Severance

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't see why Devon would trust Cobel more than Reghabi.

Good point. And why doesn’t she run this by Mark, or trust her brother more?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:https://nypost.com/2025/02/21/real-estate/severance-building-is-a-real-place-in-new-jersey-and-you-can-even-visit-there/

The shows location is in NJ and you can go into building!!!

DCUM field trip!

Here’s what I’ve been wondering about…why did Irving decide to be severed? We know the reasons that the other characters made this choice, but unless I
missed something, I don’t think we know what led Irving to Lumon.

And why are there so many references to drowning and water — not just Gemma’s response to the nurse’s question about fearing suffocation or drowning more, but also:

Irving torturing Helena by basically water-boarding her in the waterfall,

the comment about outie Irving going on a long voyage (did Milchick say that?),

the eerie whistling of the Edmund Fitzgerald, a song that is about a shipwreck and drowning,

the picture in outie Irving’s apartment of a sailor who might have been his dad;

and Cold Harbor — the name of the supremely mysterious and important project that Mark is working on and the last room that Gemma will enter.

Also, not water-related, but in the episode 7 flashback scene to Mark and Gemma and Devon and Rycken at dinner, why was Rycken so normal then? He and Mark even seemed friendly. What changed after that for him?

And finally, is it cheating if I watch episode 8 tonight while my husband is out of town? I did that once with The Americans and I still feel terrible about it.

Good question. Also, why would Mark's sister even choose Rycken. His personality is completely and utterly unappealing to me. So insecure and needy.

Finally, this is probably obvious, but severing would be such a great tool for the military. No PTSD. Very easy to get severed soldiers to do anything you want, because they have no context.

Black Mirror did a version of this -- hacking soldier brains

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I was frustrated with this episode and thought it moved too slowly. I was mad she fell asleep in the bed and left the good looking guy sitting outside in his truck so my favorite part was possibly when he burst in saying he was freezing out there in his truck.

One thing that makes the vibe of this show so weird is we have no context clues. The tech is a weird mix of stuff from different decades. We haven’t seen a grocery store or a movie chain. Even the cars are sort of nondescript, like they could be 30 years old or could be contemporary. It’s very unmoored.

Also do we know where we are? I assumed upstate New York near Niagara but I’m not sure why. It seems like it’s been winter forever which I didn’t really notice until the flashbacks with Gemma when it was spring. Will it ever be spring in this show? Again, it’s unmooring to have no seasons passing.

The repeated references to water are interesting. But I took it as geogrpahical. People who grew up on the Hudson or the Great Lakes or Maine will have water as a constant. Now we know that Lumen is from that creepy town than Harmony is from, on some sort of bay.

I wanted more about the Lyman back story but I guess we’ll have to wait.

PS is Sissy her paternal aunt or her mom’s lesbian partner? The plaque on the wall indicates Sissy is also a Corbell.

Yes, most of the external locations are upstate New York.

Also, my brain always reads "Kier, PE" as "Erie PA" .

"PE" being a state/province and the mix of British and American language in the show indicates that this is an alternate history world, with US/Canada being different from our own.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:https://nypost.com/2025/02/21/real-estate/severance-building-is-a-real-place-in-new-jersey-and-you-can-even-visit-there/

The shows location is in NJ and you can go into building!!!

DCUM field trip!

Here’s what I’ve been wondering about…why did Irving decide to be severed? We know the reasons that the other characters made this choice, but unless I missed something, I don’t think we know what led Irving to Lumon.

And why are there so many references to drowning and water — not just Gemma’s response to the nurse’s question about fearing suffocation or drowning more, but also:

Irving torturing Helena by basically water-boarding her in the waterfall,

the comment about outie Irving going on a long voyage (did Milchick say that?),

the eerie whistling of the Edmund Fitzgerald, a song that is about a shipwreck and drowning,

the picture in outie Irving’s apartment of a sailor who might have been his dad;

and Cold Harbor — the name of the supremely mysterious and important project that Mark is working on and the last room that Gemma will enter.

Also, not water-related, but in the episode 7 flashback scene to Mark and Gemma and Devon and Rycken at dinner, why was Rycken so normal then? He and Mark even seemed friendly. What changed after that for him?

And finally, is it cheating if I watch episode 8 tonight while my husband is out of town? I did that once with The Americans and I still feel terrible about it.

Good question. Also, why would Mark's sister even choose Rycken. His personality is completely and utterly unappealing to me. So insecure and needy.

She likes being the boss, and he needs a boss

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I was frustrated with this episode and thought it moved too slowly. I was mad she fell asleep in the bed and left the good looking guy sitting outside in his truck so my favorite part was possibly when he burst in saying he was freezing out there in his truck.

One thing that makes the vibe of this show so weird is we have no context clues. The tech is a weird mix of stuff from different decades. We haven’t seen a grocery store or a movie chain. Even the cars are sort of nondescript, like they could be 30 years old or could be contemporary. It’s very unmoored.

Also do we know where we are? I assumed upstate New York near Niagara but I’m not sure why. It seems like it’s been winter forever which I didn’t really notice until the flashbacks with Gemma when it was spring. Will it ever be spring in this show? Again, it’s unmooring to have no seasons passing.

The repeated references to water are interesting. But I took it as geogrpahical. People who grew up on the Hudson or the Great Lakes or Maine will have water as a constant. Now we know that Lumen is from that creepy town than Harmony is from, on some sort of bay.

I wanted more about the Lyman back story but I guess we’ll have to wait.

PS is Sissy her paternal aunt or her mom’s lesbian partner? The plaque on the wall indicates Sissy is also a Corbell.

Sissy is her aunt. It was in the Inside the Episode segment at the end of the credits. I haven't watched those but this one was good.

The episode was filmed in Newfoundland.

I liked this episode. We moved to something outside of the Lumon we know and it also answered a lot of questions - Lumon is a cult. Seems similar to Scientology. Ms. Huang is a child not just because of when she was born, but also because she's in an "elite" Lumon internship program. Cobel has been betrayed and seems pretty furious about it.

And Patricia Arquette gave an amazing performance.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Loving this show - it feels very West World-ish to me. But was thinking, since Helly is an Egan, why would they risk giving her a “real” severed position? Wouldn’t they create some faux amazing position for her innie to ensure she had a great severed experience, so as not to risk exactly what happened (I’m sure they didn’t anticipate that her innie could ever get “out” but her innie being miserable/self harming could leak out, or could make Helena second guess things)

I had the same question as well. Why not give Helly a cushy job or no job at all? Possible explanations are that Macrodata Refinement is the cushy job or that they are incredibly shirt staffed and need all the bodies they can get.

It is a cult, so they may really believe in it.

Sort of like God making his only son become human, be crucified, etc.

Yes, they are ignorant and arrogant.

Remember that this is just a brain drug company run like a religious cult in dying towns.

The people running it don't really know what they are doing on the innovation side. It's all theater.

Macrodata Refinement is the most important work the company does, the crown jewel. Of course the CEO would want her innie to work there. Meanwhile, the corrupt and incompetent leadership don't know there is any risk, because they refuse to entertain any evidence that they are not in fact perfect.

(Sound familiar?)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I hated this episode. Physical and psychological torture for an hour +, no relief or explanation. It felt claustrophobic which I guess was the point.

I felt like this had a lot of explanation, compared to where we've been until now.

I didn’t think so. It was pretty clear Gemma was held on a different floor. Now we know she somehow signed up for it but not why and we know the files are rooms/specific fears but still not how it helps Lumon. The idea of her stuck there is way worse than the severed floor.

No, we don't know that she signed up for it. We don't know how she got there.

She said she signed up as an experimenal test subject with Lumon after the miscarriage. But she may not have known exactly what she signed up for before they hacked her brain.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't see why Devon would trust Cobel more than Reghabi.

Good point. And why doesn’t she run this by Mark, or trust her brother more?

At first, Mark was unconscious and she was trying to save him.

When she eventually did connect with Selfig (Cobel), Mark was awake and with her.
Maybe they had a conversation we'll see next week.

It is strange narrative thread though. At the show wanted Cobel and Mark together, it would be easy enough for Cobel to call Mark after she left Salt Neck in a rage.

How does a dead town like Salt Neck have such good highway cell phone coverage???

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This episode wasn't for me. I feel like we didn't need a whole episode dedicated to what basically amounted to one revelation that I'm not terribly sure changes the narrative much.

Well, I've always been a huge fan of Patricia Arquette, so I'll take a whole episode of her any time. And, I think that what has made Lumon great and powerful is the Severance procedure, so if she has invented it, then she, personally, lays bare the lie that the Eagans are special. So, I think she's the key to breaking the hold that the cult has on everyone. Of course, we know that cults are not about logic, so there's a story to be told there, thus we get another season.

But, I also think that Mark is her son, and that's why she lives next door to him. Maybe he was adopted or something and that's why he has a sister who is clearly not her daughter.

I agree, and think we saw glimpses of this in season 1, when she was the one who drilled into Petey's head to get his chip back, and when she was the one who discovered the OTC was in effect and got them to end it. The other Lumon higher-ups are inept in comparison.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I was frustrated with this episode and thought it moved too slowly. I was mad she fell asleep in the bed and left the good looking guy sitting outside in his truck so my favorite part was possibly when he burst in saying he was freezing out there in his truck.

One thing that makes the vibe of this show so weird is we have no context clues. The tech is a weird mix of stuff from different decades. We haven’t seen a grocery store or a movie chain. Even the cars are sort of nondescript, like they could be 30 years old or could be contemporary. It’s very unmoored.

Also do we know where we are? I assumed upstate New York near Niagara but I’m not sure why. It seems like it’s been winter forever which I didn’t really notice until the flashbacks with Gemma when it was spring. Will it ever be spring in this show? Again, it’s unmooring to have no seasons passing.

The repeated references to water are interesting. But I took it as geogrpahical. People who grew up on the Hudson or the Great Lakes or Maine will have water as a constant. Now we know that Lumen is from that creepy town than Harmony is from, on some sort of bay.

I wanted more about the Lyman back story but I guess we’ll have to wait.

PS is Sissy her paternal aunt or her mom’s lesbian partner? The plaque on the wall indicates Sissy is also a Corbell.

Sissy is her aunt. It was in the Inside the Episode segment at the end of the credits. I haven't watched those but this one was good.

The episode was filmed in Newfoundland.

I liked this episode. We moved to something outside of the Lumon we know and it also answered a lot of questions - Lumon is a cult. Seems similar to Scientology. Ms. Huang is a child not just because of when she was born, but also because she's in an "elite" Lumon internship program. Cobel has been betrayed and seems pretty furious about it.

And Patricia Arquette gave an amazing performance.

And Jane Alexander - 85! year old Jane Alexander - was Sissy. I love how they get great actors to do this show.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:https://nypost.com/2025/02/21/real-estate/severance-building-is-a-real-place-in-new-jersey-and-you-can-even-visit-there/

The shows location is in NJ and you can go into building!!!

DCUM field trip!

Here’s what I’ve been wondering about…why did Irving decide to be severed? We know the reasons that the other characters made this choice, but unless I missed something, I don’t think we know what led Irving to Lumon.

And why are there so many references to drowning and water — not just Gemma’s response to the nurse’s question about fearing suffocation or drowning more, but also:

Irving torturing Helena by basically water-boarding her in the waterfall,

the comment about outie Irving going on a long voyage (did Milchick say that?),

the eerie whistling of the Edmund Fitzgerald, a song that is about a shipwreck and drowning,

the picture in outie Irving’s apartment of a sailor who might have been his dad;

and Cold Harbor — the name of the supremely mysterious and important project that Mark is working on and the last room that Gemma will enter.

Also, not water-related, but in the episode 7 flashback scene to Mark and Gemma and Devon and Rycken at dinner, why was Rycken so normal then? He and Mark even seemed friendly. What changed after that for him?

And finally, is it cheating if I watch episode 8 tonight while my husband is out of town? I did that once with The Americans and I still feel terrible about it.

Good question. Also, why would Mark's sister even choose Rycken. His personality is completely and utterly unappealing to me. So insecure and needy.

She likes being the boss, and he needs a boss

Also you can see in the Gemma episode that Devon and Rycken had a much looser, easier time together in the before time.

[Anonymous]

Haven’t read a lot of the posts, but, agree that I feel puzzled by what decade it is meant to be set in as well as location. All desolate. Constant winter. Weird light at all times. What are we supposed to be taking away from all of that?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Haven’t read a lot of the posts, but, agree that I feel puzzled by what decade it is meant to be set in as well as location. All desolate. Constant winter. Weird light at all times. What are we supposed to be taking away from all of that?

We're supposed to notice but not yet know why, I think.

But also it shows this as a desolate, joyless place - there is never any light or sun. Even for the outies. The innies have more joy, actually.

I saw someone on reddit posit that perhaps there was a pandemic or other kind of holocaust that wiped out a lot of the population - and these are the people who're left. Who knows!

They all have old cars - but we've seen at least one iPhone. So... ?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Haven’t read a lot of the posts, but, agree that I feel puzzled by what decade it is meant to be set in as well as location. All desolate. Constant winter. Weird light at all times. What are we supposed to be taking away from all of that?

I've entertained the idea that the outies are all actually the first layer down in Severance world, a la The Matrix. So the real world is actually a construct, and not physical, which is why everything is slightly off, it's always winter, etc. But there are a lot of things that also contradict that idea.

I just get the impression that Mark is not a hapless victim of Lumon.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Haven’t read a lot of the posts, but, agree that I feel puzzled by what decade it is meant to be set in as well as location. All desolate. Constant winter. Weird light at all times. What are we supposed to be taking away from all of that?

I've entertained the idea that the outies are all actually the first layer down in Severance world, a la The Matrix. So the real world is actually a construct, and not physical, which is why everything is slightly off, it's always winter, etc. But there are a lot of things that also contradict that idea.

I just get the impression that Mark is not a hapless victim of Lumon.

One other thing in hung up on—has there been any indication of what knowledge or information the innies vs. outties retain? I couldn’t work out that the innies believed the waterfall they saw during their outdoor adventure thingy was the biggest one in the world. They seem to possess some sort of baseline knowledge of the world-mark knew what sex was, and when we were introduced to Hellie, we didn’t see her go through some of start up programming to inform her baseline intellect. I guess I feel like I can’t reconcile that bit. Did I fall asleep at some point and miss something?