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The season finale of AppleTV+'s Severance left viewers in utter shock, thanks to its cliffhanger that left room for several questions.
Created by Dan Erickson and directed by Ben Stiller, the series revolves around Mark, an employee at Lumon Industries who agrees to a 'severance' program where his non-work memories are separated from his work memories. The story unfolds as he gradually learns of and uncovers the web of conspiracies of the company.
Let's dissect and understand the season ending of the AppleTV+ series.
Note: This article contains spoilers.
Analyzing the end of Severance Season 1
The season finale of Severance left viewers with several shocking moments while also answering some burning questions. The biggest plot twist was that Gemma was still alive, even though her death was the reason that resulted in Mark deciding to join Lumon and be severed.
This storyline is the kind that will complicate some situations, adding to the cliffhanger of the finale. It is somewhat impossible for Gemma to be a former employee who was severed before her accident, as her body would still require the Innie persona to be activated.
The end of Severance season 1 revealed that Ms. Casey had Gemma's face, which means she was either severed or suffered from amnesia, or wasn't Gemma at all. On the other hand, Mark is too stunned after learning about the death that probably never happened in the first place.
Analyzing Gemma's future
In the season finale of Severance, Innie Mark was able to piece together that Gemma is actually Miss Casey and is still alive. He also knows that she has been fired from Lumon and was sent down to whatever place the elevator takes her. This leaves Lumon questioning as they faked her death to get Mark to join them.
In an interview with Variety, creator Dan Ericson shared:
"Yeah, I just worry that Ben Stiller is going to leap out and kill me if I say anything. There’s a question of sort of who was targeted first: Was Mark targeted because of his relationship to Gemma, or was it the other way around? And that’s something that we we don’t see this season, but we will see in subsequent seasons."
He further added:
"That’s the big question, what is special about Mark? And is it actually that there’s something special about him or is it more about Gemma, and he was sort of pulled in? Those are all left unanswered this season, but we will get into it."
What makes the situation even more confusing is that Lumon is too interested and invested in Mark and his wife, enough to fake her death. Director Ben Stiller shared more about the finale, saying:
"In my mind, it’s sort of like a real-time episode. In the beginning, it’s a little homage to '24,' one of my favorite shows. It’s that idea that it’s happening over the course of an hour or so. It’s only a 40 minute episode, but that was the hope. And yeah, it’s a long time for him to be stretched out."
Catch Severance Season 1 streaming on AppleTV+.
