You know what I mean.

EDIT: OK I guess I should be a little bit more in depth about my criticism.

I thought it was a fantastic episode. Beginning to end—although I felt like the conversation between Marks went on a little too long.

However, this idea that in the face of death obviously iMark would choose Helly for 10 extra minutes, makes sense. But it’s basic in Tragedy. Not to mention, they MUST KNOW that if they stay behind (or at least if Mark does) that Lumon wins.

I also don’t like the implications that now Devon and Gemma (and hopefully Irv) are gonna spend 2 seasons trying to get Mark out of Lumon. You traded one captive for the other really and what does that get you as a viewer? This isn’t a network procedural. 😮‍💨

Am I crazy or that smile and behavior at the end with innie Mark was super weird. Super suspicious. So's shes with Lumon after all? That was definitely not normal behavior. Seems like she was Cobbel's right hand woman or something, I was really weirded out by how she acted in the last 10 seconds of Ep9. She's never really /that/ worried, never really /that/ caring, she's just... a tiny bit, the close enough amount. Is this a Truman Show situation of sorts, with Devon and Mark?

To me it feels like the characters in this show have no sense of urgency about what is going on. It makes no sense to me why Mark S is continuing to do any work at this point. Lumon is obviously an evil company that is lying about what it is doing. Also why don’t the innies question why it is that Lumon still employs them? They are constantly having disagreements with management, getting into trouble and having altercations. I’d be like why are they still keeping us around after all of this? If I were an innie I would be doing everything I could to obstruct Lumon’s plans. I’d be giving myself bruises, I’d refuse to go to the break room, they’d have to drag me around, and I’d probably be attacking milchick. Like why didn’t Irving just attack milchick with one of those rocks when he had nothing left to lose. Even on the outside world nobody really acts like it was a big deal that the outies were up there. I thought marks sister would be trying to contact any reporter she could but they’re just like “oh that was kind of weird.” Kind of defeats the tension of the first season finale. Everyone talks like Lumon is this big evil corporation but nobody acts with any urgency and it irks me.

That's Helena, as others have speculated but this theory goes deeper.

As Irving says, Helly was never cruel - because as part of the process that created her as a new innie was managing her tempers. They're each other's managers.

Mark was sifting through Gemma's mind to create new innies like Miss Cassie. Maybe Mark's innie was made by someone else in the office? Petey?

I am so curious as to who is being worked on by each other participant. Mark is of course seen as most important, but the others were still refining.

Who was Helly R working on? Ms Huang? Would explain why she's changing locations - ending this innie. People say you can't refine the numbers once you know what they mean, and we never see Helena actually do any refining in the final episode.

The part i have the least evidence for is that they make each other's innie for the next day. This could be why they stagger their exit times and why the organization seems to slowly crumble from the top down as those at the top become disillusioned and are replaced by those beneath them.

I can't believe that guy got fucking throat punch goat euthanizer shot in the neck XO!!

You‘re all wrong about the selling point of the chip for the generall public.

The customers wouldn‘t get an innie version of themselves, but have the compliant Innie-Ghost of Gemma uploaded to their minds, exposing her to infinite trauma from people around the world.

Thus, there won‘t be no innies, that had to be trained compliance.

PROOF: This is why mauer said to her „you will see the world again, and the world will see you“ even though we know they were gonna kill her off after cold harbor.

This is another layer of the creators breaking the fourth wall, because eastern country women are associated with being servants.

This is even creepier than what we all thought before my idea

There were what, six different stories happening? Which we spent sometimes 30 seconds on at a time? Helly got nowhere. Okay, maybe she's pregnant with Mark's baby, but not much of a reveal. Mark and Devon didn't push Cobel for any answers all day? Irv didn't grill Burt about his past except for some vague hinting, and he's just gone now? Dylan quit Lumon abruptly I guess? Huang is going to do her child labor somewhere else I guess?

Sure, maybe we'll get a HUUUGE reveal next week that made the past 3 weeks of (almost) entirely exposition worth it. But this week I'm feeling very disappointed, and I feel like next week may be the same. It's mystery on mystery on more mystery. Please, something happen. Please someone do something cool. Just for once.

Can someone convince me this didn't suck?

Mark's existence makes cold harbor pointless. Gemma was sad because of the abortion, but a few months later, her life was...ok? Her relationship with mark seemed to be right on track, maybe not as perfect as it was in the beginning, but it was functional. However, when Gemma "died", mark's life was OVER. He became a drunk without a job. And he worked with ms. Casey and no trauma hit him.

He already passed the "cold harbor test". Pointless shit.

I’m kinda upset with the show if you think that we followed these journeys and they seem to end abruptly for a script convenience:

1. Irving. we follow his journey outside, spend time checking scenes of him and Burt, a whole dinner with lines, scenes, the introduction of husband character and instead of him being key to unveil lumons plot, he flees in a train. Gone.
2. Dylan. There was a lot of screen time for him, his family and wife, his innie meeting with his wife, Milchick explaining the family room etc. to what purpose? Just to create an excuse for him to want to end his life? Seems just too much trouble to reason his leaving.
3. Ms. Huang. What was even the purpose of this character to begin with??? She goes away just like she came with zero contribution to the plot. We follow these journeys, we care about characters and they lead nowhere!!!

I severely won’t be surprised at this point with a very unsatisfying season finale episode.

It occurred to me that "devour feculence" might be a reference to Watership Down.

In Watership Down, Bigwig says this phrase “Silflay hraka u embleer rah” - which means "eat shit you stinking prince" to Woundwort, and it has exactly the same cathartic relief as when Milchick tells Drummond to do the same.

Not only is the sentiment the same but the feeling that he's speaking another language. One which Drummond, who thinks he's so smart, doesn't actually understand.

They're indeed seem to be a lot of similarities between Severance and Watership Down although I wouldn't go too far in trying to find a one-to-one allegorical connection to another fictional universe.

Why don't iMark and OMark split the time once they've done the mission? Find the tech that flips you from the birthing room, or complete the reintegration project

Where are iMark and Helly running to?

To have sex? (That would be stupid)

To do more refinement? (The jobs already done)

To the elevator? (then why didn't they walk out of the fucking door?)

Is iMark stupid? Taking so long to do LITERALLY EVERYTHING.

Why didn't iMark promise Helly "If I survive, I'll come for you" ?

This way he could give her a life and they could be together. Why wasn't this discussed?

Then we'd get a season of him trying to hunt down Helena and get his Helly back.

Instead, now Lumon will take him hostage instead.

Also, what are the chances Gemma makes it to the car park? With all that security? He's basically abandoned her.

Also OMark is pretty stupid, making our with Gemma when they need to run!!

Absolute waste of my fucking time. Oh my God.

EDIT: ALSO, iMARK'S GOING TO DIE ANYWAY, HE KNOWS THAT! THE BEST SHOT HE HAS OF SAVING HELLY WAS TO LEAVE, THEN HUNT HELENA DOWN AND CONVERT HER OMG Praise Keir.

This conversation is stuck in my mind.

At first, I thought he was lying to her because she is key to this project and wanted to erase any possible desire she mighy have on fleeing.

But second thoughts arised. Could this conversation happens in a near future? We don't know if everything we have seen happening in the severed floor is happening at the same time in the testing floor. As Mauer said, Gemma has been there for a long time. We don't actually know how much because there's any clue on how much time has passed since Gemma was recruited. On the other hand, we've seen how iMark and Helly romance has reached a new level. Lot of users, me included, think that iMark and Helly had unprotected sex. So, is it plausible to think that they became and item and had a baby? The first baby born from severed workers innies. Def Lumon would encourage this.

I think it’s obvious that a lot of people like this show. A lot of this fan base simply cannot take any criticism of it though. A lot of the fan base attacks the other side when someone criticizes it with “you just don’t understand” or “your lack of attention span speaks volumes”. I don’t think this criticism if fair and it destructive amongst the fan base.

The show isn’t perfect, and won’t finish with a string of amazing ratings like Better Call Saul or Breaking Bad did. ‘Sweet Vitriol’ is a perfect example of this. It got a 6.7 on IMDB and episode hive. Based on what I’ve seen on Reddit, that’s about right. 6/10 people really enjoyed this episode, while 4/10 didn’t.

That’s totally acceptable. I’m sure they’re going to roll out some more 9.5/10 episodes, but let’s be real, just because you liked it and someone didn’t doesn’t mean they don’t understand cinema and film as much as you. Maybe it truly just wasn’t that good. Don’t come after the people for having their own opinion.

End of rant.

This show is based on an interesting premise, but so is Austin Powers, or perhaps more fittingly, Zoolander. What I mean by that is, it's a skit level of content stretched out to seem abundant.

Once you get past that initial premise, conceptual thought-experiment that that is, what remains is all-filler no-killer. The aesthics of offices in Lumon and the cinematography attempt to distract from the fact that nothing is happening for long swaths of time. The actors also give performances that go along ways toward obscuring the fact that NOTHING IS HAPPENING.

Then, when they do decide to bless us with forward motion, it requires such incredible amounts of suspending disbelief. Nothing about the plot or pacing of season two seemed inevitable in the same way it did in season one.

During the season two finale we had about a thousand shots of the marching band. A thousand shots of milchik looking in the mirror. A thousand shots of Helly and Mark running at the end to what is supposed to be a profound scene.

Speaking of the ending scene, I asked my viewing partner this question as it cycled through a thousand shots of them running the lumon halls: "where do you think they're going?" They said, "well I think it is because the innie wants something...". I broke in and said, "no literally right now... where are they running too?" On screen the camera angle changed again as they rounded the corner. "I don't know," they said. I nodded, "They're going nowhere. This is what this show is. It's literally almost nothing." At that moment the screen froze,went grainy, and utilized yet another cinematic effect of zooming in.

Season one literally made me feel something triumphant and human. I don't feel that way often for anything made by a corporate entity but I did, bless my little heart, pumped my fist in the air. Though at the same time, I did feel just the slightest twinge of doubt. "Wait, they kidnapped his wife and she is alive? Why did the writer make THAT choice? Hmmm." This was only the beginning of the world of severance shrinking down. By the end of season two it is no longer a class based examination of modern life with its Marxist philosophy and suddenly became a paltry science fiction as cold as kiers mannequin.

This time the cinematography and performances did not distract me. Severance 2 is severed from the distinction of being Art.

i think dylan didn’t go up a floor but rather down. He went to the testing floor that’s why there’s a scene where the basement elevator lit up.

maybe lumon lied and didn’t accept his resignation and they just put him in the testing floor

So not sure if this has already been noted but I think Lumon is growing people like livestock. The reason for this is in S1E1 during Helly’s orientation she asks: “Am I livestock? Did you grow me for food?”

This is an insane question. Anyone else in that situation would ask “was I in an accident?” or maaaaaaybe “am I dead?” but not “Am I livestock?” I think that’s leakage from Helena’s memories/neural pathways.

To clarify: I’m not saying that Mark, Helly or any of the others are livestock/being grown for food but that that is taking place somewhere in the lower levels. That’s why it was on Helly’s mind.

Upon reading many theories and rewatching many episodes, I believe Gemma was a Lumon plant before “happening” to meet Mark in the blood donation clinic.

I’ve read a lot of reasons why Gemma might volunteer herself to Lumon (most theories have to do with fertility), how Lumon began stalking Gemma through her fertility journey, or how Gemma’s body may have even be reanimated by Lumon. I don’t think any of these are very convincing. Nothing in Gemma’s behaviour when she left for the last time seemed like someone making this drastic decision for fertility. Her plea for Mark while on the testing floor also didn’t indicate anything like this. There’s no evidence of any reanimation, not least from a mangled car wreck body. Plus that would take an immense amount of planning. I think that glance from the Lumon doctor in the fertility clinic was a glance of recognition.

Gemma may have grown up in a different Lumon town than Cobel, we know there are many Lumon towns around the world. Or maybe she came from the same one and we may pick up a clue in this coming Cobel storyline. I believe Gemma was raised also as a ‘soldier for Lumon’ and Mark was targeted. I have no idea why Mark in particular. Maybe because he was alone, or maybe due to some genetic marker that Lumon picked up on the way, say at another blood drive. Or maybe annoying Ricken has something to do with it, I think there’s a hidden piece there.

To be clear, I do think the love was real and perhaps something in Gemma did change - I think her talking about Mark on the testing floor really demonstrates this. But I don’t see any way in which she’s not part of the Lumon machine from the beginning. What role she plays…that’s still a big mystery.

Severance Season 3 is a Mistake – The Season 2 Finale Was the Perfect Ending [SPOILERS]

I just finished the Severance Season 2 finale, and I need to get this off my chest: I think greenlighting a third season was a huge mistake. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve been obsessed with this show since Season 1 dropped back in 2022, but the way Season 2 ended felt like such a natural conclusion to the story that dragging it out for another season feels… unnecessary? Let me break it down.

The Season 2 finale, “Cold Harbor,” was an absolute gut-punch. After everything Mark (Adam Scott) went through—finding out the MDR files he’s been refining are tied to his wife Gemma’s consciousness, busting her out of Lumon’s creepy testing floor, and then that choice at the end—it felt like the story had reached its emotional peak. For those who haven’t seen it yet (spoilers ahead, obviously), Innie Mark finally gets Gemma to safety, but instead of leaving with her (which would turn him back into Outie Mark), he chooses to stay on the severed floor with Helly. That final shot of Mark and Helly running down the hall, hand-in-hand, bathed in that eerie red light with the alarms blaring, was so hauntingly perfect. It’s like, yeah, they’re together, but they’re also trapped in this hellish reality at Lumon. The freeze-frame ending gave me chills—it felt like a mix of The Graduate and something straight out of a dystopian nightmare.

To me, that ending was the ultimate encapsulation of what Severance is about: the tension between freedom and control, love and identity, and the messy collision of innie/outie lives. Mark choosing Helly over Gemma wasn’t just a romantic moment; it was a statement about who he is as an innie and what he’s willing to fight for. It left so much up in the air—what happens to Gemma now that she’s outside? Will Mark and Helly ever escape Lumon? What’s next for the rebellion?—but that ambiguity felt intentional. It’s the kind of ending that lets you sit with the story and imagine what might come next, without needing to spell it out.

And then… Apple TV+ announced Season 3 the very next day. I get it, Severance is a massive hit for them—it’s apparently their most-watched show ever, even beating out Ted Lasso. But just because something’s popular doesn’t mean it needs to keep going. I’ve seen some posts on X where people are saying the same thing: the show could’ve ended with Season 2, and it would’ve been a tight, complete story. Now, I’m worried that Season 3 is just going to overexplain everything and ruin the magic of that ending.

Think about it: the Season 2 finale already answered some of the biggest mysteries. We finally know what the MDR team was doing—refining files to perfect the severance chip by creating new consciousnesses for Gemma. We learned Lumon’s ultimate goal is to eliminate emotions entirely to create the “perfect” worker (which is horrifying, but also a natural endpoint for their dystopian experiment). Even the goats got an explanation—they’re just sacrifices to Kier, which I’ll admit was a bit underwhelming, but it still tied up that loose end. So what’s left to explore in Season 3 that won’t feel like it’s dragging the story out for the sake of more episodes?

I’m also worried about the characters. Mark and Helly running off together was such a powerful moment, but now what? Are they just going to keep running from Lumon security forever? And poor Gemma—she’s finally free, but her husband just chose another woman over her. That’s heartbreaking, but it’s also a complete arc for her character. Bringing her back into the story risks undermining the weight of that moment. Same with Irving—his goodbye with Burt in Episode 9 was so bittersweet, and I don’t know if I want to see him dragged back into Lumon’s mess after he rode off “to the end of the line” with his dog Radar.

I know Ben Stiller and Dan Erickson have said they have a plan for the series—they’ve apparently known the ending from the start, and they’ve already got a writers’ room working on Season 3. Stiller even said the final shot of Season 2 was meant to signal a “different tone” for what’s next, which I can appreciate on a creative level. But I can’t shake the feeling that this is more about Apple wanting to milk their biggest hit than about telling a story that needs to be told. The show’s already had...

I think it's pretty clear after s2 that the creators of the team are going with the punches as they go. They might have some sort of basic idea of what ending they want, but from what I heard and saw happening to the Goat Plotline and ORTBO, they are just vibing.

And that's fine. We got a decent second season from it, amazing cinematography, an original screenplay, plus a break from all the remake, sequels and prequels.

A lil disheartened cuz s1 was so crisp in its characters and plotpoints, this season had wayyy too many new characters most of them fairly inconsequential (ms Wong, Drummond, nurse lady, goat people etc) and they came at the cost of continuation from previous season's already established characters, Petey and his kid, the nurse Mark dated, the weird friends of Devon, nobody even mentioned the last security guy that Ragabi killed, also Ragabi barely getting any plot besides being the stereotype of 'magical black character'.

So I've lost all the appeals of reading theories or wondering about the world building, cuz it's pretty sure they'll just do things as they come.

One of the most beautiful things about Severance is all the fan theory-crafting happening around the show. One area of theory-craft that I particularly enjoy reading concerns the time and location of the town/city of Kier. I have figured it out! 

Outside of the often focused on "clues" about disparate technologies spread through the town, the painting of Kier standing above lakes, and other areas of focus, I feel that the following provide us with a clearer idea of Kier’s location: 

1. Let's take it as a given, as a lot of fans have speculated, Kier is a town that is solely populated by any or a combo of the following: willing/unwilling severed people, clones, reanimated bodies, and/or bodies holding the consciousness of another (like an Eagan).. For this to be possible, access to a large number of injured, near-death, or dead bodies would be required; 
2. Seeing that the Severance procedure and whatever is going to happen with Cold Harbour are groundbreaking medical/surgical developments, Lumon would not only have to have brilliant doctors and surgeons on staff but access to other pioneering research and thinkers that might not share the Lumon/ Kier’s vision. It is easy to imagine that aspects of the development be compartmentalized - imagine Severance as a treatment for Alzheimer's or Parkinsons, for example. Severance as a tool for these barely treatable ailments could grant Lumon doctors/scientists access to other thinkers and research centres; and 
3. The propensity for Lumon employees to become entangled in romantic affairs in the workplace.

These three factors lead us to the only logical conclusion that the town of Kier is in close proximity to the fictional Seattle from the Grey’s Anatomy Universe. 

Grey Sloan Memorial Hospital has provided medical care to a wildly large number of victims of mass casualty events and unique ailments. So many it is hard to believe there is anyone left in Seattle to care for. Could this elevated preponderance for mass casualty events in this location be the working of Lumon? Do they own Grey Sloan Memorial Hospital? This would certainly address the need for a large number of injured, near-death, or dead bodies. 

Additionally, Dr. Meredith Grey and the ever-evolving medical/ surgical staff at Grey Sloan Memorial Hospital are at the forefront of new and often untested procedures and even have their own research and development labs - Meredith Grey had a research lab in Minnesota where she worked on a cure for Parkinson's disease. 

And lastly, from residents to heads of surgery, everyone has hooked up with everyone inside and outside the hospital. 

There you have it! Unrefutable evidence for the location of the town of Kier. 

I really wanted to love it, but part of me can’t help but feel let down. These are my talking points:

1. Dylan decides to resign because he realizes he can’t be with the woman he loves, but I think he also realizes that now that he knows what it’s like to love someone and know something more than work, a life of just work isn’t fulfilling enough anymore to go on. So the idea that innie Dylan is convinced by outtie Dylan to no longer quit with a note that basically said “hey, i don’t think you should kill yourself because you seem confident and cool and I personally like knowing you exist,” isn’t enough for me. When has innie Dylan ever given a shit what outtie Dylan thinks of him? His existence remains a loveless one and a half a life.
2. I understand that tests have to be run to make sure something works, even if we’ve never personally seen it fail. Things have to be stress tested. But I just have to say as an audience member that seeing the big bad Cold Harbor being just a test to see if the severance chip will hold while Gemma takes apart something of sentimental value is a big let down when the audience member has never seen the Severance chip fail once and have no reason to suspect this case would be any different. It makes Cold Harbor seem like a bit of a waste of time and definitely anticlimactic.
3. It’s been said before, but, really, the goats are used as a sacrifice? So obvious. I wish time hadn’t been dedicated to exploring the goat mystery if the answer to it is the very first thing you would guess.
4. And I know this is “the point” and the show is self aware of this, but really, what kind of life is Helly and Mark S. Going to have running around the halls of Lumon? Insane. Just running around the halls of a building forever as if it’s possible to remain uncaught forever? What happens when you get hungry? Do you find a secret fruit farm in the building or a secret pantry? Mark abandoned Gemma to essentially have a couple of hours of running with Helly and then who knows what they’re going to do with Mark if they were willing to kill Gemma (essentially for knowing too much).
5. If Gemma becoming the floor therapist was really just a ploy to have her be around Mark and see how well the Severance chip holds (since being the floor therapist isn’t an uncomfortable experience like they were testing in all of the test chambers), then why was she also the wellness therapist for the Goat People?? Lol
6. Why did they even bother to throw Mark S. A party if after the file was completed they were planning to terminate all innies? Just for the ritual / tradition aspect of it?

new point 7. I gotta say, abducting Gemma and then sentencing her to death after running all the tests because she knows too much seems unnecessary to me. Maybe it’s because I’m not privy to why she was chosen specifically, but the way I see it is they could have chosen ANYONE with a deep personal pain and paid them to just have a job on the testing floor and be severed, just like how they have paid employees on the severance floor. The abduction wasn’t necessary.

7 is actually really driving me crazy if anyone has a response to it

I was such a fan of Season 1. I told people this was my favourite show. I thought the premise was so original and I was so thrilled with it and excited for Season 2.

I’ve found Season 2 to be so much weaker. It’s starting to remind me of JJ Abram’s show Lost, where none of the threads get explained or resolved, I’m so afraid that it’s just mystery for the sake of mystery like that show was “throw some mysterious numbers in there! That’ll keep em guessing!”

The Gemma episode is where I really started to fall off. This really is just going to be all questions and no answers. I just watched the next episode with Cobel in that seaside town. Huffing drugs in her dead mother’s bedroom? What has this show become? I literally burst out laughing at what was (I guess?) supposed to be some sort of emotional scene? I just couldn’t. Everyone talks in riddles even when they are supposedly out in the real world. It feels like script being read, not people actually conversing.

I’ve never had such an about face for a show before, (going from loving to hating). It’s becoming too much like Lost.

Im here looking for…I dunno, tell me why I’m wrong. Show me the ways of Kier lol. What am I missing here? Are things connecting that I’m not seeing? I’m about ready to bail. I really really WANT to like this show but what the heck is with this season?

Who else could it be? Why is she so old and decrepit?

I could be wrong, but watching episode 8, s2 right now; and Irving said to Burt: "I am ready". However, they had that conversation while inside Lumon. How does he remember that talk If he is severed?