Severance Episode 6

I've been biting my tongue when it comes to your Severance reactions because I don't want to inadvertently spoil the show for you whether that be confirming, denying or refusing to comment could be an indication whether or not you're onto something. I don't want to debunk or offer my opinion because that could or may very well likely alter your fan theories and to me how you come up with theories based on the show and how you reach certain conclusions is very interesting. I have a few theories that I want to put forward once you've reacted to the show in its entirety and what my line of thinking was compared to yours when I was watching the show for the first time. Because one repeat viewing there are clear lines of foreshadowing that's been peppered into the show that you might not have picked up on a first viewing. For now, I just want to comment on the pregnant lady interaction in this episode. So just to recap, when Devan, Mark's sister, was having contractions and in the process of giving birth she went next door and asked another pregnant woman for coffee. During that scene she seemed very standoffish and apathetic to Devan's presence. In the next episode she meets the woman who has now given birth; she continues to seem standoffish and doesn't appear to remember Devan. There are also a few contradictions that she noticed when Devan assumed that the woman's baby was named William like she said she would in the previous episode, but he's instead named Bradley. The implication from this scene is that something's off and that she needs to investigate, later she finds out that her husband that she met at the park is a politician with close ties to Lumin and their severed program. Now, I have a few thoughts. Firstly, we're supposed to assume that she's been severed, and that lumen has broader ties than previously thought. My issue is that based on two scenes we're supposed to conclude that she's been severed, but my initial conclusion after this episode was that she just didn't like Devan. The reason why I thought that was the case was because she didn't seem to act that differently in both those scenes. She came off as standoffish, introverted but polite and wants to avoid confrontation when possible.  We're also supposed to make the conclusion that she's been severed based on the fact that the name of the baby has been changed from William to Bradley, but that didn't strike me as odd because it's not uncommon for parents to have a variety of names for a baby and that they've just changed their minds when the baby was born. alternatively, her husband could have just picked the name for her which would be a dick move on his part but maybe he just has more sway over these decisions in the relationship, which while possessive doesn't suggest anything particularly nefarious and is back up by the fact that she seems very introverted and anti-confrontational. The woman and Devan also seem like very different people that wouldn't really mingle. She's upper class while Devan's lower class, and this was pointed out in the previous episode when she noted that the other cabin was more expensive and spacious. The woman also seems to be more poised and traditionally feminine whereas Devan comes off as outgoing, slightly tomboyish and a bit of a dork like her husband. Now, based on the genre of Severed we as the audience are supposed to conclude that something's off and that this could tie into a grand conspiracy, and this is backed up by several key facts. It's established as early as episode 2 that half the town has been severed meaning statistically the woman has likely been severed and these two interactions are supposed to highlight that. We're also reminded that being severed is incredibly common when Mark and his date go to Pete's daughter's concert. The lead singer sings about how his first love has been stolen by severed and the entire crowd seems to be vocally anti Lumin which could indicate that they've all had loved ones that have signed into Lumin's severed program, which again is statistically likely based on the fact presented in episode 2 that half the town has been severed.  Now in real life if I had that type of interaction with the woman, I think I would have the awareness to conclude that she just doesn't like me and move on. But given the nature of mysteries and thrillers it's an incredibly common trope for an odd interaction to lead to a grand conspiracy when in reality it's just that an odd interaction. I have no concrete criticism about this scene other than I'm just genre and media savvy enough to pick up when the author is trying to guide the audience to a specific conclusion but based on information within the context of the show my conclusion would have been wildly different, but because I'm aware of the Chekhov's gun rule I'm aware that this scene is supposed to tie into the story as opposed to just being a random scene. Up until this point the show has done an effective job of steering the audience in the writing differently while not being too obvious about it. This particular scene is not an example of that.

Alice Flagg