Severance Season 2 Episode 5 Ending Explained: What Ms. Casey & Mark's Scene Really Means
Warning! This article contains major spoilers for Severance season 2, episode 5.
Severance season 2's episode 5 ends with an intriguing Mark and Ms. Casey scene that hints at what lies ahead for Mark's innie and outie. After walking through one of its strangest story beats and settings in episode 4, Severance season 2 returns to unfolding in the Lumon building in episode 5. After Severance season 1's ending, Helly makes her first appearance in the series and faces the confusing aftermath of the destruction her outie left behind in Lumon.
While showing how the innies feel about Irving's departure, Severance season 2's episode 5 also features some story beats from the outside world. In one of these, Irving's outie finally crosses paths with Burt's outie, and the two decide to meet for dinner. Another major outside scene shows how Devon and Ricken struggle to see eye to eye when Ricken blindly writes a new book for Lumon. Before theSeverance season 2 episode's credits start rolling, it leaves viewers with a gripping Mark and Ms. Casey scene that perfectly paves the way for future developments.
Mark's Ms. Casey Vision In Severance Season 2 Episode 5's Ending Explained
Mark's Outie Finally Experiences The Reintegration
In Severance season 2 episode 5's final arc, Mark initially complains he has not experienced any signs of reintegration since the day Reghabi carried out the process. However, after he briefly interacts with Reghabi about Gemma and gets a glimpse of some of her old belongings, something in him suddenly switches. As a result, he notices the first signs of reintegration by suddenly finding himself inside the Lumon building. As he heads deeper into one of its corridors, he runs into Ms. Casey who recites her Wellness Director lines.
While the scene only confirms that Mark's reintegration is finally taking effect, it is hard not to wonder whether Ms. Casey's final line to him means something. The episode's credits start rolling before she completes her last sentence. However, it almost sounds like she says, "Your outie is going to kill..." If the last word of her final sentence was actually "kill," Severance season 2 will likely get increasingly dark in its second half.
Milchick's Performance Review & Its Implications Explained
The Review Forces Him To Change His Ways
It was previously believed that the Board complied with Mark's request and arranged for his former team members to return after he requested them to. Lumon's reforms and new perks for the severed workers also seemed like a new tactic Lumon wished to implement to ensure the MDR employees loyally did what they were hired for. However, Milchick's performance review reveals that treating the workers in a more humane way was his idea. He believed that giving them more freedom and treating them like humans would make them feel more valued and eventually improve their productivity.
To Milchick's dismay, Drummond reveals that his strategies did not work and prompts him to be a little more stern with the employees. Milchick, too, agrees that he should tighten the leash and even threatens Mark's innie to tread carefully after his fling with Helena Eagan. This new development suggests that Milchick will likely become more and more ruthless towards the employees to ensure they finish their work on the Cold Harbor project. This would mean that all the allowances and freedom the workers previously enjoyed will slowly be taken away.
By gradually showing how Milchick is starting to question Lumon's ways, the show might be hinting at his potential shift in allegiance.
The fact that Milchick previously wanted to treat the workers in a more humane way suggests that, deep inside, his moral code does not align with Lumon's. While the company treats the innies like lesser humans and Helena even calls them "animals," Milchick cares about them. He also seems bothered by Lumon's strange racist gift, explaining why he does not let it slide and even asks Natalie about what she feels about them. By gradually showing how Milchick is starting to question Lumon's ways, the show might be hinting at his potential shift in allegiance.
Who Irving Was Talking To In The Phone Booth
Irv's Outie Is A Part Of A Covert Operation
Severance has previously hinted that Irving has had a long history with Lumon. While his innie claimed to have worked in MDR for three years, Lumon's official LinkedIn suggested he had been with the company for nine years. This hints that before he joined MDR as a severed worker, he was either a severed employee in another Lumon department or an unsevered worker associated with the company. His outie seems to know about the Exports Hall because of his experience with the company. The Apple TV+ sci-fi series has also previously hinted that Irv has a military background.
Using his military skills, Irv seems to have volunteered to help someone find the truth about Lumon and expose the company. Viewers previously believed he was talking to Burt's outie through the pay phone. However, Severance season 2's episode 5 confirms that Irv and Burt's outie do not know each other. Since Reghabi is also deadset on taking down Lumon, Irving might be working with her. However, for now, this connection seems unlikely, suggesting multiple external forces are working against Lumon.
What Dylan Finds Behind The "Hang In There" Poster
He Finds A Map & Directions To The Exports Hall
In Severance season 2 episode 4's ending moments, Irving asked Dylan to "hang in there" before Milchick permanently terminated him from Lumon. Dylan finally connects the dots in episode 5 and realizes that Irv's final words were pointing him towards a "Hang In There" poster in Lumon's break room. As he looks behind the poster, he finds a map that not only shows a rough layout of their floor but also contains directions to the Exports Hall. This revelation is a crucial development in the series because the Exports Hall leads to the testing floor where Gemma is likely being kept.
Dylan will likely find himself at a crossroads in Severance season 2. His desire to avenge Irving's termination will encourage him to explore the Exports Hall and find the truth about Lumon. However, he will also fear that Lumon will prevent him from meeting his outie's wife if he becomes too rebellious. Only time will tell whether he will become more compliant just to be able to meet his outie's family or double down on his efforts to seek answers.
Who Was The Man In The Exports Hall In Severance Season 2 Episode 5's Opening Scene?
Severance Seems To Intentionally Hide The Man's Face
When Irv met O&D's Felicia in Severance season 2's early episodes, she identified the Exports Hall from the drawing in his notebook. She revealed that they initially used to send their own people down the hall before a mysterious man was hired for the job. The same man shows up in O&D while whistling Gordon Lightfoot's "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald" in Severance season 2 episode 5's opening moments.
Severance Key Facts Breakdown | |
Created By | Dan Erickson |
Rotten Tomatoes Critics' Score | 97% |
Rotten Tomatoes Audience Score | 83% |
Streaming On | Apple TV+ |
Given how "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald" is about the ship, SS Edmund Fitzgerald, which was registered in Milwaukee's port and set on its final voyage from Wisconsin before meeting a dark fate, the song might have hinted at the "Exports Hall" Man's identity. When Burt's outie meets Irv in Severance season 2's episode 5, he mentions he had to cancel his Milwaukee vacation plans with his husband, Fields, after Irv's innie came knocking at his door. This Milwaukee connection could mean Fields was the whistling man who took dental equipment from O&D to the testing floor.
Why Mark's Innie Gives Up On His Quest To Find His Outie's Wife
Mark Feels Helpless After The Helly/Helena Situation
After learning the truth about the whole Helly/Helena operation, Mark feels betrayed and struggles to find a reason to justify his existence as an innie. His growing feelings for Helly gave him a deeper sense of purpose and made him feel more human. As a result, he started embracing his human curiosity and emotions, which made him want to look for Ms. Casey. However, after learning the truth about Helena, he wonders what he will get out of finding his outie's wife. Therefore, he decides to keep his head down and focus on his MDR work. Little does he realize his outie has other plans.
Why Ms. Huang Does Not Want Milchick To Treat the MDR Workers Like Humans
Ms. Huang Might Be Another Part-Timer
Ms. Huang seems a little too robotic like Ms. Casey and even shows unwavering loyalty towards Lumon in Severance. In Severance season 2's episode 5, she even asks Milchick not to make the MDR workers feel like humans by agreeing to let them have a funeral for Irv. Her lack of empathy and detachment makes it hard not to believe she is a part-timer like Ms. Casey. Like Casey, she seemingly never leaves the Lumon building and does not have an "outie." The fact that she works at Lumon instead of going to school suggests she might have been presumed dead in the outside world.
Both Ms. Casey and Ms. Huang are referred to with their "Ms." titles, hinting they might be subjects of the same Lumon experiment.
Mark's final interaction with Reghabi in Severance season 2's episode 5 suggests that Lumon stole Gemma's dead body from the Morgue and found a way to revive her. The company might have done something similar to Ms. Huang after she died. If this is true, both Huang and Casey could be test subjects for Lumon's revival technology experiments.
What Drummond Means When He Talks About Helena's Four Tempers' Alignment
Drummond's Temper Alignment Comment Highlights The Eagan Family's Loyalty To The Kier Cult
Image via Apple TV+
When Helena meets Drummond after her traumatizing stint on the severed floor, Drummond encourages her to return to work as her innie. Helena seems resistant, but Drummond assures her that her four tempers will regain their alignment in no time. Drummond's statement calls attention to Kier Eagan's quote about taming the four tempers:
“In my life, I have identified four components, which I call tempers, from which are derived every human soul. Woe. Frolic. Dread. Malice. Each man's character is defined by the precise ratio that resides in him. I walked into the cave of my own mind, and there I tamed them. Should you tame the tempers as I did mine, then the world shall become but your appendage. It is this great and consecrated power that I hope to pass on to all of you, my children.”
The fact that Drummond expects Helena to have her four tempers tamed in perfect alignment in Severance shows how blinded he is by devotion to the Kier Eagan cult. It highlights that anyone associated with the Eagan family legacy is expected to abide by a certain set of rules and behaviors, explaining why Helena secretly hates her outie life.
Severance is a psychological thriller series featuring Adam Scott as Mark Scout, an employee at Lumon Industries who undergoes a "severance" procedure to separate his work and personal memories. However, as work and life personas mysteriously begin to collide, it quickly becomes clear that not all is as it seems. Created by Dan Erickson and directed by Ben Stiller and Aoife McArdle.
- Cast
- Adam Scott, Britt Lower, Zach Cherry, Tramell Tillman, Jen Tullock, Dichen Lachman, Michael Chernus, John Turturro, Christopher Walken, Patricia Arquette, Sarah Bock, Marc Geller, Michael Cumpsty
- Showrunner
- Dan Erickson, Mark Friedman
- Directors
- Ben Stiller
- Writers
- Dan Erickson
- Main Genre
- Drama
- Seasons
- 2
- Story By
- dan erickson
- Streaming Service(s)
- AppleTV+
