On top of being a sci-fi mystery and a psychological thriller, Severance is a spectacularly funny dark comedy. And in its Season 2 finale, “Cold Harbor,” it brought its hilarity to new, bloody heights.
I’m talking about the death of Lumon’s resident intimidator, Mr. Drummond (Ólafur Darri Ólafsson), who goes into work ready to celebrate the completion of Cold Harbor and winds up getting wailed on by Mammalians Nurturable head Lorne (Gwendoline Christie), held hostage by Innie Mark (Adam Scott), and then accidentally killed by Outie Mark, all in the span of minutes.
Mr. Drummond’s death itself is spectacular. As he and Innie Mark ride the elevator down to the Testing Floor, Mark holds him captive by placing the bolt gun used for sacrificing goats at his throat. As the elevator triggers Mark to switch to his Outie, he accidentally pulls the trigger. Blood immediately spurts from the hole in Drummond’s chest, coating the walls of the elevator and a horrified Mark. Between the bloody elevator (The Shining, anyone?) and Ólafsson’s gurgled last breaths, this is Severance at its goriest and most horror adjacent. But it may also be the best, darkest joke the show has pulled off so far.
The entire scene hinges on a core world-building rule Severance has established since day one: Innies change into Outies and vice versa when they’re in the Lumon elevator. The dolly zoom shot of the change, accompanied by the elevator ding, is one of the most iconic images associated with the show. We’ve watched countless versions of it, many of them just presented as mundane instances of switching in and out of work mode.
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Severance plays on those expectations in “Cold Harbor,” which sees Innie and Outie Mark stage a heist to save Gemma (Dichen Lachman) that involves their involvement on different floors. That’s the first step in the setup for Mr. Drummond’s death: We know Mark will be toggling from Innie to Outie more often than usual. So when Innie Mark holds Mr. Drummond at gunpoint as they step into the elevator, a question arises: What will happen when he switches? Will Mr. Drummond take advantage of the change to overpower Mark?
As the two ride down, though, the alternative becomes inevitable. The switch we’ve grown so accustomed to over the seasons will force Mark to unknowingly punch a hole in Drummond. (A literal punchline, if you will.) Imagine Outie Mark’s experience in this moment: One second, he’s headed to Lumon. The next, he’s waking up with a man’s blood on his hands. It’s both terrifying and funny, and Scott nails both the comedy and horror of the change from Innie Mark calling the shots to frightened Outie Mark. Meanwhile, the initial shock from Mr. Drummond’s neck wound sent me into a fit of blood-stained laughter, at both the death itself and the fact that Severance even had the guts to go there.
The whole sequence is an immaculately crafted, extra-dark gag that ushers in a new stage of chaos for the finale — including another unconventional elevator switch where a newly reunited Outie Mark and Gemma transition to a bewildered Innie Mark and Ms. Casey mid-kiss. It’s the product of two seasons’ worth of build-up, and it leaves us with one last morbidly humorous tableau: the doors of the elevator failing to close on Mr. Drummond’s corpse. What a way to go.
Severance Season 2 is now streaming on AppleTV+.
