The reason Mark has to change timepieces when he clocks into work is because his normal watch has numbers on it, which would trigger the elevator alarm. His severed watch only has lines on it.

@Starfals

2 жыл бұрын

He could always get a watch with lines tho, I actually use that kind. It would be 1 less thing to change and worry about. Still, that's a cool detail!

@KushGangarD

2 жыл бұрын

@@Starfals the outie Mark wears a Vostok Kommandirskie watch - a Russian brand. It’s sort of an homage to his wife, who was a professor of Russian literature. Since his outie still grieves over his wife, he wouldn’t change his watch.

@monicarenee7949

Жыл бұрын

@@KushGangarD wow they really paid attention to detail when they made this, I would have never known this

@fapple6240

8 ай бұрын

I still believe the code detectors are made up, but this detail still tracks as it could keep the illusion going.

@theonlybyte

5 ай бұрын

You call a watch "timepiece" ???

Muscle memory is a real thing. Even though Innie Irving didn't learn how to drive, he also didn't re learn how to walk and talk.

@myztik5716

Жыл бұрын

Yeah seems kind of weird none of them know about the subconscious

@nikkiespinosa8854

Жыл бұрын

yeah, but I mean, muscle memory doesn't kick in for me naturally when I'm driving someone else's car. Even if it's the same kind of car as mine, I still have to think about it, really look at the controls, fiddle with the lights and wipers and mirrors and stuff. And even when I'm driving my own car, muscle memory only kicks in when I'm not overthinking it, and how could you not overthink it when it's your first time driving (that you remember)? Also, how could he know the rules of the road? How could he know to stop at red lights? How could he know to drive on the right hand side? It's a great show, but I do agree with them that severance doesn't make sense when you really think about it.

@doneisenbarth

Жыл бұрын

Man, I love that scene because innie Irving knows what driving is, and he knows how to drive, but he has no memory of driving. So when he starts doing it he looks shocked but yeah,it’s all there it’s just his first time doing it.

Dude I just realized the break room is a double entendre for breaking the employees down, not giving them a break. I feel like my brain just gained a wrinkle 🧠

@pumpuppthevolume

2 жыл бұрын

break into submission room lol

@platinum11110

2 жыл бұрын

Wow true!! O.O

@archief1

2 жыл бұрын

Duuuude

@mfaizsyahmi

2 жыл бұрын

I feel like the whole show's name is an office pun. People get severance packages at the end, but these people get severance at the start.

@nevezeraa

2 жыл бұрын

I thought about that all the time xd

I also loved the authentic feel of Mark and his sister's sibling-chemistry

"Lumon is communist" are you fucking with me, this entire show is basically a refernece to marx's theory of alienation, turned up to 11. Which is, by the way, a critique of capitalism

@CerdurTV

2 жыл бұрын

yeah i guess a charitable interpretation is that lumon shares similarities to the american fear of what soviet communism could impose, while representing the irony that the conditions leading to its creation were capitalist. in a lot of ways soviet style communism was capitalist, some of the same dehumanizing qualities as severance, so a lot of people think "communism" is only that. most people don't know what marx talked about, or they blame alienation on something different and fear attempts at communism can only fail to rectify it

@CrookedMarc

2 жыл бұрын

Yeah I was definitely cringing a little when they started talking about. Mostly because it was clear they have a very old idea as to what communism is. I personally don’t think this show is a critique of any economic system beyond the culture of work.

@Glenners

2 жыл бұрын

How can I trust anything these guys have to say after they fuck that up so obviously. Like the Red Scare brainrot found it's way to older millenials.

@TejuAbiola

Жыл бұрын

Yeah, that was so unserious. The whole show is about selling yourself to a company and creating effective slaves…shoddy analysis. Communism isn’t about control or opacity or power; these guys are really limited in their understanding of it because Lumon is the opposite of egalitarian or supporting the proletariat.

@Basildad658

21 күн бұрын

Mark S… Marx another character’s name is almost an anagram for Hegelianism

29:55 I don't think Irving is painting the hallway to the Break Room. To me he is painting the Elevator that goes down to the "Test Area". Which is where you see Marks wife go. My theory is that once someone has been there for a little while or if they cause some sort of issue the Test Area is where they can wipe that section of the mind or something. But maybe that process doesn't work correctly and some data is left behind hence the underlying memory that Irving has and paints. I'm also really interested to see what else Irving does as his Outie is keeping records of others that work at Lumon as if he's in a group to take them down. But the parallel that his Innie is such a devoted follower. 1:24:58 That baby part reminded me that after Mark finds the baby the other guy runs in and grabs the baby and immediately goes "I found them" and is immediately aiming to get the credit for finding the baby. He gives off an odd vibe way back in the first episodes and comes across like someone who has a load of skeletons in their closet. When he discusses his opposition to the Severence process I immediately wondered if he either backs it elsewhere or is involved himself.

The success of this show is so hugely the work of Ben Stiller, I think you all should have begun with praise for this genius Director. He really knows genres, and mixed them so well (the tension in the last episode was timed perfectly), and so tonally different from his own comedy work, I think this show should win several awards.

Dichen Lachman, who plays Gemma, was on another great high concept show about memory and personality erasure called "Dollhouse." That's a show that starts out looking like it's going to be one type of show -an Episodic about programmable secret agents- but turns into something entirely different and ends up really transcending the genre. Meanwhile, Gemma was also in Altered Carbon, a show that doesn't quite reach its ambitions, but Dichen is the real standout performer on the show.

This felt like an episode of black mirror made into a show.

@25zvillcb25

2 жыл бұрын

And a good one at that!

@shashankaj1750

2 жыл бұрын

Agreed.

@pumpuppthevolume

2 жыл бұрын

yep exactly ...bm had an episode where they make a digital copy of a person and force the copy to work as Alexa for the person

@shashankaj1750

2 жыл бұрын

@@pumpuppthevolume if I'm not wrong, i think it's the same episode where they try to get the copy of a person to admit a crime that his original self had done.

@akhilnair1137

2 жыл бұрын

@@pumpuppthevolume white Christmas.

I really, really, really liked this show. Somehow Apple TV doesn't have the volume but I think always has something legitimately worth keeping the service for. Especially at $5. For me Severance, Ted Lasso, For All Mankind, and Slow Horses are worth the $5. At least over Netflix with that cost which I think is pretty notable.

@lovehatecomments

2 жыл бұрын

Agreed!

@evolv.e

2 жыл бұрын

+1000 Severance, Ted Lasso, For All Mankind, and The Morning Show are all excellent!

@PickeringSamuel

2 жыл бұрын

Not got round to Slow Horses yet, is it good?

@kevindiaz365

2 жыл бұрын

@@PickeringSamuel I think it’s good but not as good as Severance

@25zvillcb25

2 жыл бұрын

@@PickeringSamuel Yeah I quite enjoyed it. I can't give details without spoilers, but the main reason I wanted to watch it didn't pan out at all but I still enjoyed it.

I interpret them hearing things in the break room as them nearly dozing and accessing their outtie memories

In my head, all of the Jobs on the Severance floor are made up examples of real Jobs as a test run for when it's out of beta. SO like that is why its so skeleton and there is weird stuff like the goat room.

I think the biggest thing you all missed is the fact that Irving isn’t painting the break room he’s painting an elevator that goes down to the Lower level Petey was talking about… we see marks wife go into this elevator when she gets Introuble and the only indication we get is the arrow points down when the door closes

@zachend6218

Жыл бұрын

This seems to suggest that marks wife is stuck down there at all times

@mr.balloffur

Ай бұрын

the testing floor

As a person who gave birth (purposely unmedicated), I absolutely feel it's important to be "aware" through the process. Especially the pregnancy part. It's all part of the bonding process and if we don't interfere with how nature set things up, important body chemicals are passed between mom and baby to facilitate breastfeeding, bonding, non-verbal communication, etc. Those chemicals promote well-being in both mom and baby and fast track healing and growth. Severance for pregnancy/birth sounds like a nightmare to me. Nothing good can come from further distancing yourself from your newborn - we're meant to be connected & conscious of one another in order to be effective caregivers. "Detached" moms are historically not a good thing for helpless dependent humans

@justbecause9049

Жыл бұрын

That could be why the senators wife seems like such a bad mom.

@DizzyBusy

8 ай бұрын

Not everyone can safely give birth without chemical help though. Good for you, of course, yay!! But medical advances and better understanding of the processes of birthing is why we're collectively a strong species. So many people would have died giving birth and at birth without the science. I'm still glad it worked out great for you, though, truly. And I understand what you were trying to say.

About the ending: I definitely felt a little cheated. They could have structured the ending a bit different to not have that huge cliff hanger. But, the show is soooo good that I honestly don't care that much. Eagerly awaiting S2.

@Mynetrix

2 жыл бұрын

I agree I absolutely loved every episode until the ending which felt like it dropped off a bunch. Mostly because since they wanted a cliff hanger they had to do a lot of suspense episode extending stuff that didn't make sense / was annoying to fill the 50 ish minute episode

@PrestongSellers

2 жыл бұрын

Felt cheated? That’s what good shows are supposed to do is leave a cliffhanger for a following season… You only should get closure if it’s a series finale

@friendlybane

2 жыл бұрын

@@PrestongSellers you don't need a cliffhanger to get people exciting for the next season

@PrestongSellers

2 жыл бұрын

@@friendlybane I loooooove a good cliff hanger. Guess it’s just personal preference. I didn’t feel they did that to get us to watch the next season. By 4 episodes in I was hooked and have so many unanswered questions I did not need a cliff hanger to watch season 2

@friendlybane

2 жыл бұрын

@@PrestongSellers I agree with you. The show is so good that I was always going to watch S2 regardless of how S1 finale went. I also understand that shows need good ratings to no be canceled, so logistical issues affect the writing. But, a cliffhanger that obvious makes me think of the studio and writers, and breaks my immersion a bit. Small complaint about a wonderful show.

I completely disagree with the take that every season should close all of the mysteries. If you wanted to watch something that completely tells a story- watch a movie. I hate when tv shows answer all of the questions too quickly because then you get invested in characters and want to continue to watch them but they have to makeup stuff that doesn’t even make sense to fill the space. They perfectly set it up to have a fulfilling second season that isn’t a convoluted plot. I feel like they have a story in mind and they know how they are telling it. If you go into it having to answer every question in case you don’t get another one that is when you get Pretty Little Liars-- and no one wants that.

I just wanted to tell “GROW UP!” At the guy complaining that not enough questions were answered…. Like why?? Would you want them all answered……. Then there’s nothing left to look forward to. I get it’s scary because it /could/ go in a bad direction but that’s not a fair way to judge an in progress body of work. lol. The show had an exceptional balance of questions and answers and unraveling new mysteries to discover.. that’s how tv shows survive, that’s why they exist in this format…

@musicIistener

2 жыл бұрын

Also. Irving wasnt painting the break room hallway… he was painting the testing room elevator hallway that gemma retires to

Maybe I am alone in this, but one of the biggest connection I made with this show was that I have had thoughts like this, while working in a cubicle farm where I was wasting my life away. I had told my therapist multiple times, “can’t I just go on auto pilot while at work and wake up when it’s over?” I never thought far enough to conceptualize the reality of my innie. I loved this show so much, and can’t wait for next season.

How ironic this was made by Apple. I mean, can anyone say they remember being in the offices beneath 1 Apple Park Way (The Spaceship) Praise Jobs!

@ES-qy2ju

2 жыл бұрын

Sinister even, in the series, all of Lumon's material and branding uses Apple's typography, even the series' logo.

@Glenners

2 жыл бұрын

@@ES-qy2ju That's what I thought of when they reveal the Helly R Exhibit, very Apple.

@Basildad658

29 күн бұрын

It could be ribbing apple honestly-Lumen is Latin for light, which in western art almost always symbolizes enlightenment .. kinda like how apples symbolize knowledge

David was wrong, Riley was right, about the crying in the car. It has nothing to do with him "not wanting to go in".

@Glenners

2 жыл бұрын

When they fuck up these really obvious things it really makes me question their judgement.

@zeveroarerules

2 жыл бұрын

@@Glenners well, mostly David to be frank. He tends to overthink things way too much.

As someone who has used work to escape life, I saw this series as a huge wake-up call.

I loved the ending. It is not an annoying cliffhanger, but a satisfying one. Same for my colleagues. Interesting :D

I binge watched the show this weekend and totally thought it was a 10 episode season. I was soo disappointed at the end of episode 9. Great show! I feel like I’m hanging from the cliff! So glad I’m finding vlogs discussing the show to help fill my sudden void.

Irving is painting the corridor to the testing floor elevator where they send Casey/Gemma. I thought it was the breakroom corridor before we saw the testing floor corridor, but the show frames the corridor and the elevator with the red down arrow very intentionally. Edit: This hardly a critique of communism, communism is a moneyless stateless organisation of society. And socialism is just the idea that the means of production should be owned by the people. Stop using socialism and communism to define authoritarian regimes like the USSR. Authoritarianism is not a prerequisite for socialism and is incompatible with communism. The whole idea of using severance to remove the bargaining power and the ability to make choices of your workforce is peak capitalism. It’s a capitalists wet dream. Your workforce is effectively incapable of ever organising. Especially because it also strips all decision making information from the outtie, and they are the ones making the decisions for both identities. It completely removes meaningful agency from both the outtie and the innie. Also compensation of the worker becomes completely perverse. Earning your outtie more money means nothing for the innie, so you start rationing basic human experiences and threatening psychological torture. And then you also never have to properly compensate the outtie, because they have no idea what work they’ve actually done. Also losing 8 hours of your day is just terrifying even as an outtie, because even when you’re working for 8 hours in the real world, you can still dream and aspire, think about other parts of your life. Once severed the company now owns those 8 hours completely. Which again, is something capitalists would kill for. Which is also adds to the book quote “the boss owns the clock on the wall, but you own the hour”. Because the outties give up their ownership of those hours.

@acuteaura

2 жыл бұрын

The entire show is marx's theory of alienation turned up to 11. Not only are you alienated from your labor in severance (but, also that), you are alienated from your work self in the most literal sense possible. Lumen's weird culture of rationing fake feeling joyous activities, from hugs to the waffle party, are supposed to COUNTERACT that alienation, but they're obviously laughable to the viewer. Also, the corporate housing is a package of incentives for the outie to keep working at Lumon, even if they feel uneasy about it. They probably pay pretty well too and severed workers would have no means to maintain their standard of living with a different job. And they also do not learn any marketable skills at work. Or remember them.

@gadget2622

2 жыл бұрын

@@acuteaura The whole concept made me so uncomfortable that I almost couldn't get through the first episode, but eventually I grew to like the innie characters enough I wanted them to succeed. I don't know how anyone can watch the show and not see it as a economic/political commentary on the evils of capitalism.

@Glenners

2 жыл бұрын

THANK YOU! You hit all the notes I wanted to hit. Listening to people call anything that looks grey and cement "communist" drives me crazy. And like you said it's the complete opposite. You're selling 100% of yourself for 8 hours a day, no mentally planning what you're doing after work or thinking about your kids. That's capitalist as fuck. And to cap it off the people in charge don't have to be severed for some reason, even though the work is supposed to be so secret people need to split their brains? Doesn't make sense.

@gadget2622

2 жыл бұрын

@@Glenners Yeah it's incredibly fucked up, and the fact that even something so blatantly a critique of capitalism gets called a critique of communism just goes to show how good capitalist propaganda is.

Dylan’s visit from Milchick still puzzles me. Milchick had to be physically at Dylan’s home, so I wonder who the two people were holding the levers for the OTC to work? Why doesn’t Lumon have mirrors? It seems like the innies were all captivated by their own reflection or image… Irving’s innie could’ve possibly been awake before…but I wonder if he’s considered “insane” to the outside world. Ms. Casey said he had some affinity for the insane. I think they’ve got a special connection. The senator’s wife seemed to already know Helene. I sensed she either helped the senator’s wife with severance or Helene is having an affair with her husband. The show is so brilliant, there could’ve been multiple attempts to escape and because the outies don’t share the experience, they keep themselves held captive. Severance could occur to someone over and over again. What the hell…

@Glenners

2 жыл бұрын

Also if he was physically at his home why didn't he just stop the kid from running in since it's SO IMPORTANT.

@MrSkeltal268

Жыл бұрын

What I wonder about Irving is… can people be severed more than once?

@michelle1794

Жыл бұрын

@@MrSkeltal268 not re-severed per se but I think they can just erase the memories of the innie and keep those of the outtie intact. I feel like Irv has gone through that process at least once, for him to (subconsciously) know what the corridor looks like. Maybe the last reset was when he thinks he started working there but he actually has been there for longer than he thinks. And it's the outtie who has the memories of the corridor, I wonder if the erased innie memories, in case there are any, are easier to access by your outtie rather than by "yourself"

@matthewwright9112

Жыл бұрын

There's something about Irving sleeping at his desk, which I read as if you fall asleep or dream in severance, you sort of connect with aspects of your unsevered life, his being the black paint, especially as he seemed so obsessed with that one black image. Love the fact that he had that list as well, and the fact he knew Burty in the 'real world'.

@april5054

28 күн бұрын

​@matthewwright9112 It's not just that; If Irving was falling asleep, that implies that his outie was staying awake at night, and he might have been doing that on purpose in order to try to strain the chip's ability to sever his memories properly, which is why he saw the black paint, and also why Milchick, and by extension Lumon, are so against any employee falling asleep. What if dreaming lets memories through? I think that's what it implies.

Severance is my favourite TV show ever. Also The Northman is great.

I feel like the question of what is it that they actually do is a bit of misdirection. It's more likely that they really are just menial things and the real product is them. They are simply testing the limits of the Severance procedure and the tasks are meant only to research the results of it. It's recursive work.

Tramell Tillman was amazing as Michick

Dichen Lachman was in Dollhouse too. There are a lot of parallels between that show and Severance too.

The Stanley Parable of Apple+

One thing I love about the show that I don’t hear a lot of people touch on is, why do we work? We work so we can have all the things in life that give us pleasure. Vacations, house, televisions etc. but they don’t get to enjoy that. So instead all the little benefits is what they have to look forward to, the finger cuffs, the egg table etc.

Communism is not about bureaucracy on a larger scale. Quite the opposite, it is about bringing democracy to the workplace. Not even the USSR was a good example of the ideals of communism, because they never actually managed to go beyond the first step towards it (or what they thought was the first step, because each country would have a different path towards it based on their own situation). The big difference is that the USSR tried to create communism from the top down, and that is why they had a lot of bureaucracy. The "Marx look" of Kier Eagan is just how a lot of people looked like in the 19th century. That hair and beard were very usual fashion choices for people of the time, specially intelectuals, even if a lot of times men would have either one or the other (the hair or the beard). So as someone that is an enthusiast of fashion history his look did not surprise me in the least because of the amount of men I've seen with the same look at the same time he would have lived.

@MrSkeltal268

Жыл бұрын

I was getting more “titan of industry” vibe from kier Egan - Carnegie, Vanderbilt, etc. and what it would be like if someone developed a quasi religion and lifestyle around their cult of personality.

@NankitaBR

Жыл бұрын

@@MrSkeltal268 Same. I was getting very much Guilded Age robber barons vibes, like Rockefeller and such...

Re Moon-Knight accent, it's a fake accent in-universe too, so it makes sense to be kinda bad.

@HeyDrianTV

2 жыл бұрын

Exactly! It kinda hurts that David already declares how highly he don't recommend the show. I wish they could give the season a chance first.

I agree with Riley that there are so many things t explore with the story to address, like the Goats, Lumen's goal, the nature of the job that MDR, Irvin's Innie's goopy visions, Marc wife, the end goal why Petey was reintegrated, the story of the group trying to reintegrate the severed, the other sections or divisions on the severed floor, the stories of the non-severed who are working on that floor. just so many stories, directions, perceptions and possible spin-offs that Severance can lead to..

This series reminds me a lot of the two series The Good Place and Upload. If you haven't seen either of these, they are well worth watching. All three are excellent.

The thing about why they remember some things and not others has to do with how memories work. There is a great video that breaks down all the different types of memory and in particular what the severance procedure affects. kzread.info/dash/bejne/lql7yLGFqqa9nbA.html To summarise, it is the memories tied to one's sense of self, not learned memories that tell us how to function and speak nor muscle memories that we use to do things like work a machine.

@jackiepike1466

11 ай бұрын

I think the number crunching serves as a visual to show memories being compartmentalized into boxes, just like the brain does, and maybe what Lumon intends with this experiment is to lock away all the bad memories, as a purge. We will have to see what they do with this side if the story. On the other hand, number crunching is probably the most demeaning, time-wasting job one could probably have and not want to do (critiquing the workplace) and hence, the company devotes a lot of time, resources, personnel, etc. To indoctrination, hoping that Innies don't revolt. And the fun part is watching "how awful" Graner, Milchik and Cobel are at keeping the Innies in line. Sensational writing (and everything else we all rave about)

Fucking loved this show. Everything was spectacular

Been wanting to discuss Severance but friends/family aren't finished so: 1) Really enjoy the week to week release model for a show like this. 2) I think by far the most interesting thing about the concept is that they aren't forced to stay, in that it is their (outtie only though) choice to stay. It really does put it more in a morally grey area. A worse show would have made it more straight dystopian and it'd be more black and white. 3) I think Helly only naming Delaware at the beginning may be a joke about how basically the state is known mainly as where most US corporations have their essentially fake headquarters for tax reasons 4) Between Severance, Altered Carbon, and Joss Whedon's Dollhouse, Dichen Lachman (Ms. Casey) has found herself quite a lane cast as people with multiple minds in one body or one mind in multiple bodies. Quite a niche type-casting lol 5) I think it's interesting that during the Overtime protocol Turturro's innie was the only one not focused solving anything while his outtie is the one investigating Lumen 6) it was also interesting that after Burt's retirement had the whole thing about death, they made a point to make his real life appear to be very happy that actually paints the retirement in the opposite light (and adds to the moral greyness of Severance, it seems like it could be a legitimate good choice from the outtie perspective) 7) Riley if you like Ricken in this you'd really like his character in Patriot, hilarious in a similar manner

@MaxIronsThird

2 жыл бұрын

2- We don't know that, the only person we saw responding to a resignation letter was Helly. 3- Delaware Corporation, Yep

@Glenners

2 жыл бұрын

@@MaxIronsThird True, Helly being next in line for CEO casts doubt on whether when the other innies submit a quit request if their outtie even gets it or if they just fake a response. It also makes sense why she kept going to work after waking up being hung to almost death.

@DizzyBusy

8 ай бұрын

I just watched the show, finally. Responding to point no. 2 - Even for the outside person, it's a bad deal. It's 8 hours in your day that fully belongs to a company. That's a third of your day. And most people spend another 8 hour sleeping, so that's another third you're not using. Imagine this, you send your body to work for a company that controls your mind for the duration of work, you pause the dreams and aspirations you have as a person, not knowing what happen to your body and your homunculus-like persona at work, then you go home and only see the bruises. It's probably great for the company though. They have highly concentrated workers who never have to respond to family emergencies while at work, who can never unionise, and literally don't have a life outside.

In regards to the watch: they have to wear clothing without logo and words, and the watch that outie Mark wears is a Komandirskie watch; a Russian brand that usually displays different Russian holidays on the face. Mark’s specifically shows Paratrooper Day which is huge in Russia and was probably given to him as a gift by Gemma

37:00 There's at least one strong critique of specifically capitalism: the severed workers have no idea what the company does, and definitely no idea of how their work contributes to it. This alienation of workers from their work via subdivision of tasks and extreme specialization of labour was the invention of Henry Ford, to support the efficiency levels required by capitalism, and persists to this day in the real world of private sector work. You know, or so I'm told... I don't work in the private sector. 😛

I love the opening theme, i love the idea and the whole first season. It could have been better, it could have been even deeper with mysteries, but what we got was a solid 9.5/10 for me. Very well made show, which is rare nowadays. Lets hope it doesn't end like Lost, or it will lose me.

When they talked about whether the things they heard from Ms. Casey were true or not I remembered that mark put petey's phone in a box with "camping" written on it. I can't think of any reason for that shot except to confirm that mark actually did like camping

I'm as intrigued by the unknowns as I am with the ethics. Love everything about it. Love how relatable the truly bizarre scenario actually feels in terms of a work/life split. So many of us have had jobs that we can morally justify because we are "helping" our customers, while at the same time, understanding that much of the economies we all support involve human exploitation on some level. It really is genius.

The work described in this show is so apt like people don't always enjoy their work and sometimes its absurd to themselves. This show takes that to a next level of metaphor that is so hilarious, looking at numbers and putting them in a box.

47:45 Actually a lot of the base idea seems at least partially inspired by the case of "Benjaman Kyle" and others like him who HAVE in fact experienced both profound but also quite specific memory loss, especially in relation to the "self".

45:45 - Come on Riley, the goats were so obviously not ready!

My number #1 hitpick and payoff I can't believe noone mentioned: Helly reciting the sorry monologue from the break room to herself in the mirror at the real world gala.

@PrestongSellers

2 жыл бұрын

Why is that cool to you? It’s wasn’t like it was her outtie reciting it… it was her innie, just in the outside world…?

@envagyokzaz

2 жыл бұрын

@@PrestongSellers Where did I say 'cool'? Where did I say her outie was reciting it? Helly is the 'innie'. And at that point, I'd argue whether she even really is an innie any more. That clear separation got real blurry real fast, once she started getting a lot of context about who she is and what she does. To answer your question, I liked that payoff the most, because drilling that mantra into her was her enemies' tool to weaken her resolve, break her down, and strip her of any purpose. But she flips it around completely. After feeling lost, and ovewhelmed after the conversation with her father, the mantra becomes her own tool to ground herself, find a purpose, and decide on a course of action. Yeah, it's not like by saying it into a mirror means anything for her outie, but it's more about what saying it to her own image actually means for herself.

If you enjoy short stories and you loved Severance, you will adore George Saunders, especially “CivilWarLand in Bad Decline”, similar tone and themes, absolutely awesome writer.

@justjuanreader

2 жыл бұрын

Also his collection “Tenth of December” is pure gold. Capitalism, sci-fi elements, hellish work situations, human misery, and hilarity. And a really specific unique tone

@lynxaway

Жыл бұрын

Holy shit, a youtube comments section is the last place I expected to see another George Saunders fan! This show actually made me think of his short story “exhortation,” from tenth of December which you mentioned-one of my all time favorite books ever

@justjuanreader

Жыл бұрын

@@lynxaway Absolutely right!!!!! Exhortation and Semplica Girl Diaries, too! Great to find another Saunders fan!!

@allisonbergh4429

Жыл бұрын

Sorry for eavesdropping, but thank you both for the reading recommendation!

@justjuanreader

Жыл бұрын

@@allisonbergh4429 it’s a great book and Saunders just published his new collection!

such a good show my goodness just finished watching it, can't wait for season 2. Oh and my gosh they keyboards in the show are so awesome! Wonder if ltt could do a video about them: "The good and bad Mechanical Keyboards in tv and film"

The numbers theyre working with on their screens is gonna lead to something REALLY fucked up

@aaronadams4657

2 жыл бұрын

Highly recommend reading the Lexington letter if you haven’t yet. If it’s to be believed what the numbers are about are crazy

My man said “peppy mache” made my day

I loved this show. All my friends are saying they love moon knight and I'm watching severance at the same time and I'm just like hell na it doesn't compare, severance is on a whole nother level

@raulgalets

2 жыл бұрын

different series. both nice. this is high concept. moon knight is egyptian mythology well done, with some little moments of observance on the society and the individual.

@moiznoorani2640

2 жыл бұрын

they're both very different shows concept wise. both great

@frankreynolds9930

2 жыл бұрын

@@raulgalets Moon Knight was ok but this show is next level. Wandavision and Loki is the best new disney show outthere.

Of course is a critique of capitalism, the corporate class controls the workers(slave is a better description) who are trying to break free and that corporate infrastructure is looking to for more power through the state, Lumen is trying to implement severance everywhere. But you are seeing communism because of the look of the building???

@TokenTupperware

2 жыл бұрын

The shows corporate structure can also be compared to communism. Equity amongst the workers. They worship and idolize the founder as though they are a god or deity. The only people to benefit from the economic, or corporate structure in this case, is the ruling class. There is no ownership or power given to the people at the bottom, the working class. Everything the theoretically need is provided to them, question free, free of charge, but the bare minimum. They also have no contact with the outside world or conception of life outside the compound... How can that not be compared to a communist dictatorship the likes of Cuba, North Korea, or China? The employees at lumon have no free will and if it is noticed, they are indoctrinated again into submission and reeducation. This screams communist control of speech, media, severance from the outside world if you will. There is no freedom or free will in communism. Also in capitalism, you have upward mobility, you have choices, it's an agreement, a free exchange of goods and services. In communism, you're ruled by force, you have no freedom and no rights. The lumen administration controls the workers through manipulation, threats, indoctrination, and force. Severance takes away huge parts of their humanity, that makes them easy to control and contain. Edit: you can have free will and speak freely in communist countries... but you may find yourself disappeared.

@easymentality

Жыл бұрын

@@TokenTupperware the "capitalists" are brainwashing their severed employees into "socialism".

@DizzyBusy

8 ай бұрын

​@@TokenTupperwareYou're conflating the philosophy with the reenforcement of it. Communism is common ownership of the means of production. The visuals, aesthetics of Lumon borrow from communist chic and propaganda art, but Lumon is not a communist organisation, by any stretch of the imagination. I think the economical philosophy was left purposefully vague. That's why you have a human owning corporation in a brutalist building. The show is about work culture, not communism vs capitalism. I mean, the workers can't unionise, they're not even supposed to fraternise. How is that communist?

Guys, if you liked this one, get a hold of Escape at Dannemora. Also directed by Ben Stiller and Patricia Arquette doing an even more impressive performance where you can hardly identify her. It's also a limited miniseries, so David will love it!

Severance is a revolving restaurant. Whether that's a compliment or criticism depends on how you feel about revolving restaurants.

I truly hope people watch this after have been watched the whole series, as all the most important plot points are methodically spoiled in the first 3 minutes of the review. Severance on,y works if you do not know all those important points. BEWARE!

Regarding why the work has to be secret, I think from a top-down perspective it's meant to be an exaggerated version of bullshit corporate jobs in the real world, it's supposed to evoke the pointlessness that many of us feel or have felt at some point in our own working lives. The corporate propaganda trying to convince you it's actually important and making a difference in the world rings true as well. From a bottom-up perspective, I think there are 3 main in-universe reasons that Lumon might have to keep the work secret. One possibility is that the work is genuinely pointless. It seems that Lumon's main product is severance itself, not the output from their own severed workers, so it seems plausible that it's all a test of severance. Certainly the ratio of workers to supervisors says "experiment" more than it does "workplace". If that's the case, of course Lumon can't tell the workers the work is pointless, because they'd behave differently and mess up the research. Second possibility could be that Lumon are telling the truth, and that it really is easier to do MDR if you don't know what it is, for some weird mystical reasons. And the third possibility is that whatever they're doing is something sinister enough that the employees would refuse to do the job if they knew what it was. Petey at least seemed to think that was a possibility, and he probably knew a fair bit more than we as the audience do right now. Personally I think the work is pointless, because that works best as satire, but the sinister explanation is also very plausible. Lumon actually being serious about the "unimpeded intuition" thing is a distant third for me.

@lynxaway

Жыл бұрын

The third possibility is most likely if you read The Lexington Letter, a short story that was released after severance by the creators that takes place within the same world

god damn the cinematography in this show is outstanding!

@johnnypopstar

Жыл бұрын

Yeah it's *very* Mr Robot in quite a few places

29:53 i believe that irving is drawing a different hallway, we see it when gemma is fired and gets sent back to "testing"

@april5054

28 күн бұрын

Yeah, it's the "testing floor". Judging by what she says, it seems to be a place where an innie's memories are reset, which probably means irving has actually been working at Lumon much linger than his innie knows.

I’m suspicious of Ricken. There is a knitted or maybe stuffed goat on the dresser in the baby’s room with the three beds. 🤨

Wow had no idea you guys had this spinoff podcast talking about movies. Really cool!

The interesting bit about Cobel\Selvig is that we still don't know if she's severed or not. Because who says that you need to follow the format of 9 to 5 like the office workers. She could be a long term severed working in a different time base. Or even something completely different using a separate functionality of the severed chip.

mormonism, Scientology, high control, cults. The references are abundant.

There is so much I could say about this incredible show but you guys as always summarized it very well. I absolutely loved this show and how a brand new "high" concept can also be handled in an entertaining way. I am very glad this didn't take the Devs route. Which was a good show but thematically I'm more on board with Severance. Also this was better written and executed. I think that Mark may be holding the picture frame as he ran out and says "She's alive!" which could help his sister piece things together later. My theory, let's see though.

When Helly comes out of the break room and she's all frazzled looking and they ask her how many times she had to read the thing and just the way she says it makes me bust out laughing every time I see it.

1:06:37 - he was holding their wedding photo before he got severed

@beepboop8973

2 жыл бұрын

1:20:16 Mark’s fish tank is of red and blue to represent the duality of his life because they are separated

"the multibillion corporation is actually giving sociailst vibes" lmao

Ah finally!! I’ve been wanting you guys to watch this show

i dont always agree with david but hes absolutely right about the ending for the season.

My theories for Severance season 2: (*These are just for fun, please feel free to correct or adjust anything) Cobel's dead mother's innie is stored in a severance chip that Cobel wears on her neck (at the beginning of E6), she wants to resurrect her dead mother with reintegration, which is also Kier's version of Lumon - Resurrection and Eternal Life, but The Board just wants it for power and politic. This explains why she worships Kier, despises The Board, lost her mind when she got fired, and yet tries to save Lumon in the end. The severance procedure basically creates another you, with the main flaw being the lack of memories, which is what Kier and Cobel are trying to overcome. Cobel is actively trying to see if innie Mark has feeling for his outie wife Gemma or if outie Mark has feeling for his innie best friend Petty. If either version of Mark does have feelings, that means memories can be shared between innie and outie, therefore it's possible for her dead mother's innie(in the severance chip on Cobel's neck) to restore memories. The dark hallway where Ms.Casey "lives" is a storage for consciousness, it contains the innie consciousness of all the Lumon founders and Ms.Casey. Probably involved Irving's father, hence his obsession to find and investigate it The baby goats are probably animal test subjects used to host the consciousness of another human innie. Young goats' brains have not developed enough, that's why the guy with baby goats said "they are not ready yet". Ms.Casey might be a human test subject. Their goal is to migrate the consciousness of all the founder's innie onto another human, therefore archives Resurrection and Eternal Life.

The bad accent is intentional and part of the story. It's actually kinda tragic and has to do with domestic violence.

@jamesstrieb1

2 жыл бұрын

say more!

11:02 that’s really good. He’s not sad to go to work, he’s said about his life. Didn’t think about that til now, great job

One show which definitely benefited for me from waiting a week for the next episode was HBO's Chernobyl. I wonder if you're going to review that eventually. It's a very short season, but easily makes me forgive HBO for the horrible ending of GoT. :)

I think miss cobel wants to reintegrate to remember her mother. I think they either keep her permanently severed or permanently the other way and she only met her in one version of herself.

@Meraxes6

2 жыл бұрын

I haven’t heard this theory, I like it. I thought she wanted revenge on Lumen for killing her mom with their faulty breathing tubes. Maybe it’s both. But then how does she enter and leave the building without being switched?

@Glenners

2 жыл бұрын

I haven't heard this either. I think most people concluded she's not severed because she doesn't flip flop, but it's possible they flipped her and just kept her that way.

@michelle1794

Жыл бұрын

@@Glenners I do believe she is severed in some sort of way, a different way than the others. Otherwise the board wouldn't just fire her knowing she knows loads of stuff about the company.

Regarding remembering things like driving a car, etc. Even amnesiacs remember how to carry out tasks they learned before, like walking and talking, etc., which they did many times before losing their memory. There is the famous case of a man who cannot form new memories beyond 20-30 seconds but can play the complex piano pieces he learned before his illness.

Great reviews, I really enjoyed the show too. Can you guys do an episode on the show "From" on EPIX? It's a newer show but I don't hear a lot of people talk about it but it's extremely well done and has a lot of mystery like severance but in a different setting.

It is so weird watching people get this close to the point and not realize what the show is about. Lumon started in 1866 was began on a philosophy that was already around where one group of people is completely OK with the suffering of another group of people because they don’t see them as real people. What do you guys think the show is about? I’m so confused.

I just finished this show as this notification came in. Crazy timing

I hope they review Better Call Saul.

Dude have you guys never seen anyone hit on the head suffering from amnesia?? They can talk and drive and all that with light knowing who they are and sometimes have a completely different personality. So this is actually theoretically possible… come on guys you are smarter than this

How am I just finding this now? Bless you for making content that lasts for an hour-and-a-half about his series!!!!! hahahaha I don't think Lumon is a sole proprietorship, but that would be hilarious

Severance runs a very real risk of getting shittily convoluted like Westworld. Which was perfect for one season with a bit of a cliff hanger... Season 2 was almost cool... There was so much squandered potential, and now it's just awful. Severance needs to go the same route as The Leftovers.

@ChayYP

2 жыл бұрын

This show almost made me go back and attempt to finish Westworld. I’m glad you just reminded me as to why I shouldn’t.

@MrSkeltal268

Жыл бұрын

Thanks for mentioning the leftovers - loved that show. I hope they have a plan for the next seasons to conclude it.

The reason Cobel hid the baby was to cause panic and hopefully keep Mark from sharing too much. She obviously knew he'd ask his sister why she was there which would make her freak about giving her the baby.

Severance is simply amazing

David is right. The ending was a betrayal.

That WW1 bit, for me it was the sister's friends trying to include Mark in the conversation, and the best they got was this ridiculous/obvious fact, but they went along with it to include him.

High concept means that it is possible to give a short high-level summary. Low-concept means that it requires a low-level, granular explanation. Similar to high and low-level programming languages.

Finally getting to listen...I see you all just decided to ignore the Twitter poll again...cool, cool cool cool

man i know when yall do a show its gotta be good lol

35:05 This isn't capitalism gone wrong, this is capitalism working as intended. Complete corporate control to pursue profits by any means, the complete exploitation and alienation of workers by capitalists is the goal.

@20:45 - It's actually more of a parallel than a contrast - far too many workers are effectively unable to report problems, either without being punished by their employer or because there is literally no one available to report their treatment to! No, the average American worker is, to varying degrees, a victim of a significant amount of criminal or malicious behavior, perpetrated by their employer. Almost all temp employees, app-driven "gig" workers, entry-level retail staff, and _definitely_ any MLM "entrepreneurs" endure all manner of things that, in a remotely fair and just society, could be easily reported to a person or agency that would enforce proper employee compensation and employer compliance with fair laws. However, effectively, most Americans, being taken advantage of by dollar-driven employers, are unable to report their issues to anyone who either cares to, or even can help. Of those lucky ones who could actually receive official help, most are unable to do so without serious risk of retribution. Reporting abuse exposes one to loss of future promotion, or myriad other discretionary advantages controlled by the boss. Cutting scheduled hours, being scheduled in abusive ways (closing the store, then getting up early to open; or being assigned only 2 or 3 hours every single day with no days off) leaving them just like gig app workers - exhausted and without much pay beyond what goes toward expenses, like getting to work and doing the job (like fuel and maintenance, for drivers)... and there is of course outright wage theft, mandatory overtime, work far above and beyond what was agreed upon before starting employment, dishonest app algorithms, making staff pay for stuff that the employer mandates, like uniforms, laundry, or vehicle maintenance, and all kinds of despicable schemes that take advantage of employees while staying technically not illegal. It's incredibly common for the contemporary American worker - because if you complain, there is _always_ the threat of then being fired (for any tiny reason, because then it isn't retaliatory employer behavior), or the job subsequently being made so unpleasant to attend that it becomes untenable or unbearable to continue showing up. You can always be replaced. The employer nearly always has the upper hand, in every negotiation.

The numbers, and them "feeling scary": psychological conditioning. None of the numbers *are* scary, but each new refiner just gets told they are, and eventually experiences the fear, essentially randomly, through believing that they *should* be feeling that and doing the task for long enough that their brain just starts manifesting it. I don't believe the task has any meaning whatsoever, it's just literally pointless busywork as part of the trial phase of severance - seeing if even getting "innies" doing the most boring repetitive nonsense tasks, day in day out, has any chance of breaking down the severance. I would *hate* it if those numbers turned out to have meaning.

I thought it was pretty obvious, but the waffle party thing isn't meant to unsettle (not the innies, anyway.) The innies, although they seem to know what sex is, have no access to sexual or pornographic material of any kind. The waffle party, then, is their only source of sexual release, and having it as the top incentive makes sense. Plus, associating it with the Kier cult stuff by using those masks depicting the characters from that painting is probably meant to brainwash them, just like everything else they get access to (i.e. paintings, books, the animation when helly finishes her first file, are all to do with Kier Eagan and are probably meant to make the workers worship him like a god or something.)

The only thing I didn't like in this show was how long it took Milchik to cut through Dylans tie on the security room door. I thought that a strong big man like Milchik could easily kick the door open, or cut through the tie much quicker than he actually did. I think they should have come up with something a little more believable that would give them more time than just a tie.

I thought yes, before watching this podcast.. SEASON 2!! ? !

I don’t think the Mrs. Cobel revenge/mother theory makes sense - it would make her character a lot less interesting. Using that same evidence though, what if her mom was saved by Lumon medical technology, and so Mrs. Cobel feels she owes them her loyalty? From there, she can represent employees who work super hard for their employers until they realize how little the company actually cares about them.

@nares2005

2 жыл бұрын

She supported Marc decision to quit so didn’t seem like she’s in Lumon team.

There are so many unanswered questions in this show, like Im really so concerned about the Ricken & his friends. They were so damn weird to me

I need to finish this show.

Why Helli R and not Helli E? Was she married, and did severance when, I don't know, there was a divorce? Or she was widowed? Or ... other?

@Hollycb12

11 ай бұрын

I think they purposefully changed her last initial so no one (in the show or watching the show) would think that she could be an Egan. They did not want Helly to know who she really was

@tanjabuchholz5314

11 ай бұрын

Maybe it's her middle initial?

This show is a a play on life and the sinister nature of it... It's very Matrixie to say the least. On the surface it's a play on the corporate work place, but the actual meaning behind everything is tied to our existence in this life. For whatever reason most people don't seem to pick up on this... they think this show is merely satire on the corporate work place.