The ending was devastating. While I really like Helly, Gemma is the one who's really suffered, and like innie Mark says, outie Mark had a longer, fuller life, thereby elevating Gemma as the true love of his life. Helly-love exists in his brain, but it and Helly herself fold if Lumon folds. Outie Mark existed longer, and inhabits a much greater landmass, making innie Mark tenuous and transient. Innie Mark's entire existence is a single thread stretched betwixt trembling shears. Those shears are held by a sinister corporation. It doesn't make him less real, but he's an easier sacrifice, if it comes to it. Apparently, it has.
I can't imagine a perfect outcome that isn't laced with tragedy, but the one I was rooting for -- which seemed feasible -- was Helly supporting Mark and Gemma, even if it meant the death of all their innies. Mark reintegrates, dearly misses and thanks Helly, but ends up happy with Gemma. That's assuming Gemma lives, in her old state. There's an alternate solution in which Gemma dies or is revealed to have helped orchestrate the whole charade, and Mark and Helly R persist together. Maybe that's better, but it would require some tragedy of Gemma.
Helly foils the first solution by showing up at the moment of Mark's indecision. She doesn't coax him verbally, but she doesn't need to. I wonder if Lumon subbed in her outie at the last moment, to prevent Mark's departure. Why?
I like how the show plays with the basic instinct for survival. A creature, however insignificant, however artificial it recognizes itself to be, is liable to fight for survival. Humans sometimes defy this instinct, but sometimes they cling to it -- the innies all appear to be clinging to it. Maybe it's because they don't know enough about the world to defy it like many outies. All they know is their office and their instincts.
I still don't know what Lumon does. They're investing a lot in their severance product, originally a tool for their internal operations, now seemingly a product in itself. It's a world-altering tool if it works, so I don't blame them for investing in it, whatever else the company may be up to. If they have anything nearly as compelling as severance, I'll be impressed. Maybe they're working on wormholes or something.
I also don't know why they're doing all of this. If they orchestrated Gemma and Mark meeting in the first place, along with every step since, what's it all for? Just refining severance? Or is the severance serving something bigger? I still wonder if Lumon is not the enemy at all. I expected more of that to come to light this season, but it may come still.
So what's next season? Gemma tries to get Mark back. Maybe Mark refuses to leave the office, and outie Helena masquerading as innie Helly persuades him to stay. Gemma finds Devon and Cobel and they work to take down Lumon, even if it means losing the innies. Gemma and Devon want Mark's outie back, and Cobel... who knows.
I like that it took a mindfuck turn like Lost. Lost was a survival story that started dropping in elements out of left field, to be explained (to audiences and possibly showrunners) later; that elevated it far above the survival genre. It's legendary because it went off the rails and sort of managed to keep one wheel attached. Severance is doing similar, hoisting high above its workplace genre, keeping a wheel attached, flirting with incoherent disaster. I'm glad. It may be sloppier but it's far more interesting.
I wish Adam Scott was a litttttle more of a conventional hero. Just barely. He is now expressing the full range of protagonist emotion, and his nature just doesn't quite accommodate it. To be more honest, it may just be his look, not his nature. He's acting well but he doesn't have the look of such a consummate hero as he's becoming. I think I would like the series better with another lead actor. It would also make his romance with Helly more plausible.
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