anyone seen SEVERANCE yet?

Not saying everything ever has to mean something, just this particular case, because of the way it has been set up.

-I think the macrodata refinement is one facet of a study on the employees, who are doing meaningless work to which they have attached great importance. super cult like vibes permeate. i think the curation of the art is part of the cult's myth-building, and another way to give the workers a sense of importance. The goats, I think I agree that they are probably for chip testing?

-the break room feels to me like a Sc13nt0logY-allusion, to e-meters and repeating things until you have cleared the "blockage." the feeling of coercion and surveillance also give me this very unpleasant vibe.

-part of the severance procedure remind me of the protagonist of PKD's "A Scanner Darkly" whose mind undergoes a similar division.

-i think parts of this are intended as a brutal satire of workplace culture, particularly the meaningless incentives and office-sponsored funtime.

-the implications of the severing can get really dark really quickly; my mind immediately thought about evil people using the procedure to force people (women mostly) into sex slavery. but the idea that they can turn you on and off whenever is also pretty wild, suggesting that they could "kill" either half of you whenever they wanted.

i'd be happy to be wrong about what the macrodata refinement is for xpost.

My other theory, which is mine: always thought Helly was a big shot, probably some kind of Lumon insider and this last episode only seemed to confirm this.

And of course a cursory google search seems to find a youtube video with a similar theory which I didn't want to click on.

So… Helly R is an Eagan right? Cobel mentioned an Eagan family gala in the previous episode and it definitely looked like Helly’s outie was at some kind of formal event there. Explains why the board was pissed that Cobel didn’t tell them about her suicide attempt.

Also Cobel is keeping a hospital wristband with the name Charlotte Cobel on it among the things in her shrine. A dead relative she’s hoping Lumon can revive?

This stuff making me feel like I’m watching LOST all over again.

Yes and yes. Keep wondering what happens on the testing floor. I decided to call it a reboot although now I am may lengthen it to remake/remodel

I was saying to my wife yesterday, “I hope this doesn’t end up like Lost.”

I was saying to my wife yesterday, “I hope this doesn’t end up like Lost.”

i keep wanting to push dylan’s glasses back up

really bothered me that the security guy's card wasn't deactivated

that's fair

there are a lot of things that don't bear too much inspection tbh

I tried not to let that card thing bother me and succeeded, mostly, but yeah. Plot devices gotta come from somewhere though.

You may have a similar experience if you watch this other show during the SEVERANCE downtime: COUNTERPART: Alternate History w/ Creepy Cold War Vibe

Now thinking that if they actually had come up with some kind of cockamamie explanation for why it wasn’t deactivated it would have only made things worse. Trying to think of some myself now and the results are not pretty.

Unless that key card was already off the grid, as somebody I know just suggested.

I quite like the idea that the organization is so weird that only one person would immediately think to deactivate that security card, and that person is no longer there.

Fair enough.

trying to think of the last show i’ve enjoyed on every level as much as this, maybe better call saul

the motorhead needle drop was so fucking fantastic, just goddamn delightful

i am cutting carbs & all i could think was what a ~stressful~way to have to eat your waffles

i love every scene w adam scott & the sister, the way they care abt each other & make sarcastic jokes to each other is so good & v real

turturro is still my fave but the guy who plays milchick is great too - doesn't look like he's done a ton of stuff before this.

Nice article on him here

The one plot hole that bugs me slightly is that they have surveillance everywhere except, it seems, in the MDR office? They sometimes go in the storage cupboard to plot but not always.

Hope we get some answers this week but second season so maybe not

That was nice to read thanks, although weird that they spelled Lumon *Lumun*.

To be honest, unlike some other 'mysterious' shows, I don't mind too much if they just keep spinning their wheels forever and never figure out anything satisfyingly concrete. It's thematically appropriate.

Good point.

officially renewed for s2 https://www.apple.com/tv-pr/news/2022/04/apple-tv-announces-season-two-renewal-for-global-hit-series-severance/

the tuturro outie scenes were great. i totally get why a guy like him would want to completely dissociate from the mindless day job that pays for his artistic fulfillment.

Have any of you read THE LEXINGTON LETTER yet?

Some of you should be able to read here: https://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewBook?id=1613220757

HI DERE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MsMD8taQ1qA
#onethread

that was fuckin tense

Like an MDE on steroids

Nice interview with Zach Cherry/Dylan here, contains spoilers for Ep9.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=77YwQqgd9Mk

I feel like the line about pregnancy in this EP might be the biggest clue as to the motivations of Lumon yet.

I didn't know about this thread! That episode was maybe the best episode of TV I've ever seen.

Welcome, daniel s! We are so happy to have you with us, it's a great thing you are doing by coming here.

Not looking forward to the withdrawal symptoms.

Guess I'll just have to break out the coffee cozies.

Jesus christ, Patricia, stop clicking the thread about the programme you haven't watched yet!

Why hello, Mrs. Selvig.

https://www.vulture.com/article/how-severance-filmed-defiant-jazz-dance-sequence.html

“We wanted more and more stylistic juxtaposition: something that seems really, really nice and beautiful next to something that’s horrifying and scary,” Erickson says. (His other group-bonding idea of a “touch tank,” similar to the Halloween haunted-house gags, included bowls of spaghetti masquerading as brains but was put aside after “there was so much confusion over what the hell I was talking about.”)

I wonder how one would dance to 'Spooky Ambient'?

'Effusive Ska' would have been fun. Love to have seen Irv skanking to the beat, or all of them (minus Dylan, of course) doing the Madness 'Nutty Boy' train.

I think there is an example of Hootin' Tootin' Country at the beginning of this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XTNGg0Tj5Aw

Guess during the downtime we can do a POLL if we really want.

BTW I do agree with some of the upthread discussion about Ricken being maybe a bit too cartoonish for the show, but I did get a nice chuckle out of "linguists believe the word camaraderie derives from the Latin word 'camera', meaning 'a device for taking pictures'."

Also liked the way his self-hating self-consciousness after his reading delayed Mark that much more from telling his story.

He definitely felt more likable on this last episode, some crazy lines from that Rebeck (sp) girl too.

Rebeck stuff was another great distraction/delaying tactic.

all of the 'outies' are way too cartoonish/uncanny (e.g. the dinner party where they discuss WWI) - not sure if that hurts or helps the show

Yeah, the Ricken coterie seemed very odd, almost like 'The Serial/Marin County' era hippies but in the present day and darker.

Also, I see people commenting in a way that suggests the appearance of a mobile phone is some sort of slip, but I can't figure out why.