Warning: this article contains spoilers for Severance – up to and including The After Hours (episode nine, season two) on Apple TV+.

After two divisive bottle episodes, the penultimate episode of Severance has hurled us straight back into the main storyline, which means that all of our key players are exactly where they need to be for next week’s finale.

First, a recap: Harmony (Patricia Arquette), Mark (Adam Scott) and Devon (Jen Tullock) are at the Severed birthing centre, attempting to gain a better understanding of what’s going on at Lumon. Burt (Christopher Walken) has done something that not a single Severance fan predicted: he helped Irving (John Turturro) escape Lumon’s clutches… or so he’d have us believe, anyway.

Elsewhere, Gemma (Dichen Lachman) is still languishing on the Lumon testing floor – the very same place that Helly R (Britt Lower) is determined to break into – if she can shake off her outie’s father – and Milchick (Tramell Tillman) is going through something of a rebellious streak of his own. Dylan (Zach Cherry) and Miss Huang (Sarah Bock) have both done an Elvis and seemingly left the building forever. Mr Drummond (Ólafur Darri Ólafsson) is still reeling from that lexicology lesson. Gretchen (Merritt Wever) is still oblivious to the trouble she’s caused on the Severance floor.

You get the picture; everyone is doing something major right about now, but what does it all mean for the finale? As always, I have thoughts and fan theories aplenty to share…

1. Can Gemma be saved?

You heard it from Harmony first, everyone: Cold Harbour’s completion will result in Gemma’s death… again. But why is Lumon so determined to torture her up until this point? There’s growing evidence that Gemma’s mind was never supposed to wake up in the first place – raising the possibility that she isn’t just a test subject, but a prototype.

So, how will Mark, Devon and Harmony work together to save her? And, on that note…

2. What is Harmony Cobel’s endgame?

Harmony has seemingly turned against Lumon, but her motivations remain murky. We know she believes in Kier’s divinity – but she also has a vested interest in Mark. Is she protecting him? Using him? Trying to turn him into a Lumon saviour?

The biggest clue might be her coded reference to the ‘gold thimble’.

3. So, what is a ‘gold thimble’?

Harmony informs the guard at the birthing centre that she’s looking for a gold thimble, prompting a strange expression to drift over the uniformed woman’s face. And it’s worth noting here that the ninth episode of Severance’s second season, The After Hours, shares its name with an episode of The Twilight Zone, which involves a woman, who’s out shopping for a gold thimble, finding herself trapped in a department store that turns eerily empty after hours.

Severance recap: all of our predictions for the season 2 finale (and the questions we need answered)