After a crazy ending toSeveranceSeason 2 Episode 4, Woe’s Hollow, Episode 5 titled Trojan’s Horse followed up with a not-as-crazy but still pretty wild ending. Let’s break down what exactly was going on to Mark at the end of Episode 5.
What is going on with Mark?
In the final scene ofSeverance 2Season 5, Trojan’s Horse, we see Mark really going through it. For starters, he’s still got that cough, the one that’s seemingly been nagging him the last few episodes. When did we last see that? From Mark’s work buddy Petey in Season 1 who had debilitating—and eventually fatal—effects from reintegration. As he goes to leave his reintegration session with Reghabi, a former Lumon surgeon who also assisted Petey, he hears his wife Gemma’s voice.
As he tries to shake it off, Mark hears it again, before his surroundings change to the long black hallway from the Lumon severed floor. He walks towards the voice of his wife, who seems to be reciting what Ms. Casey told Mark’s innie during his Wellness Session. “Your outie listens to music while shaving, but not while showering,” he hears, trying to navigate what appears to be the halls of the Lumon severed floor searching for her.
The voice grows closer, “Your outie once caught a butterfly,” Mark hears, before turning around to see none other than his wife Gemma, as she appeared at Lumon on the severed floor—AKA like Ms. Casey—looking back at him. Mark freezes instantly with a look of fear, excitement, and sadness all at the same time. Which, by the way, Adam Scott has been absolutely killing it this season. Well, to be fair, the whole cast has.
Anyway, “Your outie is going to-,” Gemma starts to tell him, before suddenly she disappears and Mark is back standing in his house, no longer in Lumon. Understandably, Mark bursts into tears. So what happened here?
It appears reintegration is happening for Mark
Early in Season 2 Mark made the choice to commence with reintegration. He held off in Season 1 after what happened to Petey, but learning his wife might actually still be alive, he made the decision to do it anyway. What happened at the end of Season 2 Episode 5 is exactly that: Mark is seeing/remembering the memories from his innie.
While it’s great for Mark to get confirmation that his wife Gemma is still alive—at least in some way—it’s clearly taking a toll on Mark as indicated by his increased coughing. That being said, there’s no way Mark puts an end to it after finally making some progress toward finding his wife.
What else happened in Season 2 Episode 5?
Here’s some other thoughts I have after watching theSeveranceTrojan’s Horse episode, though beware some of these might be theories of an obsessed fan!
