@@finfog4590 - I know we’ve had pandemics and strikes and all that in recent years, but couldn’t the executives at Apple have seen the working prints of this show and realized how good it was, and green lit it for a second season before the first season even aired?
@Sam_T2000 you'd think, but they're ridiculously financially risk-averse. Even if there is an 80% chance the show will be loved they rarely do that until the show has gained traction.
I think this is a great summary of the first season. One thing I think you skipped in your analysis of Irving: his outie seems to be trying some sort of hypnotherapy to access his severed consciousness (or something similar to that), which is why he's using the repetition with the painting/Motorhead, the coffee and innie Irving's dosing, etc. The paint dripping hallucination happens early on for innie Irving and it's commented that the dosing is habitual. This lends credence to the idea that Irving is working for the resistance/Regabhi and correlates with the theory of him knowing Mark as a therapist. I freaking love this show!
When you think about this. Innies are *them* just without outside influence. Wouldn't this mean that Helly is actually very rebellious and stubborn but has learned to hide that side of her?
I'd say outtie Helly taking the initiative to become an innie in the first place and insisting she stay (even though her innie tried to off her) is a sign of her outtie's stubbornness and rebellion (even if towards herself.) No Eagen descendents have severed themselves (we know of) and she wants to use herself as the matyr for this bold PR move.
@@MedicoreMacaroniwell innie helly doesn't have the same motivations as outie helly, just the same character. So it kinda is cool to see how a person's nature can lead them to do wildly different things with some environmental differences
thats my favorite thing about this show. Severing yourself is actually an incredible thing. If put a severed version of yourself in many different situations, you could figure out what your defining traits are and know who you really are
I think the metaphor is flexible enough to warn against the dangers of both. And when you think about it, the nature of corporatism and religion are pretty much serving the same impulse anyway - a higher authority that provides for you, as long as you devote your work/time and declare your inferiority on a regular, ritualistic basis.
This show was shot in my town.And about 20 years ago, someone spray painted red goats everywhere. Like with a stencil. I think Ben included this because the goat graffiti is a known thing in my town. They're called "The red goats of Kingston.
We have a couple clues. Mark's checklist asks him "check their lunches" and in another scene they open the fridge for some reason and you can see paper lunch bags in there. So it's safe to assume lunch is provided by the company each day.
Irving is my favorite character, I love John Turturro. But his innie and outtie may be working as double agents because when Petey was hiding in Marks basement, Petey stopped talking about Lumen because “I’m afraid Irving’s gonna walk in” he said.
My take is that was Petey's innie memories being afraid of Irving filing a complaint. We see Irving being somewhat of a tattle tale, living and working by Lumon's handbook. We see Petey struggling with discerning outtie and innie memories.
I always thought the goats were a way of maintaining the innies' sense of reality distorted; Lumen knows there's an inevitable tendency for the innies to find answers, and rekindle their humanity, they've attempted it in the past, which lead me to believe some of those rooms were meant to be found in those instances of latent rebellion by the innies to shield them from reality with nonsense, like a way of mental isolation through uncanniness, and consequently discouraging further truth seeking behavior (i.e. going outside of your own box is shocking and uncannily terrifying and inherently irrational making said box preferable and predictable). It didn't have to have a convoluted explanation behind it.
The work they do is all about bringing Kier back, by essentially reconstructing him. His science theory was basically that 4 tempers are what makes up the essence of a man. Woe, Frolic, Dread, and Malice. To him, these were basically the blueprints of what makes up a soul. So their work has something to do with cloning him, and probably specifically to do with recreating his mind. You can even consider each worker as a representation of each temperance, or all temperance's at one point or another. Now does it mean they're doing some wacky science that relies solely on these 4 tempers? No. But it's likely the basis for actual science being done. The entire Kier family works toward it, because they all expect to also be resurrected beside him. But it might even be different than that. Maybe Kier did find a way to actually transfer his mind into another body, using technology like severance, or at least the family did, and the "revolving" is essentially the guy that is Helly's dad, being transposed onto her, taking control of her body. Remember, the chips aren't just switching brains around, the person that is there when the chip is on, is actually stored in the chip itself. We learn this when they say "That's Petey" after they dig out his chip. So Severance doesn't exactly create 2 people, it instead does some stuff to the brain that switches off some functions to allow the blank slate of a person to arise and develop in concert with the chip, creating an entity that only exists on the chip itself. This is also probably why Helly's father wanted her to get the chip, using promotional stuff as an excuse, because he intends to use her chip to eventually take over her body and continue running the company. But regardless of whatever is true, I think the main goal is to bring Kier back at the very least, using some pairing of the principles of the 4 temperance's, mixed with actual modern science. It might not even be just genetic, it could have other metaphysical elements to the process too, like somehow using a tiny wormhole to go back in time, that a computer controls, that kind of tunnels information from the real Kier's mind, and that might be what their job is actually for. So essentially, they are piece by piece mining data to recreate Kier's mind for a clone of his body, to transfer into the clone body. Ms. Cobel is there for her own reasons. Lumon medical equipment resulted in the death of her mother, so she sought revenge, and she joined them to destroy them from the inside, but when she got high up enough to learn what they were actually doing, she realized she could use the same processes they intend to use to bring Kier back, to bring her mother back, and that's exactly why she's been working for them ever since. That's also why she plays those games with Mark and his wife, trying to get them to remember each other, because I think a lot of it relies on the chip itself. They aren't going to bring Keir back by just uploading him to a normal brain, they can only bring him back by injecting a clone with a severance chip filled with the proper data. So when she tests Mark and his wife, what she's really testing is how that might affect if it would work with her mother or not, not directly, but I think one of the downsides is the chip can't always be on, so it has to be turned off eventually otherwise there's side effects. That's also probably why Petey had side effects, because the doctor that bypassed his severance chip, did so by turning it on 24/7 and doing some stuff to it so that it doesn't shut off parts of his brain, allowing the innie and outtie to be awake at the same time, which also proves that the person when the chip is on, is only on the chip itself. And explains why Ms. Cobel would want to test if memories can bleed through the chip being on/off, because if she did resurrect her mother, she'd have to eventually turn the chip off most of the day in order to keep it from causing side effects from being on too long, like with Petey. I think Cobel was hoping that memories could bleed between innie and outtie, so that her mother could possibly be able to exist without needing the chip, if they used the same process to bring her back that they're trying to with Kier.
Yeah I’ve been waiting almost three years!!! No series has come close to filling the hole Severance has left. Very shocked Ben Stiller had this in him.
This video is a good summary of current fan theories. There is something that doesn't get brought up, and I think it's because no one saw this film - there are constant visual references in Season 1 to a film called The Mountain, which is about the early history of the lobotomy. The "wall of smiles" is a very direct reference to this film. Also, there are other lobotomy visual references, such as if you look at the Lumon Logo from a distance, it is actually a diagram of a lobotomy. Ditto for part of Petey's map doodle. In addition, the chip gets planted very near to the spot that a lobotomy would reach.
I just finished this show. This has been the only Apple show I've genuinely loved from start to finish. I love forward to your content on season 2, 9 months from now. 😆
The severance handbook which you can read online has a set of emails from a former employee who used a childhood language she made up to communicate with her altered self. They talk about what they think the numbers mean and coinsides it with an explosion that happened at the same time ( down to the min) in the outside world.
I think Ricken Hale is part of the Board (or is the board) and is easily overlooked. Let me explain this theory: 1) He has a Ph.D. Obviously he's educated and I think he writes these silly books and acts this way as just a cover up. Also, the poetic book writing is very similar to the book writings used for Lumon. We also know that Lumon updates the writings. Perhaps he helped write, suggest, or implement new ideas for Lumon? If you've ever watched Naruto, he's basically the dumb Tobi before revealing he's the mastermind of the Akatsuki group. 2) He's wealthy. He lives in a moderately large size home and was able to afford a birthing cabin. (The same place a top senator chose). It seems like he has a lot stability in his life with only 5 self-help books. Can anybody clarify if he states what he does beyond writing books? 3) In the last episode, we see him struggle with his speech with stage fright or saying the wrong word during his book gathering (which is very cult like btw). Strangely enough, the "board" never presents themselves in person. When the Board IS on, it's a machine that is used to communicate through. Perhaps Ricken uses this machine to avoid that stage fright. 4) Ricken "Hale". The word "Hell" is a literal callout used in several shots of the show. There's also a lot of metaphors representing hell as well. It's an interesting coincidence. 5) It's worth noting that Harmony Cobel got fired only after visiting the sister about private nursing lessons with Ricken Hale's wife. The "Board" somehow knew she was there and fired her for overstepping boundaries. Out of all the bad things she's done that the board knew about, this is what got her fired. 6) It's strange that Ricken is able to grab quite a bit of "followers". This aligns well with the overall Lumon's mission and the ability to brainwash individuals through it's cult-like scriptures and ideologies. I think that last episode sealed the deal for me especially if you pay closer attention to what some of the book gathering people say. Let me know what you think.
I love this theory. It may also explain how his book resonates with the innies, if he is also writing or part of the writing of the materials sanctioned by Lumon. 😮
Irving's last name is Baliff. That is a guy who keeps order for the Judge in the courtroom. I think Petey and Irving were best pals which is why Pete told Mark I am your best friend, you are my very good friend. Irving is a major player here.... building up to something.
My theory was that Lumon is trying to bring back Kier. That it’s essentially a massive human computer making inputs into what will ultimately be the return of Kier’s consciousness. Not a clone but his consciousness. The main characters are putting computated stimuli into the appropriate emotional category, the products made in fabrication are repetitive in order to make a strong connection over each individual item Kier knew of in his life or that was most important to him. The goats idk
I think that's on the right track because when I started to think about Ai the munger stared to make more she I firmly thought maybe the severance process altered there perception but now I think they maybe organizing some tor of Ai programming to build different types of androids westworld style... but I don't think it's just for one guy not enough personal benefit for his kids... who wants to build something to be in charge of them
I was going to say something similar, not sure they are working on Kiers' consciousness, but pretty sure they are working on some bodies consciousness? With an aim of offering eternal life, that is maybe if you wear the chip all your life than your consciousness can be uploaded (maybe in real time), and can be put in another's body. Or a clone of your body (the goats been tests for this). Maybe the workers are actually sorting through their own consciousness, as it uploads, they feel where the right neural pathway should go? I originally thought they were working on all the dead members of the family, but now think they are the test subjects, with an aim for the rest of the family.
Fingers crossed. I have previously been burned by Westworld. That's one of the problems with mysteries. The payoff is almost impossible to pull off for these big setups.
I had a good time with first three Westworld seasons... Stop judging everything by its end. If you divorce, does it mean the 20 year long marriage was for nothing? I dont think so...
@@cordalemiddleton9121 I mean, Breaking Bad was a good show right until the last season. It doesnt matter if the final was good or not, this fact still holds true. What about your life? You dont know the end of it? So is everything bad now, just in case the end could be bad aswell? Do you decide to make everything miserable because of that? Doesnt sound smart to me...
Lumon does biotech stuff and goats are kind of an important animal for biotech IRL, so even if it started out as a silly gag it surprisingly fits for Lumon to be raising goats. They can be used for cloning, making medications, etc.
You should have touched on the innies being basically kids, getting scolded, sent to detention, bribed with sweets and rewards, nicknames like Helly, also the part about Mark having bruise marks resembling a whooping.
The Helena we see in videos/interacting with Helly R definitely comes across callous and arrogant - sure there's similarities to her innie (which I think is natural. Helly's rebelliousness kind of translates to a strong sense of self and entitlement - not unlike her outie)... but I do think that they'll keep the tension in the second season - which is really compelling. The show basically making us root for the servered personality over the "real" person.
I heard somewhere else the theory that Cobel has actually infiltrated Lumon to take revenge for the death of her mother so in that case she would be somewhat on Mark's side and trying to take down the whole company
She clutched a feeding tube during breaking the shrine. I read somewhere that Lumon had a feed tube recall. Possible that the tube killed her mother. But if she wants to take revenge, why does she worship it prior to being fired?
Sweet, just watched the first season last sunday (yeah, binged it), So this video and the season 2 announcement are right on time for me 😁 lucky me I guess
My favorite show of recent years. It’s fantastic and is pretty unique compared to most other shows today. After 1 season it’s become a top 10 show for me.
I don't think I've ever been as hooked on a series as this. I fear the expectations are so high right now that they may not live up to the hype. I'm cautiously optimistic. Well done on the summary.
I wonder if every time someone acts up, they just sever them again, making multiple severed employees within one person. This would make sense with the opening credits where there are multiple innie Marks drowning outie Mark. Perhaps Lumen doesn’t know yet the full impact of multiple severances, but they’re doing it for control. And the more someone is severed, the more the controls that keep the parts separate break down and memories break through in dreams, etc. Also, is the politician even aware of what he’s doing? Was he severed and his innie was groomed to advance Lumon’s plans and then was released via the overtime protocol? Also, if Lumon has been pushing for the chip to be implanted in children via that politician, it would create a world of children that could be raised as soldiers or spies, trained secretly in their innie, but the outie is oblivious. Then on the flip of the switch, that person’s innie could be flipped to the outside in any situation. Perfect societal control. That would explain the strange cards that MDR found in optics that looked like martial arts training cards. Why were those important? Secret army? Secret spies? Lots of fun plot theories to explore!
Yes. In the Lexington letter they show evidence that may point to the idea that the data they refined may be linked to an explosion attack targeted towards a Lumon competitor. I believe it is also mentioned that the data that MDR handles involves the oil industry, Lumon, and other industries
Obviously while severance is the main plot of the show, you need to remember how they explicitly say; The Severed Floor, hinting that not everyone at lumon is severed.
I recommend reading George Saunders. It might loosen the grip. Cause and effect is not the point. Logic and intellectual explanation is secondary, just as it is in good comedy, or dreams. The real juice of this show is the mystery of how it makes you FEEL.
Lumon definitely fits the definition of a Cult "a system of religious veneration and devotion directed toward a particular figure or object." Kier is that figure
Just binge-watched the first season and I remain convinced that they are not employees, but subjects of a mind control experiment. One indicator among many is the way the "company" infantilizes them all the way down to their job descriptions and incentives you'd use to motivate a third-grade classroom, not a team of grown adults doing something important. AI could easily do the "job" they're doing at much lower cost and without having to maintain a Byzantine labyrinth of deception if the "company" were really trying to accomplish some sort of production objective through MDR. They're also obviously in some kind of a cult where the lead figure and his progeny have been mythologized into some type of gods. I don't believe they're putting out a product or service at all. I think they are simply working toward the goal of an entirely compliant, mind-controlled body politic. Regardless of the goal, they're being studied for something.
I disagree with the idea of Milchick being fully severed based on overtime contingency interaction with Dylan. He obviously left to go to Dylan’s house so that means that he’s likely not severed at all
i think because the goats weren't really in the original plan they are going to be a part of a lower stakes but still important reveal. i think lumen makes their own food/drinks that they inject stuff into to help keep people subservient, and the goats just aren't ready to be milked/cooked yet.
I would like to see what a job at Lumon is like for a regular, non-severed employee, like someone who works above ground, and has nothing to do with the severed floor… do they still have all the cult-y stuff up there, or what? I’d say probably not, at least not to the same degree… but I’d like to see 🤷🏻♂️ also… I kinda hope they don’t actually explain too much, like ever. if Lumon is just a weird, mysterious entity throughout the show’s run and they plot is just about the characters and their various lives, I don’t think I’d mind.
Pretty culty, as they have a giant bust of the founder carved into a wall and employees know what he had for breakfast. Also they live in a state or country named after him.
@@jeremyphillips3087 - yea, the head carving thing looks pretty Sovi-et, and I think it’s just the town that’s named after the founder… but that could just be something like “Hersey, PA…” either way, I’d just like to see some “regular” Lumon employees 👍
@@jeremyphillips3087 - I forget where exactly, but at some point in the show there’s an address listed in “Kier, PE.” so, it takes place in a fictional state, for sure… but “PE” doesn’t seem to line up with the names Kier, or Eagan, or Lumon… sooo, maybe, maybe not. hopefully we’ll learn more in Season 2 🤷🏻♂️
Also i think the goats are part of making a self-sustaining town of severed employees who never turn off ( seen in the failsafe ). You can see on the map on the napkin a couple of houses. I think downstairs is a prototype town of pll who dont leave and goats ( such as goats milk) is a way to keep them alive.
My most recent theories that could be interesting are that 1) severance isn’t actually location based, and 2) there’s additional severed parts we haven’t met yet. 1) With the OTC, we know the Innies can be let out outside of the severed floor. This makes me wonder if the location based thing is a lie to help convince people of a level of safety to the procedure. What Outtie would agree to be severed if they thought the roles could be switched at any time? This also helps with any theories about Cobel being severed herself, which could be really interesting if she’s severed but can’t reach the other person in her own mind. 2) I realized time could move any way at all on the severed floor, and they’d never know. Who’s to say that the Innies actually experience a true 9-5? The blocks could easily be made to run fast, and they’d never know as, as Petey pointed out, their relativity is all messed up. Which means there’s no certainty there isn’t a third (or fourth, or fifth) personality in each person’s mind getting off at different floors, working a couple hours thinking it’s been 9-5, then sent to another floor for another version of themselves to work a couple more hours.
Im subscribing! Really enjoyed your commentary and discussion about the show. I felt the same in a lot of the topics! The best part is not even related to the show. I found myself thinking of West World during the video and how I only finish the first season. I was surprised when you mentioned that at the end.
Heres my take on Cobel. She’s a conflicted character and here’s why. Harmony hates that Lumon “killed” her mother with the airway tube. Her mother is one of the subjects held at the testing floor. This is why she’s undercover monitoring Mark’s outie and his family and why she asks Miss Casey to perform this weird tasks so she can’t interact with Mark more. Shes hoping that it triggers real memories. She asks Devon if Mark sees her and the expression on her face when Mark molds the tree out of clay at the wellness session. She wants to know if the chip works and she wants to prove re-integration so she can revive /clone her mother.
I have my own theory on the theme of Severance, which centers on commentary on the Protestant Ethic. I believe the foodless dinner party in the first episode, the mystical worship of founder Kier Eagan, and the Luman Bible are clues to this theory. The Protestant Ethic values hard work and profit-seeking and strictly avoids worldly pleasure, idleness, and waste of time, which is what Luman employees are expected to do during working hours.
All I know for sure is that there had better be a good answer for all these questions eventually and that I live long enough to see and hear them. Theories are all very well but, ultimately, they are empty until we see more episodes. I need my Severance fix!
Loved this video man, very interesting and thorough discussion on some theories. I'm just doing my own video on Severance in preparation for S2 this coming Jan, so v interesting!
You know if people keep waiting like 3 or 4 years between seasons people are going to forget and think the show is cancelled. There is another season of the Handmaid's tale supposed to be coming out also.
Idk i watched on release and this show haunts me from time to time and has actually showed up in other pieces of media since its release (like Rick & Morty). If it's great people won't forget
I watched this when it aired years ago. The wait for season 2 is fucking torture. This shit reminds me of the wait between lost seasons when it was still on
Came to hear about my favorite show of all time, stayed for the use of a BO4 zombies round transition from Dead of the Night. Talk about two worlds colliding for me.
A small detail in the cene where Mark screams "shes alive" is that hes holding a picture of gemma and him in his hand so thats probably what everyone will notice and ask about
The board members remind me of the council on the Loki series where they turn out to be robots that were there to enforce rules and to instill fear and obedience.
what strikes me about harmony as well is that her 2 different lifes are a very strong parallel to the severance programm, emulating it. in this case we can perhaps take it literally as she is the only one with such a stark theme to her character as like you mentioned no other worker is that eccentric. she makes it her duty to split her work life and home life and the writers go out of their way to make it 2 extremes. it seem to me that she believes in a very specific vision for humanities psychology. the one thing she never changes in both her acts is her devotion. now if she just used parts of her life as some sort of inspiration to create these 2 personalities is another thing. a lot to contemplate about.
I got the chance to talk to Ben Stiller and my only question for him was - what if they have a preexisting condition that they must take care of on the inside and the outside. He said he would have to think about it!
@@Larry-Lobster like if you have a condition that would require additional care to be done during work, they would deny you as to not have to work around it
I’m surprised you didn’t mention anything about the “livestock” comment Helly made in the first episode. It’s when she’s meeting Mark for the first time and she asks “am I livestock” and he laughs and says “good lord no.” I’m also wondering what is up with the whole food less dinner thing…
Very recently I watched a video about a woman who left scientology in her adulthood, but grew there, and some things of this shows are similar to the punishement that she describes. Like the lies detector and the mental torture 😮
Most interesting and original show I have seen since Mr. Robot. It's a serious look at the human condition. It's at once a compelling drama but has dark situational humor ripe with claustrophobic suspense - a 'cracked' mirror version of the Office if it had a baby with Twin Peaks.
Sea 2: Mark & Kobel team up to get him back into Lumen. Kobel wants to get rehired Mark wants Gemma No one else at Lumen has to know. We will see Helly's outie perspective, and realize she is more trapped on the outside than inside (free from family history) Irving will take us into the wider world conspiracy eg "beehive" protocol Dylan's arc I'm less sure about... He continues to fight to get out to see his kids. Rickon does something heroic to save everyone.
So I've watched several of your videos now and I think this one especially highlights your strength in analyzing the dual natures some shows have, also your 8 simple rules video for example, and I'd love to see you apply that to the Show "Kevin Can F Himself" which balances through Sitcom and Drama. I think you'd find the show interesting and have a lot to say on it.
Something my husband caught is if Mark lives in Lumon housing, why didn’t he/his sister assume Cobel worked at Lumon sooner? I know it’s a huge building and not everyone works together or in the same department but I thought either that was a decent catch or I missed something 🤷🏽♀️
We also see Milchik outside when hes at dylans which he was able to do of his own accord so its unlikely hes stuck at lumon Also im wondering if the innies are going to be wiped or something in order to allow them to go back to work. Maybe we'll have scenes with outie mark, old innie mark, and new innie mark.
What about the baby doll Harmony threw around when she was playing a nurse? Marks sister met that stranger at the neighboring cabin during her labor and then again in the park. The lady’s baby looked like it might be a doll. At the very last scene Marks niece being held by his sister looked like a doll imho. Thoughts??
Opening scene. If they put the conference table vertical instead of horizontal. It would look like Helli was literally being born. This part of Helena being created and birthed.
What do you mean fully severed , like Cobel? She’s the same consciousness away from work and at work. I don’t get why she wants to keep such a close eye on Mark either.
one cool thing they could go for is lumon essenrially planning to eliminate all present mdr workers besides helena. perhaps there is a way to set the memory cap for the inni back to 0 which makes them all docile again but to the price of having to re develope their characters for lumon once again. the mext step is removing the outies and other outer interferences so long it doesnt draw more attention which lets be honest isnt much because they are in the main worker city of kier.
One thing which is super simple but no one ever brings it up is they look like mice in a maze and they are being experimented on so it was symbolic and obvious which is why no one brings it up I’m guessing
I love when shows end on a cliffhanger and then wait three years to release the next season.
I’m tired of this nonsense. By the time it comes back I’ve almost lost interest
@@finfog4590 - I know we’ve had pandemics and strikes and all that in recent years, but couldn’t the executives at Apple have seen the working prints of this show and realized how good it was, and green lit it for a second season before the first season even aired?
@Sam_T2000 you'd think, but they're ridiculously financially risk-averse. Even if there is an 80% chance the show will be loved they rarely do that until the show has gained traction.
@@juliachatwin3907 - even the announcements of _”Severance_ renewed for second season ahead of Season 1 premiere” would drum up interest 🤷🏻♂️
@@Sam_T2000 100%. These people have tunnel vision, that makes it hard for them to see sense.
I think this is a great summary of the first season. One thing I think you skipped in your analysis of Irving: his outie seems to be trying some sort of hypnotherapy to access his severed consciousness (or something similar to that), which is why he's using the repetition with the painting/Motorhead, the coffee and innie Irving's dosing, etc. The paint dripping hallucination happens early on for innie Irving and it's commented that the dosing is habitual. This lends credence to the idea that Irving is working for the resistance/Regabhi and correlates with the theory of him knowing Mark as a therapist. I freaking love this show!
covid + writers strike..... just saying
When you think about this. Innies are *them* just without outside influence. Wouldn't this mean that Helly is actually very rebellious and stubborn but has learned to hide that side of her?
I'd say outtie Helly taking the initiative to become an innie in the first place and insisting she stay (even though her innie tried to off her) is a sign of her outtie's stubbornness and rebellion (even if towards herself.) No Eagen descendents have severed themselves (we know of) and she wants to use herself as the matyr for this bold PR move.
@@MedicoreMacaroniwell innie helly doesn't have the same motivations as outie helly, just the same character. So it kinda is cool to see how a person's nature can lead them to do wildly different things with some environmental differences
thats my favorite thing about this show. Severing yourself is actually an incredible thing. If put a severed version of yourself in many different situations, you could figure out what your defining traits are and know who you really are
8:20 I don't think Lumon is a metaphor for the dangers of religion. I think the religious/culty overtones are a metaphor for corporate culture.
You are aware it can be both of those things at once right?
Yeah because culture is what shapes the religion
@tyizzle80 Of course I'm aware of something so obvious. I don't think it's both. Thanks anyway, though.
I think the metaphor is flexible enough to warn against the dangers of both. And when you think about it, the nature of corporatism and religion are pretty much serving the same impulse anyway - a higher authority that provides for you, as long as you devote your work/time and declare your inferiority on a regular, ritualistic basis.
@@evanward4303 I didn't say it was both I said it could be both you don't know that's the point.
You're wrong about Milchick not being seen outside. He was in Dylan's closet during the overtime contingency.
Not the same though, it wasn't his outside life, it was him with Dylan for a second, for work, in work clothes
I think the whole show is art.
Just binged this show, IT WAS AMAZING
I lost it at the Vought/Lumon mix up
😂
Vought, Lumon, and Waystar Royco are my favorite fictional companies
That was hilarious!
And E-corp as well@@foracademicpurposes9
@@foracademicpurposes9 Wayland-Yutani is one of my favorite evil fictional companies. Also Apple
This show was shot in my town.And about 20 years ago, someone spray painted red goats everywhere. Like with a stencil. I think Ben included this because the goat graffiti is a known thing in my town. They're called "The red goats of Kingston.
Fascinating!!!!
Severed people on the inside never get to sleep. That alone is messed up.
mark says he likes to focus more on the effects of sleep like lighter shoulders or rejuvenated energy though so... thats something
There is something appealing about severing and never having to work again
@@taylorrussell3158 unless you are the one on the inside that has to work 24/7
that's what i thought as well!!
You are basically lending your body to slavers and getting paid for it.
My unanswered question: what do they do for lunch?
We have a couple clues. Mark's checklist asks him "check their lunches" and in another scene they open the fridge for some reason and you can see paper lunch bags in there. So it's safe to assume lunch is provided by the company each day.
also, they have a snack machine… they require tokens. also, they have waffles and melon platters and egg bars. it’s all in the show, n00b.
It doesn’t matter. Just like fairy tales and other fictional universes, characters don’t poop.
@@kmcq692 - they have bathrooms, we see them. they poop 👍
@@Sam_T2000 or they have, but don’t use
Irving is my favorite character, I love John Turturro. But his innie and outtie may be working as double agents because when Petey was hiding in Marks basement, Petey stopped talking about Lumen because “I’m afraid Irving’s gonna walk in” he said.
My take is that was Petey's innie memories being afraid of Irving filing a complaint. We see Irving being somewhat of a tattle tale, living and working by Lumon's handbook.
We see Petey struggling with discerning outtie and innie memories.
I always thought the goats were a way of maintaining the innies' sense of reality distorted; Lumen knows there's an inevitable tendency for the innies to find answers, and rekindle their humanity, they've attempted it in the past, which lead me to believe some of those rooms were meant to be found in those instances of latent rebellion by the innies to shield them from reality with nonsense, like a way of mental isolation through uncanniness, and consequently discouraging further truth seeking behavior (i.e. going outside of your own box is shocking and uncannily terrifying and inherently irrational making said box preferable and predictable). It didn't have to have a convoluted explanation behind it.
Thats exactly how russian and now MAGA propaganda works, so you are onto something!
This make sense when you also consider the two different versions of the massacre painting
This makes complete sense, I couldn't find a way to articulate this so thank you for putting into words
The work they do is all about bringing Kier back, by essentially reconstructing him. His science theory was basically that 4 tempers are what makes up the essence of a man. Woe, Frolic, Dread, and Malice. To him, these were basically the blueprints of what makes up a soul. So their work has something to do with cloning him, and probably specifically to do with recreating his mind. You can even consider each worker as a representation of each temperance, or all temperance's at one point or another. Now does it mean they're doing some wacky science that relies solely on these 4 tempers? No. But it's likely the basis for actual science being done. The entire Kier family works toward it, because they all expect to also be resurrected beside him.
But it might even be different than that. Maybe Kier did find a way to actually transfer his mind into another body, using technology like severance, or at least the family did, and the "revolving" is essentially the guy that is Helly's dad, being transposed onto her, taking control of her body. Remember, the chips aren't just switching brains around, the person that is there when the chip is on, is actually stored in the chip itself. We learn this when they say "That's Petey" after they dig out his chip. So Severance doesn't exactly create 2 people, it instead does some stuff to the brain that switches off some functions to allow the blank slate of a person to arise and develop in concert with the chip, creating an entity that only exists on the chip itself.
This is also probably why Helly's father wanted her to get the chip, using promotional stuff as an excuse, because he intends to use her chip to eventually take over her body and continue running the company. But regardless of whatever is true, I think the main goal is to bring Kier back at the very least, using some pairing of the principles of the 4 temperance's, mixed with actual modern science. It might not even be just genetic, it could have other metaphysical elements to the process too, like somehow using a tiny wormhole to go back in time, that a computer controls, that kind of tunnels information from the real Kier's mind, and that might be what their job is actually for. So essentially, they are piece by piece mining data to recreate Kier's mind for a clone of his body, to transfer into the clone body.
Ms. Cobel is there for her own reasons. Lumon medical equipment resulted in the death of her mother, so she sought revenge, and she joined them to destroy them from the inside, but when she got high up enough to learn what they were actually doing, she realized she could use the same processes they intend to use to bring Kier back, to bring her mother back, and that's exactly why she's been working for them ever since. That's also why she plays those games with Mark and his wife, trying to get them to remember each other, because I think a lot of it relies on the chip itself. They aren't going to bring Keir back by just uploading him to a normal brain, they can only bring him back by injecting a clone with a severance chip filled with the proper data. So when she tests Mark and his wife, what she's really testing is how that might affect if it would work with her mother or not, not directly, but I think one of the downsides is the chip can't always be on, so it has to be turned off eventually otherwise there's side effects.
That's also probably why Petey had side effects, because the doctor that bypassed his severance chip, did so by turning it on 24/7 and doing some stuff to it so that it doesn't shut off parts of his brain, allowing the innie and outtie to be awake at the same time, which also proves that the person when the chip is on, is only on the chip itself. And explains why Ms. Cobel would want to test if memories can bleed through the chip being on/off, because if she did resurrect her mother, she'd have to eventually turn the chip off most of the day in order to keep it from causing side effects from being on too long, like with Petey. I think Cobel was hoping that memories could bleed between innie and outtie, so that her mother could possibly be able to exist without needing the chip, if they used the same process to bring her back that they're trying to with Kier.
Amazing take. Well done.
Wish I could make more of a comment, but yeah I agree nice explanation
Omg, 'the good doctor therapy man with that weird little moustache'!!
mind officially blown
@@brianstanziale3595 Mine too!
Just watched S1 and did not expect a cliffhanger, glad s2 isn't too far away
It was when it came out 3 ywars ago lol
I feel so blessed I barely watched season 1 with season 2 dropping in a few months
@@iliasarroyofr I just finished it right now😂
Yeah I’ve been waiting almost three years!!! No series has come close to filling the hole Severance has left. Very shocked Ben Stiller had this in him.
This video is a good summary of current fan theories. There is something that doesn't get brought up, and I think it's because no one saw this film - there are constant visual references in Season 1 to a film called The Mountain, which is about the early history of the lobotomy. The "wall of smiles" is a very direct reference to this film. Also, there are other lobotomy visual references, such as if you look at the Lumon Logo from a distance, it is actually a diagram of a lobotomy. Ditto for part of Petey's map doodle. In addition, the chip gets planted very near to the spot that a lobotomy would reach.
@@katdroidd brilliant!! Thanks for the keen insight!
I just hope that creators know how this show ends. That, what was great about Dark, that they didn’t just followed the hype of the show like Lost.
This show is highly re-watchable, the beginning credits and music is hypnotic too !!
I just finished this show. This has been the only Apple show I've genuinely loved from start to finish. I love forward to your content on season 2, 9 months from now. 😆
I’ve never noticed that the R in Severance is split like that. How have I never seen that before??
same! lol
I love this account sm & I’m so stoked they’re talking about severance. It’s such a weird, cool premise. Can’t wait for S2
The severance handbook which you can read online has a set of emails from a former employee who used a childhood language she made up to communicate with her altered self. They talk about what they think the numbers mean and coinsides it with an explosion that happened at the same time ( down to the min) in the outside world.
I think Ricken Hale is part of the Board (or is the board) and is easily overlooked. Let me explain this theory:
1) He has a Ph.D. Obviously he's educated and I think he writes these silly books and acts this way as just a cover up. Also, the poetic book writing is very similar to the book writings used for Lumon. We also know that Lumon updates the writings. Perhaps he helped write, suggest, or implement new ideas for Lumon? If you've ever watched Naruto, he's basically the dumb Tobi before revealing he's the mastermind of the Akatsuki group.
2) He's wealthy. He lives in a moderately large size home and was able to afford a birthing cabin. (The same place a top senator chose). It seems like he has a lot stability in his life with only 5 self-help books. Can anybody clarify if he states what he does beyond writing books?
3) In the last episode, we see him struggle with his speech with stage fright or saying the wrong word during his book gathering (which is very cult like btw). Strangely enough, the "board" never presents themselves in person. When the Board IS on, it's a machine that is used to communicate through. Perhaps Ricken uses this machine to avoid that stage fright.
4) Ricken "Hale". The word "Hell" is a literal callout used in several shots of the show. There's also a lot of metaphors representing hell as well. It's an interesting coincidence.
5) It's worth noting that Harmony Cobel got fired only after visiting the sister about private nursing lessons with Ricken Hale's wife. The "Board" somehow knew she was there and fired her for overstepping boundaries. Out of all the bad things she's done that the board knew about, this is what got her fired.
6) It's strange that Ricken is able to grab quite a bit of "followers". This aligns well with the overall Lumon's mission and the ability to brainwash individuals through it's cult-like scriptures and ideologies. I think that last episode sealed the deal for me especially if you pay closer attention to what some of the book gathering people say.
Let me know what you think.
I love this theory. It may also explain how his book resonates with the innies, if he is also writing or part of the writing of the materials sanctioned by Lumon. 😮
Interesting
I liked this theory just as much when I first heard it almost verbatim on Nautilus 🙄
ruclips.net/video/22b9m68vhJ8/видео.htmlsi=z0Fh2buTnmBfJqUK
Irving's last name is Baliff. That is a guy who keeps order for the Judge in the courtroom. I think Petey and Irving were best pals which is why Pete told Mark I am your best friend, you are my very good friend. Irving is a major player here.... building up to something.
Great observation man, really looking forward to season 2!!!
I hope mark was holding the photo of his wife when he shouted “ she’s alive ”
Yes, he was holding it
My theory was that Lumon is trying to bring back Kier. That it’s essentially a massive human computer making inputs into what will ultimately be the return of Kier’s consciousness. Not a clone but his consciousness.
The main characters are putting computated stimuli into the appropriate emotional category, the products made in fabrication are repetitive in order to make a strong connection over each individual item Kier knew of in his life or that was most important to him.
The goats idk
I just read an article today about the Tesla Nauralink being able to upload your consciousness in the future
I think that's on the right track because when I started to think about Ai the munger stared to make more she I firmly thought maybe the severance process altered there perception but now I think they maybe organizing some tor of Ai programming to build different types of androids westworld style... but I don't think it's just for one guy not enough personal benefit for his kids... who wants to build something to be in charge of them
I was going to say something similar, not sure they are working on Kiers' consciousness, but pretty sure they are working on some bodies consciousness? With an aim of offering eternal life, that is maybe if you wear the chip all your life than your consciousness can be uploaded (maybe in real time), and can be put in another's body. Or a clone of your body (the goats been tests for this). Maybe the workers are actually sorting through their own consciousness, as it uploads, they feel where the right neural pathway should go? I originally thought they were working on all the dead members of the family, but now think they are the test subjects, with an aim for the rest of the family.
Fingers crossed. I have previously been burned by Westworld. That's one of the problems with mysteries. The payoff is almost impossible to pull off for these big setups.
3 F-ing years!!!!!! Now they got this... 😓
I had a good time with first three Westworld seasons...
Stop judging everything by its end.
If you divorce, does it mean the 20 year long marriage was for nothing?
I dont think so...
@fruehlingsobst8123 I'm sure the 20 yes cost alot so I guess 🤷 it wasn't
@@cordalemiddleton9121 I mean, Breaking Bad was a good show right until the last season. It doesnt matter if the final was good or not, this fact still holds true. What about your life? You dont know the end of it? So is everything bad now, just in case the end could be bad aswell? Do you decide to make everything miserable because of that? Doesnt sound smart to me...
@fruehlingsobst8123 but the spin offs made It gold!! Just like with power 🔋 "the end sometimes justify the means" !!!!
agree the show is a masterpiece of sci-fi and TV in general. second only to the first season of Westworld.
_Westworld_ took itself so seriously, while _Severance_ has a sense of humor 👍
Lumon does biotech stuff and goats are kind of an important animal for biotech IRL, so even if it started out as a silly gag it surprisingly fits for Lumon to be raising goats. They can be used for cloning, making medications, etc.
We see Milchek out when he is in Dylan's house, think that he was one of the employees who is not severed and that was mentioned somewhere.
Torturo says that.
He was saying he might be severed on the testing floor, not the one where MDR works.
When you said Vought instead of Lumon I died
Can’t believe season 2 is only coming out at January 17 😮💨
Almost 3 years to the day from season 1 premiere. Talk about leaving us hanging 😭
You should have touched on the innies being basically kids, getting scolded, sent to detention, bribed with sweets and rewards, nicknames like Helly, also the part about Mark having bruise marks resembling a whooping.
The Helena we see in videos/interacting with Helly R definitely comes across callous and arrogant - sure there's similarities to her innie (which I think is natural. Helly's rebelliousness kind of translates to a strong sense of self and entitlement - not unlike her outie)... but I do think that they'll keep the tension in the second season - which is really compelling. The show basically making us root for the servered personality over the "real" person.
true, also the first episode where we see outie mark driving in the parking lot by outie helena, she seemed very angry
I heard somewhere else the theory that Cobel has actually infiltrated Lumon to take revenge for the death of her mother so in that case she would be somewhat on Mark's side and trying to take down the whole company
She clutched a feeding tube during breaking the shrine. I read somewhere that Lumon had a feed tube recall. Possible that the tube killed her mother.
But if she wants to take revenge, why does she worship it prior to being fired?
Sweet, just watched the first season last sunday (yeah, binged it), So this video and the season 2 announcement are right on time for me 😁 lucky me I guess
My favorite show of recent years. It’s fantastic and is pretty unique compared to most other shows today. After 1 season it’s become a top 10 show for me.
I don't think I've ever been as hooked on a series as this. I fear the expectations are so high right now that they may not live up to the hype. I'm cautiously optimistic. Well done on the summary.
I wonder if every time someone acts up, they just sever them again, making multiple severed employees within one person. This would make sense with the opening credits where there are multiple innie Marks drowning outie Mark. Perhaps Lumen doesn’t know yet the full impact of multiple severances, but they’re doing it for control. And the more someone is severed, the more the controls that keep the parts separate break down and memories break through in dreams, etc.
Also, is the politician even aware of what he’s doing? Was he severed and his innie was groomed to advance Lumon’s plans and then was released via the overtime protocol?
Also, if Lumon has been pushing for the chip to be implanted in children via that politician, it would create a world of children that could be raised as soldiers or spies, trained secretly in their innie, but the outie is oblivious. Then on the flip of the switch, that person’s innie could be flipped to the outside in any situation. Perfect societal control. That would explain the strange cards that MDR found in optics that looked like martial arts training cards. Why were those important? Secret army? Secret spies?
Lots of fun plot theories to explore!
I definitely have to rewatch Severance before season 2 in January. Definitely forgot Ms. Casey is married to mark.
You mean was? Before she died?
Yup same
Do it. I did and it was amazing. Will watch it for the 3rd time in December
The ending with the LOST sound effect was *chef's kiss* beautiful
About the first unanswered question, isn't there a short story about a bomb incident that is somehow linked to MDR's job?
Yes. In the Lexington letter they show evidence that may point to the idea that the data they refined may be linked to an explosion attack targeted towards a Lumon competitor. I believe it is also mentioned that the data that MDR handles involves the oil industry, Lumon, and other industries
I absolutely loved this show, hope season 2 comes soon
Obviously while severance is the main plot of the show, you need to remember how they explicitly say; The Severed Floor, hinting that not everyone at lumon is severed.
I recommend reading George Saunders. It might loosen the grip. Cause and effect is not the point. Logic and intellectual explanation is secondary, just as it is in good comedy, or dreams. The real juice of this show is the mystery of how it makes you FEEL.
I wonder if Helly would have been sent to a different department if Petey had stayed, and which department.
Lumon definitely fits the definition of a Cult "a system of religious veneration and devotion directed toward a particular figure or object." Kier is that figure
Great choice of background music around 5 min. Excellent analysis as well!
Just binge-watched the first season and I remain convinced that they are not employees, but subjects of a mind control experiment. One indicator among many is the way the "company" infantilizes them all the way down to their job descriptions and incentives you'd use to motivate a third-grade classroom, not a team of grown adults doing something important. AI could easily do the "job" they're doing at much lower cost and without having to maintain a Byzantine labyrinth of deception if the "company" were really trying to accomplish some sort of production objective through MDR. They're also obviously in some kind of a cult where the lead figure and his progeny have been mythologized into some type of gods. I don't believe they're putting out a product or service at all. I think they are simply working toward the goal of an entirely compliant, mind-controlled body politic. Regardless of the goal, they're being studied for something.
I disagree with the idea of Milchick being fully severed based on overtime contingency interaction with Dylan. He obviously left to go to Dylan’s house so that means that he’s likely not severed at all
some outies are innies. rickens friend group in particular. they act very strange. I believe rickens name may even be Rick N. save this tweet
Nobody ever talks about how strange the friend group is! It’s unnerving
Or why Devon is so normal. She’s the absolute last person you would picture marrying Rickon.
i think because the goats weren't really in the original plan they are going to be a part of a lower stakes but still important reveal. i think lumen makes their own food/drinks that they inject stuff into to help keep people subservient, and the goats just aren't ready to be milked/cooked yet.
I would like to see what a job at Lumon is like for a regular, non-severed employee, like someone who works above ground, and has nothing to do with the severed floor… do they still have all the cult-y stuff up there, or what? I’d say probably not, at least not to the same degree… but I’d like to see 🤷🏻♂️
also… I kinda hope they don’t actually explain too much, like ever. if Lumon is just a weird, mysterious entity throughout the show’s run and they plot is just about the characters and their various lives, I don’t think I’d mind.
Pretty culty, as they have a giant bust of the founder carved into a wall and employees know what he had for breakfast. Also they live in a state or country named after him.
@@jeremyphillips3087 - yea, the head carving thing looks pretty Sovi-et, and I think it’s just the town that’s named after the founder… but that could just be something like “Hersey, PA…”
either way, I’d just like to see some “regular” Lumon employees 👍
@@Sam_T2000 They have their own license plates is why I think it's a state.
@@jeremyphillips3087 - I forget where exactly, but at some point in the show there’s an address listed in “Kier, PE.”
so, it takes place in a fictional state, for sure… but “PE” doesn’t seem to line up with the names Kier, or Eagan, or Lumon… sooo, maybe, maybe not. hopefully we’ll learn more in Season 2 🤷🏻♂️
Milcich ( forgot his name) love the sun on Kier's face so yeah they are all nuts
Also i think the goats are part of making a self-sustaining town of severed employees who never turn off ( seen in the failsafe ). You can see on the map on the napkin a couple of houses. I think downstairs is a prototype town of pll who dont leave and goats ( such as goats milk) is a way to keep them alive.
My most recent theories that could be interesting are that 1) severance isn’t actually location based, and 2) there’s additional severed parts we haven’t met yet.
1) With the OTC, we know the Innies can be let out outside of the severed floor. This makes me wonder if the location based thing is a lie to help convince people of a level of safety to the procedure. What Outtie would agree to be severed if they thought the roles could be switched at any time? This also helps with any theories about Cobel being severed herself, which could be really interesting if she’s severed but can’t reach the other person in her own mind.
2) I realized time could move any way at all on the severed floor, and they’d never know. Who’s to say that the Innies actually experience a true 9-5? The blocks could easily be made to run fast, and they’d never know as, as Petey pointed out, their relativity is all messed up. Which means there’s no certainty there isn’t a third (or fourth, or fifth) personality in each person’s mind getting off at different floors, working a couple hours thinking it’s been 9-5, then sent to another floor for another version of themselves to work a couple more hours.
Milchik is seen at Dylan's house, which probably disproves his full time innie theory.
This had always been my dream until I watched this show. Does everything have to be corrupted? Love this show. Thanks for upload.
Just stumbled on this show and im hooked.
Im subscribing! Really enjoyed your commentary and discussion about the show. I felt the same in a lot of the topics! The best part is not even related to the show. I found myself thinking of West World during the video and how I only finish the first season. I was surprised when you mentioned that at the end.
This series is so good I am watching the whole first season again to watch the second
Heres my take on Cobel. She’s a conflicted character and here’s why. Harmony hates that Lumon “killed” her mother with the airway tube. Her mother is one of the subjects held at the testing floor. This is why she’s undercover monitoring Mark’s outie and his family and why she asks Miss Casey to perform this weird tasks so she can’t interact with Mark more. Shes hoping that it triggers real memories. She asks Devon if Mark sees her and the expression on her face when Mark molds the tree out of clay at the wellness session. She wants to know if the chip works and she wants to prove re-integration so she can revive /clone her mother.
I have my own theory on the theme of Severance, which centers on commentary on the Protestant Ethic.
I believe the foodless dinner party in the first episode, the mystical worship of founder Kier Eagan, and the Luman Bible are clues to this theory.
The Protestant Ethic values hard work and profit-seeking and strictly avoids worldly pleasure, idleness, and waste of time, which is what Luman employees are expected to do during working hours.
All I know for sure is that there had better be a good answer for all these questions eventually and that I live long enough to see and hear them. Theories are all very well but, ultimately, they are empty until we see more episodes. I need my Severance fix!
Milckeck was outside at Dylans house when he saw his child.
Loved this video man, very interesting and thorough discussion on some theories. I'm just doing my own video on Severance in preparation for S2 this coming Jan, so v interesting!
You know if people keep waiting like 3 or 4 years between seasons people are going to forget and think the show is cancelled. There is another season of the Handmaid's tale supposed to be coming out also.
Idk i watched on release and this show haunts me from time to time and has actually showed up in other pieces of media since its release (like Rick & Morty). If it's great people won't forget
Can’t wait for season 2. I loved everything about this and I hope Ben Stiller keeps the weirdness coming.
I watched this when it aired years ago. The wait for season 2 is fucking torture. This shit reminds me of the wait between lost seasons when it was still on
Came to hear about my favorite show of all time, stayed for the use of a BO4 zombies round transition from Dead of the Night. Talk about two worlds colliding for me.
This 3D logo of the little guy working inside the read resembles those iconic Byte Magazine covers from the 80s.
A small detail in the cene where Mark screams "shes alive" is that hes holding a picture of gemma and him in his hand so thats probably what everyone will notice and ask about
came for the severance, stayed and subscribed for the LOST references 😂❤
considering how many metaphors hidden in just one single season, I expect that it couldn't be worse than out land or dark
❤ Love your videos sincerely. I can't wait for season 2 and your theories about it episode to episode
The other option for the “funny little man with the mustache” could be Milchick.
You said we only saw Milchick outside with Helly but we saw him in Dylan's closet too
The board members remind me of the council on the Loki series where they turn out to be robots that were there to enforce rules and to instill fear and obedience.
what strikes me about harmony as well is that her 2 different lifes are a very strong parallel to the severance programm, emulating it.
in this case we can perhaps take it literally as she is the only one with such a stark theme to her character as like you mentioned no other worker is that eccentric. she makes it her duty to split her work life and home life and the writers go out of their way to make it 2 extremes. it seem to me that she believes in a very specific vision for humanities psychology. the one thing she never changes in both her acts is her devotion. now if she just used parts of her life as some sort of inspiration to create these 2 personalities is another thing.
a lot to contemplate about.
I got the chance to talk to Ben Stiller and my only question for him was - what if they have a preexisting condition that they must take care of on the inside and the outside. He said he would have to think about it!
Well they did say there’s a screening process. It’s possible that they would deny you if you have a preexisting condition
wdym by preexisting condition? Like medical issue?
@@Larry-Lobster Yes - like diabetes
@@Larry-Lobster like if you have a condition that would require additional care to be done during work, they would deny you as to not have to work around it
@@mikehawk4778 gotcha, thank you
It’s such a great show. Totally underrated!!! But so worth the time. It sucks you in and you’re just like wth?
I’m surprised you didn’t mention anything about the “livestock” comment Helly made in the first episode. It’s when she’s meeting Mark for the first time and she asks “am I livestock” and he laughs and says “good lord no.” I’m also wondering what is up with the whole food less dinner thing…
Very recently I watched a video about a woman who left scientology in her adulthood, but grew there, and some things of this shows are similar to the punishement that she describes. Like the lies detector and the mental torture 😮
I know it was a slip of the tongue, but I really want to see what a merger between Lumon and Vought would be like lol. Good video
Surprised you didn't mention O&D
Most interesting and original show I have seen since Mr. Robot. It's a serious look at the human condition. It's at once a compelling drama but has dark situational humor ripe with claustrophobic suspense - a 'cracked' mirror version of the Office if it had a baby with Twin Peaks.
“Vought.” 😂
Sea 2:
Mark & Kobel team up to get him back into Lumen.
Kobel wants to get rehired
Mark wants Gemma
No one else at Lumen has to know.
We will see Helly's outie perspective, and realize she is more trapped on the outside than inside (free from family history)
Irving will take us into the wider world conspiracy eg "beehive" protocol
Dylan's arc I'm less sure about... He continues to fight to get out to see his kids.
Rickon does something heroic to save everyone.
petey also mentions that he's marks best friend inside but he isn't his bestfriend back... maybe it's outside irving.
So I've watched several of your videos now and I think this one especially highlights your strength in analyzing the dual natures some shows have, also your 8 simple rules video for example, and I'd love to see you apply that to the Show "Kevin Can F Himself" which balances through Sitcom and Drama. I think you'd find the show interesting and have a lot to say on it.
Something my husband caught is if Mark lives in Lumon housing, why didn’t he/his sister assume Cobel worked at Lumon sooner? I know it’s a huge building and not everyone works together or in the same department but I thought either that was a decent catch or I missed something 🤷🏽♀️
We also see Milchik outside when hes at dylans which he was able to do of his own accord so its unlikely hes stuck at lumon
Also im wondering if the innies are going to be wiped or something in order to allow them to go back to work. Maybe we'll have scenes with outie mark, old innie mark, and new innie mark.
What about the baby doll Harmony threw around when she was playing a nurse? Marks sister met that stranger at the neighboring cabin during her labor and then again in the park. The lady’s baby looked like it might be a doll. At the very last scene Marks niece being held by his sister looked like a doll imho. Thoughts??
Opening scene. If they put the conference table vertical instead of horizontal. It would look like Helli was literally being born. This part of Helena being created and birthed.
What do you mean fully severed , like Cobel? She’s the same consciousness away from work and at work. I don’t get why she wants to keep such a close eye on Mark either.
JANUARY FELLAS!!!!
one cool thing they could go for is lumon essenrially planning to eliminate all present mdr workers besides helena. perhaps there is a way to set the memory cap for the inni back to 0 which makes them all docile again but to the price of having to re develope their characters for lumon once again. the mext step is removing the outies and other outer interferences so long it doesnt draw more attention which lets be honest isnt much because they are in the main worker city of kier.
beyond the sense of feeling lost i get a sense of influence from the backrooms and liminal spaces specifically with this show!
@9:46 Is it just me that hears this scene every time i hear the phrase "The Numbers". It's like a Pavlovian tick. I played way too much of Black Ops
One thing which is super simple but no one ever brings it up is they look like mice in a maze and they are being experimented on so it was symbolic and obvious which is why no one brings it up I’m guessing