Severance Has Opened The Inferno

So, here’s the breakdown–my outie was shook.

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*Spoilers ahead for finale (sorry I must speak on it)

So, that Severance season two finale had me screaming at the TV like a football dad. The suspense, the cinematography, and the soundtrack crafted a deliciously diabolical conclusion to Apple TV+’s sophomore season of the eerie sci-fi drama. Directed by Hollywood veteran Ben Stiller, the show is both an original take on the twisted corridors of corporate America and an intricately crafted blend of countless Sci-Fi greats and pieces of mythology. (For more on the premise of the show, you can read my recent coverage here).

Before we get into the mythology of the finale, let’s break down this earlier reference. In season two episode nine, the icy Ms. Cobel (Patricia Arquette) tells Lumon security detail at the strange birthing cabins in the town of Kier that she is “looking for a gold thimble.” The term is a reference to an episode of The Twilight Zone, titled “The After Hours,” which initially ran in 1960. The program is widely considered a foundational text in the world of modern Sci-Fi, and this episode in particular features a woman in search of a gold thimble as a gift for her mother. She is directed to the department store’s ninth floor, and is helped by a lone saleswoman who appears with exactly what she needs. 

Realizing the item is scratched, the woman attempts to return to the ninth floor, only to be told the floor is not real. The episode ends with a shot of the saleswoman instead as a still mannequin. Clearly, this is in reference to the dichotomy of the innie vs. outie conversation in Severance, and the notion that innies are merely foot soldiers for the company with no interiority (which, spoiler alert, the season finale proves this wrong). The show offers a satirical look at the concept of a work-life balance, to the point that employees are completely severed from themselves outside of work (hence the terms “innie” and “outie). Through its many references, Severance creates a uniquely frigid hell.

At the central heart of this season was outie Mark Scout (Adam Scott) in search of his wife Gemma Scout (Dichen Lachman) after learning that Lumon faked her death in a car accident and has been holding her in the company’s basement to perform severance experiments on. Mark vows to reintegrate (a process that combines the consciousness of the outie and innie) in order to reunite with her and free her from the “mysterious, but important” inner workings of Lumon. Naturally, this scenario continues to draw parallels to the Greek myth of Orpheus and Eurydice. In short, when Eurydice is sent to the Underworld, Orpheus enters the hellish landscape to save the love of his life, only to lose his faith at the last second, leaving his lover lost to the Underworld. Sound familiar? Severance fans widely began circulating these parallels after the season one finale, in which Mark’s sister Devon (Jen Tullock) asks his innie if he knows who she is, and in a sarcastic tone, he answers “Persephone.” Persephone is yet another figure in Greek folklore, and is the queen of the Underworld, after she was kidnapped and held captive by Hades.

The Greek mythology references at hand with THAT finale in mind raises a lot of questions. Who is Persephone? Who is Eurydice? Who is Orpheus? Is this even the right myth to apply to this show? In the devastating final shot of the finale episode, Gemma is seen pounding on the door for Mark to come through and join her in escaping. Having returned to his severed innie, who does not have a personal relationship to Gemma, he instead turns around and runs off with Helly R (Britt Lower), who his innie has struck up a relationship with in the absence of Mark’s outie’s grief. It is shaping up to look like, in the Greek mythology context, Helly R is Persephone, due to her position of power in the underworld of Lumon’s severed floors (as her outie is the CEO’s daughter), while Mark is Orpheus, and the fate of Gemma’s Eurydice is yet to be revealed. 

Moving away from the Greek tragedy of it all, I can’t help but connect the finale’s ending even more so to the story of Francesca Da Rimini in Dante’s Inferno. Francesca is the first soul to be condemned to hell in the Inferno section of the Divine Comedy. She and her lover, Paolo Malatesta, were condemned to the second circle, for the lustful sinners. Their relationship was born after Francesca fell in love with him while married to his brother for purely political reasons. His brother ultimately kills them both upon learning of their relationship, resulting in their damnation for infidelity. Francesca has a major speaking role in Inferno, but Paolo’s motivations for the relationship remained murkier until the work was re-examined by a certain Irish rock star recently.

Yes, I’m talking about Hozier again. If you’re a Words From My Wits’ End reader, you know that Hozier’s Unreal Unearth deluxe was among my favorite albums of 2024, with the track “Francesca” placing amid my favorites. “Francesca” explores her story in Inferno through the eyes of Paolo, with Hozier belting “My life was a storm since I was born/How could I fear any hurricane?/If someone asked me at the end/I'd tell them, "Put me back in it"/(Da-ah, darlin')/I would do it again (Ah-ah, ah-ah)/If I could hold you for a minute (Da-ah, darlin').” In the lore of Inferno, Mark S is Paolo and Helly R is Francesca. Their split consciousness in one host has led them to (strangely, maybe) commit infidelity without knowing Mark was married or that his wife was alive in his outside life, and if they’re going down, they’re going down together. Much like Paolo, Mark S is willing to risk the wrath of Lumon if it means spending mere minutes more with Helly R. 

To quote Hozier’s “Francesca,” “heaven is not fit to house a love like you and I,” and this is why Helly R and Mark S remain trapped, as they know nothing will come of their relationship once they leave through the back door, hence they accept a hell of their own making. Here’s to hoping that season three will explore more of these mythology connections, and in the meantime, your outie should run through the windmills of your mind and to the library to pick up a copy of Inferno to stay in the loop.