Why you have to watch Severance - Review (season 1)

[@DrGoldenLink]

The reason Mark has to change timepieces when he clocks into work is because his normal watch has numbers on it, which would trigger the elevator alarm. His severed watch only has lines on it.

[@Starfals]

He could always get a watch with lines tho, I actually use that kind. It would be 1 less thing to change and worry about. Still, that's a cool detail!

[@KushGangarD]

@@Starfals the outie Mark wears a Vostok Kommandirskie watch - a Russian brand. It’s sort of an homage to his wife, who was a professor of Russian literature. Since his outie still grieves over his wife, he wouldn’t change his watch.

[@monicarenee7949]

@@KushGangarD wow they really paid attention to detail when they made this, I would have never known this

[@fapple6240]

I still believe the code detectors are made up, but this detail still tracks as it could keep the illusion going.

[@theonlybyte]

You call a watch "timepiece" ???

[@PickeringSamuel]

Muscle memory is a real thing. Even though Innie Irving didn't learn how to drive, he also didn't re learn how to walk and talk.

[@myztik5716]

Yeah seems kind of weird none of them know about the subconscious

[@nikkiespinosa8854]

yeah, but I mean, muscle memory doesn't kick in for me naturally when I'm driving someone else's car. Even if it's the same kind of car as mine, I still have to think about it, really look at the controls, fiddle with the lights and wipers and mirrors and stuff. And even when I'm driving my own car, muscle memory only kicks in when I'm not overthinking it, and how could you not overthink it when it's your first time driving (that you remember)? Also, how could he know the rules of the road? How could he know to stop at red lights? How could he know to drive on the right hand side? It's a great show, but I do agree with them that severance doesn't make sense when you really think about it.

[@doneisenbarth]

Man, I love that scene because innie Irving knows what driving is, and he knows how to drive, but he has no memory of driving. So when he starts doing it he looks shocked but yeah,it’s all there it’s just his first time doing it.

[@Marsha-at-Home-Endeavor]

I also loved the authentic feel of Mark and his sister's sibling-chemistry

[@LimitR]

29:55 I don't think Irving is painting the hallway to the Break Room. To me he is painting the Elevator that goes down to the "Test Area". Which is where you see Marks wife go. My theory is that once someone has been there for a little while or if they cause some sort of issue the Test Area is where they can wipe that section of the mind or something. But maybe that process doesn't work correctly and some data is left behind hence the underlying memory that Irving has and paints. I'm also really interested to see what else Irving does as his Outie is keeping records of others that work at Lumon as if he's in a group to take them down. But the parallel that his Innie is such a devoted follower. 1:24:58 That baby part reminded me that after Mark finds the baby the other guy runs in and grabs the baby and immediately goes "I found them" and is immediately aiming to get the credit for finding the baby. He gives off an odd vibe way back in the first episodes and comes across like someone who has a load of skeletons in their closet. When he discusses his opposition to the Severence process I immediately wondered if he either backs it elsewhere or is involved himself.

[@acuteaura]

"Lumon is communist" are you fucking with me, this entire show is basically a refernece to marx's theory of alienation, turned up to 11. Which is, by the way, a critique of capitalism

[@CerdurTV]

yeah i guess a charitable interpretation is that lumon shares similarities to the american fear of what soviet communism could impose, while representing the irony that the conditions leading to its creation were capitalist. in a lot of ways soviet style communism was capitalist, some of the same dehumanizing qualities as severance, so a lot of people think "communism" is only that. most people don't know what marx talked about, or they blame alienation on something different and fear attempts at communism can only fail to rectify it

[@CrookedMarc]

Yeah I was definitely cringing a little when they started talking about. Mostly because it was clear they have a very old idea as to what communism is. I personally don’t think this show is a critique of any economic system beyond the culture of work.

[@Glenners]

How can I trust anything these guys have to say after they fuck that up so obviously. Like the Red Scare brainrot found it's way to older millenials.

[@TejuAbiola]

Yeah, that was so unserious. The whole show is about selling yourself to a company and creating effective slaves…shoddy analysis. Communism isn’t about control or opacity or power; these guys are really limited in their understanding of it because Lumon is the opposite of egalitarian or supporting the proletariat.

[@Basildad658]

Mark S… Marx another character’s name is almost an anagram for Hegelianism

[@maxsilbert]

Dude I just realized the break room is a double entendre for breaking the employees down, not giving them a break. I feel like my brain just gained a wrinkle 🧠

[@pumpuppthevolume]

break into submission room lol

[@platinum11110]

Wow true!! O.O

[@archief1]

Duuuude

[@mfaizsyahmi]

I feel like the whole show's name is an office pun. People get severance packages at the end, but these people get severance at the start.

[@nevezeraa]

I thought about that all the time xd

[@ngails]

The success of this show is so hugely the work of Ben Stiller, I think you all should have begun with praise for this genius Director. He really knows genres, and mixed them so well (the tension in the last episode was timed perfectly), and so tonally different from his own comedy work, I think this show should win several awards.

[@shashankaj1750]

This felt like an episode of black mirror made into a show.

[@25zvillcb25]

And a good one at that!

[@shashankaj1750]

Agreed.

[@pumpuppthevolume]

yep exactly ...bm had an episode where they make a digital copy of a person and force the copy to work as Alexa for the person

[@shashankaj1750]

@@pumpuppthevolume if I'm not wrong, i think it's the same episode where they try to get the copy of a person to admit a crime that his original self had done.

[@akhilnair1137]

@@pumpuppthevolume white Christmas.

[@ScottLahteine]

Dichen Lachman, who plays Gemma, was on another great high concept show about memory and personality erasure called "Dollhouse." That's a show that starts out looking like it's going to be one type of show -an Episodic about programmable secret agents- but turns into something entirely different and ends up really transcending the genre. Meanwhile, Gemma was also in Altered Carbon, a show that doesn't quite reach its ambitions, but Dichen is the real standout performer on the show.

[@25zvillcb25]

I really, really, really liked this show. Somehow Apple TV doesn't have the volume but I think always has something legitimately worth keeping the service for. Especially at $5. For me Severance, Ted Lasso, For All Mankind, and Slow Horses are worth the $5. At least over Netflix with that cost which I think is pretty notable.

[@lovehatecomments]

Agreed!

[@evolv.e]

+1000 Severance, Ted Lasso, For All Mankind, and The Morning Show are all excellent!

[@PickeringSamuel]

Not got round to Slow Horses yet, is it good?

[@kevindiaz365]

@@PickeringSamuel I think it’s good but not as good as Severance

[@25zvillcb25]

@@PickeringSamuel Yeah I quite enjoyed it. I can't give details without spoilers, but the main reason I wanted to watch it didn't pan out at all but I still enjoyed it.

[@UnwantedSelf]

In my head, all of the Jobs on the Severance floor are made up examples of real Jobs as a test run for when it's out of beta. SO like that is why its so skeleton and there is weird stuff like the goat room.

[@friendlybane]

About the ending: I definitely felt a little cheated. They could have structured the ending a bit different to not have that huge cliff hanger. But, the show is soooo good that I honestly don't care that much. Eagerly awaiting S2.

[@Mynetrix]

I agree I absolutely loved every episode until the ending which felt like it dropped off a bunch. Mostly because since they wanted a cliff hanger they had to do a lot of suspense episode extending stuff that didn't make sense / was annoying to fill the 50 ish minute episode

[@PrestongSellers]

Felt cheated? That’s what good shows are supposed to do is leave a cliffhanger for a following season… You only should get closure if it’s a series finale

[@friendlybane]

@@PrestongSellers you don't need a cliffhanger to get people exciting for the next season

[@PrestongSellers]

@@friendlybane I loooooove a good cliff hanger. Guess it’s just personal preference. I didn’t feel they did that to get us to watch the next season. By 4 episodes in I was hooked and have so many unanswered questions I did not need a cliff hanger to watch season 2

[@friendlybane]

@@PrestongSellers I agree with you. The show is so good that I was always going to watch S2 regardless of how S1 finale went. I also understand that shows need good ratings to no be canceled, so logistical issues affect the writing. But, a cliffhanger that obvious makes me think of the studio and writers, and breaks my immersion a bit. Small complaint about a wonderful show.

[@dongato90]

I binge watched the show this weekend and totally thought it was a 10 episode season. I was soo disappointed at the end of episode 9. Great show! I feel like I’m hanging from the cliff! So glad I’m finding vlogs discussing the show to help fill my sudden void.

[@seifenspender]

I loved the ending. It is not an annoying cliffhanger, but a satisfying one. Same for my colleagues. Interesting :D

[@PickeringSamuel]

Severance is my favourite TV show ever. Also The Northman is great.

[@ffsireallydontcare]

How ironic this was made by Apple. I mean, can anyone say they remember being in the offices beneath 1 Apple Park Way (The Spaceship) Praise Jobs!

[@ES-qy2ju]

Sinister even, in the series, all of Lumon's material and branding uses Apple's typography, even the series' logo.

[@Glenners]

@@ES-qy2ju That's what I thought of when they reveal the Helly R Exhibit, very Apple.

[@Basildad658]

It could be ribbing apple honestly-Lumen is Latin for light, which in western art almost always symbolizes enlightenment .. kinda like how apples symbolize knowledge

[@musicIistener]

I just wanted to tell “GROW UP!” At the guy complaining that not enough questions were answered…. Like why?? Would you want them all answered……. Then there’s nothing left to look forward to. I get it’s scary because it /could/ go in a bad direction but that’s not a fair way to judge an in progress body of work. lol. The show had an exceptional balance of questions and answers and unraveling new mysteries to discover.. that’s how tv shows survive, that’s why they exist in this format…

[@musicIistener]

Also. Irving wasnt painting the break room hallway… he was painting the testing room elevator hallway that gemma retires to

[@tonyabrookes9931]

As a person who gave birth (purposely unmedicated), I absolutely feel it's important to be "aware" through the process. Especially the pregnancy part. It's all part of the bonding process and if we don't interfere with how nature set things up, important body chemicals are passed between mom and baby to facilitate breastfeeding, bonding, non-verbal communication, etc. Those chemicals promote well-being in both mom and baby and fast track healing and growth. Severance for pregnancy/birth sounds like a nightmare to me. Nothing good can come from further distancing yourself from your newborn - we're meant to be connected & conscious of one another in order to be effective caregivers. "Detached" moms are historically not a good thing for helpless dependent humans

[@justbecause9049]

That could be why the senators wife seems like such a bad mom.

[@DizzyBusy]

Not everyone can safely give birth without chemical help though. Good for you, of course, yay!! But medical advances and better understanding of the processes of birthing is why we're collectively a strong species. So many people would have died giving birth and at birth without the science. I'm still glad it worked out great for you, though, truly. And I understand what you were trying to say.

[@gadget2622]

Irving is painting the corridor to the testing floor elevator where they send Casey/Gemma. I thought it was the breakroom corridor before we saw the testing floor corridor, but the show frames the corridor and the elevator with the red down arrow very intentionally. Edit: This hardly a critique of communism, communism is a moneyless stateless organisation of society. And socialism is just the idea that the means of production should be owned by the people. Stop using socialism and communism to define authoritarian regimes like the USSR. Authoritarianism is not a prerequisite for socialism and is incompatible with communism. The whole idea of using severance to remove the bargaining power and the ability to make choices of your workforce is peak capitalism. It’s a capitalists wet dream. Your workforce is effectively incapable of ever organising. Especially because it also strips all decision making information from the outtie, and they are the ones making the decisions for both identities. It completely removes meaningful agency from both the outtie and the innie. Also compensation of the worker becomes completely perverse. Earning your outtie more money means nothing for the innie, so you start rationing basic human experiences and threatening psychological torture. And then you also never have to properly compensate the outtie, because they have no idea what work they’ve actually done. Also losing 8 hours of your day is just terrifying even as an outtie, because even when you’re working for 8 hours in the real world, you can still dream and aspire, think about other parts of your life. Once severed the company now owns those 8 hours completely. Which again, is something capitalists would kill for. Which is also adds to the book quote “the boss owns the clock on the wall, but you own the hour”. Because the outties give up their ownership of those hours.

[@acuteaura]

The entire show is marx's theory of alienation turned up to 11. Not only are you alienated from your labor in severance (but, also that), you are alienated from your work self in the most literal sense possible. Lumen's weird culture of rationing fake feeling joyous activities, from hugs to the waffle party, are supposed to COUNTERACT that alienation, but they're obviously laughable to the viewer. Also, the corporate housing is a package of incentives for the outie to keep working at Lumon, even if they feel uneasy about it. They probably pay pretty well too and severed workers would have no means to maintain their standard of living with a different job. And they also do not learn any marketable skills at work. Or remember them.

[@gadget2622]

@@acuteaura The whole concept made me so uncomfortable that I almost couldn't get through the first episode, but eventually I grew to like the innie characters enough I wanted them to succeed. I don't know how anyone can watch the show and not see it as a economic/political commentary on the evils of capitalism.

[@Glenners]

THANK YOU! You hit all the notes I wanted to hit. Listening to people call anything that looks grey and cement "communist" drives me crazy. And like you said it's the complete opposite. You're selling 100% of yourself for 8 hours a day, no mentally planning what you're doing after work or thinking about your kids. That's capitalist as fuck. And to cap it off the people in charge don't have to be severed for some reason, even though the work is supposed to be so secret people need to split their brains? Doesn't make sense.

[@gadget2622]

@@Glenners Yeah it's incredibly fucked up, and the fact that even something so blatantly a critique of capitalism gets called a critique of communism just goes to show how good capitalist propaganda is.

[@zeveroarerules]

David was wrong, Riley was right, about the crying in the car. It has nothing to do with him "not wanting to go in".

[@Glenners]

When they fuck up these really obvious things it really makes me question their judgement.

[@zeveroarerules]

@@Glenners well, mostly David to be frank. He tends to overthink things way too much.

[@gnomishviking3013]

Fucking loved this show. Everything was spectacular

[@Wetzeem]

Maybe I am alone in this, but one of the biggest connection I made with this show was that I have had thoughts like this, while working in a cubicle farm where I was wasting my life away. I had told my therapist multiple times, “can’t I just go on auto pilot while at work and wake up when it’s over?” I never thought far enough to conceptualize the reality of my innie. I loved this show so much, and can’t wait for next season.

[@NankitaBR]

Communism is not about bureaucracy on a larger scale. Quite the opposite, it is about bringing democracy to the workplace. Not even the USSR was a good example of the ideals of communism, because they never actually managed to go beyond the first step towards it (or what they thought was the first step, because each country would have a different path towards it based on their own situation). The big difference is that the USSR tried to create communism from the top down, and that is why they had a lot of bureaucracy. The "Marx look" of Kier Eagan is just how a lot of people looked like in the 19th century. That hair and beard were very usual fashion choices for people of the time, specially intelectuals, even if a lot of times men would have either one or the other (the hair or the beard). So as someone that is an enthusiast of fashion history his look did not surprise me in the least because of the amount of men I've seen with the same look at the same time he would have lived.

[@MrSkeltal268]

I was getting more “titan of industry” vibe from kier Egan - Carnegie, Vanderbilt, etc. and what it would be like if someone developed a quasi religion and lifestyle around their cult of personality.

[@NankitaBR]

@@MrSkeltal268 Same. I was getting very much Guilded Age robber barons vibes, like Rockefeller and such...

[@Emjay.d]

I completely disagree with the take that every season should close all of the mysteries. If you wanted to watch something that completely tells a story- watch a movie. I hate when tv shows answer all of the questions too quickly because then you get invested in characters and want to continue to watch them but they have to makeup stuff that doesn’t even make sense to fill the space. They perfectly set it up to have a fulfilling second season that isn’t a convoluted plot. I feel like they have a story in mind and they know how they are telling it. If you go into it having to answer every question in case you don’t get another one that is when you get Pretty Little Liars-- and no one wants that.

[@donotseemecricket]

The thing about why they remember some things and not others has to do with how memories work. There is a great video that breaks down all the different types of memory and in particular what the severance procedure affects. kzbin.info/www/bejne/mqaql4KCr6iKo68 To summarise, it is the memories tied to one's sense of self, not learned memories that tell us how to function and speak nor muscle memories that we use to do things like work a machine.

[@jackiepike1466]

I think the number crunching serves as a visual to show memories being compartmentalized into boxes, just like the brain does, and maybe what Lumon intends with this experiment is to lock away all the bad memories, as a purge. We will have to see what they do with this side if the story. On the other hand, number crunching is probably the most demeaning, time-wasting job one could probably have and not want to do (critiquing the workplace) and hence, the company devotes a lot of time, resources, personnel, etc. To indoctrination, hoping that Innies don't revolt. And the fun part is watching "how awful" Graner, Milchik and Cobel are at keeping the Innies in line. Sensational writing (and everything else we all rave about)

[@politta]

Re Moon-Knight accent, it's a fake accent in-universe too, so it makes sense to be kinda bad.

[@HeyDrianTV]

Exactly! It kinda hurts that David already declares how highly he don't recommend the show. I wish they could give the season a chance first.

[@belgianheskey]

Tramell Tillman was amazing as Michick

[@elnegrobembon]

No offense guys, but your description of socialism/communism and the contrast to capitalism is pretty detached from the actual concepts. The whole point of the capitalist organizational structure is that the decision-making apparatus is a top-down approach, in theory and in practice. The minority of private shareholders and board of directors (just like the board in Lumon) have ultimate decision-making power within a capitalist organization. It's quite literally an autocratic organizational structure. In theory, socialist organizations, whether public or private, are meant to maintain a bottom-up approach in regards to decision-making, making it a more democratic structure. Lumon is very autocratic, which contrasts the (theoretic) socialist organizational design. Now, of course, organizations can be and are corrupted, but that's a different topic.

[@FemaleCollegeStudent]

It is so weird watching people get this close to the point and not realize what the show is about. Lumon started in 1866 was began on a philosophy that was already around where one group of people is completely OK with the suffering of another group of people because they don’t see them as real people. What do you guys think the show is about? I’m so confused.

[@ourcollectivewisdom8769]

As someone who has used work to escape life, I saw this series as a huge wake-up call.

[@AveratisArmada]

I feel like the question of what is it that they actually do is a bit of misdirection. It's more likely that they really are just menial things and the real product is them. They are simply testing the limits of the Severance procedure and the tasks are meant only to research the results of it. It's recursive work.

[@zachend6218]

I think the biggest thing you all missed is the fact that Irving isn’t painting the break room he’s painting an elevator that goes down to the Lower level Petey was talking about… we see marks wife go into this elevator when she gets Introuble and the only indication we get is the arrow points down when the door closes

[@zachend6218]

This seems to suggest that marks wife is stuck down there at all times

[@mr.balloffur]

the testing floor

[@nashsanadiki3104]

The Stanley Parable of Apple+

[@ChayYP]

Dylan’s visit from Milchick still puzzles me. Milchick had to be physically at Dylan’s home, so I wonder who the two people were holding the levers for the OTC to work? Why doesn’t Lumon have mirrors? It seems like the innies were all captivated by their own reflection or image… Irving’s innie could’ve possibly been awake before…but I wonder if he’s considered “insane” to the outside world. Ms. Casey said he had some affinity for the insane. I think they’ve got a special connection. The senator’s wife seemed to already know Helene. I sensed she either helped the senator’s wife with severance or Helene is having an affair with her husband. The show is so brilliant, there could’ve been multiple attempts to escape and because the outies don’t share the experience, they keep themselves held captive. Severance could occur to someone over and over again. What the hell…

[@Glenners]

Also if he was physically at his home why didn't he just stop the kid from running in since it's SO IMPORTANT.

[@MrSkeltal268]

What I wonder about Irving is… can people be severed more than once?

[@michelle1794]

@@MrSkeltal268 not re-severed per se but I think they can just erase the memories of the innie and keep those of the outtie intact. I feel like Irv has gone through that process at least once, for him to (subconsciously) know what the corridor looks like. Maybe the last reset was when he thinks he started working there but he actually has been there for longer than he thinks. And it's the outtie who has the memories of the corridor, I wonder if the erased innie memories, in case there are any, are easier to access by your outtie rather than by "yourself"

[@matthewwright9112]

There's something about Irving sleeping at his desk, which I read as if you fall asleep or dream in severance, you sort of connect with aspects of your unsevered life, his being the black paint, especially as he seemed so obsessed with that one black image. Love the fact that he had that list as well, and the fact he knew Burty in the 'real world'.

[@april5054]

​@matthewwright9112 It's not just that; If Irving was falling asleep, that implies that his outie was staying awake at night, and he might have been doing that on purpose in order to try to strain the chip's ability to sever his memories properly, which is why he saw the black paint, and also why Milchick, and by extension Lumon, are so against any employee falling asleep. What if dreaming lets memories through? I think that's what it implies.

[@PrestongSellers]

Dude have you guys never seen anyone hit on the head suffering from amnesia?? They can talk and drive and all that with light knowing who they are and sometimes have a completely different personality. So this is actually theoretically possible… come on guys you are smarter than this

[@nancyjonesfrancis]

This series reminds me a lot of the two series The Good Place and Upload. If you haven't seen either of these, they are well worth watching. All three are excellent.

[@mattwalsh615]

I interpret them hearing things in the break room as them nearly dozing and accessing their outtie memories

[@Starfals]

I love the opening theme, i love the idea and the whole first season. It could have been better, it could have been even deeper with mysteries, but what we got was a solid 9.5/10 for me. Very well made show, which is rare nowadays. Lets hope it doesn't end like Lost, or it will lose me.

[@a2dsouza]

37:00 There's at least one strong critique of specifically capitalism: the severed workers have no idea what the company does, and definitely no idea of how their work contributes to it. This alienation of workers from their work via subdivision of tasks and extreme specialization of labour was the invention of Henry Ford, to support the efficiency levels required by capitalism, and persists to this day in the real world of private sector work. You know, or so I'm told... I don't work in the private sector. 😛

[@freddygl3]

Of course is a critique of capitalism, the corporate class controls the workers(slave is a better description) who are trying to break free and that corporate infrastructure is looking to for more power through the state, Lumen is trying to implement severance everywhere. But you are seeing communism because of the look of the building???

[@TokenTupperware]

The shows corporate structure can also be compared to communism. Equity amongst the workers. They worship and idolize the founder as though they are a god or deity. The only people to benefit from the economic, or corporate structure in this case, is the ruling class. There is no ownership or power given to the people at the bottom, the working class. Everything the theoretically need is provided to them, question free, free of charge, but the bare minimum. They also have no contact with the outside world or conception of life outside the compound... How can that not be compared to a communist dictatorship the likes of Cuba, North Korea, or China? The employees at lumon have no free will and if it is noticed, they are indoctrinated again into submission and reeducation. This screams communist control of speech, media, severance from the outside world if you will. There is no freedom or free will in communism. Also in capitalism, you have upward mobility, you have choices, it's an agreement, a free exchange of goods and services. In communism, you're ruled by force, you have no freedom and no rights. The lumen administration controls the workers through manipulation, threats, indoctrination, and force. Severance takes away huge parts of their humanity, that makes them easy to control and contain. Edit: you can have free will and speak freely in communist countries... but you may find yourself disappeared.

[@easymentality]

@@TokenTupperware the "capitalists" are brainwashing their severed employees into "socialism".

[@DizzyBusy]

​@@TokenTupperwareYou're conflating the philosophy with the reenforcement of it. Communism is common ownership of the means of production. The visuals, aesthetics of Lumon borrow from communist chic and propaganda art, but Lumon is not a communist organisation, by any stretch of the imagination. I think the economical philosophy was left purposefully vague. That's why you have a human owning corporation in a brutalist building. The show is about work culture, not communism vs capitalism. I mean, the workers can't unionise, they're not even supposed to fraternise. How is that communist?

[@059750]

Dichen Lachman was in Dollhouse too. There are a lot of parallels between that show and Severance too.

[@25zvillcb25]

Been wanting to discuss Severance but friends/family aren't finished so: 1) Really enjoy the week to week release model for a show like this. 2) I think by far the most interesting thing about the concept is that they aren't forced to stay, in that it is their (outtie only though) choice to stay. It really does put it more in a morally grey area. A worse show would have made it more straight dystopian and it'd be more black and white. 3) I think Helly only naming Delaware at the beginning may be a joke about how basically the state is known mainly as where most US corporations have their essentially fake headquarters for tax reasons 4) Between Severance, Altered Carbon, and Joss Whedon's Dollhouse, Dichen Lachman (Ms. Casey) has found herself quite a lane cast as people with multiple minds in one body or one mind in multiple bodies. Quite a niche type-casting lol 5) I think it's interesting that during the Overtime protocol Turturro's innie was the only one not focused solving anything while his outtie is the one investigating Lumen 6) it was also interesting that after Burt's retirement had the whole thing about death, they made a point to make his real life appear to be very happy that actually paints the retirement in the opposite light (and adds to the moral greyness of Severance, it seems like it could be a legitimate good choice from the outtie perspective) 7) Riley if you like Ricken in this you'd really like his character in Patriot, hilarious in a similar manner

[@MaxIronsThird]

2- We don't know that, the only person we saw responding to a resignation letter was Helly. 3- Delaware Corporation, Yep

[@Glenners]

@@MaxIronsThird True, Helly being next in line for CEO casts doubt on whether when the other innies submit a quit request if their outtie even gets it or if they just fake a response. It also makes sense why she kept going to work after waking up being hung to almost death.

[@DizzyBusy]

I just watched the show, finally. Responding to point no. 2 - Even for the outside person, it's a bad deal. It's 8 hours in your day that fully belongs to a company. That's a third of your day. And most people spend another 8 hour sleeping, so that's another third you're not using. Imagine this, you send your body to work for a company that controls your mind for the duration of work, you pause the dreams and aspirations you have as a person, not knowing what happen to your body and your homunculus-like persona at work, then you go home and only see the bruises. It's probably great for the company though. They have highly concentrated workers who never have to respond to family emergencies while at work, who can never unionise, and literally don't have a life outside.

[@jamogable]

I agree with Riley that there are so many things t explore with the story to address, like the Goats, Lumen's goal, the nature of the job that MDR, Irvin's Innie's goopy visions, Marc wife, the end goal why Petey was reintegrated, the story of the group trying to reintegrate the severed, the other sections or divisions on the severed floor, the stories of the non-severed who are working on that floor. just so many stories, directions, perceptions and possible spin-offs that Severance can lead to..

[@Thegreatequalizer]

47:45 Actually a lot of the base idea seems at least partially inspired by the case of "Benjaman Kyle" and others like him who HAVE in fact experienced both profound but also quite specific memory loss, especially in relation to the "self".

[@iandoesdesign4827]

such a good show my goodness just finished watching it, can't wait for season 2. Oh and my gosh they keyboards in the show are so awesome! Wonder if ltt could do a video about them: "The good and bad Mechanical Keyboards in tv and film"

[@theotherLewbowski]

The numbers theyre working with on their screens is gonna lead to something REALLY fucked up

[@aaronadams4657]

Highly recommend reading the Lexington letter if you haven’t yet. If it’s to be believed what the numbers are about are crazy

[@Mynetrix]

I loved this show. All my friends are saying they love moon knight and I'm watching severance at the same time and I'm just like hell na it doesn't compare, severance is on a whole nother level

[@raulgalets]

different series. both nice. this is high concept. moon knight is egyptian mythology well done, with some little moments of observance on the society and the individual.

[@moiznoorani2640]

they're both very different shows concept wise. both great

[@frankreynolds9930]

@@raulgalets Moon Knight was ok but this show is next level. Wandavision and Loki is the best new disney show outthere.

[@kenswift12345]

One thing I love about the show that I don’t hear a lot of people touch on is, why do we work? We work so we can have all the things in life that give us pleasure. Vacations, house, televisions etc. but they don’t get to enjoy that. So instead all the little benefits is what they have to look forward to, the finger cuffs, the egg table etc.

[@simay4977]

I'm as intrigued by the unknowns as I am with the ethics. Love everything about it. Love how relatable the truly bizarre scenario actually feels in terms of a work/life split. So many of us have had jobs that we can morally justify because we are "helping" our customers, while at the same time, understanding that much of the economies we all support involve human exploitation on some level. It really is genius.

[@prestonlee7107]

god damn the cinematography in this show is outstanding!

[@johnnypopstar]

Yeah it's *very* Mr Robot in quite a few places

[@thepresi2]

I truly hope people watch this after have been watched the whole series, as all the most important plot points are methodically spoiled in the first 3 minutes of the review. Severance on,y works if you do not know all those important points. BEWARE!

[@LibertyRapsher]

The review scores of 8.4, 9 and 8.5 seem really low to me. Not that most reviewers give a score, but the vast majority of people who like this show really like it and I'm definitely one of them and I'm a picky bastard. To rate this show that low almost seems like an injustice, since shows on this level don't come around everyday. I'd say approximately 1 show every 3 years over the last 20 years. I guess the rating is relative to what shows you would rate above this show. Have your ratings changed on a rewatch or anything since?

[@Lotus_Lenex]

It's low sci Fi. Like how got is low fantasy

[@justjuanreader]

If you enjoy short stories and you loved Severance, you will adore George Saunders, especially “CivilWarLand in Bad Decline”, similar tone and themes, absolutely awesome writer.

[@justjuanreader]

Also his collection “Tenth of December” is pure gold. Capitalism, sci-fi elements, hellish work situations, human misery, and hilarity. And a really specific unique tone

[@lynxaway]

Holy shit, a youtube comments section is the last place I expected to see another George Saunders fan! This show actually made me think of his short story “exhortation,” from tenth of December which you mentioned-one of my all time favorite books ever

[@justjuanreader]

@@lynxaway Absolutely right!!!!! Exhortation and Semplica Girl Diaries, too! Great to find another Saunders fan!!

[@allisonbergh4429]

Sorry for eavesdropping, but thank you both for the reading recommendation!

[@justjuanreader]

@@allisonbergh4429 it’s a great book and Saunders just published his new collection!

[@PARAM0RE]

wow you have to have a serious lack of media literacy to think this show was critiquing anything but capitalism. the main character is even named a homophone of marx and roundabout quotes him, i.e. "our job needs us, we don't need our job" and the passage they quote from page 197. i only got to the 49 min mark before i had to turn this off bc i don't think any of you paid attention at all lol.

[@johnnypopstar]

The numbers, and them "feeling scary": psychological conditioning. None of the numbers *are* scary, but each new refiner just gets told they are, and eventually experiences the fear, essentially randomly, through believing that they *should* be feeling that and doing the task for long enough that their brain just starts manifesting it. I don't believe the task has any meaning whatsoever, it's just literally pointless busywork as part of the trial phase of severance - seeing if even getting "innies" doing the most boring repetitive nonsense tasks, day in day out, has any chance of breaking down the severance. I would *hate* it if those numbers turned out to have meaning.

[@Dr.Thatcher]

35:05 This isn't capitalism gone wrong, this is capitalism working as intended. Complete corporate control to pursue profits by any means, the complete exploitation and alienation of workers by capitalists is the goal.

[@eye-zitt]

In regards to the watch: they have to wear clothing without logo and words, and the watch that outie Mark wears is a Komandirskie watch; a Russian brand that usually displays different Russian holidays on the face. Mark’s specifically shows Paratrooper Day which is huge in Russia and was probably given to him as a gift by Gemma

[@richtea87]

Severance is simply amazing

[@envagyokzaz]

My number #1 hitpick and payoff I can't believe noone mentioned: Helly reciting the sorry monologue from the break room to herself in the mirror at the real world gala.

[@PrestongSellers]

Why is that cool to you? It’s wasn’t like it was her outtie reciting it… it was her innie, just in the outside world…?

[@envagyokzaz]

@@PrestongSellers Where did I say 'cool'? Where did I say her outie was reciting it? Helly is the 'innie'. And at that point, I'd argue whether she even really is an innie any more. That clear separation got real blurry real fast, once she started getting a lot of context about who she is and what she does. To answer your question, I liked that payoff the most, because drilling that mantra into her was her enemies' tool to weaken her resolve, break her down, and strip her of any purpose. But she flips it around completely. After feeling lost, and ovewhelmed after the conversation with her father, the mantra becomes her own tool to ground herself, find a purpose, and decide on a course of action. Yeah, it's not like by saying it into a mirror means anything for her outie, but it's more about what saying it to her own image actually means for herself.

[@Max_McGamer]

When they talked about whether the things they heard from Ms. Casey were true or not I remembered that mark put petey's phone in a box with "camping" written on it. I can't think of any reason for that shot except to confirm that mark actually did like camping

[@SpartanGuy]

I hope they review Better Call Saul.

[@thealphareich]

The bad accent is intentional and part of the story. It's actually kinda tragic and has to do with domestic violence.

[@jamesstrieb1]

say more!

[@thunderousapplause]

mormonism, Scientology, high control, cults. The references are abundant.

[@dm9910]

Regarding why the work has to be secret, I think from a top-down perspective it's meant to be an exaggerated version of bullshit corporate jobs in the real world, it's supposed to evoke the pointlessness that many of us feel or have felt at some point in our own working lives. The corporate propaganda trying to convince you it's actually important and making a difference in the world rings true as well. From a bottom-up perspective, I think there are 3 main in-universe reasons that Lumon might have to keep the work secret. One possibility is that the work is genuinely pointless. It seems that Lumon's main product is severance itself, not the output from their own severed workers, so it seems plausible that it's all a test of severance. Certainly the ratio of workers to supervisors says "experiment" more than it does "workplace". If that's the case, of course Lumon can't tell the workers the work is pointless, because they'd behave differently and mess up the research. Second possibility could be that Lumon are telling the truth, and that it really is easier to do MDR if you don't know what it is, for some weird mystical reasons. And the third possibility is that whatever they're doing is something sinister enough that the employees would refuse to do the job if they knew what it was. Petey at least seemed to think that was a possibility, and he probably knew a fair bit more than we as the audience do right now. Personally I think the work is pointless, because that works best as satire, but the sinister explanation is also very plausible. Lumon actually being serious about the "unimpeded intuition" thing is a distant third for me.

[@lynxaway]

The third possibility is most likely if you read The Lexington Letter, a short story that was released after severance by the creators that takes place within the same world

[@amardeshmukh6539]

If u haven't watched RRR.... What the hell are u doing? It's on Netflix.

[@Bonjurro]

I’m suspicious of Ricken. There is a knitted or maybe stuffed goat on the dresser in the baby’s room with the three beds. 🤨

One show which definitely benefited for me from waiting a week for the next episode was HBO's Chernobyl. I wonder if you're going to review that eventually. It's a very short season, but easily makes me forgive HBO for the horrible ending of GoT. :)

[@piyushsrivastava6671]

The work described in this show is so apt like people don't always enjoy their work and sometimes its absurd to themselves. This show takes that to a next level of metaphor that is so hilarious, looking at numbers and putting them in a box.

[@Dmitriy.0]

45:45 - Come on Riley, the goats were so obviously not ready!

[@lockheartmac]

i dont always agree with david but hes absolutely right about the ending for the season.

[@beepboop8973]

1:06:37 - he was holding their wedding photo before he got severed

[@beepboop8973]

1:20:16 Mark’s fish tank is of red and blue to represent the duality of his life because they are separated

[@musicamaxima]

The gay relationship isn’t incidental, it’s part of the message that taboos and social restrictions are artificial. Condemning a gay relationship because of a religious text is no different from condemning an office romance because of the handbook.

[@Hollycb12]

EXACTLY

[@thisisvik]

Severance is a revolving restaurant. Whether that's a compliment or criticism depends on how you feel about revolving restaurants.

[@stianh.4587]

Guys, if you liked this one, get a hold of Escape at Dannemora. Also directed by Ben Stiller and Patricia Arquette doing an even more impressive performance where you can hardly identify her. It's also a limited miniseries, so David will love it!

[@DaveFurbush]

Severance runs a very real risk of getting shittily convoluted like Westworld. Which was perfect for one season with a bit of a cliff hanger... Season 2 was almost cool... There was so much squandered potential, and now it's just awful. Severance needs to go the same route as The Leftovers.

[@ChayYP]

This show almost made me go back and attempt to finish Westworld. I’m glad you just reminded me as to why I shouldn’t.

[@MrSkeltal268]

Thanks for mentioning the leftovers - loved that show. I hope they have a plan for the next seasons to conclude it.

[@liam-rb4eb]

the one on the left is not very perceptive

[@__D10S__]

"the multibillion corporation is actually giving sociailst vibes" lmao

[@tehamill1]

I think miss cobel wants to reintegrate to remember her mother. I think they either keep her permanently severed or permanently the other way and she only met her in one version of herself.

[@Meraxes6]

I haven’t heard this theory, I like it. I thought she wanted revenge on Lumen for killing her mom with their faulty breathing tubes. Maybe it’s both. But then how does she enter and leave the building without being switched?

[@Glenners]

I haven't heard this either. I think most people concluded she's not severed because she doesn't flip flop, but it's possible they flipped her and just kept her that way.

[@michelle1794]

@@Glenners I do believe she is severed in some sort of way, a different way than the others. Otherwise the board wouldn't just fire her knowing she knows loads of stuff about the company.

[@Ali-gy6zf]

29:53 i believe that irving is drawing a different hallway, we see it when gemma is fired and gets sent back to "testing"

[@april5054]

Yeah, it's the "testing floor". Judging by what she says, it seems to be a place where an innie's memories are reset, which probably means irving has actually been working at Lumon much linger than his innie knows.

[@RobRoss]

Oh look. A two-year old youtube video is still 100% relevant today. Probably because it’s 2024 and we still don’t have season two yet. 😠 C’mon Ben Stiller. Rod Serling did 36 episodes A YEAR. Maybe you can make 8-10 once a year? Please? Anyway, back to the topic. I interpreted the “Waffle Party” to be an orgy. If you think about it, it makes sense. These severed people are human, but normally never have an opportunity to have sex. And it’s not permitted by Lumon. So this would be a great incentive. So I think it starts with the waffles, then moves on to some weird cult sex ritual.

[@Kia044]

The interesting bit about Cobel\Selvig is that we still don't know if she's severed or not. Because who says that you need to follow the format of 9 to 5 like the office workers. She could be a long term severed working in a different time base. Or even something completely different using a separate functionality of the severed chip.

[@Nevyn515]

Yes, the movie Paycheck with Ben Afflek was the same concept, but I assume the company has different goals in this show. And the show is way better than that popcorn flick. The waffle party is because innies have no concept of breakfast or beds or sex, as there is no fraternising and they only exist during the day so have only experienced lunch. That’s probably why it’s a creepy cult-ish version of those alien concepts with a cat o 9 tails based on the cult rules. Ricken (Rick N is an innie name) is also Cool Rick in Patriot… Coincidence? I think not. “She’s alive!” - they were just desperately searching for a missing baby a minute earlier, and Mark is surrounded by hippy morons. Heavy disagree that a season finale should have nothing left to say to make you watch season 2, as they knew that season 2 had been green-lit before the shooting script was written for the finale, so they didn’t have to wrap it up like they would have had to if it had been cancelled. The watch thing is because there are numbers on Marks’s watch, but not his work watch. Labels etc also are not allowed.

[@LibertyRapsher]

This show is a a play on life and the sinister nature of it... It's very Matrixie to say the least. On the surface it's a play on the corporate work place, but the actual meaning behind everything is tied to our existence in this life. For whatever reason most people don't seem to pick up on this... they think this show is merely satire on the corporate work place.

[@lancetschirhart7676]

They’re making a mistake here a lot of people are making, and that is that there is a difference between experiencing something and remembering that you experienced it. If I was about to torture you, pull out your teeth or electrocute you, but I promised to give you a pill afterwards to cause amnesia, would that calm you down, so you’d say, I won’t remember the torture, therefore, the torture isn’t really going to happen to me? Keep that in mind when watching this show

[@lionpeach8130]

My theories for Severance season 2: (*These are just for fun, please feel free to correct or adjust anything) Cobel's dead mother's innie is stored in a severance chip that Cobel wears on her neck (at the beginning of E6), she wants to resurrect her dead mother with reintegration, which is also Kier's version of Lumon - Resurrection and Eternal Life, but The Board just wants it for power and politic. This explains why she worships Kier, despises The Board, lost her mind when she got fired, and yet tries to save Lumon in the end. The severance procedure basically creates another you, with the main flaw being the lack of memories, which is what Kier and Cobel are trying to overcome. Cobel is actively trying to see if innie Mark has feeling for his outie wife Gemma or if outie Mark has feeling for his innie best friend Petty. If either version of Mark does have feelings, that means memories can be shared between innie and outie, therefore it's possible for her dead mother's innie(in the severance chip on Cobel's neck) to restore memories. The dark hallway where Ms.Casey "lives" is a storage for consciousness, it contains the innie consciousness of all the Lumon founders and Ms.Casey. Probably involved Irving's father, hence his obsession to find and investigate it The baby goats are probably animal test subjects used to host the consciousness of another human innie. Young goats' brains have not developed enough, that's why the guy with baby goats said "they are not ready yet". Ms.Casey might be a human test subject. Their goal is to migrate the consciousness of all the founder's innie onto another human, therefore archives Resurrection and Eternal Life.

[@raylau528]

Ah finally!! I’ve been wanting you guys to watch this show

[@violetr7296]

16:30 Stop with the lost misinformation 😭 so far this show IS doing what most people suppose lost did aka introduce random wacky crap (the goats they have literally said was a throwaway joke) but in lost all the things people say were random have consistent internal lore answers if you actually pay attention

[@StephenDeLaRosa]

David is right. The ending was a betrayal.

[@TheTriangleOffense47]

There are so many unanswered questions in this show, like Im really so concerned about the Ricken & his friends. They were so damn weird to me

[@april5054]

I thought it was pretty obvious, but the waffle party thing isn't meant to unsettle (not the innies, anyway.) The innies, although they seem to know what sex is, have no access to sexual or pornographic material of any kind. The waffle party, then, is their only source of sexual release, and having it as the top incentive makes sense. Plus, associating it with the Kier cult stuff by using those masks depicting the characters from that painting is probably meant to brainwash them, just like everything else they get access to (i.e. paintings, books, the animation when helly finishes her first file, are all to do with Kier Eagan and are probably meant to make the workers worship him like a god or something.)

[@thecompass80]

I don’t know if they’re going to go that particular route, but the “numbers make you feel uncomfortable” thing made me remember those jobs at Google where people were paid to scroll through images and tag or delete those which were way too extreme to appear on a search. I saw articles explaining how these people rarely lasted more than a few months and most of them needed therapy after leaving.

[@daniel_poore]

David youre a great camera dude... and i mostly love your energy on camera.... but a few times here you look directly in the camera with the creepiest look ever that I feel frightend at home. I almost feel like its on purpose since you get filming.... stop scaring me at home David! WTH! Lol.

[@Pang-nn4eq]

Irvin's black paint actually can be just oil. Lumen literally has an oil symbol in its logo. And black paint looks like oil. This has obvious nods to enviromentalism. Though I don't think they're "exploring the see for oil" or whatever. I think they are just calibrating the chips for other to-be-severed employees. They are calibrating human emotion, etc. Also, Helly says "Ah, haven't you noticed that everything is bullshit here" when they go to security room and there's no one there. There's obvious commentary of the company itself being fraudulent. It seems like omniscience is implied but they are not willing or are unable to actually spare the resources to surveil, anyone really. It's fraud.

[@GoatMalp]

Wait......y'all are in Vancouver? Not a big deal, just surprised I didn't pick up on that until now.

[@politta]

That WW1 bit, for me it was the sister's friends trying to include Mark in the conversation, and the best they got was this ridiculous/obvious fact, but they went along with it to include him.

[@judygal33]

How am I just finding this now? Bless you for making content that lasts for an hour-and-a-half about his series!!!!! hahahaha I don't think Lumon is a sole proprietorship, but that would be hilarious

[@karencove7197]

Regarding remembering things like driving a car, etc. Even amnesiacs remember how to carry out tasks they learned before, like walking and talking, etc., which they did many times before losing their memory. There is the famous case of a man who cannot form new memories beyond 20-30 seconds but can play the complex piano pieces he learned before his illness.

[@rafaelmarkos4489]

High concept means that it is possible to give a short high-level summary. Low-concept means that it requires a low-level, granular explanation. Similar to high and low-level programming languages.

[@robertleidner9703]

Man, talk about a group of tech bro trying to understand human emotions. Nice effort but I don’t think I’ll be trusting your analysis on tv shows. Most your hood point we’re taken from someone smarter then you and it shows.