Apple TV+/CBSGemma – well, Ms Casey – returned in Severance Season 2 Episode 7. Going by the title of Episode 9, there could be something really dark in store.
The biggest mystery at the heart of Severance is what happened to Mark’s wife, Gemma. She was believed to have been killed in a car crash – but, in Season 1, it’s revealed that she’s actually Ms Casey, the severed floor’s wellness counselor.
We last saw her being sent back down the Exports Hall in Episode 7, presumably to wander all of the rooms on the Testing Floor – except Cold Harbor.
After Harmony Cobel’s episode, fans are hoping Episode 9 will deliver more answers – and its title may be a clue.
Severance Season 2 Episode 9 title is a creepy Twilight Zone reference
We know Season 2 Episode 9 is titled ‘The After Hours’ – the same name as an eerie episode of The Twilight Zone.
It follows Marsha White, a seemingly normal woman who goes to a department store in search of a gold thimble for her mother. She’s directed to the ninth floor – but when she takes the elevator there, she’s greeted with a dark, empty space occupied by a lone saleswoman and a single thimble.
It gets weirder: when she leaves, she notices the thimble is scratched, so the elevator operator tells her to go to the complaints department on the third floor. They tell her there isn’t a ninth floor, and because she doesn’t have a receipt, she can’t return it.
She catches sight of the saleswoman… but she’s a mannequin. That night, she discovers she’s been locked inside the store, accidentally knocking over another mannequin that looks just like the elevator operator.
CBSShe realizes that the ninth floor is occupied by animated mannequins who take turns living among humans – and she’s a mannequin herself!
This could be a creepy hint to Gemma’s fate – or perhaps it has something to do with Mark (or maybe it’s just a fun nod to The Twilight Zone, given Ben Stiller has mentioned the show among his inspirations).
“If the twist is the same it could mean that Ms Casey was an Innie first and Gemma later and she just forgot she was an Innie in the first place,” one viewer speculated. “I think there is a twist like this coming. She was in on it the whole time, she wants to be on the testing floor, what you just said,” another wrote.
“Oh my god, this is one of the first theories I’ve seen on here that’s really compelling – I hope this is true! It would make so much about Lumon and Mark/Gemma make sense. And why they couldn’t have kids, and why Mark is special,” a third commented.
“Great catch and one of my top 20 or so favorite TZ eps. Definitely a reference and fits what a lot of us think as far as the 3D printing of avatars for the transitioning of consciousness goes,” a fourth added.
Make sure you know when the next episode 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.
