In the winding corridors of Lumon Industries, where minds are severed and identities fractured, Severance has carved out one of the most haunting and profound love stories on TV. But beneath the hit Apple TV+ show’s corporate dystopia lies the possibility of a mythic echo that stretches back to ancient Greece — specifically, to the story of Orpheus and Eurydice.
In giving us the backstory of Gemma in the show’s most recent episode, the epic seventh episode of Severance Season 2, the potential link becomes hard to ignore. If Mark S. (Adam Scott) is our modern Orpheus, then Gemma (Dichen Lachman) is undoubtedly his Eurydice — trapped not in the underworld of Hades, but on Lumon’s testing floor, an underground purgatory where fragmented consciousnesses flicker between selves. The parallels between the two stories not only enrich Severance’s narrative but might also offer a chilling hint at what fate awaits Mark and Gemma.
A descent into the underworld
In Greek mythology, Orpheus descends into the underworld to retrieve his beloved Eurydice, who’s died from a serpent’s bite. His music, so achingly beautiful, moves Hades to allow Eurydice to return to the world of the living, on one condition: Orpheus must not look back at her until they’ve both reached the surface.
In Severance, Mark’s journey is no less perilous. While his outie walks the sunlit world above, his innie toils on the severed floor — just one level above where Gemma languishes, locked in endless psychological torment. The divide between them is not death but memory, a chasm carved by the severance procedure itself. Mark’s longing to reunite with Gemma, though he barely knows it, is the engine driving both halves of his fractured existence.
The dual selves of Orpheus and Mark
One of Severance’s most brilliant narrative devices is its constant interplay between two versions of the same person. Mark’s struggle to reintegrate his innie and outie mirrors Orpheus’ divided soul, a man caught between two worlds. Orpheus is both a living man and a visitor to the dead. Mark is both a grieving husband and a clueless employee, split across layers of reality he can’t fully comprehend.
But what makes Mark’s plight even more tragic is that reintegration might be the only way to free Gemma. Just as Orpheus must lead Eurydice out of the underworld himself, Mark must bridge the gap between his two selves — a journey that could break him or set them both free. We saw Gemma try to engineer her own escape in Episode 7, only to transition back to her clueless innie once she steps out of the elevator and into the long, dark hallway. Milchick cuts her off at the end, sending her back the way she came.
Will Mark ‘look back?‘
The Greek myth’s most devastating twist is that Orpheus fails. At the last moment, doubt gnaws at him — he turns to see if Eurydice is still behind him, and she vanishes back into the underworld forever.
If Severance is following the same blueprint, the question is not whether Mark can save Gemma — it’s whether he can resist the self-destructive pull of doubt, fear, or even love. What happens if he learns the full truth too soon? What happens if he tries to reintegrate before he’s ready? Will his desperate need to see her again doom them both? Helly/Helena has also inserted herself into his life. I can’t help but wonder if Lumon fully intends on showing the Mark+Helena hookup during the ORTBO to try and break Gemma somehow.
There’s so much we still don’t know. This potential connection to Greek myth, however, gives me a bad feeling.
A glimmer of hope
Yet there is one difference that could rewrite the myth: Mark isn’t alone. Orpheus walked his path in isolation, but Mark is part of a growing rebellion — the Macrodata Refinement team, allies who might help him carry the burden of bringing Gemma back. The myth, in other words, doesn’t have to end the same way.
If Severance has taught us anything, it’s that the line between hope and tragedy is razor-thin. As Season 2 hurtles toward its conclusion, the show seems to be asking whether fractured souls can ever be made whole — or if some reunions are always destined to slip through our fingers, just out of reach. Mark, don’t let us down; you’ve got this. The only reason you’re there in the first place because of your powerful love for Gemma. And love, supposedly, conquers all.
