Severance 1x08 Reaction

You didn’t notice Irving was painting the testing floor! Not just any elevator.

Alex Martin

Same. I never really rooted for Harmony until watching these two react to her but now I get it! I could easily see that harmony could be 'good.' Especially at the end when she destroys her 'Kier Shrine' at her house and tells Mark to get away from Lumon. I think Milchick is more the company man and Harmony is more using Lumon for a different agenda? What that agenda is...IDK? You've listened to probably more podcasts than I have. I'm more just curious what Myrtle Eagan School for Girls was like and how her deceased mother plays into the story

Devin Eleven

Fuck I wish I waited. After that ending it would be two less days of waiting for season 2

My Toasty Toast

I just started this series earlier this week and I’m sorry I’m not waiting until Wednesday

My Toasty Toast

It is so interesting to see someone root for harmony. I have listened to hundreds of hours of podcasts and what not and this is the first time I’ve seen someone think harmony is “good” in some way. I just don’t see it. To me she is lumen through and through and if anything fights even dirtier than lumen themselves by actually spying on mark and his sister…… the moment Dylan finishes the phrase from the book when Marc is reading it was such a great moment. I got pumped up like I just got a great halftime speech at a game. This show is just so dang fun to watch. Cannot wait for the reaction to final episode.

alex otis

The pregnancy on the news was likely from someone else's Waffle Party x.x

Isaac

That’s my read. It would ‘explain’ why Gemma’s life as an innie is so different to what we see of the other innies, she doesn’t get to wake up because there is nothing to wake up to she dead-dead.

Jay Craig

My theory - I think the middle managers like Harmony and Seth also thinking the work is important (when it in reality isn’t) is just simply a way for the show to portray that they don’t really know what’s going on either. We get this also in Harmony’s interactions with the board. The fact is for how much they probably think of themselves as ‘above’ the innies they’re just as indoctrinated as anyone else, and my feeling is the show is trying to display that by having them get so invested in the clearly menial bullshit ‘work’ too. I also still think the stuff about ‘reading symbols’ is nonsense too, if their technology was this advanced why would they need human slaves at all, they’d surely have some form of ai automation at this point

Jay Craig

I have a theory that Cobel’s mom got sick then Lumon got her better but also severed her permanently saying it’s the only way to help her or whatever they would say. And now Cobel loves them and worships them because they were able to help her. And that’s why she is so obsessed with mark because she wants to know if severed people can still maintain that connection in hopes of being able to do it with her mother, who if born in 1944 would be 80 so still could be alive and hoping to get a goodbye or something. This sounds crazy but this show is crazy so it could be true. And I think she’s so devoted to Keri because Lumon was the only company able to help her at the time, and therefore keir helped her. Further ceos might’ve done stuff she disagreed with or her devotion might shifted due to it becoming some weird computer company and not health anymore. She revered keir for his ability to help her mom. Not Lumon because that has nothing to do with her helping her mom in the modern way Lumon runs. At least it seems Lumon has shifted away from medicine and pharmaceutical. Her mom could’ve also grown up with her supporting keir and could’ve even given her body to them when she got sick.

the chosen one

Irving seems to be painting the elevator to the testing floor, not the break room. Why? Who knows! I thought the show got a little too weird and mystery-boxy in the middle of the season -- the goats especially felt like something thrown in without a logical reason on the whiteboard in the writer's room -- but these final two episodes are brilliant. Really looking forward to S2.

Mike

correct pure speculation

Dan Cervantes

I guess I'm the winner and I get to say it: in his wellness session, Ms Casey tells Irving "Your outie loves the sound of radar". In this episode we find out Irving's outie's dog is named Radar, so he literally loves the sound of Radar 🥺 Once you understand severance, the idea of severed sex workers seems inevitable. I'm pro sex work (or pro sex worker's rights at least) but I'm sure a lot of sex workers would happily sever themselves and not have to think about it. The more you think about it the darker it gets. And the idea that the highest reward you can receive is essentially a sex party is funny/dark/twisted, for most innies who never had sex that would be an insane incentive. But where do those sex workers go after? Downstairs like Ms Casey? The potential for abuse is staggering and horrible. Ms Casey thinks she works part time at lumen, and when she gets in the elevator she goes back upstairs. Instead she goes downstairs to the "testing floor". But in theory, for part-time contract workers, if they work 2 hours a week for 1 year, they're 100 hours old. Weird and horrible to think about.

Kara

you guys should check out something called the "Lexington Letter". Cool little story relating to Lumon and severance

Meximus

Something I remembered was when Harmony says "My mother was an atheist" VS. "My mother was religious". I wonder if she lost a part of her mother to severance, or had to suffer seeing both sides/ see her switch fully to another side and reintegration is the only way she can get her to remember her again. She certainly wants to prove reintegration for personal reasons. My first theory was that she has been reintegrated herself and wants to prove and validate her experience--but doesn't want to reveal herself (because they might immediately test on her/ or reset her memories).

Harfie

I'm partially with you, I miss my 24 ep sitcoms, I don't think shows like Lost had any business having that many episodes though lol, it made the quality and pacing so inconsistent. I moreso have an issue with how long it takes for new seasons/movies nowadays, Severance had its own unique issues but it's a widespread problem.

Nina

Your faces at the reveal of the Kier mask on the bed killed me 😆

jerry

Mark has spent time crying his eyes out in grief over his wife while his wife is actually in the building he's parked beside and he doesn't realize he interacts with her regularly. It is practically impossible to emphasize how messed up that is.

Damien Fenton

There's [another show i wont name] where people speculated that [random-seeming labour] was fake, and I have the same response: way too much has been put into this for it to be random testing fake work. they desperately needed the macrodata refinement crew to complete the work, that's why they gave them leeway. if it was fake they could easily lie and say they completed the work rather than rely on them to do it. the management don't believe the innies have the capacity to do this. they think they're toddlers they can control with break room visits and incentives. most innies willingly march to their deaths during 'retirement' and the entire religion/culture of lumen is built around people happily doing labour without complaining. they also have a ton of high technology - a machine that can read symbols through clothing and flesh e.g. they rely way too much on technology to save on labour, they're trying to create a work environment of essentially created slaves that require the minimum amount of security measures to control (literally 2 people we've seen in the show on this floor). if the innies require much more guards and measures to control them, they're no longer cost effective. there are historical and current examples of this in our real world, historical slavery, indentured servitude, forced prison labour, and post-industrialization workers rights movements.

Kara

I have a similar pitch: in cases of brain damage (not death), they fake the patient's death, take the comatose patient, sever the brain, isolate a non-damaged part and create a new personality.

Kara

can't believe it's been like 2+ years, i miss when shows had 24 episodes every year and like 30% of them were budget-saving character hangout eps

Kara

just in case anyone panics reading this it's speculation, not a spoiler lol

Kara

Theory: I wasn’t sure if you commented on what Irving is painting, but I believe he was painting from his memory. This image is not bleed over from the innie. He used to be “Milchik”, and that is how he saw that elevator.

Dan Cervantes

Haha I knew you were gonna regret it when you said you were only gonna watch 1 ep, well we did warn you. We had to wait a full week and then now years before the new season, it's been rough!

Nina

In a previous episode when Ms. Casey said a hug was available upon request, I think she was the one that wanted the hug. :(

Michael M

I'm still trying to understand if the work really has any meaning or if the work is just experiments on people to find out how successful Severance is and how to manipulate or control the workers. And why the hell are they leaving the guy alone in the building, who a few days earlier choked the guy, who was part of the group that escaped from the office, even though the door was locked and could only be opened with a security card, which no one there checked. That's my main criticism of this show: the security measures are really bad. But to be honest, I also see a plot point here. If the workers are practically just test subjects, they would also give them leeway to analyze their behavior.

Robert H.

I might be alone in this, but I don't think Lumon hard-faked Gemma's death. I believe they possibly have a hand in converting fresh corpses and that's what makes them "full-time". There's no Gemma to go back to. Ms. Casey's consciousness is the full existence of that body now. Just my thought

Isaac

I'm really looking forward to your reaction next week :D The bad thing is: I've seen the trailer. Try to avoid it and be surprised by season 2. The trailer was crazy.

Robert H.

3...to be fair, there were few compounding reasons for the huge gap. Shouldn't be like this next season

Isaac

having seen the last episode i dont understand how people have waited for 2 years, milena was about to cry and we have to wait 2 months

LM Reactions

You forgot Episode 9 :D

Robert H.

T T T

AoT tier cliffhanger, huh? 😁

Isaac