Well, it was necessary damage control but I doubt anyone hear and think anything else but 'Buuullshit'
Nevertheless, it's still clear that despite the initial negative blow, Lumon unfortunately managed to turn it to their advantage. Whatever the project Cold Harbour is, they seem confident it's worth holding on until it's out.
If it's something as great as being able to bring back the dead by using their loved ones memories, that would indeed push a lot of people to get chipped, for everyone to safeguard each other with this digital immortality.
(Well, I'm saying that but the body is still a big missing factor, especially with Mark telling us this episode he saw Gemma dead)
Did we know they were currently making meds? I know it was mentioned at the non-food dinner party in season one as a possibility but I believe someone responded something to the effect of "they still do that?". So basically all I'm asking is, was that somewhat of a reveal?
It's like watching her inner child. She laughed at the joke because that same sense of humor is in there somewhere. That's what removing childhood trauma does to a mf.
She’s definitely very envious of Helly. Helly lives by her values and risks her limited existence to rebel against authority. She has never been able to live as authentically as her innie, and it’s probably jarring and captivating to see that version of herself onscreen
EDIT: was happy to see that Britt confirms this in the after credits! Such an impressive performance
I think there’s definitely an element of the outies and innies having similar personalities but then expressing them differently. Helena, I’d imagine, is really tied to the Eagan legacy, to the point where she has to put out a statement about drinking to excess on a rash medication to save face for something she didn’t consciously do. I’d imagine seeing Helly throw caution to the wind and acting on her own desires rather than thinking about how it will affect the Eagans/Lumon would make her jealous.
I am so fucking pumped. I remember so many people saying she’d be a great villain, and she’s really gonna be in on all this…but I’ve been thinking that her experiences are actually changing her. And so many scenes in this episode felt just like that.
She may be an Eagan but I now get the sense that she’s the runt of the litter. Makes sense in a way, they wouldn’t subject anyone they care about to Severance. Hoping she flips
Yes, how interesting that he lied to Milchick about what happened with no hesitation. And he doesn’t seem to be particularly surprised or confused by his innie taking over.
John Turturo shines even in short scenes. That winning smile when he says "What'd I eat in there?" And then "Why don't you tell me what's going on." Chills!
I had a fish tank like this in college. Also red a blue beta, I named the Mussolini and Stalin. One day I came home to one with a broken neck because it tried to fight the other one through the glass.
Seems to me more like something that would be said by a traumatized person whose parents blamed the baby (herself) for something the baby couldn't have controled and then punished the baby.
I never believed the theory that she was a Lumon employee, but I'm so happy it's been so clearly debunked. Devon is a badass. The only sane person in the room.
lol what kind of insane theory was that? feels like some people just really want every single thing to be a twist, above appreciating actual characters
I was wondering how they were going to visually represent that audio distortion at the end of the intro where it was flickering between Mark's innie and outie before and... oh yeah, appearing out of the back of his head.
Made me wonder about someone trying to put a mind into Devon's baby Eleanor. Maybe even in their subconscious, i.e. they're not aware that they house a mind the way a computer might house a file, but that consciousness can be brought back into the driver's seat Manchurian Candidate-style. (That's probably too crazy, but still... creepy old man baby.)
It made me wonder how deep the recursive splits could go: there have always been way more than two Marks in the intros. Do the innies have innies? Are the “outies” actually innies themselves fractured from a true final outie-form?
The latter seems a bit silly and I’m a little high, but the former…I would actually be surprised if we didn’t get at least one more layer of “innies” before the show is over.
I was distracted by the baby being a doll/fake baby this episode, in the scenes at Devon and Ricken's house. Maybe Cobelvig really did take the baby! 🤣
It's those fucking evil stop motion Christmas specials Ben Stiller mentions in the podcast I swear. They've been tormenting us since childhood and are back
The fact that they made an entirely new, super complex animated intro from scratch, after how great the first one already was, really demonstrates how much of a labor of love and real work of art this show is.
I wonder if they’re really going to do this for every season. I think now the expectation is there, so they kind of have to.
I think this was an overstep and an error on Milchick’s part. Outtie Mark was pretty dismissive of any mention of her involvement in any capacity before this, but Milchick bringing it up planted the necessary seed of doubt in his mind that maybe she could still alive or somehow be tied into all of this.
What's going to lure Mark in more than the tiniest hint she really is alive? All his yelling at Devon that she's obviously wrong and doesn't know shit was a classic "lady doth protest too much".
I liked when he sort of did a Wellness Center session with Mark. Kind of weird how one would be susceptible to praise, even if it's technically about a person you don't really know.
There's a weird kind of altruism in being motivated by your innie being a happier, more likable, basically better person than you
Like yeah even if I didn't get to experience any of it I can't help but feel tempted by the idea of letting people become friends with the better version of me I could theoretically be if I didn't have all my trauma and baggage, I feel guilt over being unable to be that person for people in my life who might benefit from it
Hahaha I thought the same thing! But the writers and directors have every single little detail down that the next second they cut to a shot of the bike with a basket thing on the back. What a plot hole that would have been
It's so weird watching Helena instead of Helly. I loved that she had to clarify she was on a non-Lumon medication. Britt Lower has done an excellent job playing both of them. Also, Milchick looks great on a bike.
I laughed when she said "for a rash on my arms." Her arms were completely exposed in that dress. Why did they pick the area everyone could see? If she'd said legs no one would question her alibi.
I get the feeling they need him so bad they would give him a 2000% bump if that’s what it took, but that would be suspicious and if 20% does the trick, might as well save some money lol
They spent a crazy amount of money flying Mark W, Maeby, and the Italian guy to that branch and they tore up wellness in like 48 hours and somehow got Ms. Huang on board. Clearly no expense is spared.
If anyone at a company offers you 20% raise immediately counter. Even if they balk and say no, you'll still get the 20%, but you'll also know exactly how much power you have after.
And yet, it pales in comparison to everything they are doing behind the scenes to keep him working. Going back and re-hiring 3 other people just to increase the productivity is more like a 300% increase (or 200% if you don’t count Helly). And then the pride you’ve got to swallow to do that.
They implemented all of these improvement measures (seemingly) JUST to get Mark to come back. It’s not like anyone is going down to fact check them 🤔
And then you pair all of that with the fact that because Mark wanted everyone, he’s getting everyone—including Helly R—completely flipped the script of what we thought was the power structure of this season. We assumed Helena was actually the most—or one of the most—important people in the show, but it turns out her value and safety are TRIVIAL compared to Mark S completing whatever the project was they said he needed to finish.
I think he’s worth an unspeakable amount of money to them (for reasons we still can’t piece together), but they can’t go and offer him that kind of money and let him know just how important he is. Just fascinating.
This show does such an incredible job of answering questions in a satisfying way, while somehow creating 3 more questions that are somehow more compelling and significant than the previous.
I really felt bad for Dylan because you could see how precarious his situation is & innie Dylan imagines his outie is this amazing dad who lives on a river boat with a cool walk-in closet
I really liked the reference to Dan Erickson's experiences working at the door factory, which he talks about in every interview. It was at this company that he wanted to be "servered" and just jump to 5pm at the end of the day and finally be himself and do what he wanted, so the idea for the TV show came about.
This episode confirmed what I’d suspected for a while: Mark is special. He’s important to Lumon for some reason. They were willing to fire the others but give him a raise just to stay. Then, when iMark demanded his team back, they gave him his team back just to get him to keep doing the work.
I forget the name of the file Helena mentioned, but she said they need him working until he finishes it.
For some reason, it has to be Mark. Which makes me think it has to do with Gemma. I’m not sure what it will all come down to, but I think it’s clear that Lumon’s need for Mark puts him in a position of power. I’m guessing he will figure that out and hopefully use it against Lumon.
Milchick believed mark is the only necessary employee to keep things on track so he treats him well but obviously that changes over the course of the episode when he realizes mark needs them
This was such a smart way to open the season. Catch us off guard for the premier, and then answer most of the unknowns by showing the story from the other side in ep 2.
I'd be really curious to see someone watch these two episodes out of order. I think it would work just as well on a rewatch, but the order they went with is better for weekly viewing.
Reminds of that one show a while back where the order of the series didn’t matter and it just played the episodes randomly so each person experienced it differently. I can’t for the life of me remember the name or what it was about though
I doubt it. It's been pretty intuitive to see how tonight would play out and it all makes total sense in the timeline as we are now synced up. Imagine of the all outie episode was next week instead that would be jarring as hell
I’m glad I’m not the only one. The cinematography in this episode was fantastic across the board, but that scene made me stop and point out to my fiancé (doesn’t watch the show) how cool it was
My favorite cinematography in this episode was of Milchek in profile with backlighting, so that you could see a bright edge on his face contrasting with the darkness. I thought it was stunning.
Incredible. Really the whole episode was shot after shot of magic but that one in particular someone really went to work that day and said let’s do something beautiful
I'm glad they showed that scene with Dylan getting discriminated while trying to get a new job because I was just thinking about it the other day. I'd imagine plenty of companies out there would not hire a severed person.
One detail I love is how his glasses always slip and when he was holding them, they were almost off making the audience feel so uncomfortable and adding to the tension of the whole scene and situation. It’s just a small thing that probably gives us all a particular sensation. And also the crazy thing is that innie Dylan has no control over his glasses at all. He doesn’t even know it’s not a normal thing for glasses and it just makes me sooooooooo irritateduncomfortableitchy
I chuckled about that occam's razor comment, after that post in here just yesterday (two days ago?) from the guy insisting that we all need to apply occam's razor to all our theories before posting.
I think "the message" was the painting, and Outtie Irving now knows that Innie Irving saw it, meaning he "got the message" and is now ready to do something with it.
I was thinking the message was in all the paperwork Innie Irving went through. The stuff with all the Lumon employee information on it
I personally think the paintings are Outie Irving attempting to gain information on what’s going on at Lumon. I think he doesn’t sleep much on purpose as a way to access his subconscious mind easier while he paints. Drinks lots of coffee and plays loud music so he doesn’t fall asleep but his mind is trying to and wanting to go into a dream like state
However, the idea that Outie Irving is painting it nonstop and staying up late as a way to push it into his subconscious and give it to Innie Irving is an interesting take, as well. I don’t know what he hopes to accomplish with that, though. How would he expect Innie Irving to know what to do with that information? How would Innie Irving communicate back?
What I don’t get is, if the painting of the hallway is the severed floor, wouldn’t innie Irving already know about it? Or is it implied Outie Irving went down there after hours or something?
Edit: put more simply, how is outie Irving able to precisely paint the hallway if even innie Irving doesn’t know it exists?
He seemed apologetic in the message he left. I wonder if it is Rhegabi and Irv refused to reintegrate, choosing instead his own approach of the painting coupled sleep deprivation. That may have led to a falling out of sorts if they disagreed on methodology.
I feel like that was basically confirmed last season. He has so much intel on Lumon in that trunk. That plus thr paintings and sleep deprivation are pretty big clues that he's trying to infiltrate & influence his Innie.
Really, REALLY starting to think either 1) Burt's reintegrated or 2) their outies are exes. Either way, we're going to find out more about this! Excited!
The thing I'm most puzzled about (that I'm probably overthinking) is the shot of Gemma in the testing floor elevator but then it flashes between her and Helly super quickly
I think they wanted to add that into the screeching wheels and not her initial own scream, but yeah, I heard it and instantly went "Thats a fucking Wilhelm scream!".
In the first episode of the Severance podcast, Dan Erickson shares that when he moved to LA to work in film, he took the first office job he could find at a door factory which is where he began writing the show. Loved that he gave a little nod to how it all started!
Semigloss is the smart choice, only someone with a lot of money can execute it though. I would have hired Dylan. I hope his outie pursues legal action for such defamation.
Why do you say that? Semi gloss is the best choice for high-traffic and high moisture rooms. I painted all our cabinets with semigloss paint. It was only a few dollars more per gallon.
Kinda interesting that his reasoning was that the door can either “act as a door” or “disappear” kinda like being severed. Makes sense that he would be the type of person to take a severed job.
Sliding doors, a cinema-based metaphor for different paths that your life can take based on small changes or missed opportunities. Seems to be a pretty clear nod to the different versions of the characters.
I suspect that’s Helly is the way she is because Helena has buried her rebellious nature and wants out deep inside. Which would explain why Helly is so rebellious.
The scene where Mark confronted Cobelvig was soooo fucking good... The mask fully came off at the end and Mark got to see the type of crazy he may be dealing with
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u/UltraDangerLord Jan 24 '25
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