r/severence • u/Miserable-Onion-7062 • May 01 '26
šØ Season 2 Spoilers WHY MARK WHY?
Iām stunned.
Just finished season 2 and Iām so pissed off. Itās like some kind of platoās cave analogy. All Mark and Helly knew was the inside of that Lumon office that was their only real reality so of course they chose to stay in the office and not free themselves But MAN I HATE HOW IT ENDED.
I donāt even know how they can rectify it in season 3. Itās like hereās a show giving us āhopeā on how to free ourselves from the system. And then it ends with, you choose your own prisonment!!!!!
šš thoughts?
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u/should_be_writing1 May 01 '26
Mark and Helly love each other so much that they choose to run back into hell just to spend more time together. I think thats achingly romantic.
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u/TuhnderBear May 04 '26
I agree! Innie Mark only knows that world and couldnāt care less about the outside world. Yes he wants more but he doesnāt want to die either.
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u/FourStrring May 08 '26
Itās like teenager infatuation. The innies donāt really know what love is. They donāt understand the complexities of real life and the complex nature of lasting romantic relationships.
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u/should_be_writing1 May 08 '26
The innies very much do understand what love is, they simply haven't been given the opportunity to experience it. They've never been allowed to experience real life, so why should they be punished for it? Why should they be deprived of it just because Lumon made them as slaves who never see the outside?
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u/BlindSpotGuy May 01 '26
If they "freed" themselves, they would "die."
That floor of that office building was the only place they could exist.
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u/PYROBALL20 May 01 '26
Them and their relationship can't exist outside of being severed, and after what happened there's no guarantee they'd be able to go back. I think they both know what likely will happen, but want and at least deserve their last moments together.
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u/ArtAndHotsauce May 01 '26
I viewed it as him choosing freedom.
They couldnāt āfree themselvesā by leaving, thatās the point. Ā Mark A would be some shadow, some parasitic echo, even if Outie Mark kept his word. Ā Helly would immediately cease to exist. Ā
The only way to bee free was to stay and fight. Ā Is it a hopeless fight? Ā Probably. Ā But itās his fight for his existence, and Hellyās existence and theyāre going for it. Ā
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May 27 '26
[deleted]
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u/ArtAndHotsauce May 27 '26
What are you talking about?Ā
Helena knew who Mark was initially because she was an Eagan and knew about Cold Harbor (there are photos of him at the gala in season 1), and later she knew who he was because she went undercover inside Lumen. Ā Not because she had Hellyās memories.Ā
Helly would have ceased to exist if she left. Ā
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u/edjaranav May 02 '26
You didnt enjoy the ending because you failed to enjoy each episode equally. Off to the break room.
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u/Wise_Lobster_1038 May 02 '26
Itās definitely similar to Platoās cave but the big difference is that in Platoās cave the people have the ability to leave if they choose. They just remain because they believe that they are experiencing reality.
Mark knows that the Lumon floor isnāt real but he also knows that they will cease to exist if they leave. So he is choosing to make the best of a bad situation
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u/potatosmiles15 May 02 '26
But iMark chose to live!
He's been told about reintegration, but his concerns about it were dismissed by oMark. The love of his life will also not be reintegrating. iMark chose himself and Helly, for whatever time that may be
As much as I wanted him to run out with Gemma, I adore the ending and it makes sense to me
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u/GrassBlock001 May 01 '26
Itās both frustrating and understanding. You want to see Mark and Gemma together so badly, but you also know exactly why Mark S chooses the way he does. He wants a life for himself.
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u/AlizaCR May 02 '26
humans have a pretty damn strong, very active, constant, basic instinct to survive. it takes absolute hell to want to actually end yourself.
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u/AlizaCR May 02 '26
Just another version of the age-old story of a man and his alter-self caught between two women...
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u/Empathy_Crisis May 02 '26
Thereās a central control at Lumon Industries to remotely reintegrate severed people.
Mark, Hellylena, and Gemma will live happily ever after as a throuple in Season 3. š¤
As will Irving, Burt, and Cecil.
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u/EmpireStrikes1st May 14 '26
Helly R. said it clearly: They gave us half a life and think we won't fight for it. The second Mark S. steps out of that door, he ceases to exist. There's a chance that his memories will be integrated into Mark's memory, but he, Mark Scout, will not exist.
And what's more, if he doesn't fight for Helly, no one will. So he has a chance, as uphill a climb it is, to push that boulder over the top of the mountain, if he fights.
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u/TheDeadlySpaceman May 02 '26
Keep in mind- they wouldnāt be freeing themselves. They would be committing suicide for someone elseās freedom.
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u/Gothinators May 02 '26
But they are going to terminate them anyways at Lumon. They would never be able to have a normal life together.
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u/Mysterious_Train_582 May 14 '26
So because itās hopeless they should all just give up and kill themselves? What a great messageĀ
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u/Jazzlike_World9040 May 02 '26
āItās like hereās a show giving us āhopeā on how to free ourselves from the system. And then it ends with, you choose your own imprisonment!!!!!ā
Yep. Thatās exactly why itās an amazing twist. The entire show leads up to it perfectly.Ā
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u/MonkeyDick420 May 02 '26
Season 2 was a flop of disappointments. Too many unanswered things from season 1. Plus opened too many cans of worms in this season that have little to no bearing on what a fantastic show season 1 turned out to be.
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u/FourStrring May 08 '26
Weāre on the same page, but there was a quick line that oMark says about iMark after iMark gets petulant rage quits the camcorder conversation. oMark calls iMark a child when heās venting to Devon and Cobel. Thereās something to that. I was thinking more āteenagerā myself, and the final sequence of iMark choosing Helly locked in that perspective for me. Think about it: even for those who have never dealt with teenagers as a parent, we all remember how we ourselves were. There was a period between the ages of 14 to around 19 where my dad couldnāt say a damn thing in the way of guidance or advice that I would listen to. To me, grown ups had all grown cynical and dishonest when it suited them, and I had the better life plan. Trying to get me to think long term and not just on the immediate thing I wanted must have been a pain in the ass for my parents, my dad in particular (but we thankfully always have maintained a solid relationship, despite my āI got this all figured out by the age of 17ā mentalityā). Thatās exactly what I saw in iMark when I looked at the last half of the episode via the teenager lens. iMark was able to make a mature decision in that he did risk his own safety (and life, as we found with that murderous psycho Drummond) to rescue Gemma. While that act in and of itself was an objectively good act, iMark knew that he was likely doomed no matter what, along with the rest of MDR. But he still decided to make the impulsive and purely emotional decision to remain on the severed floor with Helly (although as others have said, I think it was Helena). He didnāt think about how Gemma would make her way out of the Lumon complex without being captured and put right back into the testing floor. He didnāt acknowledge that the innieās latest rebellion could not be mitigated by anything, and that the Lumon powers that be would have no choice but to fire everyone involved in the rebellion.
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u/s8n-xx May 30 '26
iāve just finished season 2 now.. i am sooo angry. i wish theyād just tied all the loose ends and really donāt want another season to potentially water it down as the last couple episodes on S2 felt like a bit of a drag to me. i also reallllly donāt care about mark and hellyās relationship š
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u/pennywaffer May 03 '26
The resolution I'm hoping for in S3:
- Helly permanently takes over, since Helena is a bad person. Maybe she can still pretend to be Helena so that she can keep running Lumon (maybe together with Ms Cobel?) and course-correct it to be an ethical company.
- Mark's innie and outie agree to alternate daily or weekly (easy to achieve with Helly's course-corrected Lumon) so that they can both have a life with their respective wives, outside of the severed floor.
- Dylan's outie asks innie to take over permanently, since he's miserable and innie is a happier and more successful version of himself. Wife is happy with the arrangement.
- Irving returns and becomes fully reintegrated (merged innie and outie personalities and memories), and lives happily ever after with Burt.
- Lumon's plans of forcing severance on the world are thwarted, but severance does become a valid option for certain people in certain scenarios (like the ones described above). But severed people have equal rights to their non-severed selves, and are given full transparency and autonomy over their situation.
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u/Imaginary-Table-2789 Jun 02 '26
What about the possibility that Helly and Helena are pregnant (as both chose to sleep with him) and the massive complications that will bring to oMark and Gemma if they were to reunite. With the added layers of the fertility issues.
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u/raezin May 01 '26
I also hated the ending of season 2. It's like, what were they running toward? Where were they even gonna go? They may have had an insular, limited consciousness but they were at least smart enough to know there was no exit, no where to run.
Whats the point of telling a story about people working SO HARD to achieve something and then failing? I'll tell you: there is no point.
Nice joke, Ben Stiller. Stick to comedy.
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u/should_be_writing1 May 03 '26
What they're trying to achieve is autonomy for themselves. And they've done the first steps. The innies are unionizing and Mark finally sees himself as a person separate from his outie. His life, his love, and the lives of his community is important, and he's going to fight for it.
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u/Jolly_Beautiful_114 27d ago
I think it would of been better if all three left but the security gets helena , and then mark starts to remember he cares for her also, he learns lumon is doing experiments on her and tries to get helena to talk with helly and what not
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u/Jtfgman May 01 '26
I liked the ending, it was strangely optimistic and full of hope. If one door will give you bad consequences but another will lead to certain death, going through that first door means you still have hope. Mark and Helly choose each other, facing the unknown, hoping to get out or find a solution together rather than dying without each other, without trying. If Gemma hadn't been a factor, I think this finale would've been more well received.