the valiant effort
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That means you’re about to watch one of the funniest scenes I’ve ever seen on TV in S01E07
TV: Severance - Apple TV
- Thread starter WeThreeKings
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That means you’re about to watch one of the funniest scenes I’ve ever seen on TV in S01E07
Rodgerwilco
Entertainment boards w/ some Hockey mixed in.
- Feb 6, 2014
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Hell Yeah!!! As if I needed any more reason to be excited to watch this damn show when I get home tonight! lol.
Peasy
Registered User
Its more so the yo-yoing/quick decisions on doing something so drastic. Like just this episode, no I dont want to do this risky procedure to speed up reintegration. Oh I just went and ate and saw Helena stalking me? Okay now I'm all in.
Was the same with reintegration. First he and his sister try to come up with other ways to deliver a message to his innie, rahgabi comes and says nah that wont work and Mark is just all good to go and get his brain f***ed with.
I dunno, we literally know nothing really about rahgabi, neither does Mark, yet is so all in. He saw her kill someone, yet that was never touched on again. He saw the procedure she did kill someone. He doesnt know what she does, or who shes working for, or why etc. It just seems extremely unrealistic someone would agree to all this with these circumstances and it kinda takes me out.
Lt Dan
F*** your ice cream!
I read this differently. I think Mark got freaked out by Horny Helena's really bad flirting. I know others are reading the whole Chinese restaurant scene differently than me, but this is how I see it:
Helena was fascinated with Helly's relationship wiith Mark rewatching the video of them kissing last season.
IMark and Helena made whoopy at the ORTBO. I am guessing this was her first time
There was a glimpse of Mark leaving work in the episode before this one with Helena watching him.
Earlier that day Helly R and Mark made whoopy and I am assuming Helena had the glow we all have after the act and attributed it to her love of Mark, assuming that she didn't watch the video later or did watch it and is assuming that outie Mark will also be attracted to her
Helena simultaneously acted like they had just met and was also trying to play on the camaraderie of iMark and Helly starting with the humor.
She badly attempted to let Mark now that she cares about him with the dead wife and whatever bad experience the OTC revolt had on real life Mark's life and the comment of I hope we are feeding at worke.
I read her calling Gemma by the wrong name more as nerves that any kind of attempt at fact finding or information gathering. I think Helena isprivilegedand incredibly socially awkward and in no uncertain terms "has no game".
What horny Helena's bad flirting actually accomplished was freaking Mark out and making him think that Lumon is on to him and he has to act now before Gemma/Ms Casey disappears or is transferred elsewhere. Mark's sudden flip flop is because he thinks the window is closing and it's not or never for Gemma
Helena was fascinated with Helly's relationship wiith Mark rewatching the video of them kissing last season.
IMark and Helena made whoopy at the ORTBO. I am guessing this was her first time
There was a glimpse of Mark leaving work in the episode before this one with Helena watching him.
Earlier that day Helly R and Mark made whoopy and I am assuming Helena had the glow we all have after the act and attributed it to her love of Mark, assuming that she didn't watch the video later or did watch it and is assuming that outie Mark will also be attracted to her
Helena simultaneously acted like they had just met and was also trying to play on the camaraderie of iMark and Helly starting with the humor.
She badly attempted to let Mark now that she cares about him with the dead wife and whatever bad experience the OTC revolt had on real life Mark's life and the comment of I hope we are feeding at worke.
I read her calling Gemma by the wrong name more as nerves that any kind of attempt at fact finding or information gathering. I think Helena isprivilegedand incredibly socially awkward and in no uncertain terms "has no game".
What horny Helena's bad flirting actually accomplished was freaking Mark out and making him think that Lumon is on to him and he has to act now before Gemma/Ms Casey disappears or is transferred elsewhere. Mark's sudden flip flop is because he thinks the window is closing and it's not or never for Gemma
izlez
Carter Mazur Fan Club
- Feb 28, 2012
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Oh boy, you're in for a treat. Episodes 7-9 are on a whole nother level... as much as I try to enjoy each episode equally and not show preference for any over the others.
You already got a response but I didn't read it yet and just wanted to get into it.
1. Mark was frustrated and scared by the proposition that accelerating reintegration could kill him. Seeing Helena stalking him alone isn't what flipped a switch, though that's a fairly compelling motivator in and of itself, that Lumon is still watching him. The way I read their scene was that Mark was originally disarmed by Helena's flirting and normal person behavior. As soon as Helena brought up Gemma and got her name wrong you can see his entire expression darken and he ends the conversation by rushing out of the restaurant. That statement by Helena reminded Mark that Lumon is the enemy, she is the enemy, and she is in a position of power of the organization that, to his knowledge, is holding his still alive wife hostage. For the same reason he impulsively agreed to reintegrate out of love for his wife, the callousness he perceived in Helena getting his captive wife's name wrong refocused Mark and reminded him why he reintegrated in the first place. Again, it may not be sensible to trust Reghabi blindly and willingly expose himself to risk of death but there's foundation for him acting impulsively to try to save or at least reunite with his wife. He is shown to be broken and unable to properly move on after her death. It's not out of the question that he could have been responsible for her car crash and may feel guilty (and thereby probably more okay with trading his life for hers). Either way, he's shown as being willing to do whatever he can to save or reunite with Gemma because clearly, he feels his life is devoid of meaning without her. And, keep in mind, Mark had zero interest in reintegration until Reghabi told him that Gemma was still alive and not just that, but that she figured Mark's innie discovered that too. After outie Mark's confrontation with Cobel who wouldn't answer whether she knew something about Gemma, that was enough for him to believe the truth.
It feels unrealistic to you because you seem to be viewing outie Mark's actions through the lens of what someone under normal circumstances would or wouldn't do. Let's be real for a second. If anyone actually stopped and thought about the implications of the Severance procedure (as in creating a version of your consciousness that only exists at work and only lives to work and said version would ostensibly die if you were fired or quit) I feel like more people than not wouldn't sign up for that. When talking about the people who sign up for this, we're not talking about reasonable and well adjusted individuals. We're talking about broken and/or desperate people trying to get away from something.
In Mark's case, he's broken and seems to have very little to live for with Severed work only cutting down on the time he spends in a depressive state. I do feel that there are some, I'd call them minor flaws in the writing and direction of some parts of this show, but to me you're holding Mark Scout to too high a bar. We're talking about a broken impulsive man who values saving or at least reuniting with his wife higher than prolonging an existence that he clearly views as meaningless who has very recently had his entire world view turned upside down with the discovery that his wife is still drawing breath. People do crazy shit for love all the time. If it turns out that Mark was in some way responsible for Gemma's death (I'm not sold on that possibility but it's not disproven yet) and has been dealing with guilt on top of grief it makes that much more sense why he'd behave this way. Again, you can't expect a character like this to act rationally or sensibly when confronted with a situation like this.
Also on the point of Reghabi killing someone I don't think it's a stretch for Mark to buy that this former Lumon doctor who is hiding from Lumon would have good reason to kill a man who was hunting her down. Yeah it's cause for skepticism but I don't think that wins out over what I discussed above.
It feels unrealistic to you because you seem to be viewing outie Mark's actions through the lens of what someone under normal circumstances would or wouldn't do. Let's be real for a second. If anyone actually stopped and thought about the implications of the Severance procedure (as in creating a version of your consciousness that only exists at work and only lives to work and said version would ostensibly die if you were fired or quit) I feel like more people than not wouldn't sign up for that. When talking about the people who sign up for this, we're not talking about reasonable and well adjusted individuals. We're talking about broken and/or desperate people trying to get away from something.
In Mark's case, he's broken and seems to have very little to live for with Severed work only cutting down on the time he spends in a depressive state. I do feel that there are some, I'd call them minor flaws in the writing and direction of some parts of this show, but to me you're holding Mark Scout to too high a bar. We're talking about a broken impulsive man who values saving or at least reuniting with his wife higher than prolonging an existence that he clearly views as meaningless who has very recently had his entire world view turned upside down with the discovery that his wife is still drawing breath. People do crazy shit for love all the time. If it turns out that Mark was in some way responsible for Gemma's death (I'm not sold on that possibility but it's not disproven yet) and has been dealing with guilt on top of grief it makes that much more sense why he'd behave this way. Again, you can't expect a character like this to act rationally or sensibly when confronted with a situation like this.
Also on the point of Reghabi killing someone I don't think it's a stretch for Mark to buy that this former Lumon doctor who is hiding from Lumon would have good reason to kill a man who was hunting her down. Yeah it's cause for skepticism but I don't think that wins out over what I discussed above.
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Rodgerwilco
Entertainment boards w/ some Hockey mixed in.
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Gahhhhd damn Episode 7 was amazing. Definitely an absolutely hilarious scene and the ending of the episode was just *chef's kiss*
Really? You don't understand this decision? Yikes
She literally confirms to him that his wife is still alive in that exact same scene... Are you even paying attention while watching the show?
Peasy
Registered User
Again, its more so a writing issue/how they go about things. My gripe is mainly with Raghabi. I think that character has been written very poorly and they just seem to like to have her pop up anytime to get something new going. Its not organic. Mark is literally in some random spot at night in his car testing the light trick and Raghabi just randomly there? Just comes off as corny imo.
Why hasnt Mark asked who she works for? Why hasnt he asked what went wrong with Petey and will it happen to me? Why has there been zero talk about her just straight up murdering Graner. Why hasnt he asked more about what shes done in the past and more specifics about Lumon and what they are doing or any other information she knows about them?
Rodgerwilco
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Just finished season 1 and holy f***.
I have never reached for the remote to smash the “next episode” button faster than the end of episode 8 into 9.
This is it. Maybe the best viewing experience I’ve had since Breaking Bad. I’m absolutely floored.
I have never reached for the remote to smash the “next episode” button faster than the end of episode 8 into 9.
This is it. Maybe the best viewing experience I’ve had since Breaking Bad. I’m absolutely floored.
izlez
Carter Mazur Fan Club
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AND you're lucky enough to not have to wait 3 years for the next episode
Rodgerwilco
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Yes, we jumped right from end of Season 1 into Season 2. Judging from comments I've seen from other people I do indeed feel lucky lol.
Lt Dan
F*** your ice cream!
Lt Dan
F*** your ice cream!
Rodgerwilco
Entertainment boards w/ some Hockey mixed in.
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Hopefully we don't have another writer's strike and we can get to season 3 (if there is one) in a timely manner.
Edit: apparently they're already working on Season 3 and have said they dont want it to take 3 years between seasons again lol.
Lt Dan
F*** your ice cream!
The writers signed a 3 year deal thats up in late 2026
It definitely won't be as long, BUT I don't think I have heard a formal announcement that it's been renewed.
When I was a younger Dan. I may or may not have worked in the entertainment world. I can't confirm or deny that the skeletons of ideas, almost never scripts are written and exist in the background (largely for intellectual property reasons [meaning a story can be repurposed on another project]). Background meaning that the individual writers all have ideas with no "official" collaboration like a writers room.
Once it is officially renewed the writers roundtable starts and they bounce ideas and then start assigning respective episodes to the writers. Then more collaboration on those scripts. Then once they have a somewhat fluid direction , filming actually starts.
I am guessing 2 years
ok so I googled and they are collaboratively working in the writers room, so that could shave 3-6 months off
Rodgerwilco
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Thanks for the insight buddy! Appreciate it. I'm really thankful that I didn't watch Season 1 when it first aired lol.
Lt Dan
F*** your ice cream!
You defintely jumped on the right time. It was a brutal wait between seasons 1 and 2. Same went doe Silo and if you haven't watched Silo, yet you absolutely need to
Rodgerwilco
Entertainment boards w/ some Hockey mixed in.
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Yep, we’ll be checking that one out while we still have Apple TV. My parents and a couple friends have been raving about it
Lt Dan
F*** your ice cream!
Lt Dan
F*** your ice cream!
Lt Dan
F*** your ice cream!
Goddamn. That was a damn near perfect episode. Dragged down by one stupid scene. Lot to unpack but fresh thoughts
I have to start with what sucked. That scene between Devon and Reghabi was frustratingly stupid, especially with how beautiful and dark the rest of the episode was. I can excuse away Mark not asking Reghabi more questions and jumping at reintegration to see Gemma again for the reasons I already said above. And yes you can make the argument that Devon was emotional and not thinking clearly out of fear for her brother. But she let too many questions go unanswered for seemingly no reason but the writers wanting to keep the viewers in the dark on a number of reveals. And it only gets worse when Devon decides to call up Cobel for two reasons. 1 Devon has zero reason to trust Cobel. Even considering Cobel didn't actually steal her baby, she was spying on Mark, there is zero reason for her not to trust Reghabi when he says that Cobel is Lumon "through and through" and it feels like the only reason it came up is because that's what the writers decided Cobel's comeback will be. But why not just have Cobel have a change of heart and come to Mark to tell him she'll help him get Ms. Casey back? Why do we have to dumb down Devon to get that moving? Cobel could be disposed to flip on Lumon, but Mark, Devon, and Reghabi have no reason to believe or expect that.
Second, this time around my patience has worn somewhat thin with Reghabi's intentional withholding of information which was agitated by her just noping the f*** out of Mark's house just at the potential that Devon *might* call Cobel. Like Mark still needs to be attended to. I get she's afraid of being caught by Lumon, but to leave before Devon even calls while insisting that Devon not call her, why not wait for Devon to say "okay I won't call"? It feels like there's a narrative purpose for Reghabi leaving but this is a really stupid way to accomplish it.
Without that scene, this was a 10/10 episode. I'd give it a 8.5-9 with it. It's the first time in 16 episodes that the show made me notice that the writers are twisting the story around to set up plot threads for the finale in a somewhat sloppy/poorly thought out way.
But beyond all that this is a huge episode for the overall quality of the show and the wider story.
Firstly, and more simply this episode was so effective at highlighting the truly appalling nature of what they've done to Gemma and Mark. Anyone watching can appreciate how insane it is to have had a married couple interact as innies who don't know each other with the predicate that o!Mark believes that Gemma is dead. But the deplorable nature of these human experiments is so visceral this episode. In 49 minutes, we saw enough to see the love and devotion Mark and Gemma had for each other even if things were getting rough for them near the end of her outie life. We know that Gemma's death destroyed o!Mark. But to hear Gemma helplessly calling out to Mark after failing to escape the testing floor has to be the most devastatingly sad thing this show has shown us to date. Especially after all the suffering Gemma has endured. At her lowest point all she wanted was Mark to help her and make the pain go away. I'm getting sad just thinking about it.
It's also crazy to consider that a lot of theories on what happened to Gemma are disproven. This isn't a situation where her outie is functionally dead, and Lumon "saved" Gemma from the point of near death by severing her. *Gemma* is very much alive and Ms. Casey is one of her several innies. It's almost definitely not a situation where Gemma was cloned and Mark has been programming her consciousness. But the question is still there as to exactly what the "Cold Harbor" project is seeking to achieve. It doesn't seem that they're rewiring Gemma's consciousness. When she's in her room, she seems to be the same Gemma from the flashbacks and has been increasingly frustrated with all the testing.
There were theories around at there that Lumon might look to be toying with how to Severance split a consciousness multiple times and this episode basically confirms that. And it seems that there's some interest in feelings, thoughts or memories bleeding through Gemma's various innies. It seemed like Cobel was testing that herself when she had Ms. Casey and Mark have a wellness session and she seemed disappointed that no memories bled through. So there's something to the idea of the subconscious permeating Severance blockage, but why is that something Lumon wants? If the MDR Cold Harbor file is different from her in person testing, what would reaching 100% achieve? Some kind of jailbreak of Severance blockage? Who can say? Maybe some smarter theorists than me will have some ideas.
Interesting that Gemma and Mark were trying to have a baby with the Helly pregnancy theories floating around.
And speaking of, if we're to assume that Mark is now fully reintegrated it's, kinda crazy to think that his innie side has now gotten a full dose of memories of his wife. As though he didn't feel bad enough about having sex with Helena thinking it was Helly, ultimately not as impactful as inheriting his outie's memories of Gemma and having that whole love triangle to deal with. Amazingly acted by Adam Scott again coming out of unconsciousness.
And lastly I have to give credit to the excellent editing and camera work in this episode. Severance has always been strong in this regard but the way this episode was sequenced and shot was just incredible from start to finish
Again, it's so frustrating that this episode was dragged back by a stupid Devon-Reghabi scene because everything else was just masterful
Second, this time around my patience has worn somewhat thin with Reghabi's intentional withholding of information which was agitated by her just noping the f*** out of Mark's house just at the potential that Devon *might* call Cobel. Like Mark still needs to be attended to. I get she's afraid of being caught by Lumon, but to leave before Devon even calls while insisting that Devon not call her, why not wait for Devon to say "okay I won't call"? It feels like there's a narrative purpose for Reghabi leaving but this is a really stupid way to accomplish it.
Without that scene, this was a 10/10 episode. I'd give it a 8.5-9 with it. It's the first time in 16 episodes that the show made me notice that the writers are twisting the story around to set up plot threads for the finale in a somewhat sloppy/poorly thought out way.
But beyond all that this is a huge episode for the overall quality of the show and the wider story.
Firstly, and more simply this episode was so effective at highlighting the truly appalling nature of what they've done to Gemma and Mark. Anyone watching can appreciate how insane it is to have had a married couple interact as innies who don't know each other with the predicate that o!Mark believes that Gemma is dead. But the deplorable nature of these human experiments is so visceral this episode. In 49 minutes, we saw enough to see the love and devotion Mark and Gemma had for each other even if things were getting rough for them near the end of her outie life. We know that Gemma's death destroyed o!Mark. But to hear Gemma helplessly calling out to Mark after failing to escape the testing floor has to be the most devastatingly sad thing this show has shown us to date. Especially after all the suffering Gemma has endured. At her lowest point all she wanted was Mark to help her and make the pain go away. I'm getting sad just thinking about it.
It's also crazy to consider that a lot of theories on what happened to Gemma are disproven. This isn't a situation where her outie is functionally dead, and Lumon "saved" Gemma from the point of near death by severing her. *Gemma* is very much alive and Ms. Casey is one of her several innies. It's almost definitely not a situation where Gemma was cloned and Mark has been programming her consciousness. But the question is still there as to exactly what the "Cold Harbor" project is seeking to achieve. It doesn't seem that they're rewiring Gemma's consciousness. When she's in her room, she seems to be the same Gemma from the flashbacks and has been increasingly frustrated with all the testing.
There were theories around at there that Lumon might look to be toying with how to Severance split a consciousness multiple times and this episode basically confirms that. And it seems that there's some interest in feelings, thoughts or memories bleeding through Gemma's various innies. It seemed like Cobel was testing that herself when she had Ms. Casey and Mark have a wellness session and she seemed disappointed that no memories bled through. So there's something to the idea of the subconscious permeating Severance blockage, but why is that something Lumon wants? If the MDR Cold Harbor file is different from her in person testing, what would reaching 100% achieve? Some kind of jailbreak of Severance blockage? Who can say? Maybe some smarter theorists than me will have some ideas.
Interesting that Gemma and Mark were trying to have a baby with the Helly pregnancy theories floating around.
And speaking of, if we're to assume that Mark is now fully reintegrated it's, kinda crazy to think that his innie side has now gotten a full dose of memories of his wife. As though he didn't feel bad enough about having sex with Helena thinking it was Helly, ultimately not as impactful as inheriting his outie's memories of Gemma and having that whole love triangle to deal with. Amazingly acted by Adam Scott again coming out of unconsciousness.
And lastly I have to give credit to the excellent editing and camera work in this episode. Severance has always been strong in this regard but the way this episode was sequenced and shot was just incredible from start to finish
Again, it's so frustrating that this episode was dragged back by a stupid Devon-Reghabi scene because everything else was just masterful
More thoughts cause I'm wired after that episode lol
Maybe there was a double meaning in there but was that Drummond basically saying they're going to kill Gemma when Mark completes Cold Harbor? I mean they can't well let her out into the real world with who knows how many people who thought she was dead suddenly see her again. Or running the risk that Gemma tells the world what Lumon did to her.
And this is more of a medical curiosity but if reintegration can lead to death, wouldn't splitting a person's consciousness more than twice be devastating to someone's brain health? I mean I get this is in the realm of Sci fi and a certain degree of turning your brain off and not asking questions is warranted, but still.
My theory that Mark might've been responsible for Gemma's death obviously wasn't a thing, but I think there's foundation there that Mark feels guilty all the same. When he talked to Reghabi about the 5 stages of grief, he mentioned "listening more" as something he'd promise to fate or the universe to get Gemma back. The last time Gemma told him she loved him he wasn't even paying attention. If nothing else I think that was a really neat bit of writing. Maybe he wasn't responsible for Gemma's death (though he did encourage her to go to her get together when she offered to stay home) but easy to think he feels guilty for not being more present before he lost her.
Also it is straight up horrifying that Gemma has to go into 6 or more (or fewer) rooms as different innies where those innies only live for those little experiences they test her on. Like the dentist room, she has an innie that only exists to get painful dentistry work done to her. That's sickening.
Adding more but it was pretty cathartic to see Gemma hit that creep doctor who was trying to manipulate her into developing feelings for him. Not sure if that was intentional or him abusing his position, but glad it didn't take. Maybe her act *is* proof that subconscious experiences as innies bleed through. But then again Irving's hallucinations were also proof of that. Somewhat.
Didn't think about it off rip but I'm wondering if that card Gemma got, the one Dylan snuck out of Lumon, was an indication that Lumon identified her as a potential test subject through her fertility treatments and her getting that card was like a continued test.
And this is more of a medical curiosity but if reintegration can lead to death, wouldn't splitting a person's consciousness more than twice be devastating to someone's brain health? I mean I get this is in the realm of Sci fi and a certain degree of turning your brain off and not asking questions is warranted, but still.
My theory that Mark might've been responsible for Gemma's death obviously wasn't a thing, but I think there's foundation there that Mark feels guilty all the same. When he talked to Reghabi about the 5 stages of grief, he mentioned "listening more" as something he'd promise to fate or the universe to get Gemma back. The last time Gemma told him she loved him he wasn't even paying attention. If nothing else I think that was a really neat bit of writing. Maybe he wasn't responsible for Gemma's death (though he did encourage her to go to her get together when she offered to stay home) but easy to think he feels guilty for not being more present before he lost her.
Also it is straight up horrifying that Gemma has to go into 6 or more (or fewer) rooms as different innies where those innies only live for those little experiences they test her on. Like the dentist room, she has an innie that only exists to get painful dentistry work done to her. That's sickening.
Adding more but it was pretty cathartic to see Gemma hit that creep doctor who was trying to manipulate her into developing feelings for him. Not sure if that was intentional or him abusing his position, but glad it didn't take. Maybe her act *is* proof that subconscious experiences as innies bleed through. But then again Irving's hallucinations were also proof of that. Somewhat.
Didn't think about it off rip but I'm wondering if that card Gemma got, the one Dylan snuck out of Lumon, was an indication that Lumon identified her as a potential test subject through her fertility treatments and her getting that card was like a continued test.
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