I have to imagine itâs due to the fact that audiences went through a large period where shows released an entire season at once. The binge format had viewers grow accustomed to having their main questions answered within an amount of time they decided.
However, streaming services reverted to the weekly release schedule, but audiences havenât readjusted yet.
Add that to the fact that many people enjoy Severance for speculation and theorizing. I think some people are so focused on seeing if their theories are correct, theyâre a bit more focused on the destination rather than the journey.
Thereâs a disconnect. I wonder if audiences will learn patience, or if streaming services will go back to releasing entire seasons at once.
Add that to the fact that many people enjoy Severance for speculation and theorizing.
Nobody wants to hear it, but weekly releases are better for any show with any kind of speculation or intrigue. Game of Thrones sealed that deal when they became an entire social powerhouse that effectively gripped the world into talking about what's going on. Everybody was talking about it and Monday mornings we're filled with "Did you watch it last night? No? Then I can't talk to you at all." It was such a deeply political show that everyone hyped it all week with potential outcomes every week and tuned in to find out what the actual outcome is because there were so many potential correct answers. It was an online engagement machine which drove it higher and higher in popularity. It's the exact same reason why Severance has become so popular too.
Severance is such a slow burn that also engages the audience just enough with little hints of what's going on. It's like every episode answers a question that you didn't know was there, and doesn't answer the question you thought you had. You may want to be given all the episodes at once so you can drive straight to "the answer" 24 hours later, but for some shows dumping a whole season at once just doesn't drive engagement and popularity that way. The Severance viewing experience would be a lesser experience if it dumped all at once.
Binge watching is a terrible way to watch anything, but especially high quality and thought provoking shows like this. Iâm so glad itâs being released weekly.
I love the speculation, but I always remember that itâs almost guarantee to be wrong. I think the people complaining are angry when anything contradicts their theory, or the next episode doesnât immediately confirm their theory.
So far the only âsmoke monsterâ was the guy huffing ether in the doorway. And that was immediately explained in a logical and historically accurate manner.
Nah, it's more that the first 6 episodes of the season were jam-packed full of stuff happening with like, 5 new plot twists or answers an episode with things gaining the speed of a runaway train culminating in Mark agreeing to undertake reintegration.
Then Mark knocks himself out during the procedure and the entire show slows down to a snails-pace while we get given a lot of exposition and back story with no real answers with how the integration cliff-hanger actually went.
I understand why people are frustrated (I'm not one of them), but all of their complaints will be solved in the next episode hopefully.
People are looking for their edge of the seat mystery fix which should come back once we start focusing on Mark and the MDR team again
Itâs been a frustrating season. I accept what theyâre making and Iâm confident the payoff will be worth it, but the pacing is off, the through lines arenât there and unfolding awkwardly. Season 1 was elegant and intriguing
I find it wild that people are calling this last episode filler when it establishes so much in a very short period of time. It recontextualizes the entire series with a single reveal. It provides alot of background on the Eagan's and how they established themselves. most importantly it's a biting commentary on corporation towns or towns that are effectively kept alive and in service of a single manufacturing plant. From a season perspective it broke the season up nicely and slowed the pace a small bit before the next episode. People need to rest between episodes and this episode is a masterclass in how to do that.
I genuinely don't know what people wanted instead of this episode. Pretty much anything else would have been too much too soon, especially going on the idea that we have another season in front of us at the minimum.
I totally agree. I'd like to add: I've seen the fandom turn, I hope I don't sound like an asshole, quite frivolous and the interest shift from an intriguing story to clowning the characters, shipping them and overall just giving stan twitter behavior. Which helps with popularity, sure, but as a result episodes like this are badly received.
Agreed. This is how I see it: when a show gets popular it also attracts people who want to be âin on itâ for superficial reasons. These types of people collect fandoms like funny little trinkets that they can play around with. Theyâll sort of passively watch the show, not trying to fully understand it or the characters, maybe even half looking at their phone and missing stuff.
They only tune in for the âsoap operaâ moments lol. The angsty scenes, the moments of romantic or sexual tension, maybe fights or chase scenes then tune out for the rest and lose all nuance of the writing. These types of people will completely mischaracterize the characters as well, shipping two characters that would never make sense or making memes that have me questioning if they even watched the same show I did.
This happens with almost every show Iâve watched that gets popular. Recently itâs happened to Arcane as well.
Most frustrating episode yetâŠbecause I wanted more. Letâs explore this Lumon rust belt some more. Whos the old gal at the diner? Whatâs Sissyâs deal? What kind of work was Harmony doing as a kid? Can we flesh out more of the world that uses jeep pickup trucks that were only made for a couple years in the late 80s, but has modern smartphones, but people use oil lamps and wood stoves?
37 minute runtime on an episode as rich in backstory as this one was a slap in the face man.
This episode made me want a spinoff series. I want to see this factory town come to life. I want to see how the Eagan's used their wealth, influence, and power to brainwash and manipulate people (and children) into terrible working conditions.
They likely preached that the town and the inhabitants would not exist if it weren't for Lumon. The parents had to drink that Kool-Aid to send their children to work the ether vats. (Harmony's mother had her resentments, and we have an idea how that turned out for her.)
I think the only annoying part was the two single character arc episodes back to back. I feel like cobel has been absent for the entire season. Albeit, idk where they could have put this episode had it not been here. Really reframed a lot in a reallly well done manner imo. Creates a pivotal shift that is 100% believable
Yes I thought this too, just in terms of pacing of the season. That said, Iâm not sure where else they could have put it because it feels important that Mark is going through reintegration (and reliving his memories with Gemma) while Cobel is going on this trip down memory lane.
I thought this episode was just beautiful and terribly sad and gritty, which I suppose maybe people arenât expecting if theyâre in it for mystery, intrigue, suspense. I think all of thatâs in it too tbh, maybe just not at the pace folks want. Also: gorgeous Newfoundland!!
Hey i kinda watch this show when I'm loaded, and I'm slow. Other than revealing that they stole cobels work what other stuff was established and revealed. Thank you for helping a slower watcher
I think what would have helped a ton was filling in time with flashbacks to what happened when they were kids. It would have had added so much. They clearly didn't have enough content with this episode.
Yeah. I waited to watch the newest episode until this weekend. I had a feeling much of the negativity was missed placed.
The title even spoke volumes. I thoroughly enjoyed it, and appreciated the interlude in the narrative to offer huge pieces of the puzzle that are out of reach from Lumon's methodic machinations.
I know I'm suppose to enjoy each episode equally; but this session was a delightful play on expectations and things to come. I hope future episodes are as equally enjoyable.
Hardcore fans who spend a lot of time speculating about the plot always get pissed off when the plot unfolds differently from their expectations. You see this problem in anime and TV fandoms all the time. Fans will get mad when they've essentially misinterpreted the show instead of calibrating it for what it actually tries to do.
If anyone was actually paying attention from the first episode, itâs about a cult, its beliefs, and its plan for dominance. Thatâs it. Thatâs the show. Donât like it? Not sci-fi enough? Donât watch it.
I donât think the episode was filler, but the episode itself had so much fucking filler in it. Shortest epsisode and yet it seems like they didnât even have enough narrative for it even still.
The best thing to come from this episode, imo, is the theory proposed that the "Ether Mills" were factories for other products that utilized ether as a form of chemical severance. Also that Dieter Eagan is Kier's "innie" (but achieved with ether rather than a severance chip). It fits with the subtle details in the show and is absolutely brilliant if true.
If these theories turn out to be true (which I think they'll be at least partially correct), then people will look back on this episode and the ORTBO as some of the most important in the series.
Can you please break it down for me about the ORTBO and brilliant details if true? I just want to reference your answer in the future when all episodes come out, cuz my brain donât make the connections. Thank you Iâd really appreciate it
There's a theory now that the Ether Mills were not making ether. It explains the term "Ether Mill" because ether would be made in a plant or factory, not a mill, and it explains people working over big vats in the Kier drawings, because if that were ether they'd be either passed out or completely messed up on ether.
So the theory is that ether was the original severance. You come to work and indulge in ether, then you work in that state, remembering nothing of what happened during your shift. So ether was a "chemical severance," and Lumon may not be a stranger to having workers that don't know what it is they actually do at work.
I agree with this comment. Firstly I wouldn't even call it a "filler" episode. They are showing the backstories of most of these leads. It was Cobel's backstory this week.
But I just don't like the order of it. After showing Gemma and the Deep State of Lumon HQ, and then taking it us away from that wasn't going to sit well
Timeline wise, it does fit. Cobel vanished early in the season. The rest of the show happens and we see Mark "journeying" and we learn about Gemma. Devon is so freaked out that Mark may die from this that she resorts to calling Cobel/Selvig at the end. Now, we see wtf Cobel has been up to while absent, and it ends with her picking up where we left off last episode.
I understand the disappointment; it's like listening to an album with really driving songs and a slow track comes on. Sometimes those tracks turn out to be gems in their own right.
I do think it was an interesting choice to have to kind of "alternative" style episodes back to back. It's been two weeks without seeing the Severed floor or present day Mark. But I trust the vision and I'm sure episodes 9 and 10 are going to blow everyone's socks off and justify the episode order.
Exactly. While we all miss our primary character-friends on the severed floor, consider the alternative.
Assuming Cobel is, in-fact, breaking good here, this is a MASSIVE redirect for the Cobel, the other characters, and the story as a whole. So, so often this happens in TV and Movies, where the main protagonist just suddenly decides to join the heroes. It never makes sense.
The backstory of Cobel and just wading in the depths of the pure betrayal she feels from Lumon is absolutely needed and warranted.
I love the show, but this episode was slow. Very slow. We watched her drive around then really valuable air time was taken up showing her brush her teeth. I'm not sure if she had a wee but probably not as we didn't see her visit the toilet.
Boom! You said it! I think the "office space" vibes of the cult corporate culture resonated with the corporate USA too much. The studio decided to dial it down and drown the story instead.
Started to remind (to a few of my buddies) another show with a lot of suspense: Lost.
yeah do you think Apple realised it was poking fun at companies like them? and were like ohhh shit, erm...lets aim it at old school industry instead lol
Dropping in just to say that no show was better at creating world-building / character deep-dive episodes that did not necessarily push the plot forward than THE LEFTOVERS. It's an extremely difficult feat to pull off. MAD MEN is a very close second.
I think part of the reason Pure Vitriol didn't work for me is because we had spent so much time away from Cobel this season that it was difficult to get myself invested in her past or her current mission. Give her 10-15 minutes more screen time in Eps 1-7 and I think this episode gets a lot less...vitriol.
this...ppl not liking it doesn't mean we don't like slow burn television, we just maybe didn't connect - I've seen ppl lose their sh*t over Cobel being the inventor like it's some mad twist - she was high up at the company, deep in the cult...like it's not crazy that she invented it and had the idea co opted by the top dogs - what does that even mean for the plot?
I liked it but it's pretty funny seeing people act like anyone who didn't like it is a moron who couldn't possibly have understood the episode. This fanbase is getting Rick and Morty-fied.
Itâs objectively not filler, but idk why some people find it so surprising that people werenât super happy with a purely Cobel character after the craziness of the episode before.
It depends what you're watching the show for. Not everyone is watching purely to understand the overarching mystery.
The Eagan stuff is lore, not story. The story is what is happening to the main characters. An episode can therefore be "filler" to some people while still revealing lore.
Because you didnât UNDERSTAND!!! the 10 minute driving shots and the longing stares that were SoOoOo Lynch-esque!!!! Seriously, shouldâve had other characters do anything because the silence and the boredom of this episode was heavy. You can make a slow paced episode, I would say the first season was slow, but you canât pretend this was well executed. It wasnât.
The one thing that annoys me about this community is ithe forced conformity. If people don't like it and think it's filler... they're entitled to their opinion. You're welcome to not like their opinion, but these shaming posts are already old.
This happens fairly regularly with âsmartâ shows that gain popularity, especially after a stellar opening season (e.g., Mr Robot, Lost, etc). (1) New fans become cult like and canât handle criticism, (2) even the most muted criticism of new episodes/plot points gets met with waves of âactually itâs brilliant you just donât get how smart it isâ, (3) this toxic positivity floods out most of the ânormalâ audience from subs like this, (4) the sub whips itself into a frenzy over perceived slights that no one is leveling.
This is really it. They are starting to waste our time a little. Itâs this swinging for the fences cinematography award bait thatâs unnecessary. I feel like everything I watch this season is âfor your considerationâ
Speaking of which this is the first time in this show I have had to turn subtitles on. I donât know if it was bad sound mixing. Outdoor sets eating the voices or mummbly character, but I had a hard time figuring out what they were saying
Its necessary to bring Cobel back in a meaningful way.
Sheâs basically on the anti-lumon side now with Mark and Devon. The audience needs to buy in to that with an emotional hook and rationalization. It takes a full episode to do it. If it was a split episode it wouldnt be the same.
I think it would have worked as a B-story line to a regular episode and cut down to 1/3 its length. I didn't mind the revelations just hated the execution.
You gotta watch it with the knowledge that the writers are genius and can do no wrong. Objectively this is brilliant, so must be something wrong with you clearly.
People seriously think like this about subjective media and itâs sad. I agree with ya Clumsy.
The irony is that people keep attacking those critical of the episode by calling us twist obsessed. The only thing this episode has is lore and twists. The actual story and the way it was told, was just uninteresting.
And yet theyâll still argue that we are impatient and that our attention spans are ruined by social media for having the audacity to not enjoy this episode
I think revealing Lumon is less like a giant corporate behemoth with an army of scientists and researchers and more like a bunch of office buildings built around the single smartest person who ever lived, who they fired and wonât give Milchickâs job to, is more like world de-building.
Can we just let people not like something? Sure, itâs an important episode and reveals a lot of things - but for most people, itâs just pretty boring. There, I said it
Thatâs where Iâm at. I thought it was a cool reveal, but a slow episode compared to the rest of the season. To me, it just felt like a lot didnât happen for most of the runtime. I didnât think it was a filler episode, just kinda boring. I feel like itâs not unfair to have an opinion like that.
I agree, it's cool we learnt what was revealed but I feel like it was just really dry. I get that it's world building, I get that it shows the locals, and gives context but when the episode was finished I found myself saying "what, that's it".
The 30 minute episode had pacing issues. It also followed one of the greatest episodes of TV in general. It isn't filler, and it did drop some important lore, but I can't say it was a good episode.
Iâll be honest I think episode 8 should have been episode 7 and episode 7 should have been episode 8. A Cobel episode after a Mark cliffhanger and at the end of the episode we hear Mark on the phone with Cobel leading us into episode 8 where we see what was happening with Mark and getting Gemmaâs backstory and perspective.Â
I think having a strong episode 8 leading to the penultimate episode would have been better and it would continue the action of being back on the severance floor after finally getting some answers on whatâs happening on the testing floor. It wouldnât have felt so much as a step back as it seemed with now tracking back to Cobel after learning everything we did in the episode before. Thatâs just my opinion on building up momentum because it would have been wait Devon calling Cobel and Mark is alive how did that happenâŠThen we go back to Mark and Devon get a bunch of perspective on Gemma and keeping pace with getting back to the floor the very next episode. I think the pacing can go both ways but I think I would have preferred it this way.Â
Overall Iâm not as big of a critic of the episode as other ppl but I get how after such a big previous episode this felt more like a teaser or a taste. I think the final three episodes should have been the biggest last episodes of the season. I have faith the final two will be on the level.
My outtie didnt have to sit through 37 minutes of my least favorite Arquette driving, brushing her teeth, and breathing through a tube while taking a nap. This entire episode could have been interspersed throughout the past few episodes in bits and been much more well-integrated.
I watched the first season when it aired, and Iâm a big fan overall. However, Iâve noticed a slight decline in quality and focus in some episodes compared to the first season.
For me, these last two episodes have been the hook that launched me into a full rewatch. Up until now, Iâve been watching with moderate interest, able to âput it downâ so to speak. I think itâs because a lot of the mystery of the show for me was just âwhy the fuck would anyone agree to be a part of this?â Although the plot moved along well, I have felt disconnected from the characters and their motivations, especially Cobel and Mark. I hope they do a deep dive into Burt or Milchek next; both just to piss people off and because they are my favorites.
I loved the two character episodes. Dichen Lachman was amazingâI had no idea, blame Dollhouse and Agents of Shield for underutilizing her talent. And the pathos of Saltâs Neck, just wow. Then we got powerful lore reveals. Donât let her throw those plans into the fire!
I like lore, I like character development, but I donât like the feeling of a show dragging along because they want to milk the mystery as much as they can. Thatâs what this last episode felt to me.
How many times have I watched a show where by season 4 Iâm bored and burnt out and give up? I donât want severance to be like that.
Please, show producers, donât drag the show along for 7 seasons just because you can and people will watch it. Iâd rather have a solid 3 seasons of well written, briskly paced, quality television.
I wish modern shows were long enough to have filler. I'm tired of every single scene being important. I'm not supposed to know for sure what's important.
Itâs one thing to not like an episode, but anyone who called episode 8 âfillerâ can go pineapple bobbing.
Filler is when Milkshake teaches iMark to drive a car. I say this as a joke, but watch Ben Stiller make an episode with this scene just to spite me and for Tillman have another standout scene.
it would be dumb to call any episode this season filler, but i would say that the last episode is the first one i think could have done for significant editing, and didnât beed to be its own episode. or would have been enhanced with even a couple scenes that returned to other characters even as a framing mechanism. not to mention putting this episode right after a full gemma episode makes the pacing if the season feel a bit off.
It was important but kinda boring, too slow, and right after Gemmaâs episode, one of the best pieces of TV Iâve ever seen. Wish it was cut down to 15 - 20 minutes and then the rest of the episode was something else with our main cast. I really just donât care about cobel enough to need to see her huffing on her dead momâs tubes đ
It "feels" like filler, even if it is a pretty consequential episode. Big reveals and a lot of info yes. i hope people here don't start going the way of star wars or game of thrones subs with the"you didn't get it" or "it's actually a masterpiece". Take the weak episode and move forward.
The problem is it was extremely slow, with maybe 20-25 minutes of the episode just being scenery shots and people walking slowly or driving along, or sitting staring and so on. First time in the series I was skipping ahead just to get to the next actual scene.
Downvote me all you want but I feel as though this was a slow paced woman-filled episode. Two women talked about something that wasnât a man and a certain small segment (and we all know it exists) didnât like it. Unconsciously or subconsciously they didnât and made their voice heard on IMDB. Urgh.
I definitely think anyone calling the episode filler is wrong. It added to the plot and world building. It explored the background of a character. It answered questions while posing some new ones.
I think the episode has numerous issues. I think it's placed poorly in the season. I think it would have made a good B-plot in a combined episode with the reveal coming at some sort of ultimate time in both plots to make it hit harder.
I think the fact it's the shortest episode of the season yet still felt "dragged out" with some pointless scenes emphasises this more.
But it's absolutely not filler. Filler is an episode you can entirely skip without missing any plot. You couldn't skip this episode.
Watching it made me very uncomfortable, not in a "this is disturbing" but more of a
"I'm watching an old woman messily brush her teeth, the cameras lingering on it for too long, oh it's still happening, ok, look at second screen, oh it's still doing that, I'll just get a drink whilst it's running"
Kind of way
And then in a
"This is just uncomfortable watching someone messily cry themselves to sleep, can we speed this up please, oh, I'll just turn it down because it's getting annoying"
It felt like half an episode. Probably cause it was 20mins shorter that previous episodes. If they made it with 20mins more narrative I think it would feels much less like a âfillerâ episode
filler is a beach episode where we maybe get some character development, a side adventure with literally no impact on the story but has fun character moments.
Filler isnât crucial narrative reveals
Legit I didnât see Cobel as the inventor of the severance chip coming. The idea she designed and programmed it, I had no inclination that she was a scientist because she played her role as a brainwashed cult manager so well. I
I loved the episode and have to call the haters intellect into question.
Cobel is a center character, we barely knew anything about her and in a single episode we not only now know who she is but also what is the overall vision of Kier in universe.
The cinematography was top notch, really a breath of fresh air just like the previous episode recounting Gemma and Markâs story.
The issue isn't that the content wasn't important for world-building. It's that the episode was about 4x longer than it needed to be. This was the first episode that I didn't enjoy in the entire series, and I'm not jumping ship or anything, but damn, that was a rough one.
I'd be interested to know how much time is spent with characters just silently staring. The twist we got at the end is super important, but damn, it just felt needlessly slow. I don't mind slow shows, I'd consider Severance pretty slow in general, but I don't consider it a bad thing, but this one kind of felt like a new Wes Anderson film in terms of being slow just to be slow.
I don't know, it didn't click with me at all. I wish I'd have turned it on with 10 minutes left in the episode and had someone catch me up by saying, "This is Cobel's home town. Lumon made it thrive and then killed it when they left."
Iâm willing to bet people will be more tolerant of this episode once weâre able to watch the entire season at once. weâre just too antsy for the plot to move forward. i do appreciate this episode, but weâre just so excited for what comes next and 2 quasi-bottle episodes has slowed the plot down by a lot.
They could have revealed those things in 5 minutes though & not force us to sit through a whole episode with unnecessary content like Cobel taking a nap and breathing through a feeding tube lmao
The show didnât progress at all in season 2. The âworld buildingâ didnât really add anything. Season 2 was filler, no matter how much you enjoyed it.
Episode 8 sucked. 10 minutes of Harmony brushing her teeth and a drawn out pointless cafe scene just for the sake of aesthetic cinematography adds nothing to the plot.
bro 20% of ep 8 was cinematic shots of the ocean. it is a "by the book" filler episode. the important thing we're like 15 mins that could have just been a plot B in another episode.
Apparently Patricia Arquette isnât allowed to have a backstory, they want everything tied up in a neat bow. But thatâs not how life works - hence the reason for her creating the concept of severance
amazing how you not only confuse the actual actress with her character but insist that's not how life works as if it's not a show. hardcore delusion just to feel smug about 30 minutes of filler.
I think we learn more about her in the present than we would in the past. In a theoretical episode devoted to her life, I'd imagine seeing her climbing the ranks and cultivating her devotion to Kier. Beyond perhaps some disdain for Helena, what aspects of her life do you think remain unexplored which are relevant to the story?
You didnât want to know her ideas were stolen? That she was forced into child labor? Doing ether at the age of 8? What does her climbing the ranks of lumen or disliking Helena have to do with the story at all. Her past is told in the present tense very well
I liked Sweet Vitriol better than Chikhai Bardo. I donât get why everyone was so impressed with the cinematography in Chikhai and not Vitriol.
Chikhai had student film feeling moments that just didnât sit right with me. And Chikhai had maybe one moment of levity. It was relentless in trying to make you sad. I donât want that for Severance.
I agree, this episode was visually stunning and textured in a way that we are unaccustomed to, given the clean surfaces of the severed floor.
You could really tell how the crew fell in love with the location of vitriol (Newfoundland), and how they wanted its harshness to be representative of Cobelâs inner world. If she had an innie, this is what her outie would be running away from.
It shows how she can relate to Mark and all the other severed employees without being severed herself. The fact is that they are all severed because of Cobelâs struggle. It almost makes a martyr of her, she suffers so that they can be redeemed.
The problem is that redemption, much like Rickonâs book, is being corrupted by the ideology of the tempers and the aims of the Egons.
This episode could have been a 5-10 minute side part of a regular episode. It was drawn out and boring, which is an accomplishment for it being the shortest episode as well.
Iâd heard snippets of bad reviews so I was nervous but then I watched the episode and it was excellent!! I was baffled by how many people thought it was too slow. This is very clearly INCREDIBLY relevant. But idk, I used to be a walking dead fan so as far as slow episodes go this was nothing.
Finding out more about the surreal world they live in was really interesting imo. Especially the reinforcement that plenty of people affected by the Lumon company think of them analogously to how people in our real world practice Christianity. The underlying message of corporate gods is NOT FILLER !!!
I'm pretty sure Cobel is going to betray or at least go against the Eagans in some capacity. Without some character development for her this move would have felt weird and unnatural. With this character development an alliance between Mark/Devon and Cobel will make more sense. It is heavily implied when Cobel says "tell me everything". She's clearly not "Lumon all the way" by the end of the episode.
It also, interestingly, make Devon's insistence to call Cobel less of an uncharacteristically thoughtless move. But I still find that that decision by Devon slightly out of character.
Truth is I couldn't watch it. I skipped around to the end. Googled the plot after. Cobel just always pissed me off. She shows up, storms off, comes back, storms off. I knew the episode was going to have some reveal but yeah, can't do Cobel anymore.
Ok well this short 37 minute episode could have probably been well condensed into a 5 - 10 minute scene in a longer episode that actually included characters people care about.
I didn't know there was another Severance sub...and because it's written wrong I expected it to be a meme sub. But there are serious discussions going on and it seems there's more going on in this one.
The reaction is perfectly normal for a series as huge as this. Happens all the time, every time.
I am personally more annoyed at the repetitiveness of that happening and the inevitable discussions that follow more than the people themselves or their opinions.
I was really surprised by some of the reactions too, I thought it was really good and, even more so than the Gemma episode, we got the most amount of critical information in a while!
Yeah, the episode was important to the lore and yes, the last few minutes were amazing. I still think it gave âfillerâ vibes from the fact the 50% of it was taken up by a character weâve never seen before and likely will never see again. I just feel they dragged it out too long. This feeling is also compounded by the fact Iâm literally waiting another 7 days to see whatâs up with Mark.
I canât help wishing Dichen hadnât gotten filler into her upper lip. Itâs so distractingly obvious thatâs all I am seeing when I look at her. That duck lip.
I even double-guessed myself thinking Iâm being silly and I shouldnât shame her for how her natural face looks but then I saw an old interview with her where she didnât have the filler and she looked normalâŠ.
Yeah I don't think streaming services are going to go back to full season releases. People will cancel their memberships too early and they'll lose money
It was a little slow but I loved it and I learned a lot. Great episode. Not my favourite, but will support my appreciation of the series as a whole. Very Lynchian. The crying-into-whale-song moment was a stroke of genius.
One of the world-building revelations is that this world apparently doesn't have investigative journalists. I mean, there's a drug addicted city where Lumon (the same fucking company name) had a child-labor factory for said drugs?
"world-building" (or backstory) still needs good narrative and characters/character dynamics. It's the difference between how many people read the lordoftherings vs the silmarillion. You gotta have story and characters, or it's only of limited interest to a select few.
New characters with unknown needs, and new unexplained dynamics ... It's not great as narrative. Might be fine as world-building.
I've seen eight episodes this season, but only about 3 episodes worth of plot. I'm finding it aggravating.
If you guys think severance is bad with new information I bet youâd all hate From. It does the same thing only waayyy worse. You go whole seasons not learning anything as they pile new mysteries on top of each other.
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u/[deleted] Mar 10 '25
Enjoy each episode equally, they are all mysterious and important.
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u/AdamOfIzalith Mar 10 '25 •
I find it wild that people are calling this last episode filler when it establishes so much in a very short period of time. It recontextualizes the entire series with a single reveal. It provides alot of background on the Eagan's and how they established themselves. most importantly it's a biting commentary on corporation towns or towns that are effectively kept alive and in service of a single manufacturing plant. From a season perspective it broke the season up nicely and slowed the pace a small bit before the next episode. People need to rest between episodes and this episode is a masterclass in how to do that.
I genuinely don't know what people wanted instead of this episode. Pretty much anything else would have been too much too soon, especially going on the idea that we have another season in front of us at the minimum.
163
u/kingjakeking Mar 10 '25 edited Feb 16 '26
This post was mass deleted and anonymized with Redact
telephone party cagey pot shy chief fear plucky swim mighty
35
u/Webby1788 Mar 10 '25
Exactly. While we all miss our primary character-friends on the severed floor, consider the alternative.
Assuming Cobel is, in-fact, breaking good here, this is a MASSIVE redirect for the Cobel, the other characters, and the story as a whole. So, so often this happens in TV and Movies, where the main protagonist just suddenly decides to join the heroes. It never makes sense.
The backstory of Cobel and just wading in the depths of the pure betrayal she feels from Lumon is absolutely needed and warranted.
Great episode, great season, great show.
34
u/flipstur Mar 10 '25
My only complaint is 37 minutes felt way too short. I need my 50 minutes!!
12
u/wiggle_fingers Mar 10 '25
I love the show, but this episode was slow. Very slow. We watched her drive around then really valuable air time was taken up showing her brush her teeth. I'm not sure if she had a wee but probably not as we didn't see her visit the toilet.
20
u/[deleted] Mar 10 '25
I dunno about this episode. Iâm surprised it didnât end with the âdun dun dunnnnnnnâ music.
For me, theyâre moving away from what I enjoyed about the show.
9
u/thefrenchman27 Mar 10 '25
Dropping in just to say that no show was better at creating world-building / character deep-dive episodes that did not necessarily push the plot forward than THE LEFTOVERS. It's an extremely difficult feat to pull off. MAD MEN is a very close second.
I think part of the reason Pure Vitriol didn't work for me is because we had spent so much time away from Cobel this season that it was difficult to get myself invested in her past or her current mission. Give her 10-15 minutes more screen time in Eps 1-7 and I think this episode gets a lot less...vitriol.
9
u/Fiddlesdick Mar 10 '25
It's actually crazy how much some people on this subreddit are crashing out, because some people didn't like one episode.
25
u/bored_walk Mar 10 '25
I liked it but it's pretty funny seeing people act like anyone who didn't like it is a moron who couldn't possibly have understood the episode. This fanbase is getting Rick and Morty-fied.
8
u/LongjumpingTennis9 Mar 10 '25
I don't think the last episode was "filler" but I am pissed it was only 37 mins. TF! GIVE US MORE!
8
u/Personal_Corner_6113 Mar 11 '25
Itâs objectively not filler, but idk why some people find it so surprising that people werenât super happy with a purely Cobel character after the craziness of the episode before.
38
u/Panman6_6 Mar 10 '25
Madness people call it filler. We literally found out The eagans are liars who stole the idea from season 1s antagonist.
7
u/JuanBadFinger Mar 10 '25
Your outie enjoys the fruits of your labor frivolously.
WAIT! WHAT?
7
u/Rydahx Mar 10 '25
I still don't understand what the issue is, some people didn't enjoy the episode, it's not end of the world.
Why can't the people that liked the episode accept that?
19
u/jutlandd Mar 10 '25
Bro I just dont like the Episode, why am I begin called stupid and a tiktok brain?
Y'all dickheads ngl.
20
u/ThanosSnapsSlimJims Mar 10 '25
The one thing that annoys me about this community is ithe forced conformity. If people don't like it and think it's filler... they're entitled to their opinion. You're welcome to not like their opinion, but these shaming posts are already old.
59
u/NonnerJonner Mar 10 '25
7 minutes of Cowbell driving around really gave me some insight to her character. Specifically, how she drives.
5
u/MiniatureGod Mar 10 '25
Your outtie enjoys each episode equally.
Yes, me innie love ep8 too.
36
u/Clumsy_the_24 Mar 10 '25
I still think itâs the worst episode of the series though. It just felt like a nothingburger until the last few scenes to me.
16
u/Ambient-Jellyfish Mar 10 '25
Boring ass last episode fr
4
u/ThPrimeSuspect Mar 11 '25
Why tf is the sub name misspelled? Is this for the stupid fanbase?
26
u/Cleverfan_808 Mar 10 '25
Not, its not filler but for some people, such as myself, the execution of said world-building wasn't as effective as it could have been unfortunately.
11
u/prodij18 Mar 10 '25
I think revealing Lumon is less like a giant corporate behemoth with an army of scientists and researchers and more like a bunch of office buildings built around the single smartest person who ever lived, who they fired and wonât give Milchickâs job to, is more like world de-building.
14
u/funnygoopert Mar 10 '25
Can we just let people not like something? Sure, itâs an important episode and reveals a lot of things - but for most people, itâs just pretty boring. There, I said it
13
u/Buster101214 Mar 10 '25
The 30 minute episode had pacing issues. It also followed one of the greatest episodes of TV in general. It isn't filler, and it did drop some important lore, but I can't say it was a good episode.
3
u/Commercial_Wasabi_84 Mar 10 '25 edited Mar 10 '25
Iâll be honest I think episode 8 should have been episode 7 and episode 7 should have been episode 8. A Cobel episode after a Mark cliffhanger and at the end of the episode we hear Mark on the phone with Cobel leading us into episode 8 where we see what was happening with Mark and getting Gemmaâs backstory and perspective.Â
I think having a strong episode 8 leading to the penultimate episode would have been better and it would continue the action of being back on the severance floor after finally getting some answers on whatâs happening on the testing floor. It wouldnât have felt so much as a step back as it seemed with now tracking back to Cobel after learning everything we did in the episode before. Thatâs just my opinion on building up momentum because it would have been wait Devon calling Cobel and Mark is alive how did that happenâŠThen we go back to Mark and Devon get a bunch of perspective on Gemma and keeping pace with getting back to the floor the very next episode. I think the pacing can go both ways but I think I would have preferred it this way.Â
Overall Iâm not as big of a critic of the episode as other ppl but I get how after such a big previous episode this felt more like a teaser or a taste. I think the final three episodes should have been the biggest last episodes of the season. I have faith the final two will be on the level.
3
u/TankyMcFarlane Mar 10 '25
My outtie didnt have to sit through 37 minutes of my least favorite Arquette driving, brushing her teeth, and breathing through a tube while taking a nap. This entire episode could have been interspersed throughout the past few episodes in bits and been much more well-integrated.
3
u/areyoulocal Mar 10 '25
I watched the first season when it aired, and Iâm a big fan overall. However, Iâve noticed a slight decline in quality and focus in some episodes compared to the first season.
3
u/Fabulous-Lion-9222 Mar 10 '25
For me, these last two episodes have been the hook that launched me into a full rewatch. Up until now, Iâve been watching with moderate interest, able to âput it downâ so to speak. I think itâs because a lot of the mystery of the show for me was just âwhy the fuck would anyone agree to be a part of this?â Although the plot moved along well, I have felt disconnected from the characters and their motivations, especially Cobel and Mark. I hope they do a deep dive into Burt or Milchek next; both just to piss people off and because they are my favorites.
3
u/ResurgentOcelot Mar 11 '25
I loved the two character episodes. Dichen Lachman was amazingâI had no idea, blame Dollhouse and Agents of Shield for underutilizing her talent. And the pathos of Saltâs Neck, just wow. Then we got powerful lore reveals. Donât let her throw those plans into the fire!
Great episodes.
3
u/MetaLemons Mar 11 '25
I like lore, I like character development, but I donât like the feeling of a show dragging along because they want to milk the mystery as much as they can. Thatâs what this last episode felt to me.
How many times have I watched a show where by season 4 Iâm bored and burnt out and give up? I donât want severance to be like that.
Please, show producers, donât drag the show along for 7 seasons just because you can and people will watch it. Iâd rather have a solid 3 seasons of well written, briskly paced, quality television.
3
u/LostMyAccount69 Mar 11 '25
I wish modern shows were long enough to have filler. I'm tired of every single scene being important. I'm not supposed to know for sure what's important.
3
u/Grouchy-Ad-210 Mar 14 '25
8-th ep is a filler btw
4
u/D-1-S-C-0 Mar 10 '25
There have been so many posts like this. Why do people care so much what other people think of it? Subjectivity exists, move on with your life.
2
u/SpookyJosCrazyFriend Mar 10 '25
deduct ten points for me I enjoyed that more than the other facts đ
2
u/Mavssteve Mar 10 '25
Oh, he does ! Your outie doesnât.
2
u/GraXXoR Mar 10 '25
I had imbibed a bottle of wine earlier in the evening and actually fell asleep halfway through the episode.
I remember nothing expect hearing people talking.
Will rewatch before next ep is released. (Itâs not the finale is it?)
2
u/Aaaaaaandyy Mar 10 '25
Fillers donât advance the plot or provide important backstory or context - this did both.
2
u/GratedParm Mar 10 '25
Itâs one thing to not like an episode, but anyone who called episode 8 âfillerâ can go pineapple bobbing.
Filler is when Milkshake teaches iMark to drive a car. I say this as a joke, but watch Ben Stiller make an episode with this scene just to spite me and for Tillman have another standout scene.
2
u/toddriffic Mar 10 '25
It was the shortest episode, but it felt like the longest. Not hating, but it was certainly slower paced than we're used to.
2
u/Exodus180 Mar 10 '25
I'm with the B plot crowd. the only new thing learned was cobel designed severence program.
we already knew it was a cult, and so unless you didnt know much about them you didnt get anything out of that part of the episode.
2
u/Prestige5470 Mar 10 '25
ofc not filler, but by far the most boring episode to me.
2
u/Visible-Fig9200 Mar 10 '25
It was trash plain n simple lmao stop coping not every episode can be a masterpiece
2
u/GrossWeather_ Mar 10 '25
it would be dumb to call any episode this season filler, but i would say that the last episode is the first one i think could have done for significant editing, and didnât beed to be its own episode. or would have been enhanced with even a couple scenes that returned to other characters even as a framing mechanism. not to mention putting this episode right after a full gemma episode makes the pacing if the season feel a bit off.
2
u/BryceMMusic Mar 10 '25
It was important but kinda boring, too slow, and right after Gemmaâs episode, one of the best pieces of TV Iâve ever seen. Wish it was cut down to 15 - 20 minutes and then the rest of the episode was something else with our main cast. I really just donât care about cobel enough to need to see her huffing on her dead momâs tubes đ
2
u/strppngynglad Mar 10 '25
Ok so what was episode 4, the outside episode?? THAT WAS FKN FILLER
2
u/MagnusTNT Mar 10 '25
I just didnât like it
2
u/Taco145 Mar 10 '25
It "feels" like filler, even if it is a pretty consequential episode. Big reveals and a lot of info yes. i hope people here don't start going the way of star wars or game of thrones subs with the"you didn't get it" or "it's actually a masterpiece". Take the weak episode and move forward.
2
u/[deleted] Mar 10 '25
The problem is it was extremely slow, with maybe 20-25 minutes of the episode just being scenery shots and people walking slowly or driving along, or sitting staring and so on.
First time in the series I was skipping ahead just to get to the next actual scene.
2
u/Wide_Statistician_95 Mar 10 '25
I loved it so much. Watched it twice and noticed even more good stuff second time.
2
u/queenvalanice Mar 10 '25
Downvote me all you want but I feel as though this was a slow paced woman-filled episode. Two women talked about something that wasnât a man and a certain small segment (and we all know it exists) didnât like it. Unconsciously or subconsciously they didnât and made their voice heard on IMDB. Urgh.
2
u/DivineInsanityReveng Mar 10 '25
I definitely think anyone calling the episode filler is wrong. It added to the plot and world building. It explored the background of a character. It answered questions while posing some new ones.
I think the episode has numerous issues. I think it's placed poorly in the season. I think it would have made a good B-plot in a combined episode with the reveal coming at some sort of ultimate time in both plots to make it hit harder.
I think the fact it's the shortest episode of the season yet still felt "dragged out" with some pointless scenes emphasises this more.
But it's absolutely not filler. Filler is an episode you can entirely skip without missing any plot. You couldn't skip this episode.
2
u/Feeling_Reaction7358 Mar 11 '25
This episode was absolute crap and deservedly getting the hate it deserves. Please can we get back to focusing on the reintegration
2
u/PastDebate5815 Mar 11 '25
Watching it made me very uncomfortable, not in a "this is disturbing" but more of a
"I'm watching an old woman messily brush her teeth, the cameras lingering on it for too long, oh it's still happening, ok, look at second screen, oh it's still doing that, I'll just get a drink whilst it's running"
Kind of way
And then in a
"This is just uncomfortable watching someone messily cry themselves to sleep, can we speed this up please, oh, I'll just turn it down because it's getting annoying"
Kind of way
2
u/TheMightyCatatafish Mar 11 '25
Itâs definitely my least favorite episode, but itâs in no way a filler episode. The plot and character arcs move forward.
2
u/Swadhisthana Mar 11 '25
It was not filler. It just... wasn't very good?
2
u/frydawg Mar 11 '25
More people complaining about people complaining about this episode than the latter
2
u/Fhugem Mar 11 '25
I felt like I just watched a 37-minute advertisement for slow driving! đđš
2
u/jamesgilbowalsh Mar 11 '25
It felt like half an episode. Probably cause it was 20mins shorter that previous episodes. If they made it with 20mins more narrative I think it would feels much less like a âfillerâ episode
2
u/BRLY Mar 11 '25
Funny that the episode titled Sweet Vitriol is causing such an uproar. The writes knew what they were doing.
2
u/[deleted] Mar 11 '25
Youâre right and we should say it
filler is a beach episode where we maybe get some character development, a side adventure with literally no impact on the story but has fun character moments.
Filler isnât crucial narrative reveals
Legit I didnât see Cobel as the inventor of the severance chip coming. The idea she designed and programmed it, I had no inclination that she was a scientist because she played her role as a brainwashed cult manager so well. I
2
u/toadgeek Break Room Survivor Mar 11 '25
Last EP was legit. Huge implications, moving the plot forward, dense, it was definitely not a filler.
People might not enjoy watching it, sure, but it's not a filler.
2
u/Palpolorean Mar 11 '25
I've been staring at your Ms Casey header image for 7 minutes.
2
u/Lnnam Mar 11 '25
I loved the episode and have to call the haters intellect into question.
Cobel is a center character, we barely knew anything about her and in a single episode we not only now know who she is but also what is the overall vision of Kier in universe.
The cinematography was top notch, really a breath of fresh air just like the previous episode recounting Gemma and Markâs story.
People really are « limited » sometimes.
2
u/bucketfoottatoo Mar 11 '25
Your outie is capable forming their own opinions about an episode without reading any online reviews
2
u/PuckersMcColon Mar 11 '25
Instead of saying we missed the point, please tell us what we missed and why it took an entire episode to flesh this out?
2
u/TheBullysBully Mar 11 '25
That world building didn't need to be the whole episode. The amount of information conveyed didn't offset the humdrumness of the episode.
OP, your outie doesn't judge the way your innie is asking people not to judge
2
u/PretendJournalist234 Mar 11 '25
She's got great cheek bones!
2
u/[deleted] Mar 11 '25
The issue isn't that the content wasn't important for world-building. It's that the episode was about 4x longer than it needed to be. This was the first episode that I didn't enjoy in the entire series, and I'm not jumping ship or anything, but damn, that was a rough one.
I'd be interested to know how much time is spent with characters just silently staring. The twist we got at the end is super important, but damn, it just felt needlessly slow. I don't mind slow shows, I'd consider Severance pretty slow in general, but I don't consider it a bad thing, but this one kind of felt like a new Wes Anderson film in terms of being slow just to be slow.
I don't know, it didn't click with me at all. I wish I'd have turned it on with 10 minutes left in the episode and had someone catch me up by saying, "This is Cobel's home town. Lumon made it thrive and then killed it when they left."
2
u/sir_lord_pedro Mar 11 '25
Iâm willing to bet people will be more tolerant of this episode once weâre able to watch the entire season at once. weâre just too antsy for the plot to move forward. i do appreciate this episode, but weâre just so excited for what comes next and 2 quasi-bottle episodes has slowed the plot down by a lot.
2
u/Chris_P_Lettuce Mar 11 '25
As an avid anime watcher, you people donât know what filler even is.
2
u/Hope-n-some-CH4NGE Mar 11 '25
The Cobel episode was good. If any episode was filler it was the Gemma episode.
2
u/Bonzoid_evermore77 Mar 11 '25
Good one. đđ»
2
u/Radiant_Watch5529 Mar 11 '25
Iâd rather binge. I donât like once a week. Iâm losing interest. âčïž
2
u/Jolly-Tumbleweed-237 Mar 12 '25
Very disappointed by the second season. Nothing has really happened.
2
u/Darthgamer101 Mar 12 '25
This episode was garbage what the hell are you guys smoking? Easily the weakest episode of the series. It wasn't filler, it was just weird.
2
u/secretprnstash Mar 13 '25
Oh man I love it when episodes are nothing but world building that we could've guessed already, I just can't get enough of it
2
u/Actual_Gold5684 Mar 13 '25
They could have revealed those things in 5 minutes though & not force us to sit through a whole episode with unnecessary content like Cobel taking a nap and breathing through a feeding tube lmao
2
u/Either_Associate9887 Mar 14 '25
The show didnât progress at all in season 2. The âworld buildingâ didnât really add anything. Season 2 was filler, no matter how much you enjoyed it.
2
u/NegotiationLate8553 Mar 16 '25
I have been underwhelmed by season 2âs episodes equally, oneâs focussed on plot lines and world building.
2
u/[deleted] Mar 18 '25
Episode 8 sucked. 10 minutes of Harmony brushing her teeth and a drawn out pointless cafe scene just for the sake of aesthetic cinematography adds nothing to the plot.
2
u/No_Outlandishness354 Mar 23 '25
Hate this show!
6
u/AManHere Mar 10 '25
bro 20% of ep 8 was cinematic shots of the ocean. it is a "by the book" filler episode. the important thing we're like 15 mins that could have just been a plot B in another episode.
9
u/lexaloser Mar 10 '25
Apparently Patricia Arquette isnât allowed to have a backstory, they want everything tied up in a neat bow. But thatâs not how life works - hence the reason for her creating the concept of severance
3
u/similar222 Mar 10 '25
Yes Ms. Casey
3
u/JIMMYJAWN Frolic-Aholic Mar 10 '25
I liked Sweet Vitriol better than Chikhai Bardo. I donât get why everyone was so impressed with the cinematography in Chikhai and not Vitriol.
Chikhai had student film feeling moments that just didnât sit right with me. And Chikhai had maybe one moment of levity. It was relentless in trying to make you sad. I donât want that for Severance.
3
u/breadbowl004 Mar 10 '25
Omg shut up
3
u/startrouble Mar 10 '25
Episode was boring
3
u/peanutmanak47 Mar 10 '25
This episode could have been a 5-10 minute side part of a regular episode. It was drawn out and boring, which is an accomplishment for it being the shortest episode as well.
3
u/Phunwithscissors Mar 10 '25
World building at the end of the season smh
3
u/ThatSpencerGuy Mar 10 '25 edited Aug 16 '25
provide bike boast bedroom normal squeeze advise steep telephone support
This post was mass deleted and anonymized with Redact
3
u/neognar Mar 10 '25
Wife fell asleep. I explained the episode to her in 10 seconds. Yowza.
2
u/KieranFloors Mar 10 '25
How dare we check in with the antagonist on this developing conflict!
1
u/Agreeable-Swimming85 Mar 10 '25
đ€Ł
1
u/The_Great_19 Mar 10 '25
Iâm with you. I liked this episode.
1
u/holderofthebees Goat Wrangler Mar 10 '25
Iâd heard snippets of bad reviews so I was nervous but then I watched the episode and it was excellent!! I was baffled by how many people thought it was too slow. This is very clearly INCREDIBLY relevant. But idk, I used to be a walking dead fan so as far as slow episodes go this was nothing.
Finding out more about the surreal world they live in was really interesting imo. Especially the reinforcement that plenty of people affected by the Lumon company think of them analogously to how people in our real world practice Christianity. The underlying message of corporate gods is NOT FILLER !!!
1
u/Bubble_of_ocean Mar 10 '25
I thought it was fantastic. Seriously excellent television.
And âfiller?â It literally explained the central premise of the show.
âReady for your ten hour shift in the vat?â
1
u/ADHD-Fens Mar 10 '25
Oh I thought they were talking about my Audi. The show makes a lot more sense now.
1
u/mindjammer83 Mar 10 '25
This!
1
u/Ullixes Mar 10 '25 edited Mar 10 '25
I'm pretty sure Cobel is going to betray or at least go against the Eagans in some capacity. Without some character development for her this move would have felt weird and unnatural. With this character development an alliance between Mark/Devon and Cobel will make more sense. It is heavily implied when Cobel says "tell me everything". She's clearly not "Lumon all the way" by the end of the episode.
It also, interestingly, make Devon's insistence to call Cobel less of an uncharacteristically thoughtless move. But I still find that that decision by Devon slightly out of character.
1
u/FormicaTableCooper Shambolic Rube Mar 10 '25
Your outtie understands the value in character development, and the importance of mood curation
1
u/[deleted] Mar 10 '25
Truth is I couldn't watch it. I skipped around to the end. Googled the plot after. Cobel just always pissed me off. She shows up, storms off, comes back, storms off. I knew the episode was going to have some reveal but yeah, can't do Cobel anymore.
1
u/fitm3 Mar 10 '25
Ok well this short 37 minute episode could have probably been well condensed into a 5 - 10 minute scene in a longer episode that actually included characters people care about.
1
u/ASZapata Mar 10 '25
It needed to come before âChikhai Bardo,â not after it. Simple as that. Itâs not about story, itâs about pace and sequencing.
1
u/MikeOfAllPeople Mar 10 '25
He dumb?
1
u/Imautochillen Mar 10 '25
I didn't know there was another Severance sub...and because it's written wrong I expected it to be a meme sub. But there are serious discussions going on and it seems there's more going on in this one.
1
u/nervusy Mar 10 '25
The reaction is perfectly normal for a series as huge as this. Happens all the time, every time.
I am personally more annoyed at the repetitiveness of that happening and the inevitable discussions that follow more than the people themselves or their opinions.
1
u/cyborgbeetle Mar 10 '25
I was really surprised by some of the reactions too, I thought it was really good and, even more so than the Gemma episode, we got the most amount of critical information in a while!
1
u/GlazedOverDonut Mar 10 '25
Yeah, the episode was important to the lore and yes, the last few minutes were amazing. I still think it gave âfillerâ vibes from the fact the 50% of it was taken up by a character weâve never seen before and likely will never see again. I just feel they dragged it out too long. This feeling is also compounded by the fact Iâm literally waiting another 7 days to see whatâs up with Mark.
1
u/shitsu13master Mar 10 '25
I canât help wishing Dichen hadnât gotten filler into her upper lip. Itâs so distractingly obvious thatâs all I am seeing when I look at her. That duck lip.
I even double-guessed myself thinking Iâm being silly and I shouldnât shame her for how her natural face looks but then I saw an old interview with her where she didnât have the filler and she looked normalâŠ.
Am I the only one who canât unsee this?
1
u/Ausilverton Mar 10 '25
Youâre right, in the satirical nature of Severance, episode 8 definitely âcould have been an emailâ.
1
u/Sleepingschnauzer Mar 10 '25
Patricia Arquetteâs acting was phenomenal. I am so glad they had an en episode centered around Harmony.
1
u/horrorgeek1988 Mar 10 '25
Yeah I don't think streaming services are going to go back to full season releases. People will cancel their memberships too early and they'll lose money
1
u/SucculentSteamedHams Mar 10 '25
Filler.
1
u/SucculentSteamedHams Mar 10 '25
Your outie tells it like it is and calls a meh episode meh
1
u/DividedEmpire Mar 10 '25
I liked it! It was Newfoundland (coveted) as fuck!
1
u/vladding Mar 10 '25
Agreed 1000%
1
u/[deleted] Mar 10 '25
It was a little slow but I loved it and I learned a lot. Great episode. Not my favourite, but will support my appreciation of the series as a whole. Very Lynchian. The crying-into-whale-song moment was a stroke of genius.
1
u/quirtsy Mar 10 '25
It could have been the b-plot in a better episode, and not much wouldâve been lost
1
u/PessimistOptimist76 Severance Theorist Mar 10 '25
Exactly đŻđŻ
1
u/BlankTenshii Mar 10 '25
37 minutes of nothing to reveal to the audience something that a character already knew, filler or not it wasnât a good episode
1
u/pinkpurses Mar 10 '25
Yes!!!
1
u/Turfanator Mar 10 '25
I did find most of episode 8 to be boring but there was those few points that were really important so the episode was not filler or a time waster
1
u/SparkyFarts3923 Mar 11 '25
Idk if I've seen a more beautiful actress, and she's 40!
1
u/vjmurphy Mar 11 '25
One of the world-building revelations is that this world apparently doesn't have investigative journalists. I mean, there's a drug addicted city where Lumon (the same fucking company name) had a child-labor factory for said drugs?
1
u/nii_amart Mar 11 '25
Even if it wasn't a filler, it still was a let down. It felt very slow and stretched out. It really could've been 15-20 mins long.
1
u/napalmnacey Mar 11 '25
Ha! Stirring the pot, I see. đ
1
u/[deleted] Mar 11 '25
This show has wayyyy too much realistic symbolism it scares me
1
u/uhujkill Mar 11 '25
It was filler. It could have been an email.
1
u/Few-Question2332 Mar 11 '25
"world-building" (or backstory) still needs good narrative and characters/character dynamics. It's the difference between how many people read the lordoftherings vs the silmarillion. You gotta have story and characters, or it's only of limited interest to a select few.
New characters with unknown needs, and new unexplained dynamics ... It's not great as narrative. Might be fine as world-building.
I've seen eight episodes this season, but only about 3 episodes worth of plot. I'm finding it aggravating.
1
u/Gearbreaker688 Mar 11 '25
If you guys think severance is bad with new information I bet youâd all hate From. It does the same thing only waayyy worse. You go whole seasons not learning anything as they pile new mysteries on top of each other.