Spolier alert - Don’t read unless you are caught up on the show. If you haven’t watched it you should close this thread and watch it. It’s very entertaining.
Several people commented about it in the tv show thread so figured we could discuss this crazy ass show.
Spoilers below…
So now that Mark S chose to stay with Helly instead of going with Gemma after saving her… What do you think or theorize happens next? What happens with Irving? What happens to Gemma on the outside? She’s meant to be dead and had a funeral already.
John Turturro needs another season, and we never figured out who he was talking to on the payphone. So, some loose ends there. I suspect that Irving was trying to hack his innie, hence painting the same shit every night to ‘force’ his way into his Innie’s subconscious.
Not sure on Gemma.
As for Mark: there’s a compelling case to be made that Mark’s ‘outie’ is likewise trapped in some sort of Lumon simulation. Not even convinced his ‘outie’ is an outie. Too much weird shit going on in that small little town that’s named after Kier (along with the diner), to say nothing of the oddness of Ricken’s creepy ass friends in the first episode (“here’s our little captive!”) to guarantee that there isn’t something bigger happening.
In a lot of ways, season 2 created more questions than answers.
If you believe Britt Lower, the actress who plays Helly/Helena, she was playing Helly in the ending scene.
"In seeing how people discuss this show, it sometimes makes me feel like I have to question everything. On my third watch of the finale, I started to think, Is that really Helena searching for innie Mark to keep him from leaving?
Lower: That’s Helly R. in the final episode. But I think, in [Episode 9], Dylan has thrown some doubt in her own understanding of herself. She’s lost this father figure in Irving and then she’s lost this brother figure because Dylan seems to have turned his back on her, at least in that episode. When Mark, at the beginning of [Episode 10], presents her with this chance for him to get to live in some capacity, and she’s just seen her weird dad, who’s told her, “Oh, I see Kier in you,” it cast some doubt inside of herself that she has a family anymore.
I think when Dylan comes back and to the vending machine and the marching band [is playing] and he’s on her side, then all of a sudden she’s standing on a desk remembering Irving and remembering that their half-lives are worth fighting for, I think she just runs to go see Mark one last time. Maybe there’s a chance they can do this all together. For all they know, if he crosses that barrier, they’re going to take down Lumon entirely and all of these innies are going to get wiped away. I think it’s just gut instinct that she runs."
Additionally, the scene where she holds the gaze with Gemma was completely unscripted and instinctual and she apparently fought to keep it in the edit. But who knows, could be the actors/actresses playing with us too.
This is something I hope they follow (and I think they will). She was featured too much in season 2 for them to just drop her like 'welp, she’s out, story over".
I feel like they have to. Mark has seen her body, had a funeral and her ashes. She can’t just be walking around. She needs immediate protection and to be hidden. On the other hand is that even the real Gemma?
Really loved season two, and the finale in particular. Just such a well done show, perfect mix of sci-fi with weird artistic craftsmanship and really interesting, thought provoking moral questions that wouldn’t be explored anyplace else.
In terms of what happens next, I hesitate to even guess, because this is one of the few shows that continually surprises me. But since you are literally asking me to, here is my guess: the big theme of next season will be an all out war between Mark S’ innie versus his outie. At least, that’s what I would do if I were writing it.
It’s like doing mock drafts with Severance theories…I bet Ben Stiller is reading internet theories for good ideas… He probably doesn’t even know where to go next.
