Severance Season 2 Episode 10 Review: Cold Harbor

The project is complete and so is the season on Severance Season 2 Episode 10, “Cold Harbor.” In a show about a process that gives the false promise of the best of both worlds, that’s exactly what the finale does.

From the moment Mark begins to communicate with his innie via camcorder, the tension of the episode is ratcheted up. It’s a no-brainer that innie Mark will heroically sacrifice himself to save Gemma, right?

Not so fast. In a compelling performance by Adam Scott in the dual roles, the Marks go head to head and debate the ethics of saving one life over risking the lives of many innies. This whole time the show positioned reintegration as the solution, but this whole time no one ever asked the innies what they thought of it.

Meanwhile at Lumon, Drummond, Milchick, et al. are all waiting for Mark to show up and complete Cold Harbor. There’s also a whole creepy subplot about Jame Eagan thinking Helly is more like Kier than his own daughter and seemingly having designs for her. 

The way the action plays out after innie Mark wakes up inside of Lumon feels part romance, part drama, and part John Wick. With some gentle encouragement from Helly, they finish Cold Harbor and spring into action to save Gemma.

Standing in their way? Milchick, a marching band, and an endless number of hallways. It’s a cacophony of noise and flashing lights and violence as Helly traps Milchick in the bathroom and Mark takes out Drummond with the help of goat lady Lorne.

The episode is so rich in details you might not even have time to stop and wonder why Lumon sacrifices goats to Kier or why there is an entire marching band on call.  Even with a slightly longer run time than usual, some moments get lost in the chaos.

Dylan’s beautiful scene, where he comes to a sad understanding with his outie, is quickly overshadowed by the revolt. Zach Cherry deserves his flowers for selling Dylan’s transformation this season from one-dimensional to a man of many feelings. 

Mark succeeds in saving Gemma, but at a great cost. It’s up to innie Mark to shepherd Miss Casey through the MDR severed floor, and he gets her out but doesn’t go with her. Like Orpheus he can’t help but look back and he dooms his outie self for it. 

There is no neat happy ending that would make the show less interesting moving forward. Instead innie Mark decides to stay with his own doomed lover, Helly, as we hear Gemma’s haunting screams from behind the door for her husband to come with her. 

Severance isn’t just a show about good guys and bad guys, and as much as the cult-y Lumon lore and easter eggs keep people talking it’s not enough to keep you invested. Instead, Severance remembers in its finale that it’s the characters and the stake in their lives that matters. 

Whether you’re happy or not with the long sequence at the end showing Helly and Mark running away to nowhere, you can’t say the show made the boring choice. The conflict was never just against Lumon but also these independent beings they created when they signed themselves up for severance.

How that gets resolved, with reintegration seemingly no longer on the table, is anyone’s guess.

What did you think of this episode of Severance? Share your thoughts in the comments below, and don’t forget to leave your own rating!

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Severance airs Fridays on Apple TV+.

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