Discussion (warning: WITH spoilers) of the Severance tv show

[lymond]

Spoiler JL :

I hear ya. Again, just a theory and I'm very likely wrong. It's just something that came to mind. The JL conceit I don't think makes for good TV except maybe a miniseries. I assume this is a show that plans to have more seasons. It'd basically be a totally different show once exposed, and I'm sure none of us wants that.

As for unresolved issues, I'm not sure what you mean exactly. Unresolved plotlines? Unresolved plotholes? I've not seen too many plotholes here especially given the mind-bendy nature of this show. Sometimes one just has to take things for what they are and not overthink it. As for plotlines, that may be case, but that is not uncommon with ongoing series.

Cobel is still a mystery to me, and I was thinking on it more tonight. Her firing puzzled me. But more puzzling is her nature. And again this relates to your issue of her laugh. Take her viewing of the session with Mark and Casey - and this is not the first instance. She is obviously testing the Severance process with putting those two together. Seeing if love and attraction breaks through the severed barrier, which it appears to do to an extent. She also in one moment seems pleased, enamored even, at this result. The next moment she appears cold, fires Casey, and send her back to the testing floor. Cobel's firing itself though is puzzling in terms of where this may be headed, as I've always thought the character "key" to everything going on. Next episode will be very interesting when innie "Mark" awakes in Cobel's embrace

BTW, IMDB lists a second season, so this will continue (with 10 epis this time)

 

[Kyriakos]

I like that there will be a season 2, but it has pacing issues. I wonder if Dylan didn't manage to wake up the third person.
Showing the other peoples outies was (for me, not saying this has to be so for everyone, but others mentioned it too in the thread) a bad decision writing-wise, since now there are many centers to the story despite Mark still being the core character.
I do fear that the writers haven't fleshed out most of what is going on*, and that at first this didn't get noticed due to the nice form of the first few episodes (before Dylan being awakened in his closet). It's why I mentioned Westworld: fans had, in the end, far more interesting theories than what was presented in season2 - and the show already collapsed then. Hopefully this won't be the case with Severance, but there are signs of it imo.

*We know next to nothing about:
-What the numbers are
-Petey's procedure and complications
-Accident and its immediate aftermath (for both Casey and Mark)
-Security at Lumon (why it is so minimal)
-Other departments (including the goats and what cards do; I assume the paintings are just alterations of famous paintings to pass as created by Keir)

So it is all in the air, and usually this means it isn't even thought-through, which can have terrible implications for future seasons (ala, once again to use an infamous example, Westworld s2).

 

[Ferocitus]

Guys, I didn't like episode 8.
As usual, when I get invested in a show, disappointment inevitably occurs, because many things now come across as ploys (the x happens only due to y somehow having to happen next).
Anyway, I wonder if there will be a season 2 (episode 9, next week, is the finale of this one).
But I didn't like one bit how Cobel had to change her mind randomly after listening to the stupid funeral joke, felt way too forced, and other things in the episode also were too trivial and cliche imo (kiss, metal music Torturo).
The waffle party was nice; I wonder if they actually would have sex under usual conditions. And the masks were a good touch as well

In some ways it was the weakest of the episodes.
OTOH, everyone is now in place, where they are supposed to be for the finale.

Spoiler :

Mark is at the book party with Cobel.
Dylan is in the security room, ready to throw the switches.
Helly R is at a party (with the Board?)

 

[Kyriakos]

Yes, you may well be right about Helly

Spoiler :

being very closely tied to Lumon (or a double agent, but I doubt the latter)

That would also make more plausible that Cobel was fired over the attempted suicide ( @lymond )
Although less plausible that they'd have no issue with the threat to cut her fingers.

 

[EgonSpengler]

Yeah, this show clearly needs another season.

Above all, there's one nagging question I can't get out of my head: Were the dancers and the masks something Dylan specifically requested for his celebration, or do they just come with the waffles? I kind of hope it was the former. Respect. *fistbump* Or maybe there's like a menu of kinky [stuff] you can choose from, like the list of songs Helly got for hitting 75%.

 

[Kyriakos]

I think the dancers are part of the party and (possibly) you can use the whip on them. They may represent the tempers (?)

 

[EgonSpengler]

I think the dancers are part of the party and (possibly) you can use the whip on them. They may represent the tempers (?)

I read something about the last episode this morning that believed those masks were the (four?) tempers, yes. I don't see it myself, but okay. I'm not sure I understand the whole tempers thing. (Maybe I'm not supposed to. )

The same article noted something I didn't remember, that in her session with Irving, Ms. Casey said, "Your outie likes the sound of radar", and Irving's dog is named Radar. She also told Mark S. "Your outie can pitch a tent in under 3 minutes" and Mark has a bunch of camping equipment in his basement. The author of the article concludes that (a) much of what Ms. Casey said is true and (b) Lumon uses those sessions to test whether anything is "leaking" through the severance device, by observing the severed employees' reactions to the statements.

 

[Kyriakos]

@EgonSpengler I doubt that the writers of the show have fleshed out what the tempers are - if indeed they are more than another red herring and a plagiarism by Keir of Galen's four tempers.
The lack of any information about the numbers, or Petey's surgery and aftermath, is more troubling to me. I think they may only start making it up in season 2, which annoys me.

 

[EgonSpengler]

@EgonSpengler I doubt that the writers of the show have fleshed out what the tempers are - if indeed they are more than another red herring and a plagiarism by Keir of Galen's four tempers.
The lack of any information about the numbers, or Petey's surgery and aftermath, is more troubling to me. I think they may only start making it up in season 2, which annoys me.

I agree, it's better if shows with a story like this have an idea of where they're going from the start. I was thinking about The Nevers last night, and there are lines of dialogue in that show that only make sense on the 2nd viewing, because they're so closely tied to things the viewer doesn't learn until later. It's impressive writing, and demonstrates that the writers always knew where it was going. Now that I'm thinking about it, there are lines of dialogue in the first season of The Expanse that foreshadow events in the 4th or 5th season. In the case of the The Expanse, they were loosely following the novels, so in a sense, the direction the show was going to take was already there for the writers, but they still had to choose to 'honor their promise' and not diverge from the books too much. Contrast all of that with The X-Files or Lost, which didn't seem to have any idea where they were going, and appeared to be making everything up as they went along. I hung in with The X-Files for 3-4 seasons before I quit, but I was young and naive back then. I dropped Lost sometime in the 2nd season, I think.

 

[Samson]

It certainly seems like they have far too many loose ends to tie up in one episode. I guess that leaves us all to cross our fingers for the next to be made.

 

[EgonSpengler]

It certainly seems like they have far too many loose ends to tie up in one episode. I guess that leaves us all to cross our fingers for the next to be made.

If it doesn't get a 2nd season, I'm storming the Bastille.

 

[Kyriakos]

By now the only major foreshadowing (which always implies a plan) was about Mark's "freshman fluke", which had to do with the numbers. It'd be bad if nothing is said about this in the finale next week.
I still would bet that they haven't fleshed out the story, but I wish I am wrong. Ep8 really was disappointing imo.

 

[EgonSpengler]

Deadline, 6 April 2022 - "‘Severance’ Renewed For Season 2 By Apple TV+"

 

[Kyriakos]

Saw episode 9.
Long story short: if they had tried to turn this into a soap opera, they wouldn't have possibly done a worse job with episode 9, the season finale. Everything was forced and based on more forced things.
Anyway, happy birthday to me

 

[lymond]

The 8th?!! Same here! Happy Birthday!

I really enjoyed the episode. No pleasing you...ha. I mean, what did you want to happen here. I liked how the episode was almost real-time, basically the whole epi the time the innies were outties. Was an the edge the whole time that Mark would see a picture before Dylan lets go.

A lot a predictions were spot on. Honestly, I'd probably not figured out about Helly unless discussing it here, so woulda been more shocked by it. I think Irv is some kinda Lumon lab rat. Anyway, I did not expect much in the way of answers this season.

 

[EgonSpengler]

I loved the finale. I wasn't expecting Helena. Burt's outie having a husband didn't surprise me, but the scene worked. Before Severance I'd kind of forgotten how good Turturro is. Shame on me, I guess. I was glad Ms. Cobel didn't take the baby. I actually thought she might've.

I'm glad they announced the 2nd season before the finale. I'd have hated being on tenterhooks for 6 months.

 

[Kyriakos]

I am happy you people liked it (I mean it)
For me there were too many convenient lapses of judgement by Mark (Cobel was the most glaring, and built on the previous episode when she randomly accepted the invitation), and chance happenings (Burt's house location may not be that much due to freak chance, indeed Torturo might be working in another role and not just hunting like Petey; but everything was placed rather happily, to put it that way ).
I guess I was more into the mystique of the inies, and wanted only Mark to be seen as outie; it worked better for me.
I wanted this to continue to be about the numbers and Lumon, instead of the entire town - now even Mark's family knows.

@lymond , it is your birthday too today? If so, happy birthday!!!!

 

[lymond]

@lymond , it is your birthday too today? If so, happy birthday!!!!

Yup ..and thank you. Interestingly, Patricia Arquette (Cobel) was born on the 8th.

The fact that Burt location was marked on outtie Irv's map stood out to me, but not sure why that was the case.

 

[Ferocitus]

I was happy with the finale: it answered several questions, and left many more for next season.
The pacing was very good, with Dylan holding on while they tracked what was happening to Mark, Helly,
and Irving.

It was edited well to avoid spoiling the tension...

Spoiler :

e.g. there was no need in this episode to see the details of how Cobel got into the party at Lumon
even though she had been fired. That might make a good start/recap for the 1st episode of next
season.

I'm intrigued by some of the guests at the book reading. They are childlike in a similar way to the
people working in Lumon. Maybe they've been "rescued" to keep them out of Lumon's clutches?

IMO the ingenues and cultists are the reason (apart from being short staffed) that Lumon is so
incompetent. It fits with the show being a satire on toxic workplaces. The staff are treated like
kids by management, they're expected to worship the founders, and it's heresy to question the
way things are done. They want the staff to"grow" with the company, and end up as, if not
identical clones in body, definitely in mind. And they should be appreciative that they have jobs
there. It doesn't look like they are doing all that well. Their houses are nothing special, and they
drive fairly old cars.

 

[lymond]

It was edited well to avoid spoiling the tension...

Spoiler All I wanna be is an innie :

Yeah...kinda what a meant by "real-time" with the pacing. Well done indeed. Lotsa tension.

I did not give it much thought at the time but think you are on to something about the child-like folks. Like the black dude who found the baby was acting a bit silly saying " I found the baby" over and over....like seeking attention/recognition for his deed. And the woman sitting next to Mark was loopy. Even Rickon the way he was beating himself up over his reading.

I think the "firing" of Cobel was more a temporary punishment. She seems too connected to Lumon for them to just dispense with her so completely. Her interest in Mark is still an unanswered question for me. Ofc, she could just be inserting herself in the lives of her outties, but she seems to take particular interest in Mark for some reason.

I def think the show is a satire of the workplace/corporate environment