"Severance" Thread ; "You ready to man the vat for ten hours?"
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The weird pregnant lady Devin met demonstrates that there are different ways to control whether to activate the severed self. So I think that they can deactivate Helena’s implant even on the Severed floor (and I suspect that the “unsevered” supervisors on that floor actually have an implant that Lumon could activate if they needed to do so for security.
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I think outie world is not a real world — it is an artifice created to give the innies some sort of dreamscape. Sort of do androids dream of electric sheep/Hall 9000’s Will I dream query — the efficiency of the innies (whatever they are) relies somehow on having rest and a form of a subconscious. The world is clearly off — it reminds me of how you can never quite figure out how to reach Shell Beach in Dark City and how Dark City itself is weirdly isolated.
So many weird things but one that jumped out at me was that the attempt to harmonize* Mark’s brain waves to de-sever him used five brain waves, just like Macrodata Refining has to fill five boxes with those scary numbers.
harmonize —> Harmony? She believes in de-severing when The Board doesn’t seem to …
Helly only ever wears blue now (she wore the same silhouette but different colors last season pre-overtime contingency). Ms Cobel only wore blue. Milchick and Ms. Huang wear blue and white (though Milchick has his black biker jacket for when he leaves). I suspect that is visual code on the severed floor for an unsevered worker, but need to pay closer attention going forward. The black leather jacket may be a signal that Milchick is not 110% loyal to Lumon.
Or none of any of the foregoing could be true.
So many weird things but one that jumped out at me was that the attempt to harmonize* Mark’s brain waves to de-sever him used five brain waves, just like Macrodata Refining has to fill five boxes with those scary numbers.
harmonize —> Harmony? She believes in de-severing when The Board doesn’t seem to …
Helly only ever wears blue now (she wore the same silhouette but different colors last season pre-overtime contingency). Ms Cobel only wore blue. Milchick and Ms. Huang wear blue and white (though Milchick has his black biker jacket for when he leaves). I suspect that is visual code on the severed floor for an unsevered worker, but need to pay closer attention going forward. The black leather jacket may be a signal that Milchick is not 110% loyal to Lumon.
Or none of any of the foregoing could be true.
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De-severance him? (I haven't watched it yet, but after reading this thread I'm thinking taking it might be a good idea to take some ketamine and watch it)...
an0maly
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To me, this is the biggest episode since the finale last season. I just want to list a set of observations and questions about explosive stuff all over the place.
The goat farm sequence has the look of surrealism a la David Lynch, but it begins to tie some things together. Those scruffy goat tenders are also severed, but it lookalike they know less than nothing about even severance itself. They may not know there is an outer version, or it is gone forever now.They have distorted notions of reality, and why? Lumen is involved in whole body biological experimentation of some kind. The severed workers there have been told false ideas about other humans'(non-severed) anatomy or they think other workers at Lumen have been profoundly genetically modified.
At the end of the scene it's suggested that the group came over the hill to confront Helly and Mark with the intent of confronting them to see if people in other departments had belly pouches. When they find the answer is no, a man says, “proves nothing.”
Dylan, already being manipulated to favor Lumen by his family contact rewards, is more susceptible by virtue of meeting his outside wife, and hearing she is proud of his Lumen work, and that is outie is somewhat of a failure in the real world. Is this setting him up to be a defender of the status quo and be against the fact finding and whatever rebellion of the other innies?
Irv realizes could rebel against management and succeed. Ultra loyal and obedient to authority was his original mode, a translation of a long military past. That Lumen worship was gone with the loss of Burt, and Dylan's emotional support has buoyed self-actualization.
I am steady with the notion that it's Helena's outie pretending to be innie, but she is obviously baffled by some things going on inside Lumen and the severance settings. She has a pure look of wonder and stifled amusement throughout the goat farm adventure.
Ms Cobel-not-Selvig might be the most dynamic and intriguing part of this episode. Prone to hysterical anger and raging internal conflict about Lumen ever since last season, she clearly thinks she holds power over the company. But finally she suddenly gets in her car and drives away in apparent fear, and it happens when she gets close to a new and very tall security guy (this makes three we have seen). Why? The opening animation suggests her rabbit car crashes, at least I think that is what I see. Is that yet to happen?Will she turn against Lumen even though she is a Scientology-level fanatic about Kier?
Mark Scott seems to be at the barn where Ms Cobel-not-Selvig had stopped during the day during her rage driving expedition. There he wanted to burn a puzzling question into his eyes, who is alive, but how would that puzzle help Mark S the innie with a connection with Gemma and her fate? Next he is undergoing a jury rigged, Frankenstein lab almost attempt reintegration. What an ending as he re-experiences his orientation.Can he slip in as an outie like Helena, and would telling her be a disaster that gets him caught?
Oh, and... Goats. How do they work?
Sensational episode.
The goat farm sequence has the look of surrealism a la David Lynch, but it begins to tie some things together. Those scruffy goat tenders are also severed, but it lookalike they know less than nothing about even severance itself. They may not know there is an outer version, or it is gone forever now.They have distorted notions of reality, and why? Lumen is involved in whole body biological experimentation of some kind. The severed workers there have been told false ideas about other humans'(non-severed) anatomy or they think other workers at Lumen have been profoundly genetically modified.
At the end of the scene it's suggested that the group came over the hill to confront Helly and Mark with the intent of confronting them to see if people in other departments had belly pouches. When they find the answer is no, a man says, “proves nothing.”
Dylan, already being manipulated to favor Lumen by his family contact rewards, is more susceptible by virtue of meeting his outside wife, and hearing she is proud of his Lumen work, and that is outie is somewhat of a failure in the real world. Is this setting him up to be a defender of the status quo and be against the fact finding and whatever rebellion of the other innies?
Irv realizes could rebel against management and succeed. Ultra loyal and obedient to authority was his original mode, a translation of a long military past. That Lumen worship was gone with the loss of Burt, and Dylan's emotional support has buoyed self-actualization.
I am steady with the notion that it's Helena's outie pretending to be innie, but she is obviously baffled by some things going on inside Lumen and the severance settings. She has a pure look of wonder and stifled amusement throughout the goat farm adventure.
Ms Cobel-not-Selvig might be the most dynamic and intriguing part of this episode. Prone to hysterical anger and raging internal conflict about Lumen ever since last season, she clearly thinks she holds power over the company. But finally she suddenly gets in her car and drives away in apparent fear, and it happens when she gets close to a new and very tall security guy (this makes three we have seen). Why? The opening animation suggests her rabbit car crashes, at least I think that is what I see. Is that yet to happen?Will she turn against Lumen even though she is a Scientology-level fanatic about Kier?
Mark Scott seems to be at the barn where Ms Cobel-not-Selvig had stopped during the day during her rage driving expedition. There he wanted to burn a puzzling question into his eyes, who is alive, but how would that puzzle help Mark S the innie with a connection with Gemma and her fate? Next he is undergoing a jury rigged, Frankenstein lab almost attempt reintegration. What an ending as he re-experiences his orientation.Can he slip in as an outie like Helena, and would telling her be a disaster that gets him caught?
Oh, and... Goats. How do they work?
Sensational episode.
an0maly
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Yes, and I thought that was the visual with Dylan's wife's purple clothes.
I wanted to add that I think SETH Milchick's not faking happy very well attitude about the paintings that mix his race with master Kier's suggested he may not be a happy zealot like others in Lumen. I dont't know...
Milk and Cookies
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Green is inside too
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Oh yeah, Milchick is making a heel turn at some point.
Also, damn near every episode I have the thought “how the fuck is this the first time I’ve seen Tramell Tillman?” The guy is the runaway best actor, in a show with fantastic acting and directing.
aGDevil2k
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100% - dude is brilliant
fourheels
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Yep. Interesting that Helena happened to be wearing blue and green for her speech in the season 1 finale. The MDR team we saw in episode 1 of this season was wearing purple.
