A podcast I was listening to suggested something similar. Cobel and Milchick were somewhat rehabilitated this season and next season they would team up with Devon and Mark (assuming he makes it out somehow) to take down Lumon.
Severance (Apple TV+)
- Thread starter iRelate
- Start date
I was at this Q&A, they were all pretending he 'got lost in the bathroom' before he came out with the marching band so he was the only one that got TWO grand entrances. I held off on the finale so my first time watching it would have been in a theater full of fellow stans. Makes me wonder why TV theater wouldn't be more of a thing, the shows are already widescreen.
To filled the Severance filled void in my heart, I started re-watching season 1 for the first time in over two years. And it's kind of jarring that there's a scene with Helena with Milchick in episode two getting her Severance chip. You can tell Helena as a character had not been fully realised in the writer's room, even the dynamic between her and Milchick is off, it's almost like he's her superior - I think he even calls her Helly. Obviously, not a huge deal but it's a bit of whiplash after seeing how perfectly the Helly Vs Helena intricacies were done in season 2.
She / Her
Some recap I was watching mentioned that the sacrifices could also apply to innie deaths a la Burt's retirement or Irving getting fired. I assume there are or have been others in Gemma's position (the empty room across the hallway from hers for example, or the other refiners having files that don't coordinate to any of Gemma's rooms), but sacrifice for innie deaths as well would definitely make the goat killings more frequent.
Doing a rewatch, this part in S1E3…
Mark: Severance has helped me
Pete: Ok, what if the cost of that help is that you’re murdering people eight hours a day and you don’t even know it?
Mark: Do I?
Petey: I found a department, one they don’t tell us about, one where they don’t get to leave. As in, they’re down there right now
Mark: What, like chained up or?
The way they lowkey told us there! Also, that seems to imply that Gemma is one of many. Maybe not all at once, but yeah.
Also, Cobel watching Mark at home through the window and looking concerned, saying “oh Mark, are you alright?” ???? Very confused why she cares when she knows why he’s not alright.
ETA: The perpetuity wing visit where Helly is taking a long look at the statue of Jame…..there are so many little things
Mark: Severance has helped me
Pete: Ok, what if the cost of that help is that you’re murdering people eight hours a day and you don’t even know it?
Mark: Do I?
Petey: I found a department, one they don’t tell us about, one where they don’t get to leave. As in, they’re down there right now
Mark: What, like chained up or?
The way they lowkey told us there! Also, that seems to imply that Gemma is one of many. Maybe not all at once, but yeah.
Also, Cobel watching Mark at home through the window and looking concerned, saying “oh Mark, are you alright?” ???? Very confused why she cares when she knows why he’s not alright.
ETA: The perpetuity wing visit where Helly is taking a long look at the statue of Jame…..there are so many little things
Last edited:
he/him
I'm sure there's many times it was refuted, but could this possibly mean there are
innies within Cobel?
Hmmm I don’t know, she was spying on Mark constantly so this was on track with that and her weirdness as Mrs Selvig, it was just odd for her to show concern like that when she’s kinda the reason why he’s sad.
I also just got to the part where she went snooping in his house, and she smelled a candle from Gemma’s stuff…I’m interested if we will learn more about what she was up to with this stuff.
She stole the candle and made Ms. Casey use it in a wellness session with Mark to test the severance barrier.
My guess is that the MDR floor was created specifically for Mark due to his proximity to Gemma? We know both of them were intentionally targeted and sought out by Lumon for whatever reason. I think the floor being severed just generally gives Lumon more control over their employees as well. Their productivity incentives simply wouldn't work for a non-severed employee.
I also think that it's so secretive (they literally have a human prisoner they're doing experiments on, and probably more) and they don't want anything at all about it getting out. They don't want to risk anyone trying to figure anything out.
The innies are also a “pure” manifestation of each person, unlinked from the baggage and trauma their outie carries, so being in that severed state may facilitate access to the subconscious required for refining.
iMark can give balanced reactions to Gemma-related stimuli without the grief of her death directly influencing his selection process—stimuli which they seemingly use to then generate new innies for Gemma.
Lumon seemingly knows the separation between innie and outie isn’t perfect (hence why Gemma facing tangible reminders of her own grief in the Cold Harbor room is of such significance), which is why the MDR employees are only allowed to know their work is “mysterious and important,” and why the employee handbook (from The Lexington Letter) states that knowledge of what they were refining would impede their ability to do the work.
iMark can give balanced reactions to Gemma-related stimuli without the grief of her death directly influencing his selection process—stimuli which they seemingly use to then generate new innies for Gemma.
Lumon seemingly knows the separation between innie and outie isn’t perfect (hence why Gemma facing tangible reminders of her own grief in the Cold Harbor room is of such significance), which is why the MDR employees are only allowed to know their work is “mysterious and important,” and why the employee handbook (from The Lexington Letter) states that knowledge of what they were refining would impede their ability to do the work.
Please
The things I find most interesting about the show are how Lumon interacts with the world around it. The winter fellowship was a great bit of world building about how Lumon indoctrinates people from a young age and takes advantage of rural (?) communities who have limited resources. I seem to remember season 1 covering Lumon’s legal battles and questioning by Congress (or did I make that up). That’s super fascinating to me. The fate of Gemma… less so.
Anyway it seems like the whole point of the severed floors is to clone/program Kier, right?
Anyway it seems like the whole point of the severed floors is to clone/program Kier, right?
Omg with the cast? Let me share my critiques with Adam Scott in person