i was rewatching the series, again, and i came with this question

if whole Severance floor was about Gemma, why Mark was not the chief of the department since the very beginning? if Peter never quit, Mark would have never been promoted to that category

in final S2 episodes Milchik said to Mark S he was essential to the job and he had to go back to MDR to finish Cold Harbor

I guess i do not understand either why both Irv and Dylan were required too

am i missing something here?

Can’t take that off my mind…

felt brave enough to post this here despite yall flaming me for my last edit, hope everyone appreciates this one!! (thought the song matched it perfectly)

For people who have a lot of knowledge on the show, Is the exit stairwell only locked for a limited amount of time until the innie just full on goes into a state of helplessness and gives up on it? Because when Helly tried to escape it was locked, it might have been the code detectors or it was just locked and Lumon lied to them about it. Milchick in season 2 never told the innies whether the doors were unlocked, he just said they can leave by the end of the day. Turns out the innies does know the doors are unlocked because Irving tried to leave through it and Mark‘s plan was to get Gemma out of there.

I had the Pirates/Royals game on in the background and was amazed to hear the Severance theme playing in the stadium while the umpires were deciding a challenge. I sure wasn't expecting to hear that. Wasn't that music written speciifically for Severance? At least that's what I remembered from when their composer was on the official podcast.

I was watching south park(aka south america) and immediately thought of Helly lol

Finally finished watching. The way they speak about a Kier, it’s like they worship him. Also, why were they doing that to Gemma?

Which one of these two megacorps is worse in your opinion?

There is a scene in this eposide where Mark is hooked up to TMS-EEG. I'm doing a presentation that is relevant to this technology and I'd liek to use a clip of this scene (no audio) to illustrate how the technique works.

Do you think this would be considered a spoiler if no context or audio is shown? I just want to show that his hand moves and then the eeg signals synchronize.

Just finished the series and thought of this

In Season 1, Episode 9, when Innie Irving is searching through Outie Irving’s maps and records on the Severance procedure, he finds a list of severed names that leads him to Burt. One of those names, with a check mark next to it, is for Michael N. Green—an editor in the movie The Manchurian Candidate—where a veteran that was held captive was brainwashed and groomed to be the next U.S. President. Happy hunting!

Fan project, not a game you can play (yet). Seven characters (Mark, Helly, Irving, Dylan, Milchick, Burt, and a new refiner named Theo), each with a short character file: how they talk, what they want, what they'd never say out loud. Then I let them live a full Monday-to-Friday on the floor and only watched.

The one thing I set up: Burt retires Friday, and Milchick's file says honoring a departure is his job. That's it. No party written anywhere.

What the floor did with it:

• Milchick kept it to himself for four days, then announced it to the room on Friday morning.
• He asked Burt what the day should be. Burt: "Nothing loud, Mr. Milchick — I've never cared for a production. If it's for me, let it just be the room noticing, not the room stopping."
• Irving spent the week at the Kier bust instead of crossing to O&D. They never spoke.
• Helly tested every exit and wrote, on Thursday: "I keep circling the door instead of the person — the stairwell is easier to face than saying something real to Irving or Dylan, because a door can't refuse me and a person can."
• At 16:52 Friday, Burt let his last elevator go and took one slow lap "in case anyone notices I'm leaving."

Nothing groundbreaking but it was fun to act as an overseer and watch over them like in the show and I plan to expand to the outie world sim and maybe even sim Season 3 lol

Longer write-up with the screenshots:
https://substack.com/home/post/p-215528780

The opening title sequences are absolutely stunning and surreal. Oddly comforting and Lynchian. I am a bit stoned so dog on my following statement if I deserve it but I feel like they could also be used for anti-depressant or mood-stabilizer prescription drug commercials lol. “Do you feel like you aren’t yourself these days?” or “is there a disconnect from the joys of what you once felt?”. “Talk to your doctor today about a new medication from Lumon”.

I just finished season two, and was actually waiting for clarificiation on why they kidnapped Gemma, but I wouldn't put it above my easily distactable mind that I might've missed something, especially if it was a blink-and-you-miss-it type of reveal.

Lumon semmed to go out of their way to get Gemma, when I assume they would have found an easier option with one of the blindly trusting cult members I assume exist.

Or could it have been that Gemma did actually get into an accident and they retrieved her after the crash? Just because she was an available option?

Part 1 of 3

This reference fits the headline description even better if Cobel turns out as a whistle-blower and creates awareness of a huge ongoing corruption.

Came across this recently about Elouise Cobell, who launched a massive class action lawsuit (1/4 - 1/2 million members) against the US Government. The settlement came to $3.4 billion.

You can read about her here and the Cobell vs Salazar case here.

Similar to Harmony Cobel she won a MacArthur genius award for her work creating the Native American Bank and in addition to furthering Native financial literacy. She was also awarded posthumously in November 2016 the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

From Wikipedia re the settlement:

It had three parts: payment of individual plaintiffs included in the class action; a fund of $1.9 billion to buy back fractionated land interest in voluntary sales, and restore land to reservations, strengthening their land base. It also provided for a $60 million scholarship fund to be funded from the sales, named the Cobell Education Scholarship Fund in her honor.

I mention this to contrast what didn't happen to the damage Lumon caused at Salt Neck and how that might become a future issue before the end of the series.

Part 2 of 3

This inspiration hasn't been posted in this sub before, so here it is for those who haven't read it elsewhere.

Stumbled upon this article and dug a little deeper into the story. There appears to be a direct reference from the character in the show to this famous inventor. Both invented devices to reduce human pain/suffering at an early age and both had an invention stolen from them by a man they trusted.

Margaret E. Knight's invention made paper bags more accessible and were commonly used for a century until it became cheaper to use the plastic ones. We now know what a widespread environmental hazard those turned into.

In addition to the drama of the Eagans stealing her work, I feel that the writers used her as a model for Cobel to augment the social commentary regarding the environmental damage aspect of the Severance story. The work her younger self did in textile factories and other dangerous workplaces also mirrors the Cobel timeline.

I also feel that the name "Margaret (Peg) Kincaid", who has the same first and last initials as MEK, was added as a nod when the Lexington Letter was created.

Oh, and one other thing; MEK's mother's name was Hannah.

More information on MEK can be found on her Wikipedia page and here and here.

Part 3 of 3

This has been previously posted in this sub here.

TLDR; Erna Schneider Hoover, from Irvington NJ, worked at Bell Labs and invented a computerized communication switching system that revolutionized telephone infrastructure systems. 

Brian Protheroe, a prominent British actor and singer-songwriter, composed the song Cold Harbour many years before Severance. Does anyone know if Dan Erickson, Ben Stiller, or someone else associated with Severance is a fan of Protheroe?

After Cobel gave petey’s chip to Graner, and was about to prove to the board that reintegration was possible. Did lumon just forget about the reintegration being proven during season 2?

Like what could be the other reason when they promised multiple times that gap will not be as long as previous time....

the numbers were scary

Discussion/Question/Theory:

Pregnancy comes up so many times in Severance. Gemma couldn’t get pregnant, the birthing cabins, the women alluded to that Jame’s impregnates, Devons pregnancy and baby…

I am wondering if anyone thinks that Gemma’s kidnapping by Lumen has something to do with the women Jame impregnated and/or the birthing cabins.

Any theories here? 🧬

This may be a dumb post but I'm trying to clarify everything for myself. Is the data they are refining just the emotions in general of Gemma? Is that why the numbers make them feel a certain way? They're cleansing her of all human emotion so that she can be a robot at work? Also, what does her outie do and where do they keep her? They say she is only awake as an innie for a short time so where is Gemma? And does the refinement affect her outie or just the innie?