SO2.EO3: Who is Alive?

[Affogato]

The white (VW) Rabbit…..

[KarenX]

Now there are three blue turtleneck sweaters! Milchick’s from Mark’s first day back, Helly R’s in this episode, and Gretchen G’s in this episode.

[dwmarch]

What the glorious fuck is going on?!

The goat herders are an eclectic bunch and they seem to be concerned about human-kangaroo hybrids. They also know Ms. Casey.

We finally encountered someone else who knows what that spooky elevator is all about. Something to do with "exports". O&D used to do it themselves but now "a guy" is sent.

Lumon re-did all the old Keir paintings to make Keir black! I get the impression that Milchick is not as impressed by this as he is supposed to be. Not sure if they fixed his screensaver yet.

Lots of Natalie in this episode, she seems to be playing a bigger role this season.

Nice to see that Dylan's visiting wife is his actual wife. I thought they'd trick him with a fake wife. And how exactly did they pull all that gear out of the security office to turn it into a little lounge so quickly?

Loved Mark (outie) dunking on Ricken's book and Devon kind of agreeing.

Also loved Mrs. Cobel getting an invite to speak to the board and noping the fuck out of there. Reminded me of a similar scene in Goodfellas.

That end scene was awesome. Same thing as a Lumon orientation but in reverse and now presumably Mark S and Mark Scout are one. Very well done visuals, music, everything.

 

[arc]

The "re-canonicalized" race-swapped pictures of Kier were certainly something. I wonder if Natalie is so far gone she couldn't tell that Milchick's reaction was not gratitude. Because she kinda looks like she might have just a tiny hint of "can you believe these white people?" but it is so suppressed that Milchick certainly doesn't feel comfortable expressing his true feelings.

Mammalians Nurturable is so much creepier than O&D ever was. Holy shit. Are these people regular outie/innies? Do their outies wonder why they go home smelling like grass and goats? And what about the guy who dresses up as a goat down there? Presumably he wears normal work clothes down and up his elevator, but still.

WHOA, the outie family visitation wasn't a lie???? And Gretchen wasn't even a fake wife??? Wow.

Helena getting chauffeured makes total sense EXCEPT it's a big contrast to poor outie Helly from the pilot trudging to her car in the outer edge of the parking lot. Again, very obvious the "Helly's outie is an Eagan" idea came up relatively late in season one and they didn't patch everything up seamlessly.

Anyways, that parking lot showdown with Cobel and Helena was amazing. Helena is stone cold.

Hahaha, it's amazing Lumon even thought about retinal afterimages.

I'm glad Reghabi made it out of s1 alive but I'm real scared she won't make it out of s2. Just for narrative, it would be unsatisfying if Drummond goes out like Graner did, after all. Wait, is she pouring a salt circle??? Is reintegration literally techno-witchcraft? ... oh, it's magnetic fillings?

Wow, our boy is reintegrated!!!!! I really appreciate the show moving the plot along and instead of stalling.

Is there any significance to doing the credits in black-on-white for the first time?

[maddie965]

Wow this show is a rollercoaster from hell and I love it! Goats, Mammalians, real wives, brain waves, reintegration!!!

I wonder if the reintegration will be a fleeting thing, just a few minutes and they will be separated again, or if Mark is a whole person now. If he is, what a game-changer! Love that this show is not afraid to advance the plot, like arc said, while series like Silo spend months without going anywhere. I'm so done with that show!

Back to Severance, now I'm thinking that Hely is really Hely, unless Helena is a great actress. Not sure Helena could fake so much empathy for Irv (loved that moment) and Mark. She doesn't seem to care about anyone but herself. 

How much do I love that scene between Irv and Felicia? I cried when they hugged.

What a perfect hour of television!

Edited Friday at 10:53 AM by maddie965

[Ms Lark]

Am I the only one who thinks "Cold Harbor" has to do with cryonics? Anyway, I've been thinking about that for a while. Resurrecting the dead Keir dynasty?

Reghabi tentatively said Gemma was alive last time she saw her, but could she have been in a deep freeze? Not sure where they're going with this, especially since Mark is ever so critical to the project.

Good episode. Lots happened. OK, if no cloning why did Goat Lady Gwendoline ask to see their bellies. Checking for navels? Innies or outies? Clones traditionally don't have belly buttons.

I too want to know if goat herder innies stink to high heaven when they leave. Maybe they get to take showers? Course could always be more red herrings.

[Affogato]

2 hours ago, Ms Lark said:

Am I the only one who thinks "Cold Harbor" has to do with cryonics? Anyway, I've been thinking about that for a while. Resurrecting the dead Keir dynasty?

No, the ‘board’ (which may be only Kier, or a collection of other deceased family members) may well be in frozen sleep and the project may be trying to bring them back to life. The whole Kier business is also a religion (Rikon’s book originally inspired dissention in the ranks and they wisely want to adjust it to inspire obedience) and we are awaiting the second coming of Kier. Prepare the way.

 

[iMonrey]

This show is starting to remind me of Lost and Twin Peaks, and that's not a good thing. Instead of getting answers the show keeps piling up more questions on more questions. I spent the entire episode going WTF? WTF? WTF?

The goat people, for example, seem weird just for the sake of being weird. Whatever reason Lumon has for having goats, there's no particular reason the people minding them have to be so damn weird. 

How did Reghabi even find Mark? He was sitting in his car, seemingly in some out of the way place, and she just showed up like magic. Or did he call her and ask her to meet him there? Does he have her phone number?

Natalie is either a robot or possessed or being radio controlled. She just acts so damn weird.

6 hours ago, maddie965 said:

Back to Severance, now I'm thinking that Hely is really Hely, unless Helena is a great actress.

You know, I was sort of back to thinking she's really Helly too, because when they entered the goat room, the look on her face was total shock, and Mark's back was to her. She had no reason to act. Then again, I guess it's possible this is a part of Lumon that even Helena doesn't know about.

6 hours ago, Ms Lark said:

Good episode. Lots happened. OK, if no cloning why did Goat Lady Gwendoline ask to see their bellies. Checking for navels? Innies or outies? Clones traditionally don't have belly buttons.

They were checking for pouches. It seems like the other departments have been fed lies, or developed legends, about the macro data refiners. If you recall, when they first were introduced to O&D last season, the O&D people though refiners had some weird physical thing too. I assume this dates back to an earlier rebellion which left MDR with a bad reputation.

3 hours ago, Affogato said:

No, the ‘board’ (which may be only Kier, or a collection of other deceased family members) may well be in frozen sleep and the project may be trying to bring them back to life.

It's got to be something like that. If we ever cut to the actual board some day I fully expect to see either empty seats, or just statues of dead Kier family members.

[juno]

11 minutes ago, iMonrey said:

This show is starting to remind me of Lost and Twin Peaks, and that's not a good thing. Instead of getting answers the show keeps piling up more questions on more questions. I spent the entire episode going WTF? WTF? WTF?

The goat people, for example, seem weird just for the sake of being weird. Whatever reason Lumon has for having goats, there's no particular reason the people minding them have to be so damn weird. 

How did Reghabi even find Mark? He was sitting in his car, seemingly in some out of the way place, and she just showed up like magic. Or did he call her and ask her to meet him there? Does he have her phone number?

Natalie is either a robot or possessed or being radio controlled. She just acts so damn weird.

You know, I was sort of back to thinking she's really Helly too, because when they entered the goat room, the look on her face was total shock, and Mark's back was to her. She had no reason to act. Then again, I guess it's possible this is a part of Lumon that even Helena doesn't know about.

They were checking for pouches. It seems like the other departments have been fed lies, or developed legends, about the macro data refiners. If you recall, when they first were introduced to O&D last season, the O&D people though refiners had some weird physical thing too. I assume this dates back to an earlier rebellion which left MDR with a bad reputation.

It's got to be something like that. If we ever cut to the actual board some day I fully expect to see either empty seats, or just statues of dead Kier family members.

Yes, but we finally got the answer we have been waiting for. What does Mark and Hely's stomach look like?

[Ms Lark]

1 hour ago, iMonrey said:

This show is starting to remind me of Lost and Twin Peaks, and that's not a good thing.

Yeah, especially when TPTB at Lost kept insisting it wasn't anything to do with purgatory and, lo, guess what? So, even though Severance PTB say it's not clones and no one has even come close to guessing, I bet they're fibbing about some stuff.

Twin Peaks just got really odd at the end. RIP David Lynch, but the dude needed to be on a super tight leash or he would go way off the rails!

1 hour ago, iMonrey said:

They were checking for pouches

Ah ha. Of course. I like the goats, but I still think they are leading us astray with that. Although, there's all that goat symbology with Kier and all. Dang. I give up.

Edited Friday at 07:18 PM by Ms Lark

[questionfear]

9 hours ago, arc said:

 

Helena getting chaufured makes total sense EXCEPT it's a big contrast to poor outie Helly from the pilot trudging to her car in the outer edge of the parking lot. Again, very obvious the "Helly's outie is an Eagan" idea came up relatively late in season one and they didn't patch everything up seamlessly.

Anyways, that parking lot showdown with Cobel and Helena was amazing. Helena is stone cold.

 

There's a few possibilities there beyond retcon IMO.

Helena might have had to be severed as penance for something, and now that she's proven herself/behaved she gets the trappings of being an Eagan again. 

She also might have received an upgrade in status over the course of the first season, or her access to super important severed Mark has bumped up her value. 

Or they wanted her to cross paths with Mark in the parking lot, specifically to measure if he recognized her. 

[meep.meep]

10 hours ago, arc said:

 

Hahaha, it's amazing Lumon even thought about retinal afterimages.

Isn't that what allows Irv's Outie to do his paintings of the inside?

[arc]

3 hours ago, meep.meep said:

Isn't that what allows Irv's Outie to do his paintings of the inside?

No, cause pre-heartbreak Irv had no grudge against Lumon and certainly would never try to smuggle information out. I don’t think he even knows where the Exports hallway/down elevator is or what it was before he saw the paintings in full on the outside. It remains a mystery how outie Irv knows about it, though it seems that severance isn’t as total as Lumon would like to believe. He was able to somewhat influence innie Irv by subjecting their shared body to sleep deprivation and a sort of induced obsession with the hallway.

My new half-serious theory about the board is that they are corporeal/alive, because they saw Hamilton and that’s how they got the idea to give their Black employees the paintings of Black Kier Eagan.

Edit: one other thought: is Gretchen's night job at Lumon? Does she already know Milchick? Because given how Milchick talked to the Hales and Scout in ep 2 -- consistently calling Mark "Mr Scout" -- suggests regular outsiders would never call Milchick "Seth".

Edited Yest. at 12:38 AM by arc

[Pi237]

7 hours ago, iMonrey said:

This show is starting to remind me of Lost and Twin Peaks, and that's not a good thing. Instead of getting answers the show keeps piling up more questions on more questions. I spent the entire episode going WTF? WTF? WTF?

The goat people, for example, seem weird just for the sake of being weird. Whatever reason Lumon has for having goats, there's no particular reason the people minding them have to be so damn weird. 

 

I was thinking the Exact same thing-this better not be weird just for weird’s sake, and it definitely felt that way.  I hope the writers don’t keep adding bizarre characters that don’t serve the plot just because they worry viewers will guess the big secrets. I don’t care about spoilers if it’s well done and ties everything together. I don’t want to be sent on another wild goose chase like Lost and ‘the Others.’

Natalie looked like she was starting to cry while trying to maintain her brainwashed smile about the paintings.  Kier in blackface. Wow. 
 

Great ending.  

[dwmarch]

2 hours ago, Pi237 said:

Natalie looked like she was starting to cry while trying to maintain her brainwashed smile about the paintings.  Kier in blackface. Wow. 

Saying that she got the exact same gift reads to me like a half-assed attempt at solidarity but also a subtle plea for Milchick to go along if he wants to get along. Milchick was wise enough not to verbally respond with "bitch, please" but he thought it loudly enough that she got the message. It'll be interesting to see what side Natalie lands on. I think she's a true believer but there is a tiny bit of empathy there, buried deep beneath the combination of fear and privilege that comes with being a higher up at Lumon.

[arc]

just doing a scattered partial rewatch. The pilot episode has Irv greet the Macrodats (minus Petey, and before Helly joins) with "Hi kids. What's for dinner", which annoys the other two, and they question the premise of the joke entirely:
 

Quote

 

Mark: And it's confusing. Like, did the kids make you dinner in this scenario? Or --

Dylan: Yeah, what kind of a shit dad are you?

 

It's all connected!!!

[lovett1979]

12 hours ago, dwmarch said:

Saying that she got the exact same gift reads to me like a half-assed attempt at solidarity but also a subtle plea for Milchick to go along if he wants to get along. 

She does not volunteer that information, though. She says "The board wants me to tell you that I got the same present and I loved it" (not the exact language, but the point is that the Board tells her to say she got the gift and also that she loved it). The drop of her smile, the tears in her eyes, the silence between them is filled with so much storytelling.

[iMonrey]

4 minutes ago, lovett1979 said:

She does not volunteer that information, though. She says "The board wants me to tell you that I got the same present and I loved it" (not the exact language, but the point is that the Board tells her to say she got the gift and also that she loved it). The drop of her smile, the tears in her eyes, the silence between them is filled with so much storytelling.

We don't really know if there is a board, though. 

[arc]

1 hour ago, iMonrey said:

We don't really know if there is a board, though. 

There was that time when Natalie was dressing down Cobel and the latter asked if the board was even there, and someone replied “yes” on the speaker.

[Starchild]

On 1/31/2025 at 4:10 PM, arc said:

It remains a mystery how outie Irv knows about it

Maybe reintegrated Petey contacted Irv's outie too?

[ofmd]

OK, so before I read up on anyone else's thoughts... The zombie goat people are castaways of Cold Harbor, right? Some Frankenstein Monsters born without a nave (pouch) I assume.

And Lumen wants to use them as vessels to try and 'harbor' the personalities of dead or dying people, probably Eagans. Kier or current whatshisname.

Maybe Ms Solveg is so eager to work there because she wants to revive someone too, e.g. her mother?

Edited 44 minutes ago by ofmd

[Ms Lark]

More goat bell?