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New York Times
26-03-2025
- Entertainment
- New York Times
I Love ‘Severance.' Now End It.
This article contains spoilers for the Apple TV+ series 'Severance.' When we left Mark S. and Helly R. in the final moments of the final episode of the second season of 'Severance,' the bedraggled lovers were frozen, midmotion, while running down the blinding white nowhere hallways of Lumon Industries, like Paul Newman and Robert Redford at the end of 'Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.' Running down hallways leading nowhere is what Lumon's severed workers — their 'innie' worker personalities severed from their 'outie' lives off the clock — have done for two seasons in the brilliant, unsettling series on Apple TV+. The couple's season-finale sprint, set to the 1960s lilt of Mel Tormé crooning 'The Windmills of Your Mind' ('Like a tunnel that you follow to a tunnel of its own / Down a hollow to a cavern where the sun has never shone') was about as perfect an ending as this show could have conjured. Holding hands, our heroes face an unknown world of more hallways, forever without sunlight. What future do they have? We don't know. Will the nefarious corporate banality of Lumon Industries be dismantled from within? We haven't found out. The devoted fan (including this one) is left with many unanswered questions, as well as that greatest of adult freedoms: the space to think through multiple meanings for ourselves, with no answers imposed on us by the storytellers. This is as it should be. And this is how it should conclude. In that final freeze-frame shot, this devoted fan thought the series was concluded. Bravo! What a compliment to trust an audience to tolerate uncertainty. But the next day, when a third season was announced, this devoted fan felt a little betrayed. Many are cheering. I think it's a pity. I know this is a strange way to respond to a TV show I love, and I don't doubt that the creators of 'Severance' have another season in them. But what if they left it unmade? Not because the creators of 'Severance' can't find more to say; no doubt they can. Maybe they can make the enter-the-marching-band absurdities even bigger, the hinted-at underpinnings of Lumon Industries even more chilling, the sci-fi elements creepier and the psychological musings even more woo-woo. Yet the originality of the series is embedded in those hallways we don't understand and those fleeting symbols we can't quite decipher. The genius of the show lies in the very obscurities the audience loves to dissect. But that's the way we take our popular culture now: Enough is never enough. Do viewers really want their favorite shows to go on without end, continuing to manufacture ingratiating resolutions and treating us like cranky children who want to hear the same bedtime story over and over again? Many of us might wish that 'The White Lotus' had ended after Season 2 and the death of Jennifer Coolidge's character, Tanya McQuoid. 'Ted Lasso,' which seemed to end succinctly after Season 3 in 2023, just announced it will be back for Season 4. Even the exalted series 'The Wire' lost its tautness in its fifth and final year. (It happens in movies, too. Exhibit A: 'The Godfather Part III.') Never mind that for a show's creators to explain more is to ruin the excitement of conjecture. There is timeless wisdom in the rusty showbiz adage of always leave 'em wanting more. Teasing the plot further for the sake of stringing an eager audience along is to risk becoming lost. (Or 'Lost.') Yet as an audience, we apparently can't bear to live with the tension of ambiguity. Are we really those petulant, dully literal guys? The entertainment-industrial complex sure seems to think so, feeding us sequels and prequels and reboots and sure things renewed for one more season until every shark is well and truly jumped. Will I watch the third season of 'Severance'? Of course I will. I'm an unsevered human with hope integrated into my circuits. And when an extended narrative works — I'm thinking of 'Downton Abbey' or 'The Sopranos' — it's a rare and glorious experience. Still, remember the uproar about that 'Sopranos' ending? Nearly two decades ago, after six seasons and 86 episodes, the saga signed off with a breathtaking jolt: The world was closing in on Tony Soprano, and the huge population of fans who had been following his mayhem for years were pleasantly queasy with the understanding that something bad was bound to happen to him soon. But what? And when? We waited. We knew we were watching the last episode, and we waited, and … in the stunning final minutes, the screen cut to black. What precisely happened to Tony? We don't know. More than that, we'll never know. And more than that, we shouldn't know. That's art. There are many who, nearly two decades later, still resent the violent originality of that choice. They're many of the same people now saying they absolutely need to know what is going to happen to Mark S. and Helly R. I'm here to say that nothing about Season 3 of 'Severance' will ever be as satisfying as where they — and we — are now, with a perfect ending and a story full of questions that's faded to black.
Yahoo
25-03-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Labor Strife Looms Over MLB Opening Day
Hello and welcome to another edition of Free Agent! May your baseball-related hopes spring eternal this week—for lo, the winter is past, Opening Day is almost here, and the voice of the turtle is heard in our land. We're talkin' baseball today, but we haven't forgotten about March Madness, we'll take a stop in golfland, and there's also a hockey goal that you've got to see to believe. Before we start, a Reason Friends and Family Bracket Contest update: Mark S. has a narrow lead on the men's side with 550 points, putting him in the 99.9th percentile of brackets on ESPN. You deserve a waffle party, Mark S.! On the women's side, we have a three-way tie of people at 570 points, but only in the 99th percentile—close, but not quite waffle party material, sorry friends. Our resident Los Angeles Angels superfan, Matt Welch, gets mentioned in the Los Angeles Times' rather dour preview of the Angels' season. College basketball's sweatiest coach is heading to Texas. A great defense of sports betting from Ben Domenech. The best team in a bracket this month might not be a basketball team—it might just be Wisconsin women's hockey. (They won the title in dramatic fashion on Sunday.) But this is the most important bracket news this month. Elsewhere in Reason: "Trump and Congress Have a Right and a Duty To Kill the Department of Education" RIP George Foreman: In honor of the late George Foreman (R.I.P.), here is one of the greatest posts of the early blogosphere: — Jesse Walker (@notjessewalker) March 22, 2025 Things are going pretty well for Major League Baseball right now, which means they're probably about to badly screw it up. Attendance is trending upward, game times are shorter and more digestible, TV numbers are promising, and the league has approximately 1 billion fans in Japan (but seriously, the Tokyo Series games averaged 24 million viewers there, or roughly one-fifth of the country's population). The rule changes of 2023 seem to have accomplished their primary goals (despite my disapproval at the time). Yet a potential player lockout before the 2027 season looms over the sport, and there's a good chance a lockout goes a lot more poorly than the last one, which only narrowly avoided any lost games. Commissioner Rob Manfred is already playing a very weird expectations game, saying offseason lockouts should be the new norm: "It's actually a positive," because of the leverage. MLB Players Association Executive Director Tony Clark is already saying he expects a lockout too: "Unless I am mistaken, the league has come out and said there's going to be a work stoppage," seemingly referring to Manfred's comments. Baltimore Orioles owner David Rubenstein is asking for a salary cap, and there's no doubt other owners of midmarket teams agree. Fans and owners might call even louder for parity if the Los Angeles Dodgers win the World Series again with their $322 million payroll this season and Shohei Ohtani's $722 million contract. How are the Detroits, Baltimores, and Cincinnatis of the league supposed to compete with that? Betting odds imply the Dodgers have a roughly 30 percent chance of repeating as champions—thankfully, baseball is still pretty random, and high payrolls don't guarantee success (as the Yankees and Mets have shown with varying degrees of schadenfreude). But even if the big-payroll teams strike out and midmarkets dominate the playoffs, owners are still going to seek a salary cap. A ceiling on their payroll expenses would boost the value of their teams, probably even the ones in major markets. Clark said in 2023 the union is "never going to agree to a cap," and there's no reason to think he or the players have changed their minds. The owners and players already have their positions staked out. They can see the car crash coming two miles away. If this game of chicken ends poorly, they can only blame themselves. In the meantime, let's enjoy another great baseball season—except for you, A's and White Sox fans. You can probably skip this one. One distraction plaguing the league right now is the Tampa Bay Rays, their ownership, and their stadium—or the big gaping hole where their stadium roof is supposed to be. Manfred and some owners are pressuring Rays owner Stu Sternberg to sell the team, according to The Athletic's Evan Drellich. Sternberg has owned and operated the Rays for two decades. In that span, at least four different stadium plans have fallen apart—the last because the stadium literally fell apart. Now they're stuck playing at Steinbrenner Field, the spring training home of the Yankees, which seats just 11,000 people. Lucky(?) for them, the Rays only pulled 16,500 fans on average to home games last season. Sharks are circling in the form of ownership groups trying to buy the team. The league wants to keep the team in Tampa, but with different owners. Supposedly the market is too valuable, but attendance numbers beg to differ. Even with the small capacity, Opening Day still isn't quite sold out, even though cavernous, inconveniently located Tropicana Field had sold out Opening Days for the previous 18 years. If the Rays can't pull people to Steinbrenner Field's supposedly superior location (it's close to Raymond James Stadium and Tampa International Airport), perhaps the league should take that as a sign. Local governments haven't managed to agree with Sternberg on a stadium funding plan anyway (fortunately for taxpayers). Instead, St. Petersburg is stuck paying $22.7 million for a roof on a stadium that everybody hates and wants the team to leave as soon as possible. Sternberg, for his part, is pretty good at the baseball side of things. His staff has done a good job keeping the Rays competitive with low payrolls. There's no championships to speak of, but there are two American League pennants, and before last season the team had a five-year postseason streak. But the Rays need a stadium to play in. If Sternberg can't pay for one himself, it may be time to sell the franchise to someone who can. Upsets have been increasingly common in March Madness until this year's brackets put a hard stop on all that. On the men's side, every No. 1 seed made it through to the Sweet 16, No. 10 Arkansas is the only double-digit seed left, and there are a pair of No. 6 seeds that, semisurprisingly, beat No. 3 seeds. The women's bracket is typically more predictable with fewer upsets, and this year is no different: every No. 1, 2, and 3 seed remains alive, with three No. 5 seeds beating No. 4 seeds. In both brackets, every remaining school is either in the ACC, Big Ten, Big 12, or SEC (except the Connecticut women as the Big East's lone representative). Is this a one-off after years of increasing upsets, or the start of a trend back to the best seeds cruising past the early rounds? As Nate Silver noted about the men's game, first-round upsets were more common from 2010–2024 than 1985–2009, and games had closer final scores, too. But the biggest increase in upsets was No. 11 seeds over No. 6 seeds—which are nice, but not exactly legendary upsets we'll never forget. It seems as though midmajor schools are getting fewer at-large bids, too, so even if there's a good upset by a No. 12 or 11 seed, it's more likely to be Generic SEC University instead of Northwest No-Name State University, which hasn't been in the tournament in 33 years. Which way will March Madness go from here? Will parity and upsets come back, or are they on the outs? The answer may be just as unpredictable as your bracket. The concept of watching professional golfers play on a simulator might seem weird until you realize TGL (TMRW Golf League) pits teams of golf's most famous players against each other. The stakes might not be as high as a major tournament, but Sunday at the Masters isn't going to have Xander Schauffele, Rickie Fowler, Collin Morikawa, and Tommy Fleetwood all in contention. TGL matches are fun to have on TV in the background while you do something else (like write a newsletter). Earlier this season, players seemed like they were having a little too much fun instead of stressing over the match, but the drama and tension of the playoffs have been more engaging. (The hammer rules remain confusing, and the in-arena music is a little annoying.) The TGL Finals are this week, with Atlanta taking the lead over New York on Monday in the best-of-three finals. Awkwardly, Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy's teams didn't even make the playoffs. Have you watched any TGL this season? Let me know what you think at freeagent@ It's always fun when the puck gets batted into the goal out of midair. On Saturday, the St. Louis Blues batted the puck in midair three times, back-to-back-to-back, to take the lead against the Chicago Blackhawks. Keep watching for the overhead shot to truly appreciate how weird this is. Tic-Tac-GOAL ???? (This might be the weirdest goal in history) — B/R Open Ice (@BR_OpenIce) March 22, 2025 We very nearly had a goalie fight, which would have been a guaranteed replay of the week. Alas. That's all for now. Enjoy watching the real game of the week coming up on Sunday, when UFL defending champs Birmingham Stallions take on the D.C. Defenders and (hopefully) a lengthy beer snake. The post Labor Strife Looms Over MLB Opening Day appeared first on
New York Times
22-03-2025
- Entertainment
- New York Times
‘Severance' Finale: Which Theories Were Correct?
This article is almost entirely made up of spoilers. The 'Severance' rabbit hole online is deep, with fans sharing theories about the meaning of the notes used for elevator dings, the true nature of the Lumon Industries office (is it actually a hospital?) and other arcana. Would any of them pay off in the Season 2 finale? Yes, as it turned out. In fact, one of the most popular predictions prevailed in the explosive episode: The numbers Mark S. had been diligently sorting on his terminal were indeed the building blocks of his wife Gemma's mind. With every file he completed, a new consciousness — or 'innie' — of hers was created to be tortured on the testing floor. The effort culminated in Cold Harbor, his 25th and final file, which Mark S. completed as part of a greater scheme and collaboration between his innie and outie to free her. This work, which relied on Mark S.'s gut instinct, was — as Harmony Cobel confirmed — tied to 'the four tempers,' a philosophy developed by the Lumon founder Kier Eagan: woe, frolic, dread and malice. Hats off to the 'Severance' enthusiasts who saw that coming! And while the big Cold Harbor revelations will satiate devotees for a moment, many other questions remain, and many more were introduced. Yes, we learned that the goats serve some sort of ceremonial and sacrificial purpose. 'This beast will be entombed with a cherished woman whose spirit it must guide to Kier's door,' the Lumon fixer Mr. Drummond tells Lorne, of the Mammalians Nurturable department, as he hands her a bolt gun to kill the animal. But surely this is just one element of a much bigger arc — one that may include the riddle of the pompous author Ricken, Mark's brother-in-law, who 'Severance' enthusiasts grew increasingly interested in as Season 2 unfolded. (Some of my co-workers even hoped the finale would be devoted entirely to him.) Of the many goat-related theories and clues attached to Ricken, my favorite is that his phone alarm, which we hear during the Season 1 book reading, is a cowbell: the same sound that was used in the Mammalians Nurturable room this season to get everyone's attention. Is Ricken a goat's outie? (Also, is it too conspiratorial to find a connection between cowbell and Cobel? When it comes to 'Severance,' almost anything goes.) We also learned that the comically creepy Jame Eagan, the Lumon chief executive and Helena Eagan's father, has 'sired' many children 'in the shadows.' But who exactly? And why, in the finale, does he tell Helly R. that he no longer loves Helena and that he, instead, sees the 'fire of Kier' in her? After Mark and Gemma break out of the testing floor, a breathless Dr. Mauer (reminder: he was a doctor in the fertility clinic flashback) yells, 'You'll kill them all!' Is he referring to all of the innies (including the dozens in her head), all of the outies or some other group we haven't even begun to imagine? Other significant lingering questions that will require fans' patience: As for me, I can't shake the feeling that Helly R., who risked everything to help Mark S. free Gemma, would never have derailed his escape at the last minute. She even seemed to have come to terms, begrudgingly, with the fact that she and Helena are the same person, dispelling any notion Mark S. had of them finding happiness together in the end. Was the Glasgow Block (again) initiated? Was that actually Helena running hand in hand with Mark S. into the inescapable bowels of the office? Or did Jame Eagan, no longer seeing Kier in Helena, somehow replace or integrate her with Helly R.? The good news is that Apple on Friday announced that 'Severance' has been officially renewed for a third season. The great news is that Ben Stiller, an executive producer and frequent director, has assured fans that they won't have to wait three more years for Season 3, as they did between the first two. But please, try to enjoy both pieces of news equally.
Yahoo
21-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Season 2 of Severance just ended. Here's everything mysterious and important we've learned
Warning: This review of Severance's Season 2 finale goes full spoiler. If you haven't watched it yet, and want to, stop here. But come back later. It'll be more fun than a waffle party. Usually, on a work day, our innie would write about news. Politics, global events and the such. But, like so many of you, our outie watched the Severance Season 2 finale last night, and the episode was so powerful that it infiltrated some deep, subconscious plane within our mind. All this to say, like the members of our beloved MDR team, our innie is rebelling, and now the only news that matters today is whatever-in-the-name-of-Kier we all just witnessed. And we're here to break it down for you. As Mark S. would say, "the work is mysterious and important." A global phenomenon, the dark and dystopian Severance has broken records as the most-watched series on Apple TV+. Last night, the highly anticipated finale to the second season, called "Cold Harbor," dropped at 9 p.m. ET. The Emmy-winning series follows Mark Scout (known as Mark S. on the severed floor, and played by Adam Scott) as he leads a team at Lumon Industries, where the employees have undergone what they call a severance procedure. The severing surgically divides their memories between their work and personal lives, or their innies and outies. Their inherently innocent innies work on seemingly mundane projects kept secret even from them at the cult-like Lumon, which was founded by the god-like Kier Eagen. Meanwhile, their flawed outies remain unaware of what goes on during their nine-to-fives. The show has touched a nerve with viewers who appreciate its take on compartmentalization, work-life balance, ethics, bodily autonomy and identity. For many, part of the show's irresistible draw is trying to piece together its meaning and mysteries (and there are many). Theories and conspiracies abound on TikTok and in online reviews, ranging from multiple timelines to innie/outie pregnancies to the real meaning of the goats. And last night, we finally got (some) answers. Here's what we now know about the inner workings of Lumon Industries. Warning: Seriously, folks. Spoilers. Don't say we didn't warn you. What's the meaning of the data? The biggest reveal came from Harmony Cobel, played by Patricia Arquette, when she finally tells innie Mark S. the meaning of the data he's been refining for two years. The numbers were pieces of consciousness for his outie's wife, Gemma (Dichen Lachman). "The building blocks of her mind," Cobel explains. Essentially, Mark S. has been creating multiple innies for his outie's dead wife on the testing floor. Yep. Twisted. This, of course, raises the question: What were the other MDR employees refining? Are they all creating innies, too? For who? Sweet merciful Kier. WATCH | Bonavista makes an appearance in Severance: What is Cold Harbor? We also learn the meaning of Cold Harbor, the name of Mark S.'s final file, as well as the name of the final room Gemma enters on the testing floor. It's the final test for Gemma after her other innies were tested in an endless loop of dentist appointments and turbulent plane rides. But this test is personal, by triggering her outie's most traumatic memory: losing her pregnancy, and her subsequent struggles with infertility. In having her disassemble a crib, in the outfit she last wore in the outside world, while one of her and Mark's favourite songs plays in the background, Lumon tests the emotional limits of her severance barriers. Which were holding, by the way, until Mark busted in and convinced her to leave with him. The theory, then, is that Lumon has been testing severing for the mass market. Ah, capitalism. Dichen Lachman, who plays Gemma, is seen in an episode from Season 2 of Severance. (Apple TV+) Why... the goats? I mean, why not the goats? But yes, many fans have been bewildered by the appearance of goats on the severed floor. Even more so this season, after stumbling into Lumon's creepy Mammalians Nurturable Department. Which is, essentially, an indoor field of goats and their oddball goat caregivers. In Cold Harbor, Lorne (Gwendoline Christie) wheels a particularly cute baby goat to a room near the exports hall to be sacrificed. And thus, their biblically dark meaning is revealed. The mystery of the Lumon goats is finally revealed in Cold Harbor. Here, we see the Mammalians Nurturable Department. (Apple TV+) "This beast will be entombed with a cherished woman whose spirit it must guide to Kier's door. Is it up to the task?" asks Drummond (Ólafur Darri Ólafsson) as he loads a gun. Luckily, before the little baby goat can be committed to Kier, they're interrupted by Mark S. awkwardly trying to bust in a door across the hall. An epic fight scene ensues, hearkening to Christie's Game of Thrones she-warrior brute strength as Brienne of Tarth. Get him, Brienne! Save Mark S. and Emile! Gwendoline Christie, who plays department head Lorne, goes full Brienne of Tarth to save Mark S. (and Emile) in Severance's Season 2 finale. (Apple TV+) Our favourite moment We have three words, and three words only: Choreography and Merriment. OK, we lied, we have many more words. Turns out, there is an entire severed department whose sole purpose is to entertain. And they formed a marching band. Then, performed in a scene so masterfully filmed (cameras on the drums! That timing with Gemma on the testing floor! Helly darting around them! Dylan G.! An innie rebellion!) that we laughed out loud multiple times while also nervously clenching our chest from the tension. WATCH | Introducing Choreography and Merriment: In some ways, the scene seemed designed specifically for the diehard fans who have been sharing memes and gifs of Milchick's (Tramell Tillman) unhinged dance moves from Season 1's "music dance experience" for years. A little "we see you and we thank you" moment. And we appreciate it. This scene was perfect in every way. No notes. As a runner-up moment, we must acknowledge Dylan G. (Zack Cherry) for his one-liner when Milchick finally escapes from the bathroom: "F--- you.... Mr. Milchick." A gentleman, always. Zach Cherry and Tramell Tillman are seen in the Severance Season 2 finale. Cherry delivers one of the best lines in the episode, when Tillman's character finally escapes the bathroom. (Apple TV+) Now what? First, we may never recover from the absolute heartache and dissonance of watching outie Mark find innie Gemma, outie Mark and outie Gemma reunite, innie Mark help innie Gemma escape, and outie Gemma plead with innie Mark to join her. In quick succession. Please, just give this duo an Emmy. But as innie Mark chooses Helly R., and the episode ends with them running back into Lumon together as Gemma wails on the other side of the door, we have to wonder: where.... are they even going? Are they just going to hide out in the labyrinth of the halls and hope no one finds them? Have they thought this through? Lower, who plays Helly R., appears just as Mark S. seems about to escape with his outie's wife, Gemma. No one knows who to cheer for in this love hexagon. (Apple TV+) And what happens to Gemma now? Can't Lumon just find her and bring her back? Is Milchick on Team Lumon or Team Innie? Will we ever see Irving again? In some ways, we have more questions now than answers. But luckily.... Season 3 is confirmed Cue the choreography and merriment! Apple TV+ confirmed today that they have renewed the show for a third season. "Making Severance has been one of the most creatively exciting experiences I've ever been a part of," said executive producer and director Ben Stiller in a news release. "While I have no memory of this, I'm told making season three will be equally enjoyable, though any recollection of these future events will be forever and irrevocably wiped from my memory as well." And it looks like fans won't have to wait three years this time. "No, no, the plan is not [to take that long]," Stiller said in the latest episode of the New Heights podcast, after Travis Kelce asked the question. Praise Kier.
CBC
21-03-2025
- Entertainment
- CBC
Everything mysterious and important we know after Severance's Season 2 finale
Social Sharing Warning: This review of Severance's Season 2 finale goes full spoiler. If you haven't watched it yet, and want to, stop here. But come back later. It'll be more fun than a waffle party. Usually, on a work day, our innie would write about news. Politics, global events and the such. But, like so many of you, our outie watched the Severance Season 2 finale last night, and the episode was so powerful that it infiltrated some deep, subconscious plane within our mind. All this to say, like the members of our beloved MDR team, our innie is rebelling, and now the only news that matters today is whatever-in-the-name-of-Kier we all just witnessed. And we're here to break it down for you. As Mark S. would say, "the work is mysterious and important." A global phenomenon, the dark and dystopian Severance has broken records as the most-watched series on Apple TV+. Last night, the highly anticipated finale to the second season, called "Cold Harbor," dropped at 9 p.m. ET. The Emmy-winning series follows Mark Scout (known as Mark S. on the severed floor, and played by Adam Scott) as he leads a team at Lumon Industries, where the employees have undergone what they call a severance procedure. The severing surgically divides their memories between their work and personal lives, or their innies and outies. Their inherently innocent innies work on seemingly mundane projects kept secret even from them at the cult-like Lumon, which was founded by the god-like Kier Eagen. Meanwhile, their flawed outies remain unaware of what goes on during their nine-to-fives. The show has touched a nerve with viewers who appreciate its take on compartmentalization, work-life balance, ethics, bodily autonomy and identity. For many, part of the show's irresistible draw is trying to piece together its meaning and mysteries (and there are many). Theories and conspiracies abound on TikTok and in online reviews, ranging from multiple timelines to innie/outie pregnancies to the real meaning of the goats. And last night, we finally got (some) answers. Here's what we now know about the inner workings of Lumon Industries. Warning: Seriously, folks. Spoilers. Don't say we didn't warn you. What's the meaning of the data? The biggest reveal came from Harmony Cobel, played by Patricia Arquette, when she finally tells innie Mark S. the meaning of the data he's been refining for two years. The numbers were pieces of consciousness for his outie's wife, Gemma (Dichen Lachman). "The building blocks of her mind," Cobel explains. Essentially, Mark S. has been creating multiple innies for his outie's dead wife on the testing floor. Yep. Twisted. This, of course, raises the question: What were the other MDR employees refining? Are they all creating innies, too? For who? Sweet merciful Kier. WATCH | Bonavista makes an appearance in Severance: #TheMoment Bonavista, N.L., made an eerie appearance in Severance 16 hours ago Duration 1:18 Bonavista, N.L., mayor John Norman recounts the moment his bright, remote community was transformed into an eerie, run-down Lumon factory town for the hit Apple TV+ series Severance. What is Cold Harbor? We also learn the meaning of Cold Harbor, the name of Mark S.'s final file, as well as the name of the final room Gemma enters on the testing floor. It's the final test for Gemma after her other innies were tested in an endless loop of dentist appointments and turbulent plane rides. But this test is personal, by triggering her outie's most traumatic memory: losing her pregnancy, and her subsequent struggles with infertility. In having her disassemble a crib, in the outfit she last wore in the outside world, while one of her and Mark's favourite songs plays in the background, Lumon tests the emotional limits of her severance barriers. Which were holding, by the way, until Mark busted in and convinced her to leave with him. The theory, then, is that Lumon has been testing severing for the mass market. Ah, capitalism. Why... the goats? I mean, why not the goats? But yes, many fans have been bewildered by the appearance of goats on the severed floor. Even more so this season, after stumbling into Lumon's creepy Mammalians Nurturable Department. Which is, essentially, an indoor field of goats and their oddball goat caregivers. In Cold Harbor, Lorne (Gwendoline Christie) wheels a particularly cute baby goat to a room near the exports hall to be sacrificed. And thus, their biblically dark meaning is revealed. "This beast will be entombed with a cherished woman whose spirit it must guide to Kier's door. Is it up to the task?" asks Drummond (Ólafur Darri Ólafsson) as he loads a gun. Luckily, before the little baby goat can be committed to Kier, they're interrupted by Mark S. awkwardly trying to bust in a door across the hall. An epic fight scene ensues, hearkening to Christie's Game of Thrones she-warrior brute strength as Brienne of Tarth. Get him, Brienne! Save Mark S. and Emile! Our favourite moment We have three words, and three words only: Choreography and Merriment. OK, we lied, we have many more words. Turns out, there is an entire severed department whose sole purpose is to entertain. And they formed a marching band. Then, performed in a scene so masterfully filmed (cameras on the drums! That timing with Gemma on the testing floor! Helly darting around them! Dylan G.! An innie rebellion!) that we laughed out loud multiple times while also nervously clenching our chest from the tension. WATCH | Introducing Choreography and Merriment: In some ways, the scene seemed designed specifically for the diehard fans who have been sharing memes and gifs of Milchick's (Tramell Tillman) unhinged dance moves from Season 1's "music dance experience" for years. A little "we see you and we thank you" moment. And we appreciate it. This scene was perfect in every way. No notes. As a runner-up moment, we must acknowledge Dylan G. (Zack Cherry) for his one-liner when Milchick finally escapes from the bathroom: "F--- you.... Mr. Milchick." A gentleman, always. Now what? First, we may never recover from the absolute heartache and dissonance of watching outie Mark find innie Gemma, outie Mark and outie Gemma reunite, innie Mark help innie Gemma escape, and outie Gemma plead with innie Mark to join her. In quick succession. Please, just give this duo an Emmy. But as innie Mark chooses Helly R., and the episode ends with them running back into Lumon together as Gemma wails on the other side of the door, we have to wonder: where.... are they even going? Are they just going to hide out in the labyrinth of the halls and hope no one finds them? Have they thought this through? And what happens to Gemma now? Can't Lumon just find her and bring her back? Is Milchick on Team Lumon or Team Innie? Will we ever see Irving again? In some ways, we have more questions now than answers. But luckily.... Season 3 is confirmed Cue the choreography and merriment! Apple TV+ confirmed today that they have renewed the show for a third season. "Making Severance has been one of the most creatively exciting experiences I've ever been a part of," said executive producer and director Ben Stiller in a news release. "While I have no memory of this, I'm told making season three will be equally enjoyable, though any recollection of these future events will be forever and irrevocably wiped from my memory as well." And it looks like fans won't have to wait three years this time. "No, no, the plan is not [to take that long]," Stiller said in the latest episode of the New Heights podcast, after Travis Kelce asked the question. Praise Kier.
