Apple TV+The end of Severance Season 2 heartbreakingly inverts the story (and tragedy) of Orpheus and Eurydice, a Greek myth that reflects Mark and Gemma’s arc. Spoilers to follow…
Three years after Mark blurted out, “She’s alive!”, his Outie finally reunites with Gemma in Season 2 Episode 10. It’s one of the most triumphant and emotional moments in Severance – until the finale reveals its hair-tearing intentions.
In the closing scene, Mark’s Innie helps Gemma to escape… but he refuses to leave, instead choosing to stay with Helly in Lumon. As Gemma bangs on the door and begs him to come outside, Mark and Helly run along the corridors; smiling and scared, their futures terrifyingly uncertain.
It’s a devastating ending, and it smartly flips Mark and Gemma’s connection to Orpheus and Eurydice.
The Orpheus and Eurydice story explained
MeisterdruckeAs told in Greek mythology, Orpheus – a legendary musician, poet, and prophet – falls in love with Eurydice. They get married, and even though the man who blessed their marriage predicted trouble on the horizon, everything seemed to go to plan.
However, soon after, Eurydice suffered a fatal viper bite as she danced with the Nypmhs (in some versions of the story, she was pursued by a satyr). She died instantly, and Orpheus’ grief was so powerful that it made the gods weep – and in a desperate effort to bring her back, he traveled to the underworld.
His grief was so powerful that he convinced Hades and Persephone to allow Eurydice to return to Earth. They had one condition: he had to walk in front of her and never look back until they reached the upper world.
So, off he went… but as he ascended back to the living world, he felt anxious at how he couldn’t hear Eurydice’s footsteps behind him; what if the Gods had tricked him?
As he stood before the exit from the underworld, he lost his faith and turned… and there she was. Alas, because he looked back, he doomed her to remain in the underworld forever.
How it connects to Mark and Gemma’s Severance twist
Apple TV+Lumon may not be literal hell, but it’s the closest thing to the underworld in Severance; a seemingly neverending labyrinth that effectively imprisons the spirits of those who work there (well, one half of them at least).
Mark’s Outie believed Gemma was killed in a car crash (just as Orpheus believed Eurydice was dead). In Season 2, thanks to his Innie’s bravery, he discovers she’s alive and trapped deep within Lumon (just as Eurydice could be saved from the underworld).
Gemma’s story also parallels Persephone: just as the goddess was bound between the underworld and the world above, Gemma’s existence is split between herself and the persona formed by Lumon (and Mark’s MDR efforts with Cold Harbor).
And, just as Orpheus and Eurydice’s story ends in despair, Mark and Gemma don’t get a happy ending (at least, not yet). Just as Orpheus was desperate to make sure Eurydice was there, Mark put his faith in the one person he should have been able to trust – himself – and in doing so, he damned Gemma to the horror of her husband slipping through her fingers, just as they found each other.
In Greek legend, it’s Eurydice who can’t leave the underworld. In Severance, Mark’s Innie isn’t trapped: he rejects the order of the real world, choosing love in a hopeless place over eternal dark.
Find out what we know about Severance Season 3, and catch yourself up with our guides on the Eagan family tree and the Lexington Letter. If you’re looking for something else to watch, we’ve rounded up the best shows like Severance and all of the year’s releases in our 2025 TV calendar.
