down for you a little later in the video because I think this reference could explain a lot of things, like, who the hell this guy is? What the hell these things are? And is Keir Egan's consciousness alive in this mannequin? It's alive! We will be answering all of that and more in this breakdown. Oh, and by the way, we have this great severance-inspired merch up on the Screencrush merch store right now, screencrushmerch.com.

We've got this great new hang-in there to sign. You can get it on a shirt, a poster, a fridge magnet, a mug, whatever you want. We've also got our four tempers in the classic bohubhouse. me in Rhapsody Pose, as well as our praise cure sticky note shirt. Okay, so let's get into breaking down this episode. We open with Helena swimming laps in a pool, and I love the imagery of her face going underwater and then coming up for air as she swims, mirroring the severed experience with the outies going below the surface, becoming their innies, and then coming back up for air.

One of this season's key focuses has been this dichotomy between the two versions of Helena, And this imagery of Helena swimming laps against the weight of the water is demonstrating Helena's willingness to return to the depths of the severed floor, pushing through her own fears of mental dormancy and allowing arguably her arch nemesis, Heli R, control of her body. And look, I don't like Helena, but I would understand from her perspective not liking Heli. I mean, Heli has tried to kill her multiple times. And, you know, sure, it was understandable, perhaps even justified as to why she tried doing. this, but I can only imagine the fear Helena must have every time she gets on that elevator, a mutual fear that Heli likely shares every time she goes up to give her outy air, fearing

that perhaps she'll never wake up again. So Helena, she's evil. But I think we have seen moments throughout this season where Helena has shown moments of disdain for the cult of gear, the thumb of her overbearing father, and the position in life that she's been given without much choice of her own. Now, don't get me wrong, this is not the pity Helena hour. Believe me, she's awful, but I wouldn't be doing my job if I didn't point out the direct parallel between the innies and Helena. Ines who are forcibly contained to a life they didn't choose and are instructed by an overseer to perform tasks that serve a greater purpose.

That directly parallels what Helena Egan is going through with her own relationship to Lumen and her father, James Egan. Ever since birth, Helena has been destined to follow in the family footsteps and eventually become CEO of Lumen. She lives under the thumb of her father doing his will and the will of her ancestor, Keir, the same master that all of the innies serve. And that's why I think that Helena could be primed for a heel turn in the same vein as Mr. Milchick and Miss Cobell. But we'll discuss that a little later when I bring on the Screencrush video analysis team to discuss this episode even further. But first, let's talk about my favorite Easter egg from this episode, this literal egg.

I mean, Dylan says it best. Yeah, the egg bar is coveted as fuck. So we know the Eganz are super wealthy, and that's of course how they can afford these eggs. Oh my god, my Shayla! My Shayla! I want to look beyond the egg and focus in on this plate. Chaos is whore on Reddit, great username, by the way. Um, hi, editor here.

Colton didn't realize that this is actually the username, Living Jewel, 5600. He's an idiot. Only chaos is whore. They pointed out that this image is depicting that of a whipping boy, a young boy who is educated alongside a prince and would receive corporal punishment for anything the prince did wrong. Similar to Helly being the whipping girl for Egan royalty, Princess Helena. Or with Gemma's many severed selves undergoing painful and unpleasant experiences,

which Chaos pointed out is symbolized by the slicing of the egg into six parts, representing Gemma's many selves being used as whipping girl. Now, James Egan says that he wishes she would eat the eggs raw, which could maybe be in reference to like a health thing, like good protein, I guess. Which kind of ties into the theory that Helena is pregnant from one of her sexual encounters with Mark, which would tie into this overall theme of her needing to bear a child to continue the Egan lineage and essentially birth and air to the Lumen Throne. So next, Miss Wong receives her James Egan bus similar to that of the bus that Miss Cobell. received when she completed her fellowship at Winter Tide. And you'll notice it has Year of Vision on it mirroring Kobel's bust, which read Year of Wiles, another of the

nine core principles. But we should also note that Year of Vision has been used before as well, and it can be seen here on this plaque from the previous episode. So next we see Mr. Milcheck make Ms. Wong offer a sacrifice, and he chooses her Kier ring toss game that we saw earlier this season. And it was interesting to see a Jame E. Bust being used to destroy a Keir Egan toy. And I gotta wonder if they're trying to tell us something there. Now, a little later, we are going to talk about what's going on with Ms. Wong and why her fellowship was cut early and why she feels remorse for her treatment of Dylan.

But first, let's get into that heartbreaking proposal of Dylan to Gretchen. So when Gretchen says, He reminds me of how you used to be. This immediately reminded me of how after spending time with Mark's Eni in episode 7 from before he was severed and suffering the loss of Gemma, Mark's Audi was actually really similar to his any from season one. I've said in our previous breakdowns how this more happy version of Mark that we met in those flashbacks, it reminded me of his blissfully ignorant any that we got in the early half of season one. So when Gretchen said that Dylan's Audi reminded her of what Dylan

used to be like, I really felt that because I think the severance procedure, it's really just a representation of blissful ignorance. We see, you know, different severed selves having to go through unpleasant experiences while the primary self is kept blissfully ignorant of those less than desirable experiences. That kind of seems to be the whole point of the chip. So anyway, back to Dylan, he understandably feels violated. And I loved this line about her cheating on him with his own body when she lets Audi Dylan know what happened. Now, while I do feel bad for Audi Dylan and I understand and why he feels betrayed, I'm not going to sit here and pretend that there's not some nuance to the situation. So one of my favorite things about this show both seasons is their willingness to focus

on these philosophical questions about the self and what it means to be you. And situations like Helena pretending to be helly and hooking up with Mark or Gretchen kissing Dylan G. And the moral quandary that we as the audience are meant to decipher and think about and, you know, the implications of these characters' actions. It's what makes for really good television and just great storytelling. overall. So earlier this season we got to spend some time with Bert's Audi, and I and many of you agreed that he was bad news, not only his creepy demeanor throughout the episode, but the reveal that he's actually worked at Lumen far longer than the severance procedure has existed, leading to speculation that Bert was more than a severed employee and

actually more involved at the company than we had previously thought. Now this is a theory that Irving has begun to ponder as well. Goodman may have participated in as a low-level Lumen enforcer. So Irving has been investigating Lumen for some time going back to even season one. Now, while his iny was one of Kear's biggest bootlickers, his Audi was already in the midst of a rebellious investigation. Now, when Bert reads Irving's notes, he says,

They may be also connected to several recent disappearances or deaths. We know firsthand with Gemma that Lumen is notorious, for people randomly going missing and even being thought dead. So I liked seeing that Irving is onto this fact in his investigation. But I'm also anxious to see how and why Irving's Audi remembers the testing floor and that elevator, the hallway, because theoretically, only his iny would have ever seen that hallway.

But hopefully that's a question that will be answered in the finale. Granted, I'm not entirely sure that we're even going to be seeing Irving again until season three. So next we see Dr. Maurer with a, bandage on his head. That is because we saw this happen in episode seven. Now, when Mark says that Devin's car is smelly, this is a side effect of his concussion. Common smells can be unpleasant and interpreted differently by the brain when someone is suffering from a head

injury. And like I mentioned in that reintegration episode, this is something called Parasmia. Next, we got this line, which I loved. And how about me in my mirror copy machine? This tells me that Mark has shared with Devin what he sees during this reintegration process, flashes between the any world and the Audi world and these two spaces coexisting. So anyway, they are headed to meet Miss Cobell and Mark says, we told her everything, she told us shit. This is in reference to the end of the previous episode where we see Devin calling and calling Miss Cobell and finally at the end she answers and tells Devin to tell her everything. So when Helly goes to confront Milchek about

Mark having been absent from work, she corrects him for calling her Helly R and asks if he means Helly E, of course, being for Egan. The other innies do go by the first letter of their Audi's last name, like Mark Scout is Mark S, but Helly is referred to as Helly R, which stands for Helly Riggs. Now, in my research, I actually found a neuropathologist named Helena Riggs, who was born in 1890. Neuropathology is the study of disease of nervous system tissue, usually in the form of a small surgical biopsy.

So maybe that's where the writers of the show got the the inspiration for this name and hell maybe like in canon that's where they got the inspiration to change her last name to Riggs. And of course the primary reason was to hide the fact that she was an Egan. So after this confrontation with Milchick, we see Heli Storm out of his office and just before she slams the door, he says, leave it open. This is a callback to this scene from season one with Ms. Cobel. Open or closed. So I thought this was a nice touch. considering that at that moment in time in season one, we saw Mark doing all he could to

appease his master, Ms. Cobell, and now we're seeing the two come face to face again on the outside in this episode. And of course, this is paralleling Mark's obedience for Miss Cobell in season one with Helly's rebelliousness and lack of respect for Milchick in this episode, as well as all of the Ennis's lack of respect for Milchick down on the severed floor. And that, of course, is all tying into Milchick's feelings of inadequate. and disrespect in his new role, which eventually leads into this awesome confrontation with Drummond a little later in the episode. And oh my God, I cannot wait to talk about that scene.

So anyway, back over with Dylan and Gretchen. We see Gretchen break up with any Dylan, and he falls to his knees and proposes with a ring that is actually made out of one of his finger traps that he received from good performance at work. Jesus, this was, this was heartbreaking, man. I mean, not only is Dylan, like, feeling heartbroken by this rejection, but, The imagery of him having made this ring with a finger trap that his season one self cared so much about. Got it 96% sorted, which means I've earned four of the five tier incentives, including the erasers and the finger traps that you see displayed here.

Him using this finger trap to make a ring, a finger trap that he earned with his hard work, that pays for his family's food and shelter on the outside. a family that he never gets to see, a life that he never gets to experience, it's just soul-crushing. And again, just super, super attention to detail. Just a great example of what I love about this show. So when Dylan goes to resign, he checks every box on his resignation form, anger, fatigue, loneliness, guilt, shame, annoyance. And what's really sad and heavy about this scene is that it's Dylan G. reaching a point where he has this essentially decided to take his own life, end his own existence. And that's a very heavy and sensitive topic that is, it's honestly hard to talk about.

Dylan is such a lovable character, and it's so sad to see that time has resulted in him becoming just as miserable as his outy. And this really plays into the Ignorance's Bliss theme of this episode and just of being in any overall. After some time, knowledge is obtained. and with that knowledge comes that same pain. You can only stick your head in the sand for so long. Okay, so next up, we got probably the best scene from the episode,

the standoff between Drummond and Milchick. Now, I love how this season has taken the two antagonists from last season, Cobella and Milchick, and essentially turn them into these redeemable characters who, with MDR, are also in a fight against the even greater evil and their shared oppressive masters, Drummond, Helena, Jane, of course, Kier. So, as we've discussed in previous breakdowns,

the showrunners are fully intending to give commentary on race and the mistreatment of black people via not only slavery from our nation's history, but modern systemic racism as well that is commonly found in the workplace and in corporate environments. This is demonstrated not only with Lumen's eugenic style of operations, connecting them to Nazi-S sentiments throughout history, but also with these really inappropriate paintings featuring blackface. And this is confirmed to be the intent when we see Milchick address this with Natalie. I was just wondering if you could share with me a little how you felt when you received the paintings. Now, this theme is continued in this episode by expanding upon Drummond's disdain for Milchick's use of big words.

But I thank you for your remonstration. Needlessly complex word for a simple idea. Earlier in the season, Milchick was reprimanded for his use of big words in his performance review. And here again, in this episode, Drummond is giving him a moment. hard time for using a big word. Apologize for the word. And this is clearly meant to symbolize how racist individuals and those who practice white supremacy look down on people of color and think that they are less than and not as intelligent as them. You can go far back in history and talk about how slave owners didn't want their slaves to know how to read or write and then in more modern times we're still seeing people of color get accused of being uppity or sounding white if they use big words and sound educated, God forbid. These are the types of things that make

racist individuals feel inferior when their goal is to be superior. So needless to say, devour feculence, Mr. Drummond, aka, eat shit. Okay, so here in a sec, I do want to talk about that huge Twilight Zone reference that was dropped in this episode, as well as explain what the hell is going on at this birthing retreat, but first, I want to talk to my screen crush video analysis team to get their thoughts and theories. All right, well, now I am joined by the screen crush video analysis team. And we have Pete F. Shri R. and Harriet L.

Guys, I am so excited to talk about this penultimate episode of Severance. I have a lot of theories I want to throw your way. Get your thoughts on what's coming up for the finale. But first, I just want to get your general thoughts on the episode. Pete, what did you think? Yeah, it felt like a slow burn that was just kind of going the whole time, makes me want to be able to binge straight to the next episode. It felt like nothing happened until I looked back at it again,

was like, oh, my God, so much happened to this episode. You know, that's kind of how I felt with the previous episode as well. But in that episode, it really wasn't until the end of a lot of happened. Part of me, you know, I'm happy to get as many episodes as possible. But part of me, and we'll have to see once we get the finale, I feel like this episode might have been good for like an hour 45 finale. Like just put the two episodes together. I almost feel like it was the beginning of a finale episode.

It was definitely the second act of a movie, right? It was like ready to go explode. And to be fair, that usually is how like a penultimate episode feels usually. So, Shri, what did you think? Do you like this episode? I love this episode. I think, like, exactly kind of what Pete said, where this feels like everybody, so much happened. Everybody kind of made the choices that they want to.

It was a complete, like, I'm done with Lumen. And episode 10 is where we're going to see the consequences of all of those. decisions and I have an absolute feeling it is not going to be pretty whatsoever for a lot of these people. Well, I do, yeah, I do want to touch on that here in a second. I think there are a lot of heel turns happening in terms of like previous antagonist joining the Rebel Alliance, if you will, so I am excited for that. But Harriet, what did you think of this episode? Did you enjoy it? Yeah, I also love this episode. I think it was really nice to have like, I actually maybe disagree a little bit about the idea that it could have been one long finale episode

because I think after the previous two episodes it was really important to get us reacquainted with where everyone is before the big finish and just setting up all of these little dominoes that are about to fall I mean just like last season when when the end of episode eight came around and you're just like that's a really good point we have been away from the office I guess you could say in a way for these past two episodes So, yeah, that's a really good point. Okay. So, Shri, as you kind of touched on, the theme of this episode was kind of the fute lumen type

of thing. What is Milchik's line? Devour. Devour, feculence. Feculence. Devour feculence, yes. You should have seen me trying to figure out how to spell that so I could Google the word and flagellants kept coming up.

I was like, no, that's not it. That's not it. All right, devour feculence. I still think we should do that shirt, but I'd go. us um but that seems to be a theme yes with cobel we're seeing it now with milchick which i have to admit all season we have they've been teasing that milchick was going to have this turn like he's becoming displeased with how he is treated at lumen we've seen him like address it with natalie and there's like the the race aspect to it stuff i've really thought you know they've done really well on but it still

kind of caught me off guard when he told drummond to eat that that was kind of surprising i was like That's very non-military. I feel like Helly pushed him over that edge, though, when she, yeah. And it, that's the only, I agree with you. It felt strange, but I went right back in my mind to Helly kind of just telling him. And he realizes that he may be the boss of that floor, but as long as Helly's in there, he's got no control, really. Well, and I think he's realizing he's just as replaceable as Cobell was.

I mean, that episode with Cobell showed us how much she dedicated to that company and they replaced her like that. So they would have, you know, no qualms. about doing it to Milchick as well. You bring up Helly, I think that Helena may also be on this hill turn path. I've been saying that throughout this season, there've been little moments, don't get me wrong, she's evil, I don't like her, she's done horrible things. There have been little moments here and there where I'm like, she seems like maybe she's not fully on board.

Shreve, what do you think? In terms of the various characters, Ms. Wong is another character who we're seeing kind of change a little bit, like when she apologized to Dylan. are we going to see pretty much everyone like turn against j megan lumen and kear uh could helena be a part of that what do you think i do think it's very interesting because both miss huang and helena are on opposite kind of ends of this in terms of like their timeline miss huang personally i feel like she's going in the route of what cobel did right she's in this winter she's in this winter tide program what exactly what harmony did and she's you know going up the

ranks but she was cut her fellowship was cut short she thought she was going to end the quarter and she's being shipped off to this gun gunnall egan um empathy center i believe and it's weird because she's it's weird she's shown bits of empathy throughout like the season where she apologized to to Dylan today, right? She's, but she wants to play the theremin and she's like excited about things. He kept saying get rid of your childish folly. So I think it's a kind of misnomer for the Gunnell Egan Empathy Retreat or something

where she can be a leader there because I do think they're trying to get rid of her childish folly. I mean, that breaking of the totem was symbolic of that. But I also think it is a foreshadowing. because she broke Keir in that game. So I do think eventually she will be a part of that soon. Helena, however, I do think she might heel turn, but I think it's going to be either very slight or she might just chicken out's harsh,

but might back off at the last second simply because she is so ingrained into this organization. Yeah. I could see it almost being sacrificial in a sense. Like maybe she gives like full reins over to Heli. You can tell that she admires the life that Heli has got to live and like finding love and all that. She's jealous of that. I wouldn't be surprised if she's just like, no, we're not doing reintegration and essentially ends her own existence because she views it as, you know what? I'm happier and I've found a life when I'm you. So I can maybe see her hand the reins over to Heli. Harriet, As far as Ms. Wong goes, you know, all season, there's been this conflict between her and Milchick. And that's probably because Milchick realizes that he is just an interim boss between the likes of Kobel and Huang. Like you said, Shreve, Wong is being groomed essentially to fulfill a role like Kobel. So Wong is probably a reminder for Milchick that his days are numbered. Harriet, do you think that, well, are we going to say,

see Ms. Wong again? And do you think that she can play a role in this taking down of Lumen and the finale? And what are your thoughts on Helena, perhaps also helping with that? I don't know if I think we're going to see Ms. Huang again this season. I think that'll probably be a next season plotline. I still feel like we haven't fully uncovered exactly why she's been at Lumen, like working on the severed floor. I know that we now know more things about child labor in Lumen factories, but I still don't don't think that quite explains why they've got this, like, child on the severed floor. Why are you a child? That's still my favorite line.

I don't know if it's rude to ask, but, like, why are you a kid, though? I try to fit that clip into every video. Go ahead. But I think I'm not so convinced that Milchick is turning to the side of good, I guess. I think he's turning against Lumen in some respects, but I do think that there's the significant chances that makes him come down harder on the severed floor, makes him take out that powerlessness on people who have less power than he does, rather than, I would love to see him eventually turn to the side of good. I'm not sure I think he's there yet, and I definitely

don't believe that Helen is there yet. I think she could also get there, but I also think that that's a plotline that we're going to stretch for longer. Yeah. Well, you know, it might be like a Hux situation from, was it Last Jedi, I think, or Rise of Skywalker, and he's like, I don't care if you win. I just want them to lose, talking about the First Order. That's probably what they could do there with Milchick. So the finale is, I believe, 76 minutes. It's going to be quite the long finale. I'm very excited. I want to know, do you guys have any theories for what we're going to see? Or we, I assume we're finally going to learn what Cold Harbor is. I'm hoping that we get to see Mark and Gemma reunited. There's a lot of loose ends that a lot of stuff they've set up over these first two seasons that I hope we get to see some payoff for in this finale. Pete, is there anything that you're hoping to see, wanting to see, any theories? It's interesting because I feel like when you think back about season one, they left so much hanging and we just were, we weren't okay with it, but we went along with it.

but there's a lot you're right after this episode ended it struck me as well that there's still a lot to be answered I think I'd like to sort of see the end

of the Cold Harbor file and see what that actually means for the broader Lumen whatever their mission, their vision, their their objectives and then that can play out further in the next season I'd also kind of like to see

I would like to see kind of what happens to as a result of the reintegration for Mark. Can he go back? And the question is also, can't, I don't think any of them can ever go back. Obviously, Irv is going on a train somewhere. But to me, like, I was struck by how destroyed Dylan was in this episode.

He just, he loved his job. We saw that from day one and he just loved doing, and he's destroyed. He might as well be, he might as well be, he might well resign and not exist anymore because he doesn't he can't look at it the same anymore so I'd love to see sort of a resolution for these characters as to where they're going to go

moving forward but I do hope that they leave enough stuff for season three I'm kind of a glutton for punishment like they'll leave me a little hanging on some of the the key points I mean you bring out Dylan and as for a little behind the scenes thing here as we're recording this I'm actually still in the

midst of writing the breakdown and I'm I still haven't tackled the part where he resigns and that's really like him deciding to take his own life i mean that's a really heavy thing his resignation so um i guess we'll see what i had to say about that in the breakdown shri any any theories for this finale this is a message to all the severance writers and creators if you end episode 10 with similarly how you ended season one where uh Let's say he's going through all this, Mark is going through all this integration, you know, conversing with Cobell. They try to form a plan.

They get so close only for Gemma to finally get into the Cold Harbor room. I can't, I don't think I can handle that. I personally do not think I can handle that, but I do think it's going to be in the similar vein of sentiment in the finale. I think they're going to rescue her from the Cold Harbor Room. She'll have gone in. I think that's where the tension point's going to be as are going into that room, and that's where the big, whatever, final battle for lack of a better term will be. Well, you know, it was said, you know, Drummond has pretty much outright said it,

that once Cold Harbor is completed, it ends with, you know, Jimma's death. And in the intro, we have seen the car underwater. Our own Ryan Airy actually shared a theory with me earlier that Cold Harbor, could be something to do with like an analysis of like the process of dying or something like that so um i am anxious to see what cold harbor actually is harriet do you have any idea what cold harbor is or any other theories that you'd like to see for the finale yeah previously i had been thinking that it was about severing grief um which is why mark and jemmer are so important to it um but when ryan said that about the idea that it's about severing the fear of death um it did

make me think about the again the like car underwater and the idea of uh them asking her whether she'd be more afraid of suffocating or drowning whatever which i think that was what they asked um yeah and so like that's deeply deeply awful if that is what um if that is why they're asking her that um but i i do think that a lot of the finale episode is probably going to be spent on the testing floor and i i think my my biggest theory i guess is i don't i don't know if they're planning on uh with the ending with jame and and helena or hellie sorry i don't know if she's uh headed to the testing floor because that's what i was thinking when when we saw the end of that episode Like, is he going to make that sacrifice of his daughter to send her to the testing floor?

Because now she's also got this relationship with Mark and there's just all this stuff going on with her. So I wouldn't be surprised if that's where she ends up as well, especially with all of the flickering back and forth between Helly and Gemma. There's something there with seeing Helly and Gemma both on the testing floor elevator in the like the intro graphics. There's definitely something there. I think you're spot on about the grief and severance being a way to cope with grief. I mean, that's essentially what they're studying Mark for, I think. You know, I still think that consciousness transfers in there somewhere. So maybe they're going to kill Gemma and try to transfer her consciousness to a different body. I don't

know. We'll just have to see. Beat you have something you want to have. Yeah, I was going to say, feel free to cut this if it's way too crazy. No, no, please. I embrace the crazy. embrace the crazy. What if the entire plan included what they have done, the sort of breaking free from their any life and the objective was to find love and find companionship within the severed floor and to watch, if Mark has to watch Gemma die and Heli die, what does that do? So what if there is some sort of big connection there between the two of them or he has to make a decision between. the two who's mark who's any mark going to choose and who's outy mark in the choose well we know that they would who they would probably choose but what if they had he had to make that one decision because they've reflected on that in a way to look at the way Dylan felt like he was cheated on with himself from his wife and it was it was devastating to him and that's only one person right right so I don't know I think there could be some sort of connection there or some sort

key learning. So what, you know, the Twilight Zone piece is what if they wanted all of this to happen all along? And they've really just been following the plan. You know, you make a great point about a reintegrated mark. And the way I've always viewed reintegration, and please, you know, cut in if you view it differently, any of you. I view it as like remembering a dream. Like, I think Mark Scout and Mark S as they reintegrate, they'll have this feeling of, oh, yeah, like as those memories come in like it's not that they were ever different they were just cut off from that part of their life so it's like when you when you wake up from a dream you're really entrenched in and then you realize oh yeah I'm in bed I live here yeah I think that's what they're going to

experience which could result in him being genuinely in love with two different people and then if he's put in a position where he has to pick between oh my god that is going to be insane okay well I want to continue with the breakdown but before we go I do want to ask you guys if you have any like final thoughts or anything before we get into our very final severance season two breakdown next week anybody have anything they'd like to add i have a question actually that i like to pose for the rest of you guys because i personally i wasn't very sure but is jemma the only person either on the testing floor or being tested for the these procedures in uh this facility or is some are they doing

doing something similar to other testing subjects in the other facilities because they're just in the 500 first facility of Lumen, right? I would assume that they're doing it with other people. Yeah. I wouldn't think they would limit themselves to just. That's a good question, though, Shere, because I, I've often thought that the other facilities are more traditional business, right? Because it's a very successful, what, health care business and all these, like everything, right? Pharmaceutical. Yeah.

Yeah, so maybe I, my head canon has been, this is where they do all the weird stuff, but could be wrong. I want to know what's going on with the goats. Yes. I want to see the goat people. What's going on? Why are they teaching their kids like even from childhood about goat husbandry since, you know, Cobell was the captain of the goat husbandry club?

That's right. I don't. All right. I have a super last question for Harriet. And then we'll continue with the breakdown and what's going on in. that cottage with Mark and Cobell. To me, as a big Loki fan, it looked like they were walking into the citadel with he remains.

That's the vibe I got when he walked into that room. Anyway, Harriet, in the first episode of this season, we had that guy lurking behind Mark in the hallway. And I was thinking, oh, is it security dude's name that I can't even remember from season one? And you said, hear me out. This might be crazy. I think it might be Mark.

And ever since you've said that, I've been convinced it's Mark. Like, oh, it's a clone of Mark. Oh, it's the 3D printed thing of Mark. Who is it? And are we going to see who it is in the finale? I mean, I think if it is, if it does end up being Mark, I would not be at all surprised if we find that out in the episode next week. And if we, I mean, I don't know exactly because I don't know if I'm expecting them to go

like full time travel like he's looking at himself from the past you know uh full like loki or a similar show but um i didn't even realize what i did there with the the loki mention i completely made a loki go ahead but i just i uh i just can't wait to see what they do with it because that is you're so right that is a question that i almost forgot about that they have yet to answer who was that guy yeah i you know, my gut is kind of like telling me, okay, they did answer it in episode four with like the 3D things, 3D printed looking clone people, the uncanny Valley people. I'd like to learn a little more about who they even are, what they are, so I'm hoping that's revealed in the finale.

All right. Well, let's finish breaking down this episode. I want to thank my screen crush video analysis team so much for joining me. You can find their social links down in the description below. Now, let's continue with the breakdown. Okay. So when Devin and Cobell roll up to this birthing retreat, presumably the same one that Devin went to in season one where she actually came in contact with a severed pregnant woman serving essentially as a surrogate. Oh, and also, I really liked how Mark is having to hide in the bed of this drug, just like Cobell did in the previous episode.

Now, anyway, Devin is pretending to be pregnant in order to get into this birthing center. And Cobell then says, Miss Marshall White, 9th floor. Now, this is in reference to the 1960 Twilight Zone episode After Hours, which is also the title of this episode of Severance. And it's fitting that they're referencing this episode in this scene since they have waited until after hours to do this covert mission. So in that episode of the Twilight Zone, Marsha White takes an elevator to the ninth floor of a department store. There she is in the Specialties Department looking for a gold thimble. Miss Marshall White on the ninth floor. specialty's department looking for a gold thimble so it's obvious that they are talking in code a code

that cobel knows from her years at lumen and that is gaining her access to this cottage but the question then becomes why this episode of the twilight zone well in this episode of twilight zone it turns out that the department store only actually has eight floors but a special elevator will take you to this mysterious ninth floor the twilight zone so in the that episode, the saleswoman Marcia bought the thimble from, is later revealed to be a mannequin, a connection, of course, to these mannequins that we have seen in Lumen, as well as these creepy 3D printed motherfathers. So when Marcia returns to the ninth floor, she is encountered by more mannequins who are essentially these thinking, animatronic beings. And this reminded me of

this line from the first episode of this season. Ours were animatronic. They even did this little choreograph dance. So yours just stand there? So essentially what happens in that episode is Marcia comes to realize that she too is just a mannequin, but she had simply forgotten. And the mannequins actually take turns being human a month at a time. And there's actually a popular theory on TikTok and Reddit and various other things that I'm not, you know, super familiar with, that Gemma and her time with Mark may have just been her time in the outer world getting to be human like the mannequin in that Twilight Zone episode and that she was always destined to return to Lumen. Now, there's also the fact that has been mentioned that the following episode of that season

of Twilight Zone was called the Mighty Casey, which could be where they got the name Miss Casey. Let me explain. Now, that episode is about a robot named Casey who is given an artificial heart that gives him human emotions and causes him to rebel against his creator. I'm sorry, Mr. McGarry. I just can't hurt fellow's careers. This could mirror Miss Casey being given her Gemma persona and meeting her heart, Mark, and feeling love. It could also be mirroring Helena finding love and behaving more human when she's Helly are, and she too, as Heli, is betraying her creator. Anyway, the episode following that one is called a world of his own, where we meet a man who is cheating on his wife, or so she thinks. When the man is caught, he explains that none of these women are actually real,

and that they are his creations, characters similar to that of a sever, which immediately reminded me of the various gemmas down on the testing floor that we're seeing Dr. Maur interact with. Now, I love that we are getting this Twilight Zone reference in the show because, I mean, what is Severance, if not modern-day Twilight Zone? So, in the cottage, when Mark S wakes up, Devin says, No, no, no, no, no. If you walk out that door, he's just going to come right back in again. And this is a reference to this scene in season one when Hellie tries to leave work.

Now, in the cottage, we can also see this portrait of Keir. And guys, look, I still have a ton of questions, okay? What is Kobel about to tell Mark and about Gemma up in that room? Was she ever truly alive? Or has she always been like a looming creation? Where the hell did Bert send Irving? And goddamn, what's up with the goats? What's up with the goats?

I am hoping for all of this and more to be revealed in the season finale. So let me know your thoughts and theories about this episode and what you're hoping to see or think we'll see in that season finale. We will be here covering it. Same bad time, same bad channel. Also, again, be sure to check out our awesome Severance-inspired parody merch. Thank you guys so much for watching. If you're new here, be sure to subscribe and smash that bell for alerts. For Screencrush, I'm Colton Auburn. Thank you.