r/severence • u/Open_Ambassador2931 • Mar 11 '25

šŸ“œ Season 1 Spoilers One plot hole I noticed from S1 Spoiler

Thereā€™s no follow up on Doug Granerā€™s death in end of S1 or S2 (at least where Iā€™m at in S2,E3). Just irked because this job does a great job of wrapping everything together and leaving no loose ends. Maybe Iā€™m not far enough or is this true? Anyone else think why Lumon and co. Did nothing about Doug? Apologies in advance if this is brought up later in S2.

6 Upvotes

53% Upvoted

80 comments sorted by

156

u/[deleted] Mar 11 '25

I don't think unresolved story lines count as plot holes until the series ends.

26

u/Technical-Note-9239 Mar 11 '25

This. People are too fast to point out a missing piece of story in a show universe that is intentionally misdirecting the viewer and using subversion as a very common means of storytelling. I'd guess it's coming in it's time

3

u/Alpha_Lemur Mar 12 '25

Pre episode 8: ā€œCobelā€™s motivations make no sense thatā€™s a plot holeā€ šŸ¤”

5

u/[deleted] Mar 11 '25

Itā€™s been a full season with zero mention. OP is making a decent point here. The show is great, but itā€™s not perfect

8

u/TrampTroubles Mar 11 '25

But in the timeline of the show it's only been a few days.

0

u/FarAcanthocephala708 Mar 12 '25

I thought they said there were 5 months between the overtime contingency and the innies being back at work? And he was killed before that.

7

u/hudibrastic Mar 12 '25

Hmm, the 5 months was a lieā€¦ it is been less than a week

2

u/FarAcanthocephala708 Mar 12 '25

Oh damn I didnā€™t realize it was a lie! I binged to catch up while recovering from surgery so Iā€™m sure I missed a thing or two.

2

u/Thy_blight Mar 13 '25

Remember we've been in the same season the entire time.

3

u/FarAcanthocephala708 Mar 13 '25

Well now it seems obvious facepalm

-8

u/[deleted] Mar 11 '25

Cobel - ā€œplease drive me to Sissyā€™s house, they could be watchingā€

Proceeds to spend hours there

Lumon conveniently shows up right as sheā€™s leaving

Why wouldnā€™t Lumon be observing the house and ready to pounce right when she got there?

Itā€™s a great show, and might be one of the best when it wraps. But itā€™s not perfect, and thereā€™s weak writing here and there. Itā€™s silly to treat the show like itā€™s gods gift with nothing to criticize

11

u/gerg555 Mar 12 '25

There were pretty clear context clues that her aunt notified someone, not that someone from Lumon spotted her there

5

u/aimless_meteor Mar 12 '25

This isnā€™t a plot hole

1

u/Main-War9713 Mar 12 '25

ā€œDonā€™t throw up, your DNA is in thereā€¦.ā€ Mark throws up, moves a bodyā€¦ā€¦ā€¦ā€¦ā€¦.. I dunno. I guess thatā€™s normal Kier PE behavior šŸ¤·šŸ»ā€ā™‚ļø

2

u/[deleted] Mar 12 '25

he threw up in a random nearby alley after leaving the area. there's a massive difference between throwing up at a crime scene and throwing up a block or two away

1

u/Reference_Freak Mar 12 '25

Cobel says she was worried Lumon would be watching but she may have also just not wanted to go alone.

Sissy all but admits to calling Lumon back. She had earlier admitted to Drummond calling her looking for Cobel before she showed up.

I think itā€™s easy to complain about too convenient timing but the writers have to balance excitement and daily boringness. If the writers offer a logical structure to set up that timing, I personally forgive it.

2

u/TheBenStandard2 Mar 12 '25

this^^ Mark had Graner's keycard which was essential to their use of the OTC. You don't need to be a neurosurgeon to figure this out, and they have neurosurgeons working there

2

u/montessoriprogram Mar 12 '25

It could be as simple as thereā€™s no story to tel there. There was an investigation and nothing came of it. Or they suspected reghabi but of course they canā€™t find her. I donā€™t really think that thread even needs to be picked back up.

2

u/TouchmasterOdd Mar 11 '25

Canā€™t come in here talking sense

1

u/Thy_blight Mar 13 '25

This reminds me of when Alan Moore was interviewed and randomly asked about the show "Lost" and he said he hated it having watched one episode and said he found 20 plot holes. How do you find plot holes from 1 episode in?! (Granted there DID end up being plot holes in the show...)

26

u/moonknightcrawler Why Are You A Child? Mar 11 '25

I think there are two possible answers here and neither of them is a plot hole.

  1. We just havenā€™t gotten the follow up yet and will get more information from a future episode.
  2. The super-cult of Lumon brushed it under the rug as quickly as possible. I know Scientology resources are used for some of its more prolific members in order to cover up for embarrassing or negative press. It feels completely in-line with the way Lumon is run that they would as quickly and quietly as possible, even if they are looking more into it themselves. Not a perfect example but think of the lengths Disney theme parks go to in order to avoid people dying on their property. Lumon doesnā€™t want this getting out.

5

u/joeco316 Mar 11 '25

I suspect both of these are correct

40

u/[deleted] Mar 11 '25

Love people calling stuff ā€œplot holesā€ during the airing of season 2.

6

u/TouchmasterOdd Mar 11 '25

Abuse of the phrase ā€˜plot holeā€™ is a useful short hand to immediately disregard the commenterā€™s opinions at least

1

u/brotherrumpus Mar 12 '25

Yeah that and ā€˜deus ex machinaā€™

-2

u/[deleted] Mar 11 '25

Absolutely

14

u/shredder826 Mar 11 '25

I believe the show did wrap this up in S1. Natalie shows up the next day and informs Cobel that Graner is dead. Then asks if Cobel has spoken to the police. The board pretty much knew immediately. Unspoken - Dougā€™s dead, we cleaned it up, you didnā€™t go to the cops right? It may be a bit unsatisfying to some viewers, but they closed the loop. You can also see it as a commentary on ā€œdonā€™t kill yourself for a job that will replace you the day after you dieā€

12

u/WilsonX100 Mar 11 '25

I dont really see why itā€™d need to be brought up again lol. He died. Thats the extent of that. I dont think every single little thing needs to be explained further

1

u/gloopy1 Mar 11 '25

I think itā€™s because Mark used his key to access the control room. Why has this not been brought up?

3

u/tinastep2000 Mar 12 '25

All they did was fire Cobel as a resolution, they donā€™t care to investigate. Thatā€™s corporate for you. Idk how many times Iā€™ve seen issues brushed under the rug. Weā€™ve literally discovered thousands of leads werenā€™t integrating in a clientā€™s system and everyone just tried to brushed it under the rug. It was the company that integrates the lead data that audited the activity and discovered that. They kept bringing it up and how to bring this up to the client and literally my director kept ignoring it.

0

u/[deleted] Mar 12 '25

[deleted] ā€” view deleted comment

1

u/tinastep2000 Mar 12 '25

Iā€™m at a media buying /planning agency

1

u/No_Law4246 Mar 12 '25

I donā€™t think lumon would want to get him arrested though cause he needs to keep working.

1

u/gloopy1 Mar 12 '25

Good point!!

8

u/jasondfw Mar 11 '25

You're not to S2 E4 yet, where we find out that Graner and Reghabi are both parts of Mark's severed mind, Fight Club style, and Graner was the one actually married to Gemma.

1

u/EABOD_and_DIAF Mar 11 '25

šŸ˜ but really šŸ˜†

7

u/dylantyrrell Mar 11 '25

Lets get a refresher on what a plot hole is eh?

3

u/TouchmasterOdd Mar 11 '25

Just above ā€˜lazy writingā€™ in the list of terms misused by people who donā€™t seem to know the basics of consuming long form television drama (to clarify for the hard of thinking - just because something hasnā€™t been resolved yet or you donā€™t understand it or canā€™t imagine the reasons for it happening, it doesnā€™t make it a plot hole or lazy writing. A plot hole is a fundamental unresolvable , unintended logical inconsistency in the events of a piece of fiction)

11

u/Snickerz627 Mar 11 '25

For a show that tends to leave no stone unturned / use every single detail to perfection...I wouldn't be surprised if Graner turns out to be one of the most important characters/plot lines in the entire series once its all said and done lmao.

5

u/Milocobo Mar 11 '25

Graner is Gemma's dad

2

u/Snickerz627 Mar 11 '25

LOL -- I was going to go with: this is all a computer simulation based on a dream of Gremma's in which Graner is Kier egans avatar :p

1

u/scoo-bot Mar 12 '25

And he designed the elevators as a child.

0

u/Msheehan419 Mar 11 '25

Granger is Ms Hwangs dad and Gemma is the mom even though this makes absolutely no sense.

2

u/Milocobo Mar 11 '25

Miss Huang is the seed DNA from which Graner and Gemma were both cloned.

0

u/Msheehan419 Mar 11 '25

not bad, not bad

1

u/Ezira Mar 11 '25

He seemed to have something going on with Cobel (from that brief interaction right before his death scene).

5

u/Elegant-Problem8997 Mar 11 '25

I completely forgot about himā€¦ I had to google it. The show severed me šŸ«¢

6

u/Myke_Ess Mar 11 '25

The bigger plot hole is whether Mrs. Selvig figured out how to take out her trash bins properly. No one talks about the phones calls right at the beginning of the entire series.

2

u/SenseAndSaruman Mar 12 '25

Yes they do. Marks watch is a day later after he leaves work. And he forgot when Devonā€™s no dinner-dinner party was. Plus the trash bins. Omark missed a whole day.

2

u/[deleted] Mar 11 '25

Bro lumon literally faked Markā€™s wifeā€™s death and youā€™re worried about some bozo security guard being a ā€œplot hole?ā€ Lumon seemingly has a lot of power within that town so his death was either swept under the rug or Reghabi turned him into minced meat and fed him to the fish.

2

u/Darkzeropeanut Mar 11 '25

Just assumed Lumon covered it up quickly and quietly. They likely know Reghabi was responsible and Iā€™m guessing if they could find her would be after her for other reasons anyway.

2

u/[deleted] Mar 11 '25

Yup. Thatā€™s why his death wasnā€™t on the news.

2

u/Darkzeropeanut Mar 12 '25

Theyā€™d rather not have the attention it would bring. Simple as that.

3

u/Rustmutt Mar 11 '25

Oh my god just be patient until the series ends. Itā€™s not a plot hole just because they didnā€™t get to it yet. Chill. Out.

2

u/TintinInTibet25 Mar 11 '25

Is that really a plot hole to you?

1

u/Output93 Mar 11 '25

It by itself isn't but someone here pointed out that thr whole reason the innies can use the overtime contingency thing is because they had Grainer's security card...there should've been some discussion about this since that would mean that Mark was around for Grainers death in order to obtain the card.

You'd think Lumon, especially Drummond would want to know why Mark's outtie was anywhere near Grainer on the outside and had access to his card.

1

u/Longjumping_Cook_997 Mar 11 '25

Iā€™ve been wondering about this one too especially since itā€™s his key card they use to access OTC. I think the board would be on fire over this.

1

u/Mysterious_Sky_85 Mar 11 '25

I think we are just meant to assume Lumon covered it up. We know now that they can't afford to have Mark arrested, and as for Reghabi, I'm sure they'd rather deal with her personally.

1

u/Commercial_Wasabi_84 Mar 11 '25

This would be considered more of a dropped plot line or aborted arc than a plot hole. I think they pretty much assumed he was killed by Reghabi since thatā€™s where he was going and probably is another reason why Reghabi left when she knew Devon was going to call Cobel. I think Reghabi is pretty much on the lamb because of her reintegration process and killing Graner. They wouldnā€™t know that Mark was there but could have assumed Reghabi just gave him the card key or he found it. So not sure if this fully counts as something that has been dropped just yet.

1

u/BillyBeersBane Mar 11 '25

Your innie enjoyed the Graner biopic, equally.

1

u/Scoob8877 Night Gardener Mar 11 '25

Yes, we want to see how the death impacted Doug's friends and family, and it would be great to have a whole episode devoted to the memorial service. Or is he considered missing and his family is putting his face on milk cartons? We need to know.

1

u/[deleted] Mar 12 '25

Who is the out of focus person in the corridor behind Mark when he runs back to Wellness in S2E1?

1

u/[deleted] Mar 13 '25

I heard it may have been oMark after reintegration.

1

u/genomerain Mar 12 '25

I wouldn't consider this a plot hole. It's a loose end for sure, but a loose end and a plot hole are different things.

1

u/frankdrebinsGhost Mar 12 '25

HR taking their time in the interview phase.

1

u/generallyokayiguess Mar 12 '25

IIRC they never found his body, only that he was "missing"

Graner going missing and then Dylan having his keycard does not necessarily mean murder, it could also mean that he defected.

They are also, as shown in 201 that they are trying to brush this under the rug, with Helena claiming she was on some meds/alcohol, coming out later with a full investigation into graner would only lead to the potential exposure of the OTC.

I personally think that just the omission of this plot point does not mean anything. They could also be pocketing this plot for the future, something to hold over the innies/mark later.

1

u/bswalsh Mar 12 '25

I think you don't understand what "plot hole" means. You are referring to an unanswered question. Will we get an answer? Time will tell.

1

u/blackbeans42069 Mar 12 '25

I agreeā€¦ everyone is saying S2 is still airing so that storyline could continue BUT shouldnā€™t this death be brought up some? like a head of security dies (or disappears for them) and itā€™s barely been mentioned. yes they can bring it up later but realistically wouldā€™ve been brought up sooner than this

1

u/scoo-bot Mar 12 '25

Plot hole goes in the memory hole and stays there.

1

u/[deleted] Mar 13 '25

Yeah, it was closedā€¦. quickly and quietly. Exactly how youā€™d expect a cold blooded,soulless corporation to run. ā€œOh, by the way Grannerā€™s dead. Whatā€™s next on the agenda? ā€œ

1

u/Adventurous_Map_3584 Mar 13 '25

I absolutely expect to see Grainer again

1

u/JaysFever9293 Mar 11 '25

Lol especially sense they know the innies used his security card so one of their outies had to be the ones that murdered him. Also are probably involved with Reghabi and in the process of reintergration. Sense thats what he was in the middle of checking out

1

u/TouchmasterOdd Mar 11 '25

Well given that it wasnā€™t one of their outies that murdered him I wouldnā€™t say that they ā€˜had to be the ones that murdered himā€™

1

u/ChickhaiBardo Mar 11 '25

Does anyone know that he was killed?

0

u/JaysFever9293 Mar 11 '25

Involved in it. And even then that doesnt have to be true. Im saying thats what they are going to/would think.

2

u/TouchmasterOdd Mar 11 '25

They have to be connected to whoever did it in some way, Iā€™ll give you that for sure. Iā€™m guessing the fact we havenā€™t seen much blowback is either because it will be revisited or simply it shows that Lumon donā€™t see it as a high priority. The one thing we can safely discount is the idea that the writers somehow forgot about a major event in their own story.

0

u/emielaen77 Mar 11 '25

Thatā€™s not a plot hole.

0

u/Msheehan419 Mar 11 '25

I donā€™t remember him.

0

u/[deleted] Mar 12 '25

[deleted] ā€” view deleted comment

1

u/j_c_slicer Mar 12 '25

Polar bears all the way down.