https://x.com/milfatron3000/status/1895361933655900656?t=xFKRmUenwrW6qE2R_pu6ng&s=19
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Can one of you Severance superfans explain that last one to me? I’m sure half of what went on went straight over my head.
ITT someone mentioned a severance just for pooping and peeing and lumon is badically doing tests on Gemma doing a severance just for going to the dentist or airplane flights or writing thank you cards.
Seems like they’re gonna kill her when mark finishes whatever cold harbor is
OK, so why did they make her Ms. Casey? What’s the point of that?
I think in part as another test of the severance tech to see if Mark and Gema would recognize each other and in part as a failsafe in case she escaped testing.
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So many easier ways to test this. No need to waste your super special test subject on this easy shit.
Also presumably they worked this out in beta testing, and I have to assume they are well past the point of “Well, do we really know if severed people won’t recognize their outie’s family members?”
Yeah, I know, I shouldn’t overthink it. But this seems a bit much.
Real talk about last episode:
Obviously we learned a lot about Gemma and Mark, but we also learned some new things about severance. I think Gemma is the first example of multiple innies. Ms. Casey is a different innie than the innies on the test floor, and the Christmas innie seems different than the dentist innie. I’m not sure why people would want multiple innies to torture, but that definitely seems to be something Lumon is testing, and Gemma could be one of the first test subjects for that. So testing how she reacts to Mark may be different than testing they have done on standard innies.
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right, we definitely had no idea before this that this was possible, but you’re right, the different innies seem to have no knowledge of anything other than that one room.
some questions
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when gemma escapes, she goes to the testing floor elevator, seems like her outie wasn’t aware what it was, which implies that when they really do need Ms. Casey on the severed floor, gemma isn’t aware when she gets into the elevator? Otherwise Gemma would know it’s just another “room” effectively and wouldn’t be an escape path.
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the rooms all have names, do these correspond to the “files” the MDR team refines??? That feels correct but I’m not positve. Are the numbers they’re refining generated by gemma’s innie’s experiences in those rooms?
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did Gemma voluntarily sign up for this or was she kidnapped? She got the O&D cards via some sort of covert recruitment activity that Lumon runs but it’s not clear (to me?) what happened after that.
overall I wasn’t crazy about this episode, it did move the story forward (a lot) but it didn’t feel very satisfying. the aesthetic was on point tho.
- When she’s talking to the doctor at the end, it’s the same doctor we saw briefly when she and mark went to the fertility doctor. She seems aware she’s doing a job and will be back to real life after she’s visited all the rooms
I definitely don’t think it was a straight-up kidnapping.
Gemma is suffering psychologically when she goes to the fertility clinic where we first see the creepy doctor guy. Later, she receives the Chikhai Bardo card in the mail and says “I think I got on their mailing list at the clinic.” My conclusion is that it’s a Lumon clinic. Mark says it’s weird, she says she likes it. I believe she ends up being drawn deeper into Lumon, seeking solace from her pain over the miscarriage/inability to get pregnant. I think she ends up essentially faking her own death/voluntarily entering this program in an effort to “get better”, get pregnant, etc. Perhaps they convince her she did something terrible and must comply with their demands in order to redeem herself. At some point Gemma says “I want to go home” which to me really implies she thinks that’s possible.
Lots of Scientology-ish stuff. At the beginning that looked a lot like an advanced e-meter. And the whole thing of a woman being “disappeared” makes me think of Shelly Miscavige.
When Gemma tells Mark she has a lecture to give, it’s on Tolstoy’s Hadji Murat. The internet tells me that story is about a commander who aligns with the enemy in order to gain revenge. I think this confirms that Ms. Cobel will end up helping our gang.
The creepy doctor is definitely raping her in one of those rooms right?
I am very suspicious of Devon, Mark’s sister. I think she was involved in Lumon in some way but never intended for Mark to get involved, or for it to get this far. When Dr. Reghabi peaces out (holy shit she is trash and I hope she never returns) does Devon call an ambulance like any sane person would do? She does not.
It is just terrifying that each innie spends their entire existence in those rooms. Speaking of which, it seems obvious that the plane crashing is a simulation, which shows that’s possible (ORTBO).
This is why it’s a superstition/tradition to not decorate/buy baby items before the baby actually arrives!
Ricken mentioning his outdoorsmanship is coming back someday.
Compliance is definitely part of the effect on innies.
What the fuck is the deal with the dopplegangers manning the computers in that control room.
And finally, always nice to see Sandra Bernhard!
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yeah this seems for sure
yeah absolutely
100%. And given that Gemma’s outie murdered him (I’m assuming he’s dead but eh, probably not) it seems likely that he’s a dick outside the rooms too
I’m a little back and forth on this, sometimes I think she’s just a dumbass but this makes more sense. There’s been too many coincidences and they live in the same company town with Mark but neither her nor her husband have any overt connection to the company (at least, before Rickon’s book deal which seems a little too convenient).
+1 to all of these, great catch on the simulation bit, and yes the dopplegangers freaked me out
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She hasn’t been in Cold Harbor yet
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Wait, wat?
Never heard of this one. How would baby showers work in such a universe?
Most people I know wait until after first trimester to let people know and then the process slowly begins. Definitely ramps up as the date approaches.
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When I give baby gifts I just remind the parents to keep the receipt handy in case the baby dies.
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The stuff gets brought home and put in a closet.
I just Googled and apparently this might be a Jewish thing!
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Right and mark is stuck at 96%. So maybe the output of refinement feeds into whatever happens in that room
I must have missed this, but who is the “creepy doctor guy”. Is it the same guy who is in the rooms.
Question about this, but I’d always assumed that the team worked on rooms together. But now I’m wondering if each team member just gets an individual room to themselves and then when that’s done they get assigned another one. I don’t think I remember anyone other than Mark working on Cold Harbor.
On the other hand, if it’s only Mark working on Cold Harbor, why does the rest of the team matter? I get that Mark will refuse to do anything without his friends, but when they get the B team, why bother getting actual refiners from other locations. They could just have three of their most fun and charismatic severeds (or even unsevereds for that matter) faking it to encourage Mark along.
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Yes, that guy. Right after they enter the fertility clinic he walks right by them and is clocking her from the jump.
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Are we to assume he sabotages their fertility treatments in order to recruit her?
I did not assume that, I think they have real fertility problems even without his help. Just an opinion, but I think he identifies her as vulnerable and has some sick twisted personal plans for her as well, and that starts whatever series of events that ends up with her on the testing floor.