"Severance" Thread ; "But I'm her, Mark. I'm her."

  • Thread starter Thread starter an0maly
  • Start date Start date
  • Replies: 220
  • Views: 7K
  • Off-Topic 
nycfan said:
Been traveling this week, just got to watch the finale tonight. Chewing over its many layers, but for now ….

“… I can't remember if I cried
When I read about his widowed bride
But something touched me deep inside
The day the music died

… And while Lenin read a book on Marx
The quartet practiced in the park
And we sang dirges in the dark
The day the music died

… Now, the halftime air was sweet perfume
While sergeants played a marching tune
We all got up to dance
Oh, but we never got the chance
'Cause the players tried to take the field
The marching band refused to yield
Do you recall what was revealed
The day the music died? …”


IMG_5859.jpeg
Click to expand...
IMG_5862.jpeg


IMG_5860.jpeg
IMG_5861.jpeg
Is that a green-skinned Helly R zombie behind Natalie in the bottom close-up? I think the zombie is one of the doppelgängers from the ORTBO(?)
 
Last edited:
Random thoughts —

Yay goat lady!

The goat deserves a special animal acting award, BTW.

Gemma in the stairwell, at the window while Mark S. & Helly R. pulled a freaky Mrs. Robinson was a great scene (Helly was strangely not curious about why Mark was covered in blood).

I don’t think the tie stunt would work no matter how soaked with blood. Loved the attention to detail all the little scars on nurse ratchet’s finger when she opened Cold Harbor.

Dylan has horrible handwriting of a child.

Loved the cue of Chicago Bulls intro music for the bizarre Kier/Milchick standup routine. Who was animatronic Kier’s voice?

Mark’s argument between his innie and outie was really well done.

The hallway scenes in the season premier and season finale will look great side by side or int a super cut someday soon.

The Freeze Frame ending was VERY 1960s/1970s cinema …

IMG_5863.jpeg
IMG_5865.jpeg


And after a season of all blue and white all the time, RED was DEFINITELY the color of the finale.

Also, the end credits reminded me of this novella, which also is on the nose:

IMG_5866.jpeg

The marching band playing the hail Kier anthem song that Ms Cobel sang was hilarious.

Kier, chosen one, Kier.​
Kier, brilliant one, Kier. ​
Brings the bounty to the plain through the torment, through the rains,​
Progress, knowledge show no fear,​
Kier, chosen one, Kier.​

Helly R had a green sweater this episode instead of all blue all the time.

Jame coming to meet Helly R was creepy but how much damage could she have done with that felt tip pen she grasped like a knife?

I can’t understand why Lumon hasn’t invested in some security guards or at least hall monitors on the severed floor and below …
 
Fun fact - They shot that last scene on film stock instead of digital like the rest of the show, so you get the grainy effects and makes it feel like a 70s film with that pause and zoom in.

They’re really laying it on thick that season 3 will be completely different from the first two seasons.
 
Windmills of Your Mind - lyrics (last song in finale)

Round like a circle in a spiral, like a wheel within a wheel
Never ending or beginning on an ever spinnin' reel
Like a snowball down a mountain, or a carnival balloon
Like a carousel that's turnin', runnin' rings around the moon
Like a clock whose hands are sweepin' past the minutes of its face
And the world is like an apple, whirlin' silently in space
Like the circles that you find in the windmills of your mind

… Like a tunnel that you follow to a tunnel of its own
Down a hollow to a cavern, where the sun has never shone
Like a door that keeps revolvin' in a half-forgotten dream
Or the ripples from a pebble someone tosses in a stream
Like a clock whose hands are sweepin' past the minutes of its face
And the world is like an apple, whirlin' silently in space
Like the circles that you find in the windmills of your mind

… Keys that jingle in your pocket, words that jangle in your head
Why did summer go so quickly? Was it something that you said?
Lovers walk along a shore and leave their footprints in the sand
Is the sound of distant drummin' just the fingers of your hand?
Pictures hangin' in a hallway and the fragment of a song
Half-remembered names and faces, but to whom do they belong?
When you knew that it was over, you were suddenly aware
That the autumn leaves were turnin' to the colour of her hair

… Like a circle in a spiral, like a wheel within a wheel
Never ending or beginning on an ever spinnin' reel
As the images unwind
Like the circles that you find
In the windmills of your mind
 
Other interesting lyrics from songs used this season:

Eminence Front (The Who)
“The sun shines
And people forget
The spray flies as the speedboat glides
And people forget
Forget they're hiding …”

Fire Woman (The Cult — Cobel backstory episode)

“… Fire
Smoke, she is a rising fire, yeah
Smoke on the horizon, well
Fire
Smoke, she is a rising fire
Oh, smokestack lightning
Smokestack lightning

… Fire woman, you're to blame“

IMG_5869.jpeg
 
nycfan said:
Windmills of Your Mind - lyrics (last song in finale)

Round like a circle in a spiral, like a wheel within a wheel
Never ending or beginning on an ever spinnin' reel
Like a snowball down a mountain, or a carnival balloon
Like a carousel that's turnin', runnin' rings around the moon
Like a clock whose hands are sweepin' past the minutes of its face
And the world is like an apple, whirlin' silently in space
Like the circles that you find in the windmills of your mind

… Like a tunnel that you follow to a tunnel of its own
Down a hollow to a cavern, where the sun has never shone
Like a door that keeps revolvin' in a half-forgotten dream
Or the ripples from a pebble someone tosses in a stream
Like a clock whose hands are sweepin' past the minutes of its face
And the world is like an apple, whirlin' silently in space
Like the circles that you find in the windmills of your mind

… Keys that jingle in your pocket, words that jangle in your head
Why did summer go so quickly? Was it something that you said?
Lovers walk along a shore and leave their footprints in the sand
Is the sound of distant drummin' just the fingers of your hand?
Pictures hangin' in a hallway and the fragment of a song
Half-remembered names and faces, but to whom do they belong?
When you knew that it was over, you were suddenly aware
That the autumn leaves were turnin' to the colour of her hair

… Like a circle in a spiral, like a wheel within a wheel
Never ending or beginning on an ever spinnin' reel
As the images unwind
Like the circles that you find
In the windmills of your mind
Click to expand...
Torme's voice on this is softer than fog. So perfect for this disconnected-from-time story.

 
The best use of extant music (outside of Kubrick) is "When It's Cold I'd Like to Die" at the end of the coma dream episode of The Sopranos, but wow, Severance has had some of the best needle drops since that show. At Burt's "retirement" party, which Irv correctly realized was actually a funeral for an approaching killing by Lumon, the song used was "Times of Your Life." It really got to me, partly as a deep memory from my childhood, as it was once used by Kodak to sell cameras. But also in its used meaning of impending death. When you think about it, it's one of the saddest songs ever, along with "September Song."

 
I am going to gradually watch this whole season a second time, but it's clearly one of the best things I've ever seen (inclusive of all films and TV). This video--a more high level viewpoint and focused on acting--is quite good:


​

 
nycfan said:
IMG_5862.jpeg


IMG_5860.jpeg
IMG_5861.jpeg
Is that a green-skinned Helly R zombie behind Natalie in the bottom close-up? I think the zombie is one of the doppelgängers from the ORTBO(?)
Click to expand...
Yup, that is "shadow" Helly, along with the other doppelgangers, from the ORTBO.
 
Finally finished it.

I just don’t see it. It has its moments, it has its high-level qualities (visuals, some of the acting)… but there’s also a ridiculous kitchen sink element that was really on display in the finale. The loooong drawn out innie vs outie Mark camcorder sequence, the goats, the marching band… those last two having been chuckled off by the creators as just needing or wanting something wacky and random to throw in there. Eye-roll stuff for me.

It’s fun enough, it’s a ride, but I don’t see how in the world it can be taken as some brilliant work to join the pantheon of prestige TV.

Like I opined from the very beginning (maybe not here, but with friends), it’s Charlie Kaufman lite meets Jacques Tati visuals. Cool idea but it falls well short of either one.
 
an0maly said:
The best use of extant music (outside of Kubrick) is "When It's Cold I'd Like to Die" at the end of the coma dream episode of The Sopranos
Click to expand...
Soul-wrecking scene. Peak television kind of stuff.



Now that’s prestige TV pantheon.

RIP Jim.
 
Last edited:
aGDevil2k said:
Ben Stiller was saying that Mark made the decision in a moment not thinking that they don't really know what to do... They have no future at Lumon. So it was impulsive and they will quickly be in a what now situation
Click to expand...
1744956175146.png

(stealing nycfan’s classic shot to underscore this parallel again)
 
As I generally hate awards shows, I plan on some suffering the one this evening. But at times I really do want certain things to win awards, just to see if it can happen that great art is rewarded by these events, and so can become recognized by more people. I do not believe one work of art or artistic expression is better than another because of votes--even of skilled peers--but the point here is a new attention to a work that people might overlook. The ancillary wish with this is that more great ideas are funded for production, rather than only more, say, Star Wars and comic books stuff. So I will watch the Emmys tonight, and hope Severance does very well. The last time I really watched an awards show was the 2020 Academy Awards, where my massive hopes were for the masterpiece Parasite (which if someone pressed me on it, I might say is the finest film of this century so far). To my permanent shock, it took home Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Original Screenplay. Given the typical Oscar winners are usually anything from a sad mistake to a preposterous farce, watching that was immense fun.

Severance is to me the most creatively original and dynamic thing modern TV has produced in some time, so here is what I hope for tonight:

Outstanding Drama Series​

Andor
The Diplomat
The Last of Us
Paradise
The Pitt
Severance
Slow Horses
The White Lotus

Lead Actor in a Drama Series​

Sterling K. Brown, Paradise
Gary Oldman, Slow Horses
Pedro Pascal, The Last Of Us
Adam Scott, Severance
Noah Wyle, The Pitt


Lead Actress in a Drama Series​

Kathy Bates, Matlock
Sharon Horgan, Bad Sisters
Britt Lower, Severance
Bella Ramsey, The Last of Us
Keri Russell, The Diplomat

Supporting Actor in a Drama Series​

Zach Cherry, Severance
Walton Goggins, The White Lotus
Jason Isaacs, The White Lotus
James Marsden, Paradise
Sam Rockwell, The White Lotus
Tramell Tillman, Severance
John Turturro, Severance

Supporting Actress in a Drama Series​

Patricia Arquette, Severance
Carrie Coon, The White Lotus
Katherine LaNasa, The Pitt
Julianne Nicholson, Paradise
Parker Posey, The White Lotus
Natasha Rothwell, The White Lotus
Aimee Lou Wood, The White Lotus

Without listing other contenders below...​

Directing (Drama​

Ben Stiller, Severance

Writing (Drama)​

Dan Erickson, Severance

Music Composition (Series, Dramatic Score)
Cinematography (Series, One Hour)
Special Visual Effects (Single Episode)
Production Design (Contemporary, One Hour)
Picture Editing (Drama)

Severance already has one winner (a few are given out early) Guest Actress in a drama series, WINNER: Merritt Wever, Severance

Severance_Photo_020320-750x400.jpg
 
I have re-watched both seasons, with some time between episodes, and it remains firmly, in my view, as great as my initial impression. During the rewatch, I was thinking about the great films and TV that the ideas in it draws upon. These are all from great to masterpieces, and I highly recommend them, first watch for you or not, in the context of Severance or not as well.

Of TV, the 2014 Black Mirror episode "White Christmas" and the two The Sopranos coma dream episodes "Join the Club," and "Mayhem."

clockwatchersposter.jpg

Awakenings.jpg 15342.jpg


playtime-bo-kev.jpg
eternal-sunshine-of-the-spotless-mind-md-web.jpg
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top