Apple TV+Severance Season 2 Episode 9 brings everything together in an intense, nail-biting penultimate chapter, teeing up a finale unlike anything we’ve ever seen in the show.
It’s been a crazy two weeks for Severance fans. Episode 7 broke all of our hearts with its intimate, poetic exploration of Mark and Gemma’s relationship and trauma, also revealing big answers about her whereabouts in Lumon (although we still don’t know what Cold Harbor actually means).
Episode 8 was a change of pace – and scenery. It followed Harmony Cobel as she paid a long overdue visit to her hometown, Salt’s Neck, to recover proof that she invented the severance procedure. In the closing scene, she finally answered one of Devon’s panicked calls, putting them on a collision course that may change the series forever.
Episode 9, ‘The After Hours’, has a wider focus; we catch up with Helly and Dylan’s Innies, Milchick faces off with Mr Drummond, Burt arrives at Irving’s home under mysterious circumstances, and the Damona Birthing Retreat finally comes into play.
Jame and Helena meet for a tense breakfast
Apple TV+The episode opens on Helena swimming, before she meets Jame for breakfast; every word that comes out of his mouth is typically stilted and unsettling. “A momentous day,” he says, and when Helena asks why he’s not eating, he says, “I’ll watch.”
She slices a single boiled egg into six segments and spreads them out on her plate (which has a painting of two women fighting over a man). When she slices the egg white, he whines and complains, “I wish you’d take them raw.”
Helena assures him they’re “seeing to Mr. Bailiff” (that’s Irving’s Outie), but he doesn’t seem to care. She leaves for the day, with the camera revealing Jame’s secluded estate tucked away behind what appears to be a giant water tower (rather oddly in the shape of a UFO).
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Miss Huang completes her Wintertide Fellowship
Apple TV+“Eustice Huang,” Milchick says as he unveils Miss Huang’s bust, marking the end of her Wintertide Fellowship (if you look closely, it says it’s the “Year of Vision”).
“Your bed will be moved from your parents’ home to the Gunnel Eagan Empathy Center in Svalbard, where you work to steward global reforms,” Milchick explains. Miss Huang was under the impression she’d be working on the severed floor until the end of the quarter, but as Milchick says, “empathy awaits.”
She’s allowed to return to her duties for the rest of the day, but come dusk, she will move onto her next position. Milchick has one last order: he wants her to give up her ring toss game as a material sacrifice, as required by the handbook, because it’s a “proper totem.”
He lays out a handkerchief, and she smashes her game with the bust. “Again,” he commands, forcing her to smash it and everything inside.
Gretchen confesses kissing Dylan… to Dylan
Apple TV+Elsewhere, Gretchen confesses to Dylan’s Outie that she kissed his Innie (remember, she said Lumon canceled her last visit). “This is so many f**king dimensions of f**ked,” he says, and she tells him his Innie reminds him of “how [he] used to be.”
“I’m gonna go to work and earn a paycheck to feed our children. I’m gonna respectfully request that you don’t follow me there and use my own body to f**king cheat on me… since I would have no way of knowing if that’s happening or not, I don’t know, maybe I just go quit and end his existence, how about that?” he threatens.
Burt pays Irving a visit
Apple TV+Irving walks into his house to find his dog staring into the living room… where Burt is sitting. “They may be also connected to several recent disappearances or deaths,” he reads from Irving’s notes. “Goodman may have participated as a low-level Lumon enforcer or goon… that stings.”
“We never used words like that,” Burt explains. “With Lumon it’s very specific language.”
Irving believes he was wrong about Burt after their dinner. Burt asks him to go for a ride with him, but it’s unclear why or where they’re going.
Cold Harbor still isn’t complete
Apple TV+Back on the Testing Floor, Gemma sits in her room motionless and alone. In the observation room, Dr Mauer checks on Mark’s progress with Cold Harbor – and the numbers aren’t moving, despite the fact it’s already 9am.
Mr Drummond phones Milchick and tells him to get Mark into the office immediately. Helly arrives and searches for Mark, but he’s nowhere to be seen.
Elsewhere, Devon takes Mark’s Outie to meet Harmony Cobel. Understandably, he doesn’t think they should trust her, but they park at their arranged spot and wait for her to show up. “What if it’s a trap?” Mark asks, and Devon says, “Maybe it is… maybe it’s not, but we f**king need her.”
As they sit in the car, Mark ignores Milchick’s phone calls. Back at the office, Helly storms into Milchick’s office and asks where he is. “Nondisclosure policy forbids,” he says, coldly, but she clearly just wants to know if he’s okay.
Milchick tells her Dylan will serve as department chief in his absence. “Kind of like you and Cobel,” she snipes, earning a firm scowl from Milchick. “That’s enough Helly R,” he says, and she finally leverages her Outie’s rank. “Helena Eagan is my employer. You are my subordinate and this behavior constitutes insubordination,” he warns, but she isn’t fazed. “Yeah, no shit,” she says before barging out.
Gretchen breaks up with Dylan’s Innie
Apple TV+Over in the Outie Visitation Suite, Gretchen tells Dylan’s Innie about her argument with his Outie that morning. “Was he glad for us?” he asks, and she tells him he wasn’t. “Well, he should be because I’m making you happy… and he’s not,” he says.
Gretchen tells him they can’t see each other anymore. “He threatened to quit and I don’t know if he’s still going to,” she explains.
Dylan pleads with her to stay, telling her how his life started when she visited him for the first time and that he has nothing else. It gets worse: he gets down on one knee and proposes to her with a ring fashioned out of paper.
“I know I’m just an Innie, but I love you all the way, I do… I made this for you. I can give you a life, please,” he says, but she apologizes and walks out. He screams her name, but she still leaves.
The episode cuts to the kitchen, where Helly tries to comfort Dylan after his rejection. She says he should hold onto the ring and give it to someone he meets on the severed floor, but he isn’t convinced.
“She’s my wife,” he says, and Helly tells him: “She’s not your wife… because no one would treat someone they love the way she’s treating you, like all the Outies treat us, like everything’s for them.”
Dylan thinks their lives are meaningless, but Helly says he has family down there – like Irving. “He left you a message, the black hallway… I don’t know if he knew where it leads but he thought it was important and they convinced you turn your back on him for some Outie woman you don’t even know,” she says.
Dylan says something unfair: he tells Helly it’s her fault they’re all down there (because her Outie is an Eagan), and points out how Mark couldn’t tell the difference between her and Helena.
Cobel and Mark become allies
Apple TV+Cobel eventually shows up. When they all step out of their cars, Cobel asks Mark how he’s doing. “My wife’s being held prisoner at Lumon and I just got brain surgery in my basement, how have you been?” he replies.
Even with Mark’s snark, Cobel wants to help. She wants to take him to the Damona Birthing Retreat that night (it’s too perilous during the day), but there’s a couple of problems. Firstly, they don’t know if he’s completed the Cold Harbor file yet. “If you’ve completed it, well… she’s already dead,” she warns, and Mark loses it.
“She is there and we are out here in the middle of f**king nowhere,” he shouts.
Secondly, Mark needs to call Milchick to confirm he’s not coming into the office. “If he smells chicanery, he’ll lock you out of the building,” she says.
Mark doesn’t want to do anything Cobel says, but Devon tells him they don’t have any other option if they want to save Gemma.
Dylan resigns and Milchick stands up to Mr Drummond
Apple TV+The episode jumps around a bit at this point. Back at Lumon, Helly finds Irving’s map to the Exports Hall behind the “Hang in there!” poster while Dylan wanders the corridors, upset about Gretchen.
He decides to resign, so he heads to Milchick’s office to fill out the form (which needs to be approved by his Outie). “I’m sure you know this is very disappointing and reeks of ingratitude,” Milchick says, before telling him to hand in his keycard and go to the elevator.
Before he walks out, we get a rare moment of compassion from Miss Huang. “I’m sorry, Dylan G. I should have facilitated better,” she says, and Dylan tells her it wasn’t her fault.
Soon after, Milchick meets with Mr Drummond above the severed floor. “So this is ‘tightening the leash’? Our most vital refiner missing in the wind on what was to be Lumon’s finest day… this is your fault,” he says. Milchick defends himself… while welcoming his “remonstration.”
“A needlessly complex word for a simple idea. Apologize for the word,” Drummond orders, forcing Milchick to say he’s sorry. “Devour feculence,” Milchick replies. “It means ‘eat sh*t’, Mr Drummond.
“I am manager of the severed floor, which means two things. First, I am owed a measure of respect, even by my superiors. Second, and more obvious, that said floor comprises the whole of my jurisdiction. To put that monosyllabically, it’s not my fault what Mark Scout does when he is not at work – it’s yours.”
We also catch up with Irving and Burt, who reveals, “I never hurt anyone. I want you to know that. I drove people places. I didn’t ask what happened to them once they got there.”
“Is that what today is?” Irving asks, as his dog stares out the window in the backseat.
Mark pulls a sickie
Apple TV+Reluctantly, Mark phones Milchick to tell him he won’t be coming in today.
“Mr Scout, where are you?” he asks. “Well, I was worried about these nosebleeds so we drove to this clinic in Soil Hill… and they want to do a few more tests,” Mark explains. Milchick offers to send a car so he can receive Lumon’s finest care, and Mark doesn’t know how to respond… until he does.
“I’m not sick. I just needed the day, okay? I’ve just got life stuff… isn’t that what Lumon’s all about, balance? I mean, work is just work, right? Do you know what I mean, Mr Milchick?” Mark says, and after a long, fraught silence, Milchick asks if he’ll come to work tomorrow. Mark promises he’ll be there, and Milchick hangs up the call.
Burt sends Irving away
Apple TV+Burt doesn’t take Irving somewhere to kill him – he drives him to the Train Station (don’t worry, Yellowstone fans).
“This line goes as far as you can go. I can’t know where you get off, and you can never come back to Kier. Do you understand?” he asks. Irving doesn’t understand why Burt is letting him go. “You asked me why I severed. I liked the idea that I could be innocent again, part of me. But then my innocent part fell in love with you,” he explains.
“I want to remember it,” Irving says, and Burt replies, “Probably better we don’t.”
Irving tries to appeal to Burt’s love for him, but after a tender moment, he insists, “We can’t.”
Burt watches as Irving walks away and boards the train; each man sits alone, forced apart by something much bigger than either of them. Back at Lumon, Miss Huang is picked up at the end of her last day while Dylan waits for the elevator doors to open.
The Damona Birthing Retreat
Apple TV+That night, Helly stays on the severed floor and tries to memorize Irving’s instructions to find the Exports Hall. Jame Eagan appears behind her. “You tricked me, my Helly,” he says.
As the sun sets on Kier, Mark clambers into the back of Cobel’s pickup truck and they drive to the Damona Birthing Retreat. They’re stopped by a security guard, but Cobel says, “She’s one of Jame’s, no one’s to know.”
After an exchange of passwords (“Miss Marsha White, ninth floor, specialties department, I’m looking for a gold thimble”), she’s granted access.
Suddenly, Mark’s Innie wakes up inside a cabin. He’s confused, but Devon assures him he’s okay and he should stay calm. She takes him to see Cobel (whom his Innie hasn’t seen since the end of Season 1).
“Do you remember the last thing you said to me?” Devon asks him. “She’s alive,” he says.
Make sure you know when the finale drops with our guide to the Severance Season 2 release schedule, and check out our guides on the Nine, the Glasgow Block, and the Lexington Letter. There’s another big theory you should read up on too: Helly might be pregnant.
