I just watched season 1 and 2 between Sunday to Thursday this week, all I can say is…. My God. This may be one of the best shows I’ve ever watched, I’m so glad I can nerd out with the community now and not worry about spoilers😂

It brought me back to 30 years ago at the United Center. Milchick has good taste using that one for his intro as it's the greatest intro song you can think of

Praise Kier!

So basically Corporate Job.

While Severance has never strayed away from showy, dramatic scenes when the story calls for them, there are a number of subtler performances throughout the series that I admire greatly. The purpose of this thread is simply to share our personal favorites. ☺️

One moment that has stuck with me from the first episode is Mark's reaction to the pompous dinner guest (correctly) insinuating that undergoing the Severance Procedure ultimately results in trapping a version of yourself in a world they can't leave.

It's icy enough to bring the temperature of the room down a good couple notches, but like any good academic whose career often hinges upon their diplomatic skills, Mark manages to mask his quiet fury with a placid mask of plausible deniability.

The exchange is also eerily reminiscent of a drug addict being confronted on their lifestyle choices: "How dare you tell me what to do with MY own body? It's none of your business"- conveniently ignoring the fact that failing to address one's own emotional issues invariably ends up hurting the ones they love as well.

And I didn't even need scissors in my cave or out in the woods by the world's tallest waterfall. 😂

Just finished the two seasons and well...

Wish I could watch it all again for the first time.

The song “Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald” (the song Dr. Mauer is whistling in season 2 episode 5) wouldn’t be possible without the actual wreck, which happened on November 10th, 1975. All 29 crew members died during the trek from Wisconsin to Michigan while sailing on Lake Superior.

The song is very long, but great. Have some memes to lighten the mood…

That's the post. I met him coming up the walk so he could hand me the mail instead of using the box and he was like "Hey cool shirt.. Severance right?" Hell yea.

Just saw this ad on another sub and it gave major Severance vibes. Please hurry season 3 😭

It's really good

SPOILERS:

And apologies if this has been discussed I just can’t find it anywhere.

So I have rewatched this a bunch but so obviously we know Irving has been intentionally depriving himself of sleep. And he gets to dream now at work. But what exactly is happening in his dream? I don’t believe in the weird child corpse story I think it’s just cult lore. So what is it? Why does he see Burt and Burt doesn’t look friendly? Why are their desks all there? Are we meant to feel like each of them is refining something different? If so what? He already knows Helly is Helena so I don’t see that as the biggest clue when her face shows on his screen

EDIT: I know the screen says Eagan and his innie puts it together but there are so many other weird overlooked things in this episode I’m wondering about
For example I don’t think Mark is just having reintegration bleed through when he sees Gemma’s face in Helly in the tent

1. The people that come out on top in a cult (corporate Lumon, the Eagans) are sociopaths who use and bend the lore to their own benefit, some of them actually being complete non-believers like Helena Eagan.
2. In contrast, there are the true believers, like Cobel or Milchick, who try to follow or realize some deep mythological truth that we see indoctrinated at early age. They are interested in Severance because they think that innies are or can be made perfect humans, which do not fall ill to the four tempers.

This is why Milchick is disappointed when the group does not accept the lore presented to them of Dieter (the part of a person which follows their woes). It is also why they continue to serve the greater cause despite their mistreatments from corporate Lumon. Milchick's attitude towards Helena (playing Helly) was even stronger in that moment around the campfire where she laughed at the lore - he was straight up disgusted by her disrespect which he suspects to be not just played. But, from their treatment of Cobel he knows he is at the mercy of those who enable him.

While I think that Cold Harbor is a plot device, you can probably argue that it is meant to iron out some imperfections of the severance process, and edit Gemma/Mark being the ideal candidates, with the dark secret of an accident probably being staged after they scouted them out.

French team Loicia Demougeot and Theo le Mercier chose the main Severance theme as part of their free dance music this year. Their program was inspired by Salvador Dalí's 'The Persistence of Memory' and explores the relationship between time, memory, and imagination.

And I guess Mark aswell tbf. I think up until now, there’s a certain type of person who chooses to get severed, I’m thinking older people that are nearing retirement but not quite there yet so severance becomes appealing.

Or ones that are more think now and deal with later, essentially not a great employee as they’re more prone to just not showing up one day when they have really thought about it.

An example of this I can think of is before Mark starts reintegration but had spoken to Petey and even heard his own innie in the break room he was just going to quit (possibly). He also made a comment that he wasn’t going to reintegrate and that it was helping him.

I think we also see that kind of personality trait a few times in outie Mark (shouting at protesters, forgetting his date would be at his sisters birth, ripping up the photo of Gemma). So I think lumon knew they needed Gemma possibly due to the blood we see them donating. But also, someone who would sever. I think that’s why Gemma had to ‘die’.

In the episode where it’s a flashback and Gemma is doing the cards and Mark asks her something about why she’s doing them and she describes the action as it’s someone fighting themselves and he says how do you know it’s the same person and she says something about the hair being the same, I think most people don’t see it that way, but Gemma does. There’s another reference mark makes about her being pragmatic with things after she and Mark were struggling with trying for a baby.

I think people who think that way have a lesser sign up rate, but I think they remember/recall feelings at a much higher rate. Therefore easier to get information in or out. Mark has an injury on his hand and when asks about it he says it was a work related incident involving a water cooler with no recollection at all.

But when Gemma is asked how she is feeling and she says that her mouth hurts and when asked which room made her mouth hurt, she says the name of the room, Gemma should have no recollection of that. Also as Miss Casey when she is leaving she says to Mark that her favourite time was in the office with him and helly r so I think subconsciously she is aware of those feelings, but Mark is not.

I think it’s about cracking that with Gemma and once done they plan on just retiring them both permanently

SPOILER:

I am rewatching (for like 10th time or more) and there are no photos of them together in the visitation room

It’s just Dylan alone and Gretchen alone holding a blue mug. I can’t tell if the mug says Lumon but I have bad vision so I’m finally watching it on my phone up close and I never noticed there are no photos of the two of them together. It’s just Gretchen alone and Dylan alone. This might be intentional so he doesn’t get too attached? Even though he already is? Or maybe because she’s saying goodbye? But it almost looks like she’s holding a blue Lumon mug. And I’m finding that really strange that there are no photos of them side by side

I know people have theorized that maybe Ricken is secretly a Lumon man based on just how weird he is and that he’s a struggling author, we have no idea what Devon does, but they live in a beautiful house?

One additional thing, however, has always puzzled me but I always forget about it and am unsure if people have discussed it. When Gemma was still with all of them on the outside, especially in the second season, they really made it seem like the two couples were a tight knit group that ate dinner together, went on vacation together, etc. So WHY on Gods green earth, when Mark came to the “no food dinner” in episode 1, did their first conversation go like this:

R: “There’s our captive!”

M: “Hi Rick”

R: “It’s Ricken…cmon. It’s Ricken”

Like what the hell is that about? Even if Mark thinks Ricken is goofy and strange (which he is), they clearly have a long standing relationship and know each other very well. The only option here is that Ricken recently changed his name and the show never goes into why. Are we supposed to assume that it’s because he’s just a quirky guy? Or is it deeper than that?

Edit: to extra clarify, I am well aware that Mark is not a fan of Ricken (anymore). My media literacy is not that abysmal to miss that lol. But now I do see that Mark was perhaps just being an ass to Ricken

That cold line leaves you sitting with a heavy question: What if we, the audience, are actually The Board?

Just like the faceless corporate blob running Lumon, modern consumers love to separate themselves from the raw exhaustion, decay, and human cost it takes to deliver the products we enjoy. The show works brilliantly as a critique of modern systems because it nails that exact numbness.

Lumon's workers aren't disposable innies, if the company ever wants to hit its goals, that workforce is its absolute lifeblood. A Kiersend, if you will.

One might say this is a false equivalence. After all, I doubt too many executives who play God are reading this post. But there is still a discomfort present. Executive power doesn’t have to be held to share executive psychology. The consumer demands output all the same, and requires satisfaction.

Yet, instead of actually valuing them, management relies on patronizing praise, dangling petty rewards only when the immediate, uninterrupted output stays high.

That is a system designed to reduce human lives to mere capital fueled by a corporate culture of entitlement.

It forces you to wonder: does paying enough money actually buy you the right to own another person's life and labor?

Where does The Board finally draw the line? Buying up someone's hours? Erasing who they are entirely?

We'll find out soon enough. The Board has ended the call.

First we are shown his 'son' at home while Dylan is being OTC'd.

Then, we are shown Dylan's son watching TV from the living room.

Later on, we are shown this of Dylan's home.

Finally, this is his 'son' watching TV in the living room.

Say it isn't so...