The 5 Most Important Reveals In Severance Season 2, Ranked

Are there any "Severance" scenes that are not important? The show infuses every single second with so much meaning that even the worst "Severance" season 2 episode is a tense affair, packed with seriously interesting Lumon lore and important character backstory. The sophomore season is particularly great at delivering a steady barrage of tense, meaningful moments, all of which seem like they might have the potential to change the course of the show for good — and surprisingly, many do precisely that. 

Because of this, ranking the very best revelations of "Severance" season 2 is no easy task because the viewer is so spoiled for choice. As such, some fans may very well — and justifiably, since it's a brilliant sequence — be annoyed to find out that, say, Mr. Milchick's (Tramell Tillman) amazing out-of-the-blue season finale dance number that unveils Lumon's strange Choreography and Merriment department is absent from this list. 

However, there's a method to the madness. The five "Severance" season 2 revelations listed here, are not only brilliant, chill-inducing moments in their own right. More than any other scenes in the season, they also carry far deeper meanings that make a massive impact in the later events, and will no doubt continue to do so when "Severance" season 3 eventually arrives. 

On almost any other show, the moment when Mark S. (Adam Scott) and Helly R. (Britt Lower) crawl through a small hatch door in the otherwise nondescript Lumon severed floor complex and find a massive room full of grassy hills would easily be the visual of the season. On "Severance," it's still up there — but the eye-popping burst of green pales in comparison to the viewer's realization that the characters have finally, if accidentally, hit the proverbial mystery jackpot: This is the place where the goats come from.

Mark and Helly's excursion to the goat department, aka Mammalians Nurturable, unveils a strange group of semi-feral workers who grow cute goats for an unspecified purpose and act in a borderline hostile fashion when they attempt to ask whether the Mammalians crew has seen outie Mark's wife Gemma, who works in the severed floor as Ms. Casey (Dichen Lachman). Fortunately, department head Lorne (Gwendoline Christie) turns out to be a wary but sensible woman who's willing to exchange information and build a modicum of rapport with the Macrodata Refinement visitors, despite some truly strange things the Mammalians seem to believe about them. 

Before this moment, the Lumon teams we've seen have been strange but still fairly ordinary "sinister office" fare. This is the first look at a truly outlandish and incomprehensible Lumon department, which foreshadows the upcoming Choreography and Merriment revelation. More importantly, the true task of Mammalians Nurturable — which fans still have to wait a few episodes to find out at this point — ties directly into some of the darkest goings-on within Lumon. Lorne, in particular, plays a massive role in the season finale.

Technically, Mr. Milchick is an antagonist, but Tramell Tillman's nuanced powerhouse of a performance has made him a clear breakout character on a show where every single character is built to shine. With his dance moves, middle manager antics, and increasingly visible frustration with the powers that be, Seth Milchick is one of those rare small screen figures who elevate every scene they're in. Even though he keeps defaulting to a Lumon minion setting, it's hard not to root for the guy ... at least, when he's not actively ruining the Macrodata Refinement Team's day. 

For fans who are clamoring for a Milchick redemption arc, "The After Hours" offers balm for the many wounds his corporate lackey antics have caused. The Severed Floor Manager has spent the majority of the season eating humiliation after humiliation from the very company that employs him — and when Mr. Drummond (Ólafur Darri Ólafsson) once again admonishes him by demanding an apology for using what he deems an overly complex word, Milchick finally has enough. In what Tillman's future highlight reel will no doubt refer to as the "devour feculence" speech, Milchick whips out a combination of his signature grandiloquence and extreme sarcasm — pay careful attention to the switch in his verbal settings after he promises Drummond to explain things monosyllabically — to demand respect.    

Does this objectively awesome but professionally risky approach work for Milchick? No. In the very next episode, he has it worse than ever, as he's forced to star in what's effectively a Lumon minstrel show. However, Milchick is visibly seething throughout the finale, and after "Severance" one day ends, we'll almost certainly look at "The After Hours" showdown as the moment that finally unleashed the show's greatest character.

The "Severance" season 2 finale, "Cold Harbor," marks the very first time the same person's innie and outie are able to have a true dialogue with each other. By using a severance-equipped cabin at Damona Birthing Retreat and a video camera, Mark Scout and Mark S. are able to have an almost real-time conversation where the former tries to get the latter to help in the daring attempt to rescue Gemma Scout before the completion of the Cold Harbor file kills her. As the two Marks are quick to note, it's freaky and intense ... and it doesn't go well at all.  

The polite messages turn into an existential, tense discussion when innie Mark understands that what outie Mark is asking will ruin not only his life but his shot at pursuing a happy relationship with Helly. As a result, Mark S. breaks contact, and it remains unclear whether he intends to collaborate. He does, eventually, after some encouragement from Helly — but after a dangerous and successful rescue mission where both Marks have to jump through some serious hurdles, Mark S. goes into business for himself. He helps Gemma out but doesn't follow, instead locking her out and vanishing into the depths of the severed floor with Helly.   

This all begins with the video camera scene's unflinching look at the innie/outie divide, which establishes innie Mark's survival instinct and desire to have his own life. Judging by how the end of "Severance" season 2 hints that Mark S. isn't alone in this desire and a full-on innie rebellion might be coming, the severed floor is about to become a very interesting place.

"Severance" has always been a mystery box with few obvious rules of engagement, but up until "Woe's Hollow," viewers could rely on at least one thing: the show would never muddy the waters when it comes to the innie/outie divide. Even when the MDR team broke into the outie world in the season 1 finale, the show explicitly showed how the process works and when the transition between the personalities happens. 

"Woe's Hollow" takes that rule and throws it out of the window. Irving B. (John Turturro) becomes confrontational toward Helly R. during the ORTBO retreat, questioning her outie story and becoming furious when Helly suggests he's imbalanced due to the grief he feels after losing Burt (Christopher Walken). Things eventually escalate to violence when Irving, after spending a strange night away from the camp, returns to physically attack Helly. It's a rough scene to watch. Everyone except Irving is in full-blown panic, and rightly so. Then, the prolonged, incredibly uncomfortable drowning sequence turns into something much stranger when the desperate Helly reveals that she's actually Helena Eagan.  

The monumental revelation that Helena has been posing as Helly sends massive shockwaves through several storylines. Mark has to deal with the aftermath of sleeping with Helena, thinking she was Helly instead. Helly is obviously less than comfortable with it all, Irving gets fired for the attack, and Dylan loses his most trustworthy friend. However, the revelation's biggest impact is that the viewer can't trust "Severance" anymore. "Woe's Hollow" is the show's signal flare to the fans, signifying that nothing is as it used to be and that viewers would do well to scrutinize every single thing they used to take as a given. 

The whole "Chikhai Bardo" qualifies as one giant revelation, really. However, all of its other info drops are chump change when it comes to the Big One of the episode, and perhaps the entire show: Gemma Scout has multiple innies. 

A key factor of Gemma's plight is that she has to spend regular time in assorted rooms, which correspond with various refined MDR files. She has a new innie in each, as well as her primary severed floor identity, Ms. Casey, who seems to be a failsafe to keep her from escaping. As the season proceeds, we learn that her multi-innie existence ties into the Cold Harbor file Mark is working on, which will ultimately kill her — though it's unclear whether we're talking about a physical death or the destruction of the Gemma identity. 

As with the Helena Eagan reveal in "Woe's Hollow," of course, the actual events of the episode are tremendous but pale in comparison to their implications ... or rather, the questions that they raise. Has Mark been the only one creating Gemma's innies? If not, what's the meaning of the files the other MDR team members have been refining? Is Gemma the only person on Earth with multiple innies, or is the show hiding other characters in a similar situation? The upcoming "Severance" season 3 may or may not answer all these unanswered questions and mysteries and more ... but "Chikhai Bardo" is the episode that opened the can of worms.