started watching severance
Aug. 3rd, 2023 08:04 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
argentnoellebc i saw what Kyo said about it being kind of like Yotsuba arc which piqued my interest, then I checked the synopsis on wikipedia & I was like: ooh! sci-fi brain stuff, sounds fun!
I'm about halfway through it (just finished the episode where they found the goats)
misc. thoughts:
Lumen — what's its deal? oil? (that black goo) medical stuff/experimentation/drugs? (killing the goats for something?) the break room — they all hear something different — maybe what they're subconsciously running from/afraid of?
Each of the main characters is like a different type as to where they find meaning — the type that believes in a higher purpose, the type that wants experiences/physical stuff along the way, the type that is kind of like what's the point/disassociated/I just do it, the type that's like no I don't like any of it I'd rather die
Visuals are super cool and eerie. Very SPN!heaven vibes. Also The Prisoner vibes a bit, which is fun :) I feel like Helley and Number 6 have a similar kind of spirit in them. Of course it is also No Exit
What's up with that chip in their heads? I think it does more than just split their brains — maybe it gives them subconscious perceptual number-powers so they can do their trashing-data jobs. Maybe that's actually the point, and the brain splitting is just how they're covering it up.
Totally guessed that the break room was torture before they showed it, but it definitely could've been worse/more horrifying in there. Nicely done though.
I'm not sure if Helley's like... a double agent or something maybe? Who got herself in there to figure out what was going on? And that's why she won't let herself leave? Either that or they're gonna do something with that her inner-version is good and sort of admirable, but her outer-version really is just horrible and amoral and what does that say about their relationships with personhood
Kind of like Mark's inside-version better, he's a lot more brave (though I do like outside-Mark's relationship with his sister, that's sweet. Plus he just told her that secret that he thinks Lumen's up to something — maybe they will team up to do some exploring!)
They probably couldn't get permission to use Enter Sandman so that's why they used a cover for the funeral scene, but I think they did a good job/nice choice to make it be a "bad" version that the daughter sang.
That lady with the silver hair is so creepy. Also I am sure I have seen that actress before in something but I have refrained from googling so I don't get spoilers.
The romance between Irving(?) and that other guy is so sweet! I did not expect that. Actually Irving annoyed me at first but I ended up kind of invested in him since he's actually doing something, now the short guy is the only person who doesn't have a mission of some sort, though he is reading the book
Interesting metaphorical thing/point with that book being kind of dumb but inside Lumen it's enough to spark things and give them courage, just by saying anything at all and giving them alternatives to the "official narrative."
Basement floor — endless maze — very like the minotaur's labyrinth. I wonder what's in the center of it? Or are they?
I think each character ended up here/put themselves here because of something they're afraid of facing, maybe something in their past or something they did.
Why does no one else live in the apartment complex? Why does the grey haired lady spy on Mark? Is he that important to things, or does she have some kind of personal investment in the matter? Does she have secrets of her own? I think she does...
Irving's goo visions are maybe his subconscious beginning to more consciously interpret what they're doing with the data/what Lumen's doing? Will he eventually see or know a secret through that?
I'm about halfway through it (just finished the episode where they found the goats)
misc. thoughts:
Lumen — what's its deal? oil? (that black goo) medical stuff/experimentation/drugs? (killing the goats for something?) the break room — they all hear something different — maybe what they're subconsciously running from/afraid of?
Each of the main characters is like a different type as to where they find meaning — the type that believes in a higher purpose, the type that wants experiences/physical stuff along the way, the type that is kind of like what's the point/disassociated/I just do it, the type that's like no I don't like any of it I'd rather die
Visuals are super cool and eerie. Very SPN!heaven vibes. Also The Prisoner vibes a bit, which is fun :) I feel like Helley and Number 6 have a similar kind of spirit in them. Of course it is also No Exit
What's up with that chip in their heads? I think it does more than just split their brains — maybe it gives them subconscious perceptual number-powers so they can do their trashing-data jobs. Maybe that's actually the point, and the brain splitting is just how they're covering it up.
Totally guessed that the break room was torture before they showed it, but it definitely could've been worse/more horrifying in there. Nicely done though.
I'm not sure if Helley's like... a double agent or something maybe? Who got herself in there to figure out what was going on? And that's why she won't let herself leave? Either that or they're gonna do something with that her inner-version is good and sort of admirable, but her outer-version really is just horrible and amoral and what does that say about their relationships with personhood
Kind of like Mark's inside-version better, he's a lot more brave (though I do like outside-Mark's relationship with his sister, that's sweet. Plus he just told her that secret that he thinks Lumen's up to something — maybe they will team up to do some exploring!)
They probably couldn't get permission to use Enter Sandman so that's why they used a cover for the funeral scene, but I think they did a good job/nice choice to make it be a "bad" version that the daughter sang.
That lady with the silver hair is so creepy. Also I am sure I have seen that actress before in something but I have refrained from googling so I don't get spoilers.
The romance between Irving(?) and that other guy is so sweet! I did not expect that. Actually Irving annoyed me at first but I ended up kind of invested in him since he's actually doing something, now the short guy is the only person who doesn't have a mission of some sort, though he is reading the book
Interesting metaphorical thing/point with that book being kind of dumb but inside Lumen it's enough to spark things and give them courage, just by saying anything at all and giving them alternatives to the "official narrative."
Basement floor — endless maze — very like the minotaur's labyrinth. I wonder what's in the center of it? Or are they?
I think each character ended up here/put themselves here because of something they're afraid of facing, maybe something in their past or something they did.
Why does no one else live in the apartment complex? Why does the grey haired lady spy on Mark? Is he that important to things, or does she have some kind of personal investment in the matter? Does she have secrets of her own? I think she does...
Irving's goo visions are maybe his subconscious beginning to more consciously interpret what they're doing with the data/what Lumen's doing? Will he eventually see or know a secret through that?
no subject
Date: 2023-08-05 07:39 pm (UTC)Ooh, Helley and the Prisoner are definitely kindred spirits. I love Helley. Your speculation on her is interesting… I cannot confirm or deny anything you said but those are some clever thoughts.
I definitely think the chip affects the way they view certain things, like maybe they see numbers but what’s on the screen is something different. I also saw someone online speculate that the goats they saw aren’t really goats, and they just perceive them as goats because of the chip. I’m scared to think of what else they could be though… children? Don’t want to think of what they could be doing with children…
I agree that the break room torture could have been more intense. Though I feel like it would have been too obvious if it was physical torture or anything like that. It was definitely an interesting take.
If the silver-haired lady you’re talking about is the woman who lives next door to Mark and also works for Lumen, she’s been in a lot of movies. I don’t know what movie you might have seen her in, but I recognized her as the mother from
Boyhood, and she was one of the leads in the third Nightmare on Elm Street movie (my favorite of the franchise- yes, I’ve seen enough of those movies to have a favorite). But that’s all that I knew her from.
Looking forward to seeing your thoughts on Irving (and Dylan) as the show progresses. I like what they do with both of their characters. Irving and Burt’s romance was pretty cute, although it makes me sad to think that they have this connection at work while their outer selves might not even know each other.
I’m surprised I didn’t think of the floor they’re on being like a labyrinth, but I think you’re spot on with that thought. So I wonder now where the Minotaur is…
no subject
Date: 2023-08-07 06:56 pm (UTC)Yeah I ended up really liking Dylan! He got his awesome moment of heroism at the end! I'm definitely interested in that list of other things beside the override function that he scrolled by. there was stuff like beehive (mind-controlled army?) lullabye (...death?) freeze frame (they just can't move?) and some others I don't have any ideas about at all. And then clean slate which is also pretty ominous.
Irving totally found the testing wing before or at least got to the hallway with the door, right? Either he found it when he wasn't supposed to or he was taken there one time and doesn't remember it. That's what he's painting. I guess I was kind of right that one of them would be kind of working on solving the mystery from the outside only it was Irving not Helly, she ended up being the bad guy! (I mean Helena) — a lot more dramatic irony there that I'm noticing this time around.
Plus, what they're doing with the chip... well I'm not sure it's making them see something that isn't there, but I think it's more like that the numbers are there and encoded but the chip helps them decode it but they don't consciously know what the chip is doing, they're only aware of the "emotional response."
Mmmm. I don't think the baby goats are children. I think they're baby goats. But maybe being killed for some sciency reason, like they're using the cells, or taking them as part of research they're doing on the testing floor. And those children that are being born while the mother is severed... there may be stuff going on with that.
I also noticed how there are four categories of numbers, one of which is the "scary numbers," and then you have Eagen's "four humors that make up the human soul": woe, frolic, dread, and malice. So those category numbers correspond totally to the numbers they're sorting! and why are they sorting into 5 buckets, not 4?
Maybe with the chip they're trying to scientifically edit or do something with the human soul. Or like, people's deep personalities. And maybe that's why it has to be done by humans and couldn't be done just with a chip by itself. Like it needs to be chip+soul to fully decode these things.
Maybe each file is a person, maybe a newborn? They did say the files expire in a certain timeframe, so maybe they only get so long like when someone is in the hospital to try to do this sorting. And obviously the Eagans have this thing about living on, so maybe they're trying to like clone souls and put them into other people's bodies. For that you'd need to have separated mathmatically the composition of the souls you want to recreate, right? And so this sorting that they're doing would be part of a whole testing process whose real point is to be able to keep the Eagans going.
Plus I'm not convinced the board is actually a bunch of living humans. Maybe it's all the dead Eagans' brains in jars or something. you've never seen or heard them, and when Natalie is listening to them, even though its garbled, the sound that it seems is playing through those headphones doesn't really sound like speech to me.
I ended up liking what they did with the break room torture since it tied in so incredibly to Helly's later scene in the bathroom where she finally said that whole speech but was actually sorry about what she had caused, and even the filming of that, with the darkness surrounding her, with the way she's looking at herself in the mirror... so it was used a lot more in the plot than as just a torture room. Plus I figure the really worse stuff probably goes on in the testing floor. I noticed this time that Petey had found that floor but didn't tell Mark about what he had seen on it. Just that the people there were there all the time. Maybe that's where they take people who are dying in hospitals in order to do tests on them? It would explain why Gemma/Miss Casey got there.
I feel like maybe Helena will be freaked out by the thought that she could've been "hacked" and had Helly take over through the override function. I'm not sure if she knew that was a possibility all along but trusted their people and security too much, or if it was a secret from her. Either way, she might be paranoid after that and wonder how big of a "conspiracy" is going on down on that floor. So maybe that'll be a reason why she goes back as Helly, in order to spy on herself through cameras later and try to figure out how big this conspiracy is and why no one told her about it. She wouldn't necessarily believe or know it was just the four of them.
But then of course there's also the doctor who reintegrated Petey. She said his reintegration sickness was preventable if he hadn't run away... was he just disoriented? Or did he have a legitimate reason to run away that we don't know about? Is she actually a good guy, who regrets what she's gotten into? I'm not entirely sure about that.
Irving's going to wake up totally not knowing why he showed up at Burt's house (and that was really sad, finding out Burt was married, ough) but maybe he'll realize what was going on. He brought the map and everything. Maybe their outer selves will team up to try to solve the mystery of Lumon from the outside. And of course now Devon knows some stuff so that means outer Mark will too, and I definitely think the outies are going to be meeting up and comparing notes the way they're not supposed to, and will put some things together.
no subject
Date: 2023-08-14 01:27 am (UTC)Dylan became more likable to me once he had something to fight for, i.e. his son. I really liked that he ended up being the one in charge of the controls at the end. I'm definitely interested in knowing what some of those other options are- I wonder how many we'll get to see play out over the next few seasons. I really hope they don't use "clean slate" to wipe their memories and start from zero... I wonder how well that would even work.
I don't remember the context of the testing wing, but I do remember thinking that Irving was painting a hallway that had been shown before- I guess that's what you're referring to. Somehow he remembered it in his subconscious. (Maybe severance isn't as thorough as it seems, with his memory of painting leaking through when he's at work, and his memory of the hallway leaking through outside of work... but maybe someone can only remember things when they're in a certain altered state, like sleep deprivation (that's how it seems to work for Irving from what I remember)).
Oh I get it, so the chip may be giving them the emotional response to what they're seeing? That's a good theory. Like if they didn't have the chip and looked at the encrypted numbers, they wouldn't feel anything, but the chip sort of implants those feelings in their head.
I think the goats are just goats too, but honestly I don't have any theories yet on what they're doing there. I was sort of wary at first because it seemed like a very random detail and I was afraid the show would start going too far off the rails. But I think the writers know what they're doing, and there's a good reason for the goats that we haven't seen yet. I think your theory makes sense (maybe they're testing severance on them, or whatever other things that go on at Lumen that haven't been revealed yet). But I don't think I'm ready to commit to anything until it's revealed in the show.
A lot has been made about the four humors, but I can't remember the context of that very well, so I'll need to watch it again to see what I think. Very interesting thoughts!
I definitely got the vibe that they're trying to put souls in other people's bodies! I have no idea why thought that but it just felt right somehow. I also agree with what you said about the board. I don't think the board members are truly alive (or is it just one board member?).
I REALLY hope Helena starts getting suspicious and starts questioning everything, because I feel like it would be too easy for her father or some other Lumen official to try to calm her by downplaying the incident and reinforcing that Helly is not a real person (in their eyes). But I also think there's no way that could ever be brushed off. She already knows that Helly hates being severed so much that she tried to kill herself. I think the speech Helly made (what little she got to say) could genuinely make her think that maybe it really is as bad as she says it is. Plus, I need to rewatch the scene with her father again, but I feel like there's a lot of pressure on her to live up to the family legacy, and maybe she's not fully indoctrinated and is just committed to doing her part for the family? (Maybe that's wishful thinking, she did speak very cruelly to Helly...)
I have so many questions about that doctor, lol. I don't think I can respond any further until I've rewatched the show, because I don't remember much about that storyline, but... yeah, she's a mystery at the moment.
I really love Devon and I hope she continues to take Mark seriously and help him out. And I wonder how much of a connection Irving has to Burt on the outside- I know his name was just one out of a list of others, but I wouldn't be surprised if he's tried to contact him before.
no subject
Date: 2023-08-15 03:12 am (UTC)I really ended up liking Dylan! he's quite protective & heroic when he has things to care about, both his son and MDR, but I saw this joke on tumblr one time like "outie Dylan and Milchick are married" and... I don't think they actually are lol. but it got me thinking like WAIT. we did see o!Dylan for half a second and he didn't seem at all perturbed to see Milchick, how *does* he know him on the outside? Plus, his only line was "are we done here" which happened after he stood up after the overtime contingency was done and i!Dylan was gone. And that also was weird. Why didn't he ask, like, "why was I supposed to sit here in the closet" or "what was it you wanted to tell me" or literally anything else. Probably because Milchick told him about the overtime contingency and o!Dylan knew it had just been used. Which just suddenly seemed ominous to me. Like, Helly's outside self is evil, how do we *actually know* Dylan's outside self isn't also involved in Lumon stuff? He seems pretty good with computers—maybe he even coded some of the stuff in that control room, or something? I mean someone would've had to make those systems. Idk...
ahh I was wrong about it being four humors, it's actually called four tempers in the show, and I saw it pointed out that they're the thing in that painting that stood outside the wellness place, with Kier flogging the sad lady (woe) and the jester (frolic) and the ram that was probably malice and the other one... which ties in with the waffle party where you actually see a recreation of that and it's got like the 9 principles printed on it. So it's got to kind of be about Kier like, "conquering" people's base natures somehow through his philosophy (and maybe the severance procedure)...
yeah I just can't see Helena getting suspicious... from what we see of Helly, whatever she gets in her head she just doubles down with. It takes a lot to sway her from her track and I feel like she'd be more likely to be furious at whoever let this overtime protocol go down on her watch, you know? plus I don't think anyone else would need to try to convince her Helly isn't a real person. Helena seems pretty determined to think of her as an enemy and from all we know wants to crush her (and from what we see of Helly the feeling's mutual). I saw someone mention once that Helly is the only one of the innies that in the end when she's reciting the "I'm sorry" passage in the bathroom takes on Helena's sins as her own, as if it *had* been her own (i.e. that Helly has come to a place of being like well to me, *you* aren't a person, so take that—I'll own up to what I did) and like... if that's Helly's response I can't see Helena's as being markedly different. I do think she's going to send herself back down to the severed floor for one reason or another because she literally can't take being defeated by anyone or anything, ever. I've seen some people talking about a possibility that maybe she would somehow (as Helena) take over Ms. Cobel's old job, which would definitely mess with everyone and be terrifying... but I feel like it would make more sense for the show if she goes down again as Helly. Why bother to tease Helly/Mark if not to do anything in the second season? They didn't need to have a kiss, it wasn't really necessary for that arc, you know? But it would be necessary if it was something they planned on dealing with the consequences of, now that Helly knows her outside self is evil, and Mark knows his outside self has a wife. It would allow them to really play more with the symbolism of "what makes a person a person" and them trying to assert their individualities separate from their outies but maybe having that conflict and those things still follow them. Plus just... like, she's a big important person in the company. She probably knows about the break room already, at least in theory.
I definitely think maybe Burt is a contact of Irving's! Either they talked already or he was going to talk to him in the near future, but like, his house was on Irving's map so... idk... and I am hoping for a bigger Devon role in s2! She's totally awesome and I really hope her and o!Mark (and maybe even i!Mark) get to team up :)