#when it comes down to it i really am in this for irving

[consultingfujoshi]

idk man I just feel like if you're gonna reduce irving's significance down to just his relationship with burt and not flesh out what was established for him in season 1 with him being a revolutionary at all the least you can do is let him actually get something out of that relationship otherwise it just comes off like you're intentionally kicking the gay character whilst he's down yknow. you don't let him contribute to plot at all then cut all his character moments short and then hastily write him out in a scene with zero buildup where he doesn't even get any real closure with the one thing he was allowed to care about this season. how can I not assume you just don't gaf about him at this point 🤣

[buglism]

Hi, may I request general romantic relationship headcanons for Mark S? The reader is a refiner. I’d prefer a female reader but gender neutral would be okay. Also if you‘re comfortable with it, I’d welcome nsfw headcanons. I promise to enjoy each headcanon equally. Thank you!

Mark S (Innie) x Fellow Refiner Reader (innie) "The Work is mysterious & Important; EMDR Companion program" rating: 16+ general audience, 18+ for content down the line should it be requested A/N: thank you for being my first severance request, and thank you for enjoying each headcanon equally. The board says sorry for not including NSFW in this section of headcanons, though if you like this the board will send another document your way per your request. Thank you, the board has concluded this authors note. jk, another note: this is... something! and long, not rlly headcanons? eh, this is set in a slight AU bc I couldnt figure out how to write reader as MDR, helly has been with lumon for a little bit and they decided to get her a 'friend' that wasn't mark (despite them both admitting it was attraction but helly would rather be 'whole' when she loves someone or love no one & mark is...yeah you'll see.) to keep her happy :p

Mark S (Innie) & EMDR Therapist reader (gender neutral) Being with Mark S would be like.... pre S2xE7 (sobs)

cw: hints to angst with S2E7 and how im writing readers job (im sorry, i love ms casey so much she needs someone as a coworker too), Panic attack mention/hints to severe anxiety, mental health discussions/therapy practices (EMDR :3 if yall know anything ab this the potential for angst here is, unlimited) No gender mentioned (plz lmk if i missed any i am in fact stoned every time ive come back to this to write, including now), heavy symbolism/references that id love to see if anyone catches, drug mention but no use, i sure as fuck hope this is comprehensible o7 might as well be a fic at this point

being throwing head first into a submarine with absolutely no idea how you got there.

when you woke up on that damn table to the sound of a female voice arguing with a male voice from a small speaker on said table you thought "well, i must be dead and this is hell."

unfortunately you are not.

The female voice, who you come to know as Helly R, is what Ms Casey calls your 'Big sister' in a companion program lumon is trying out. You are one of the first of the co-worker companions, you should feel honored to be apart of lumon history. The second voice is who you've come to know as Mark, head of Macrodata Refinement (MDR).

They had argued for a little bit, helly resisting mark's advice on how to be friendly and approachable, meanwhile you promptly had a panic attack and passed out again on the table; your outie was notified and not surprised. Poor thing.

Your routine was simple; you'd arrive earlier than most; besides Ms. Cobel, who you still cant quite understand. But that's neither this nor that. After you and her make quiet and...somehow terrifying eye contact over the tea machine Irving arrives while she goes to her office.

You'd prep your desk near the MDR's & find the daily 'activity log' set out for you and helly (soon to be the entire MDR department) by Mr Milchick & Ms Casey, scanning over it as you chat with irving.

He's such a sweet older gentleman, you imagine he is what people would see if they were to have a grandfather, or perhaps a kind uncle; though, you're not really sure what those words mean fully, he is kind to you and has started making handmade motivational sticky notes that you find when you return from your lunch, even long after your first week.

Dylan arrives not too long after, you can't quite place him; he's caught somewhere between a complete and utter asshole or oddly the voice of reason? but you don't bother one another much, once you found a slightly broken finger trap on your desk, three days in and you were not adjusting as well as lumon thought you would. So, of course you press him, he says he "didn't want that junk anyways, it barely worked for shit. Must've thought your desk was the trash can"

he doesn't mean it, you know he doesn't; Or you did, because when you deflate and come back from another 'bonding excursion' with helly you find a few extra food tokens on your desk along with a new note from irving. "he says sorry, he doesn't but i feel he should so i made him give you some of his tokens as penance. - Irving B" and a drawing of your face smiling at a forward angle sits under his signature. His outtie must be very artistically talented, it makes sense why he spends so much time at O&D.

And then man of the hour & helly arrive around the same time, they stagger us, you know?

You and helly start your morning in a room near the wellness center, Ms. casey set's it up special for you and her; the décor something between an office room & a conversation pit with desk chairs. It smells of a soft lavender & spice as you two chat about the daily topic, in the beginning it was awkward, but you and helly do grow close, well. As close as lumon allows. (Ms casey comes in often with drinks, usually bottled water. And while lumon is listening, sometimes she allows herself to sit in silence with you two while you chat, piping up sometimes with her own comment. As odd as she is she is a comforting aura in Lumon, how lucky you are)

now with mark it started off as just coworkers, you didn't quite have a major focus on romance; a lot of internal conflict arose the last time you tried to think about that.

Did you have a spouse? did he have a spouse? what are the ethicals of innies dating if their outties are married? is that cheating? Its against lumon policy thats for sure.

you spark conversation every so often, chatting with him and MDR through out your day as you catalog their mood patterns in the journal provided by Lumon.

He's more fond of you than he would like to admit, though still struggling with his own internal conflict you two find solace when he has a particularly rough day.

"You don't have to baby sit me-" he says, sitting in the same room you and helly have grown fond of, a red and green candle lit by Ms Casey sits in the center of a dark oak stool nearby.

"It's not babysitting mark, I asked Mr Milchick if me and Ms Casey could do something to help ease your stress. He recommended we try a therapeutic bonding exercise, Ms. Casey has taught me so much. Let me help, please?"

you may wonder, what could lumon do to help mark? Well

"I still don't understand exactly what you want me to do?" the clay ball is an odd sensation in his palm, somewhere between wet playdough and overmixed clay

"You let the ball form however you want, sculpt till you're happy and we chat. It's similar to something Ms casey taught me about EMDR, Eye movement desensitization and reprocessing therapy."

He lets the ball sit on the table for a moment, staring at its pale color before he sighs and begins shaping it.

At the same time you begin as well, the cold clay takes forms easily as you mold its first section "what emotions do you feel at the moment, Mark?" he pauses

"Frustration, i guess. and a little embarrassment- i mean how is molding clay and talking gonna help me when there's nothing wrong with me." his voice is filled with hot frustration, the corners of his lips tremble as he forms the base of his sculpture.

the room is quiet as tears seem to fall from the corner of his eyes, but he doesn't stop sculpting as I sit silently next to him

"it just feels so...hopeless" he says, forming one of the many branches "I feel, hopeless. I guess" you smile, you understand. The clay between your fingers molds into the thorax of a beetle like creature, you're not sure its name yet but you know it well enough as if you've sculpted this a thousand times before.

"I suppose we all feel hopeless" i admit to him as my eyes drift back down to the clay, antennae form easily; the small ridges made by indenting and forming with your nails "But i want you to know, when I awoke on that table; though i did faint, i wasn't scared of you. You and helly have become very important people in the 78 hours i have been awake so far, And i think you should be proud of that." i say and lean back from the table, sitting atop it a medium clay sculpted firefly.

He blinks, once, twice seemingly confused and sees he's formed a tree with many spiraling branches. He wipes his tears against his sleeve and glances at me with something beginning akin to a soft smile before he shifts and nods.

"would you like to go back, mark?" "yeah, thank you. "Of course, mark."

since then you and ms casey have been tasked with keeping MDR's moods within productive margins, managing their tempers and logging outbursts (mainly from dylan, keir help him before you smack him)

Though you and mark have grown close, during your sessions and after the overtime contingency especially; where you found out ms casey was his wife, though it was after she had already been sent down.

You had grown quiet since her depart, your final meeting was quiet as you gazed at her in your once shared space in the wellness center.

"Ms Casey-" "you are one of the brightest students I could ever ask for, I enjoyed every moment observing you use the practices we talked about. It matters to me deeply that you took what I had to say to heart." the tears flow silently and freely "Ms casey." "yes?"

"May i have a hug? before you go?" you didn't have to be an empath to see the barely contained sadness as she opened her arms and allowed you to burry yourself into her, crying softly.

Mark and you spoke of her often, even as things changed and Ms cobel was fired, you two found the quiet moments to share space for your woe.

You didn't expect during the overtime contingency that you two would be in the same place, however.

Stepping into the elevator you turn to see mark and helly, she waves at you and smiles before speaking "You got this, remember the plan and we'll be alright. And hey, maybe your outie is somewhere really cool" i smile as the doors close, eyes locking with marks before they shut

Your head swims as you feel connected, brown eyes stare at you confusedly, a woman; wavy hair and a fair face greet you

"hey, you good?" she asks as she finishes chewing what looks to be dried nuts and berries

"oh? yeah, sorry, little lightheaded-" you gaze around, there's so many people here, it looks so warm and homey but soon the sound of everyone talking hits and you screw your eyes shut "Oh boy, you look faint lets get ya into the back bedroom my dear" before you can protest her hands rest gently but firmly on your back, you don't resist as the woman ushers you past people and sights you've never seen before

Your head pounds as you arrive in a room with three beds, when your eyebrows raise she makes a gesture of 'don't ask' before letting you sit in the middle bed, a racecar. "are you sure you're alright? not gonna have a panic attack on me are you? You haven't had one in a while, are you okay?"

You stare at her face, she seems familiar in a comforting sense just as it hits you; the plan "c-can i talk to you about something, actually?" the tone you take catches her instantly, before she can reply a voice peeks behind her "Your brothers looking for you Devon" she turns and nods before taking a glance at you

"After Ricken gets done with his reading we can chat, shouldn't be too long, do you think you need to stay in here or-" "i-i'd rather not be alone, actually" you don't understand your woe, but its there and its prevalent, the thought of being alone with the amount of unknown people makes bile rise in the back of your throat.

"no yeah sure, you can come sit with me if you want; though i need to pump and I have no idea where my equipment is" you nod, a pump? the thought crosses your mind, images of hydraulics or machine pumps fill your brain and you look at her for a moment before you decide its better than nothing to go with her and help her find whatever she needs, she feels safe; like Ms Casey.

You follow behind her as she is handed a baby, who is handed to you; you stare at the small little wonder in your arms for a moment, she stares back at you and the world slows, a soft smile grazing your face as the little girl takes your finger into her tiny fist. You stare at her in wide-eyed silence before a familiar voice pitches in

"Y/n? Is that-" your head snaps up and you see him, mark. You eyes dilate and you try to stutter out a reply before the woman, Devon comes over "Oh hey, heard you were looking for me?" she looks up at him, it clicks, they're related.

The small infant shifts in your arms and becomes fussy, you must look like a fish out of water as Devon smiles and coos at the infant as she takes the child back into her arms "Okay you two are like, really weird. Did you-" she comes closer to you and mark "did you guys take an edible before coming here? and you didnt tell me-" "no no, listen, uh. Can we chat somewhere?" mark says and you nod, Devon looks at you suspiciously before the baby whines again and she sighs with frustration

"listen, i don't care if you did- though i'm a little peeved you didn't tell me so i could snag one- but i gotta pump so we" she gestures to the three of you "can chat after that, i gotta find Ms Selvig bc mama needs alone time or she'll go insane"

she departs into the crowed leaving you and mark alone, your eyes connect and without thinking shift closer to him as the crowed seems to dense back up "where are we?" your voice is silenced by the murmur of what feels like millions of voices

"i, don't know. But i think that's my wife so-" "ew no that's definitely your sister, you guys look the same" he makes a face before it seems to connect "ah, yeah."

Devon returns and you two are able to go back into the racecar bedroom, her face reading frustration and confusion

"okay whats up? because ricken is gonna start reading soon and he gets a little anxious-" "Okay so, i..don't know how to tell you this"

(and i dont remember how it happened, blame the weed)

When you reawake inside the lumon elevator your heart is in your throat, you steady yourself against the railings, heaving in breaths as the doors open. The room is different, you step out and are greeted by Mr Milchick and... a teen girl.

"what the-" "Hello, Care to wait for the rest of MDR to arrive with me and Ms Huang?"

[cousinshelley]

Things that got to me in the last episode of Severance.

Those eyes. He's congratulating her on finishing her fellowship, and she's looking at him like that. I thought her fear and uncertainty were so raw, I welled up. Someone protect this child.

Watching Helena take aggressively controlled microbites of the most perfect boiled egg in human history under the watchful eye of a man who is clearly her abuser in some way or another, in many ways, was viscerally unsettling.

Also, I have never eaten anything in my entire life a fraction as delicately. I don't think I'm capable of it, and I'm okay with that. I want her to kill him, even if Helly's the one to do it. Especially if Helly's the one to do it.

"I wish you'd take them raw" and the way she looked at him, everything conveyed in that look, will never not send a shiver down my damn spine.

I had tears, again. Dylan's despair was awful, but Gretchen's was worse. If outie Dylan quits and ends innie Dylan's life to stop her seeing him, or innie Dylan quits and ends his own life, one of them is left and the other's problems are over. She has to live with it and know it no matter what, and she's clearly more drawn to the Dylan that's gone in either scenario.

DEVOUR FECULENCE. I shouted. It was a spontaneous near-coming-up-off-the-couch shout and clap followed by a fist pump when he translated in case Drummond was too stupid to know what it meant.

It's just work, right? OH. Tears in his eyes, a little shake in his voice, and I am so, so hoping that he plays a part in everything going terribly wrong for Lumon in the end. I'm not completely convinced he will, but I really want that.

My beating, twitterpating heart. Bad guy Burt Goodman is supposed to deliver Irving to Lumon to dispose of but can't do it! Irving Bailiff had been working behind the scenes to bring Lumon down and suspected Burt of being a Lumon goon but is now totes okay with staying and risking everything to be with him.

They say goodbye as tragic, star-crossed lovers and I am both overjoyed and beside myself. Bon voyage, *buddy*. I love this love story, as heartbreaking as it is.

Watching Dylan get in that elevator to do exactly what he prevented Irving from doing at the beginning of the season interspersed with shots of Irving and his train speeding away (and Burt sitting alone looking bereft in the station), damn it to hell and back. Goodbyes are so hard.

I miss the MDR dynamic so much, but there's no going back now, and I am looking forward to eventually seeing Lumon as a whole and many people individually pay dearly for all they've done. I hope there's at least a sliver of that in the finale

[five-rat-lore]

Severance S2E1 spoilers - the Helly debate (pro Helly R.)

Okay so I think it’s definitely Helly R. and not Helena, and I need to put it down in writing in case I’m right lol

Firstly I think if they had the option to send Helena down there unsevered they would’ve done that already. Surely it’s less risky to her cause for her to just go down there, than for her to have an innie that doesn’t play along. So why would they let her down there now, but not at the start, or not after Helly threatened to maim her, or not even after the suicide? So I don’t think suddenly sending Helena down is an option. The severance chip is spacial so they’d have to bypass the chip or something to manage that, or have a reverse overtime contingency but then some poor sod is holding the levers all day. So I think logistically it can’t be Helena.

I see a lot of people pointing to Helly “fumbling” with the on switch as a reason for it not being Helly, but honestly I’ve watched the scene a couple of times now and it’s barely a fumble? She’s feeling for the switch because she’s not looking at it. I plug my phone in to charge ever night and I still can’t find the charging port first time. Also I think it was just a transition from the scene before of Milchick pressing the switch, I don’t think it was that deep.

I also see people saying that her insistence that their innies and outies are separate is because Helena obviously doesn’t view the innies as people, but I don’t think Helena would get that defensive about it in front of Mark, if she’s there to farm information why would that be so offensive to her? It is offensive to Helly because Helly is deeply ashamed of being an Eagan.

The story Helly comes up with about what she saw on the outside was obviously unrehearsed too, if it was Helena she’d have a much more convincing lie. The fact that Irv can poke holes in her story is because it’s Helly’s lie.

All the little mannerisms too, like her laughing at things Mark says, her smiling at him, the empathy she shows the Mark Dylan and Irv, how familiar she seems with them, it all points to Helly R for me. The few mannerisms that do seem odd to me can be explained by the fact that she’s still reeling from what she’s seen. And there are a couple of moments when she’s just in the background that you do kind of see her struggling. She’s definitely acting weird but idk if it’s “I’ve been replaced by my outie” weird. I think it’s “I’ve just had my whole world shattered” weird.

The last two pieces of evidence for me is the Dan Erickson interview where he says that obviously she’d hide her outies identity because of her shame, this tells me that it’s Helly we’re seeing lying about her outie, not Helena. And then Britt Lowers interview where she talks about how Helly and Helena are going on “separate but parallel journeys”, if Helena was posing as the innie now then we just wouldn’t get any Helly journey.

And the final point that I want to make is that if it is Helena I would kind of just be idk disappointed? Idk how to put it, it just doesn’t feel right to me.

I mean obviously there’s a chance she’s Helena not Helly, but I don’t think there’s really any definitive proof that she is yet, and I definitely have my doubts that that’s the direction the writers would go in. It’s a theory fans seem to have latched onto but idk I’m not convinced. But who am I to say. We’ll just have to wait and see.

Edit: the only doubt I had in my mind before was Helly’s exit from the elevator. The last we see is her being tackled, but then she’s running forward coming out of the elevator? And the trailer clip shows her coming up in the elevator, very much on guard saying “what the fuck.” which you’d assume is her coming to the office the first time. To me, these things don’t point to her being Helena. I think when we see her wake up, that was not her first time being woken up since the over time incident. She’s been woken up before, interrogated or intimidated, and the clip we see in the trailer is a flash back. This would also explain why she asks Mark how longs it’s been. Anyway I will probably continue updating this with theories as I think of them lol.

[thelivingautomaton]

MANNNNNNNNN ok. not to get my SEVERANCE brainworms all over the place but i literally cannot stop thinking about this show. also i keep reading theories on reddit and some of them are really good and some are unbelievably stupid/media-illiterate. so i am dumping my wild predictions/theorizing/thoughts on season 2 here. Please Enjoy Every Bullet Point Equally(TM)

OKAY let's get the big one out of the way: it seems pretty apparent now that cold harbor (and maybe all of the datasets mdr is given to "refine") is binning memories/experiences/brainwaves into severance chips, likely in order to reformat or rebuild someone's personality from the ground up.

this reddit post sums a lot of the evidence up but tl;dr you see an electron microscopy image of neural axons, as well as an etCO2 statistic, which is typically used to monitor respiration of someone who's in a coma or on ventilation

MOREOVER, the four aspects of mdr's data line up with kier eagan's four tempers (woe, frolic, dread, malice -- i've also seen it pointed out that this aligns with the four mdr workers, and in the original pilot script there's a reference to "needing" four workers, but iirc they all work on separate files??), and apparently one of his Whole Things(TM) was the idea that you can neatly sort a person's entire personality into those four boxes

the numbers provoke an emotional response in the refiner based on their interpretation of the data, which we can surmise is likely neural/electrical signals of some kind, specifically from brains that have been frozen or cryogenically preserved and are slowly being thawed. hence all the stress over "finishing" files on time, before they "expire" (i.e. brain thaws too much)

the opening credits for season 2 places a HUGE emphasis on big swollen misshapen heads, on brains, and also on ice...including a blink-and-you-miss-it glimpse of a crashed car sinking into the ice, which takes us into our next big point:

gemma obviously didn't die in the car crash BUT!!! lumon taking her and (presumably) replacing her body with a double (mark says he identified her but that she was also "burned" so that's obviously questionable) was actually something of a random fluke. for whatever reason the circumstances of her death made it so that she was ideal to use as a guinea pig for "part-time employment"

again, kind of going off the s2 opening credits here and the image of the car sinking into the ice -- obvs mark visited the tree where she crashed, but i feel like i remember he had to drive on a bridge overlooking a body of water to get there? maybe gemma and the car both fell in and were frozen (since everything in SEVERANCE apparently happens in the wintertime, lol)

i mean, it wouldn't surprise me if we learn that the car accident was "arranged" by lumon??? (either purely to harvest bodies or potentially if gemma turns out to have been involved in anti-eagan stuff on the DL) but idk, i don't love the idea cos i don't like it when shows try to tie LITERALLY EVERY SINGLE THING together into the big overarching mystery, y'know? like, some things are really just down to dumb luck and chance

i also don't think miss casey herself is a clone of gemma, so either her body was WAY less fucked up by the car crash physically than we might otherwise think, or lumon has some top-secret super-healing tech on the testing floor. maybe both!

ANYWAY, remember "allentown"? mark s's first-day fluke, where he completed a file in one day? that was him refining gemma into miss casey the first time around. YADDA YADDA LOVE TRANSCENDS SEVERANCE he literally put the splintered icy fragments of his dead wife back together again because she LIVES IN HIS VEINS guys. and now he's doing it AGAIN with cold harbor. this is why lumon was so desperate to keep him around even while they fired irving and dylan at the drop of a hat: they know he can get the job done, ESPECIALLY when it comes to working on gemma/miss casey. (see also: mark w commenting about how his team from the branch that shut down never made quota)

i've seen the idea tossed around that all the refiners are assigned to someone who was emotionally close to their outie (e.g. irving's deceased father) but i really don't think that's the case -- like, dylan says mark's freshman fluke let lumon devise new techniques for refining to cut down on the time it takes to finish a file, and istg i can see it perfectly in my head: cobel asking mark s how the FUCK he managed to do that and him just being like "i don't know, the numbers looked...scary??????" and her just. rolling with it.

(also i feel like that's why dylan's generally a good refiner -- he can read people! his outie knew what to say and how to act to impress the door factory guy in s2e2!)

so lumon really really needs cold harbor to work. if it's not because they care about gemma SPECIFICALLY for some secret reason, it must be that they care about the technique. lumon (i.e. the board and/or the eagan family), like so many corporate overlords before them, are selling immortality.

i'm on the fence about whether they're trying to resurrect/immortalize kier eagan specifically -- like it would make the most thematic sense, and they have a ton of material FROM his life certainly to work with, but he's supposed to have died in 1939 and cryonics tech just wasn't advanced enough at the time. but also the world of SEVERANCE is pretty distinct from our own so i guess it's plausible

i feel much more confident in saying they're trying to get the technique working specifically for the sake of current ceo jame eagan, who is an old decrepit fart. imo the "revolving" he mentions to helly in the s1 finale is key to this -- like, it kind of sounds like eagan-speak for rotating through/swapping into a new body???

this MIGHT be where the idea of cloning becomes involved, which i can see supported by the emphasis in the s2 opening credits on babies (including baby kier at the end ofc), but i also just had the even more fucked up thought that what if the end goal is to upload the eagans' personalities (and those of their chosen cronies) into the bodies of severed workers. hence the continued necessity for a severed working underclass as well as their ruling higher-ups -- it's a body farm, an endless cycle of severed workers toiling away to let the rich live on and then having their bodies/minds/souls co-opted when they've lost their other utility. oh my god helly was right THEY LITERALLY ARE LIVESTOCK

guys holy shit what if the season ends with jame (or KIER) eagan's personality getting uploaded into miss casey's chip and overwriting miss casey (and also gemma?? idk i feel like mark scout/mark s are both going to have to come to terms with the idea that gemma as she was is capital-g Gone, even if her body and brain are still sort of alive). and then season 3 has dichen lachman chewing the scenery as creepy old man eagan. I THINK IT WOULD BE FUN AND ALSO FUCKED UP

okay so what about cobel, right? like, obviously she's been drinking the eagan kool-aid, she is All In on immortalizing kier (or jame or whoever). but there's more to it than that!!! she's the one harping on about reintegration being real and possible, AND she's desperate seeking for any signs of it during mark s and miss casey's wellness sessions. why? cobel wants to revive her mother charlotte (we see her medical tag on cobel's eagan shrine), but she wants HER MOTHER, not a blank slate -- in other words she's rooting for the chips to not function properly in order to truly resurrect someone who's been dead

in particular i think this is why she flipped her lid on mark at the end of s2e2 when he asked what she knew about gemma -- like, idk maybe it's confirmation bias at play but to me her primal scream felt like it was coming from a place of...jealousy? like, "how DARE you ask me that, how are YOU the one who's allowed to get your loved one back and I'M being promoted up the ladder so lumon can get me out of the way even though MY motivations are pure". that kind of thing

cobel's attitude towards lumon and helena in s2e2 is SUUUUUUPER ambiguous -- i think she's going to turn from outright enemy into kind of a weird "enemy of my enemy is my friend" thing this season?? especially since i got the feeling that she really did kind of care about mark and devon in her own supremely weird, fucked-up way

oh god you guys. what if her "mrs selvig" persona was cobel imitating her own mother, mid-atlantic accent and corny outdated references to clark gable and all. FUCK

also the fact that she's looking for miss casey and mark s to remember each other implies that reintegration is possible even without outside interference with the chip itself (i.e. however reghabi reintegrated petey). and you know what?

i think she's right.

THE BIG BOY THEORY: MARK SCOUT AND MARK S WILL START TO SPONTANEOUSLY REINTEGRATE THIS SEASON

i will live and die on this hill, ben stiller i swear to FUCK

what's the overriding symbolism in the season 1 opening credits?? the line between innie and outie is porous (or "mushy", if you will). black sludge seeping from the trash cans that's made of all your other selves (also reflecting how irving dreams of his outie's black paint). mark's innie and outie selves constantly chasing circles around one another until at the end they both collapse on the bed...and then collapse together as a single person.

what's the overriding symbolism in the season 2 opening credits???? not just "mark scout, i.e. mark in red pajamas, delving into lumon's mysteries", not just "mushy confusion of innie and outie feelings re: helly and miss casey" -- mark's innie and outie selves working together. innie mark pulling outie mark out of the severance chip. innie mark hoisting up the curtain dividing outer and inner worlds to let outie mark through. innie mark CARRYING OUTIE MARK IN HIS ARMS. do you see the fucking vision.

of course that's also coupled with the final image of the credits: mark bursting through and out of his own head. which i think emphasizes that there's going to be conflict as well as cooperation between mark's disparate selves (especially when it comes to everything involving the helly/mark/casey love triangle)

why did mark look like he was having a goddamn seizure when he was coming down the elevator. why did he glimpse a mysterious figure following him in the hallway. WHY THE FUCK WAS HIS VERY FIRST INSTINCT TO BOLT FOR WELLNESS AND LOOK FOR MISS CASEY!!!!! (okay this could also conceivably be due to him yelling to devon that she was alive literally one second ago but still)

i think mark's "spontaneous reintegration" is also more or less an insane fluke, basically a product of the fact that he's now working on gemma/miss casey's refinement data AGAIN and both his innie and outie selves are starting to blur together regarding their shock and turmoil over the realization that gemma is alive (and probably loads of other stuff too while we're at it).

but idk, maybe spontaneous reintegration also occurs naturally over time? irving is also having some bleed-through and iirc he's been at lumon the longest of all of them

shit dude. what if outie burt ALSO has bleed-through and that's why he followed irving and was crying. honestly what the fuck was even the deal with that, i don't know!!!!

anyway i imagine that "spontaneous reintegration" would really put a kibosh in lumon's plans to permanently rewire and wipe the brains of severed folks in order to pave the way for an immortal ruling class. also i thought the way they did petey's hallucinatory flip-flopping between his lives/selves was awesome and i would like more of that, please. (also: i miss petey, y'all)

i think if they do end up going this route it's gonna be spoonfed to us pretty slowly though -- like, s2 will slowly build up the mystery of "what the fuck's going on with mark reintegrating", then s3 is his two selves coming to terms with...All Of That

those are all of my big idea theories but i also have some smaller bullet points to address:

dylan's gonna visit his family in the """visitation suite""" and it 100% is going to be paid lumon actors. and the giveaway is gonna come at the end of the episode when we cut back to outie dylan's life and his wife (or one of his other kids, who knows) is terminally sick (maybe wheelchair- or bed-bound?), hence outie dylan's desperation to find another job post-firing

that is one million percent helena eagan down on the severed floor (although i can see the argument for it being helly r and she's just not comfortable sharing her real experience on the outside). her shady story aside, i think britt lower is CRUSHING IT as "helena pretending to be helly but it's kind of off-putting and fake because it's helena's idea of how helly would behave". like, it's giving me the same vibes as in FRINGE when fauxlivia pretends to be olivia and then seduces/sleeps with peter. real ones know

RICKEN IS NOT A FUCKING SECRET EAGAN!!!!!! DEVON IS NOT SECRETLY IN ON ANYTHING (besides keeping her brother safe)!!!!!! HIS FRIENDS ARE JUST PRETENTIOUS SHITHEELS!!!!!!!!!!!!

as much as i would literally chew glass (positive) for mark s and miss casey to be A Thing, i feel like narratively and thematically it's not gonna work with the show's overarching themes of like, struggling to process grief and selfhood and figuring out what makes you you (or someone else their own independent self). gemma is Gone and you can't bring her back and you can't cut yourself off from the grief and the pain. mark has to reintegrate (literally and metaphorically/emotionally) in order to resolve his issues and move on

this show is so!!!!!! OOOOOUUUUGGGGHHGHGHH

[disacurveball]

The Terror characters as an American college fraternity

Sir John: Obviously the president. He’s an upperclassman, but is a junior. He wasn’t anyone’s first pick, but the former President and VP (Barrow and Ross) had to step down after the house gets a hazing investigation opened on it by the college. John isn’t doing a great job of stopping future hazing incidents from occurring. His house name is Puss in Boots (ate his boot while drunk).

Crozier: Very tired senior Vice-President. He has never run for an executive position before, but his situationship Sophia Cracroft asked him to make sure her cousin John doesn’t get arrested. He doesn’t go to house parties after brawling with Fitzjames over the last drops of beer in their keg, and is on mandated sobriety by the college for this incident. His house name is Gallon (nobody ask how much he drinks).

Fitzjames: The greatest Social chair that the brotherhood of Epsilon Tau has ever seen. Every year he hosts the infamous ET Toga party, which gets the cops called on it every year. He secretly is obsessed with Rupaul’s drag race which is why he’s always able to curate the most fire playlists. His house name is Madonna (it’s not a secret).

Dundy: Jock chair, obviously. Makes sure the boys are in good shape. I needn’t say any more. House name is Dundy, because that already is one.

Little: Stressed out House Man. He’s in charge of the physical upkeep of the house. That shit is literally falling apart. There are crushed beer cans everywhere, the floors are sticky, their windows are broken and there is a foul smell coming from all the couches. He’s constantly calling repair men on the weekends and crying when he has to clean up a toilet flood in the basement. His house name is Little because let’s be real, the dick jokes there are immense.

Hodgson: Recruitment chair! He makes fun Canva posters to promote Fitzjames’s parties and makes the house seem like a really fun and welcoming place to incoming freshmen PNMs (potential new members). Will he haze them when they become pledges? Sure. But he’d rather be playing Piano Man drunkenly at 2 am and yapping about linguistic facts at a party. His house name is Hodge Podge, after his assortment of fun facts.

Irving: Treasurer (treasuring the house <3) He was the only one who has experience handling funding before because he did so fundraising for his church. Giving back to the house and being in a supportive all-male environment is a Christian pleasure after all. He engages in hazing of biblical proportions. Part of the college hazing investigation was freshman pledge Magnus Manson being forced to stay in the cemetery all night. His house name is Cherub, obviously.

Jopson: The Secretary! He sends out all campus emails and takes really comprehensive meeting notes. If you need to know anything about house lore or precedent, you go to him, he knows the house constitution inside and out. This was especially helpful during the Hickey judiciary council case. His house name is just Jop because people respect him.

Hickey: Used to be a member of Epsilon Tau, but he got kicked out for being found out as the one who tipped the college off about their insane hazing. He did so because he ran for both President and VP and didn’t get elected to either. He didn’t even get elected when Barrow and Ross had to step down either. That sent him over the edge to the point where he started planting hard alcohol bottles around the house and calling the campus police to find them. They finally caught him when he recruited his friends Billy and Tozer to steal the house’s pong table. This table still resides in his off-campus rental house which he has started spreading the rumor is an unofficial new frat called “Sigma Mu”

Billy: He has never been affiliated with Greek life but joins Hickey’s new frat Sigma Mu as its Vice President. He may have been a vital part in Hickey’s decision to do this. He also unofficially acts as its treasurer and Secretary because he was already Hickey’s roommate in the rental house, so really he has no choice but to keep it afloat.

Tozer: Also used to be a part of Epsilon Tau, but gets kicked out too for helping Hickey steal the pong table, and also getting into one too many bar fights. He’s now the new Social chair/Recruitment chair at “Sigma Mu” and gets Pilkington and Armitage to join.

Des Voeux: Freshman who somehow becomes best friends with Fitzjames and Hodgson and so immediately gets into Epsilon Tau without much hazing involved. Nobody knows he’s the one who gave Hickey’s crew the new door code and info to go steal the pong table. He’s still part of ET but frequents the parties at Sigma Nu because he’s not about to say no to any rager. His house name is Des Hoeux.

Goodsir: Not part of Greek Life but he’s treated like an honorary brother of Epsilon Tau because he’s the student EMT who always gets sent to their house every party and he takes care of their drunk brothers. Somebody asks him for drugs every time he enters the building.

Blanky: Fuckmaster Blanky needs no description. He is a legend that gets past down amongst the brotherhood. Legend has it that Fuckmaster Blanky was a brother who lost his leg while doing what he loved……Recruitment chair will tell this story during initiation every year to encourage pledges to honor the house and be like Blanky.

[illuminatedquill]

SEVERANCE SEASON 2 FINALE SPOILERS!!!

Holy fuck. They did it. Gemma survived and reunited with Mark.

But then the brutal twist was that innie Mark didn’t go with her. Turns out that Gemma was Orpheus all along - and she lost her Eurydice.

Honestly? I can’t be mad. Innie Mark did the right thing in the end and got her out (and had a fantastic, if not brief, make out session with Ms. Casey which I hope spawns a few fanfics). I was hoping that the two would come to some kind of deal but it was evident since the beginning that both Marks were at an impasse.

I will always be a Mark x Gemma truther but I have to admit that Mark x Helly actually clicked for me this episode. I really get it now.

Do I think they’re gonna have a happy ending? No. They’re both stuck in hell with a very pissed off Jame Eagan and Milchick. Wouldn’t surprise me if this season will be considered “the good old days” for those two.

The end of the episode was so fucking chaotic. My God. It was borderline slapstick comedy with Jame screaming “FUCK” with the vigor of a much younger man and then Dr. Mauer and the creepy nurse running around like penguins with their ass on fire.

The last thing Dr. Mauer said before Mark and Gemma went back up. “You’ll kill them all!”

Ominous. No idea what that means. The innies? Gemma escaping means that their lives are in danger somehow? Or something else entirely. Her escape clearly put a wrench in their plans for mass market severance.

Drummond dying I immediately clocked when I saw Gwendolyn Christie again, and then saw the gun. What a fight. Poor Adam Scott having to film all that, LOL.

The Mark x Gemma reunion scene? Fucked me up real good! I’m so happy they didn’t kill her off and anyone who says that Gemma had to die, I hope you’re enjoying a nice slice of go fuck yourself pie. I’m rewatching it as we speak.

The Mark x Gemma separation scene where innie Mark chooses Helly? Also fucked me up good! Gemma screaming for Mark - Severance writers, I am in your goddamn walls. I’m sure Devon’s waiting outside in a getaway car with Cobel and she’ll explain what’s going on with that.

Gemma surviving means MORE DICHEN LACHMAN. GET HER TO SERIES REGULAR RIGHT NOW FOR SEASON 3. Gemma main character as she plots to get her husband out and burn Lumon down. Orpheus and Eurydice ALL OVER AGAIN. SIGN ME UP.

Other random thoughts:

- Outie Dylan’s response to his innie was really sweet. And what a badass Dylan G turned out to be, helping Helly against an enraged Milchick.

- Disappointed that Milchick didn’t crack in the finale but I suspect it’s happening soon. His remark about the Eagan animatronic’s inaccurate height was hilarious.

- No Irving. Sad.

- Mark x Gemma stocks WAY UP now that she’s survived. You can’t keep a good pairing down, baby. She’ll be looking for Mark, no doubt about it.

- The absolute mind numbing horror of Cold Harbor Gemma being told to dismantle the cradle. Being dressed in the same clothes that she wore the night she died. Lumon really gotta go, bro.

- Mark coming in to rescue her, her innie having no idea who this strange man is. Mark looks the absolute worst, covered in blood, sweating, deranged - but she still trusts him enough to follow him out. Love fucking transcends Severance!!!!

- The big showdown between innie and outie Mark was . . . kinda underwhelming? I thought there would be a lot more back and forth. I wonder if outie Mark knew deep down that if he went into Lumon there was a chance he wouldn’t come back out and maybe that he was okay with it, long as he saw Gemma again. I’m glad innie Mark kept to his word and, like I said earlier, am not really upset that he chose to stay with Helly.

- The whole marching band sequence. Holy shit. Give Tramell Tillman all the awards. It was so bizarre and so well executed.

- NO DEVON AND GEMMA REUNION!!! We gotta wait a while 2 years for these two sisters to be reunited, I AM IN YOUR WALLS DAN ERICKSON.

- Where the hell is Cobel during all of this??? I thought she’d be waltzing in to take back her technology but it seems not? Weird. We’ll probably see more of that next season but no idea what the hell she’s planning.

I’m probably missing a lot but it’s late and I need to rewatch the Mark x Gemma reunion scene until it’s burned into my retinas.

See you all in two years, Severance fandom! I’ll talk about you all fondly to my therapist.

[an-orca-on-a-stroll]

Severance season 2 ep 2 thoughts/theories under cut

long post!

1. So as I theorized last week, here's the confirmation everything that mr Milkshake told the innies was, indeed, 100% bullshit. It's been 3 days, not 5 months, and also:

this is false bc we know now that Mark didn't want to return, instead it was Milchick who worked very hard to convince him.

This is also false, they were fired and then re-hired after Mark S' outburst.

This is fake as well (this one was very obvious tbh). So I think it's safe to assume that anything else Milchick told the innies should be taken with a huge grain of salt at best, personally I don't believe a single word, especially his claim that there are no more cameras.

2. MS COBEL IS BACKKKKK MY BEAUTIFUL QUEEN WITH SO MANY DISORDERS. Her scenes were very interesting. She was offered a promotion yet was not happy about it. I had my suspicions before but this basically confirms that she doesn't really care about her career at Lumon, she specifically wants to be in the severed floor, so when they promoted her, and as a result removed her from the severed floor, she was not happy. Though of course they didn't give her the option to refuse. I think she's right and that Lumon is scared of her, for some reason they don't want her in the severed floor anymore. Much to think about. I think there is some fuckery similar to the Gemma situation going on with either her (supposedly dead?) husband and/or child. This to me is confirmed by something i bring up in my next point

3. I love that we see outie Mark genuinely furious for the first time ever, it's definitely the most "non-sadness-adjacent" emotions he's ever shown.

I mean think about this guy. His wife dies, he falls apart from grief and can't put himself together, loses his job, then he gets another job that is weird and everybody hates this for him but he does it anyway until after two years it feels like maybe, maybe he might be ready to start moving on.

Then he meets his (alleged) coworker who tells him they're best friends and pulls him into a big conspiracy about Lumon, shortly after said colleague dies in very suspicious circumstances, then he's a witness and accessory to murder (of the head of security of his workplace, no less), then his innie unexpectedly comes out for 40 minutes and wow, nobody told him that could happen except for the fine print in what I'm certain was like, a hundreds page long contract considering how controversial his job is. And his innie says some very unsettling shit about the work he's been doing for the past 2 years, but he is physically unable to remember all this fucked up stuff despite being in the middle of it 8 hrs a day for 2 years. Then his innie claims that his wife, whose dead body he saw with his own eyes, is actually alive. And oh his weird apparently well-meaning neighbor was actually his boss this whole time, stealing his dead wife's things, keeping him under surveillance and repeatedly invading his privacy and trust.

I'm not surprised Mark's first reaction was wanting to get away, he was probably in shock and denial bc that is a lot to take in. He tentatively returns bc, like Cobel said, he does get swayed easily, but I think deep down he knows something fucked up is happening at Lumon (read the paragraph above again for points) but I think he becomes fully convinced something's up with Gemma after his encounter with Cobel. Cobel's reaction is interesting to say the least.

she does this like. Pained sigh, then silence for a WEIRDLY long time, and she looks like she might start crying??? am I imagining this. Like she looks genuinely in pain. Then she screeches, almost runs Mark over, and runs away? I really think Cobel's in a similar position as Mark and something is going on at Lumon with someone she cares about, this is why she's so obsessed with Mark and Gemma specifically

4. Irving's outie is so damn cool. Like there's something about the way he acts?? That makes him so cool, his actor is really good at showing the difference between his two selves.

This line his hilarious considering what actually made innie Irving want to rebel, instead of his outie's weird subliminal messages. Anyway who is he talking to? Whoever is is, they clearly don't want to speak with Irving though.

5. ALSO?

I have no idea what the fuck is going on. WHY does Burt know where Irving lives? Did innie Irving tell him that when they met? Did they even meet?? When we see innie Irving again at Lumon for the first time he's banging against the elevator like he was banging on Burt's door, did they even see each other? If they didn't meet, again how does Burt know where Irving lives? Burt's name was circled in the map outie Irving had, did they already meet in the past? Maybe Irving was trying to convince other severed employees that Lumon is evil? Nothing makes sense but the curiosity is killing me

6. During the sequence of Mark going in and out of work, taking the elevator every day, there's the odd day out where the elevator turns black, like it did in ep 1 from innie Mark perspective. The timing also checks out, it's the day Mark rebelled because he wanted his team back and they threatened to fire him.

From innie Mark's perspective in ep1, he goes "up" the elevator, his eyes kinda roll back like he's having a seizure, then first the elevator turns black, then the screen.

Then the elevator dings, we see a closeup of Mark's eye for some reason,

and he's back on the regular severed floor.

From outie Mark's perspective, he goes down the elevator, and at first it's the transition we see everytime Mark goes up or down the regular elevator.

Then the elevator dings. At this point Mark's eyes roll back, the background fades to black,

Then the elevator dings again, and we see a closeup of his eye

then the black elevator in a distorted perspective, which then morphs into the regular elevator.

Then the elevator dings again, and the doors open to the regular exit.

This pretty much confirms Mark was in the testing floors that day. The same weird sequence with the black elevator as with ep1, plus the three dings of the elevator mean that during that day, Mark got into the elevator three times. Usually, both innie and outie hear the elevator two times during the sequence where they go up and down for a single day. One when they get to the severed floor, and another when they go back up (I checked with scenes from s2e1, and season 1 as well) Which means both the outie and the innie hear and remember the elevator dings, presumably bc the sound plays at the exact same moment they switch, or maybe it's just a cue to help us, the audience (but if not this has fascinating implications that the memories at the exact time of switching are retained by both innie and outie).

Anyway the fact that there are 3 dings means Mark stopped at another floor before going back up. And Mark stayed there until 9:15 pm that day !! We see the clock when he goes back up for the day after this sequence

(Well, I assume it's pm and not am, based on the fact that there are no other indicators from Mark's perspective that his day was odd, if he came out of work the next day at 9am I think they would have shown us Mark's reaction to this. He also tells good night to Judd, the security guard, in a very tired tone, and Judd seems sort of surprised, but I'm choosing to interpret as him being surprised at Mark coming out of work 4 hours late and not the morning after.)

6. HELENA MY BELOVED. Listen, I love Helly, I really do, and I've decided I love Helena as well. I wasn't sure before since we almost never see her directly, but honestly, ever since her "You're not a person" speech (which is one of my favorite scenes in the series) I knew she had something seriously fucked up going on with her and what can I say, I'm predictable, I eat that shit up. Love me a woman with so many disorders. Now that we have an episode with a lot of her perspective... man.

The way she just fucking. Smiles serenely after his father only says TWO (2) incredibly cruel words to her after the incident. Where her body was basically taken out of her control without her consent, which I can only imagine how scary that is (again, for all the outies it must have been very unsettling) And this happened at such a crucial moment, but it wasn't Helena's fault, it was Helly's (techically, arguably, Helly obviously had her reasons and we love her) And it's so fucked up compared on how her father treated her (Helly) in the season finale

He seems like a loving father, but then Helena fucks up, and he calls her a "fetid moppet"? My god, the implications. Does this mean that Helena only has the love of her family, her father, if she meets his expectations? And the instant she doesn't, her father treats her like that? So she grew up in this kind of environment where affection is not unconditional, where she has to hide her emotions, and always be the perfect heir, who can never make mistakes and who lives for her company.

For her company she became severed, and she wanted to keep at it at any cost, even when it was obvious her innie was miserable. Bc I think Helena always pushed herself to the limit all her life, so maybe she thought her innie also had to suck it up, bc Helena doesn't get to choose her life, so Helly doesn't either?

This shot!! Imagine how horrifying this had to be. She went into work and woke up hanging from the ceiling bc her other self tried to kill her. And she still went back to work afterwards. She still pushed on bc failure was not an option. That's so messed up

I wonder what exactly she thinks of Helly, if she really considers her not a person or if she said that just to get her to do what she wanted her to. But I think Helena's feelings changed after viewing the footage of her innie, and she's actually somewhat "jealous" of her now. Because Helly gets to be herself, genuinely, without a mask, she gets to have real friends who like her (does Helena have friends? maybe with Natalie, but are they really friends or is it just because Helena is the boss? Does she have other friends?) she gets to be bold and loud, and finds love, maybe, while not even "being a person".

Imagine how that has to feel, but maybe it's easier to take it out on Helly, instead of accepting that the way she grew up is fucked up. I'm full into speculation territory, I can't wait to see how this evolves. In the meantime, I DO think that Helena went to the severed floor, and she's herself, not Helly. Now that we've seen Helena in ep2, compared to how this "Helly" acts in ep1... it's really similar. "Helly" just looks kind of subdued, less bold, less angry. She lies about her experience outside, she kind of "pushed" her relationship with Mark, etc ...

Plus in the last scene of ep2, we see the MDR gang go down the elevator, one by one. For all of them we hear the elevator ding, but NOT for Helena. Which might be a cue for us that she didn't switch with Helly. Can't wait to find out more but in the meantime. Helena did nothing wrong. I mean yes she did all that (being the heir of an evil fucked up company) but also I love her so I forgive her.

7. It's just very interesting thinking about the innies and outies as a nature vs nurture kinda problem. Innie Dylan being funny and confident while his outie is anxious and stressed. Irving being all cool outside vs how his innie is, plus his anti/pro Lumon difference between innie and outie, bc he needs to give meaning to his actions. And it manifests in such different ways, although innie Irving still decided to rebel in the end. Helena vs Helly, two very strong-willed people but Helena gives it all for her company and familiy, while Helly fights against the system. And Mark, who I still haven't figured out bc I think Mark himself hasn't figured himself out either.

8. Last point, but why do they want Mark back so badly? At first I thought it was because he's the only one whose innie came out where there were clearly other witnesses (besides Helly), so they wanted to make sure he was still loyal to Lumon. But then they said this

They need Mark specifically to complete Cold Harbor (hinted in the previous episode to be Gemma's file) Why? Why does Mark have to do it? What about the previous files, they couldn't all have had connections to the other members of MDR, so why is this different? Or is Mark just that good of a refiner in general, and they just really really need Gemma's file completed? Why is Gemma specifically so important? Much to think about. Can't wait for the next episode !!

[xyl3m]

helllooooo, could i ask what is the c&k au :3c

Hiii!

(Very long answer so I’m going to put most of it under the cut but I am ecstatic to have the opportunity to tell you about it so thanks for asking and belt up)

Okay, so, The Care and Keeping of John (the “official” name of the AU, C&K is just useful shorthand), focuses on the relationships between the Terror lieutenants.

John Irving is a deeply broken and disturbed man who has, prior to the expedition and throughout his whole life, been through quite a bit. He’s retreated into himself in all ways except professionally and shuts down every attempt at interpersonal connection with, depending on the day, either customer service politeness or fight or flight fear responses. He doesn’t believe himself worthy of kindness, believing that there is something intrinsically and irrevocably tainted within him. He has developed self imposed rituals, primarily consisting of increasingly convoluted methods of self harm, deprivation, or degradation, which function as a combination of punishment and an attempt to cleanse himself of it. (This comes from a combination of past abuse suffered from those close to him, and stuff in his upbringing (e.g. corrective rape) and the things happening in his own mind as they are (I write him with ocd, psychosis, and cptsd in mind as influences but not him suffering specifically or exclusively from such)) (<I can’t say too much about any of this because of spoilers).

George, who’s suffering from his own matters, but instead of addressing his situations he decides that from what little glimpses he’s had of John- not lieutenant Irving- to take it upon himself to deal with the quiet, composed, uptight lt. below him who has resisted all companionable advances thus far. In the beginning of the AU he wants to crack John open like a geode and see if there’s anything neat in there, but as time progresses it shifts from that to a kind of perverse need to know exactly what’s wrong with John (he feels how one might about some mudcaked creature they find in a ditch which they don’t really want but want to have the satisfaction of having taken it home anyway), to genuine love and affection for him. 

He ropes in Edward (who is very out of his depth with the situation and has been caught up and swept along by George, who does the what basically amounts to the equivalent of walking up to Edward- a man he does not know- and linking arms with him, calling him dear, and taking him to dinner as if they’d known eachother for ages but George does it so smoothly that Edward doesn’t really realise until he’s already in too deep (the ‘I’m sure it’s fine and normal, he probably refers to all of his friends by pet names, he’s just a friendly and physical guy’ -> ‘I’m sure he sweetly kisses and fucks all his friends- wait, how did we get here??’ pipeline lol)). 

The written stuff for the AU focuses mostly on the dynamics between the lieutenants, in pairs and all three of them together, in private spaces and how they take care of eachother and deal and what they can be like when it’s just them and what it took to get there, vs them in outside spaces where they’re working and doing their jobs and how they present to other people and when they have to do things that damage eachother to keep working as functioning parts of the ship (the way they interact before they know eachother vs the way the interact when they’ve started to get through vs the private spaces they share with eachother (inside that there’s another layer of private where we’re just being us and private where George and Edward are carefully and intentionally deconstructing of John to put him back together better)).

At one point, early on in the expedition (when they lose cattle to the storm before stopping over in Scotland) John goes overboard and nearly drowns. He fully recovers physically but he becomes obsessed with trying to recreate some specific element about the experience which leads him to essentially microdosing on drowning himself while the expedition is underway. He ends up being found out on this by Tommy Armitage who he in a moment of panic ends up via emotional extortion making complicit and therefore having security that he will not be reported.

John is angry and scared and goes from ‘no interpersonal relationships because I’m evil and what if they hurt me’ to ‘no interpersonal relationships because I’m evil and what if I hurt you. if I let you get too close I will damn you and you are too good I love you too much for me to let that happen’.

George is very good at “casual seduction” with most people and when he served previously with John tried to… whatever him and came on too strong and spooked him, Edward provides the opportunity and safety net for him to try again. George is the glue which holds them together and Edward is the anchor which keeps them grounded and the guardrail which keeps them from plunging on too far too fast.

Something something George heart Edward body John mind.

Sorry this is rather rambly and not at all clear, I am very tired and have been struggling to find a way to get my nebulous thoughts on this actually written down. I fear I haven’t entirely gotten across the point or the tone of the AU and I’ve been neglectful of my dearest Hodg (and also Ned, the AU is as much about them as it is John, maybe even more so) in this description but my phone is going to die and I don’t want to mess with it. I’ve been chewing on c&k for a while by myself but I convinced @immortalsterror on its merits and we’ve both been writing fic for it.

Anyway the whole series is a study in vulnerability and trust. In the general scheme of things, it doesn’t change anything, they still die as they did, love didn’t save them, it didn’t change their fates. But it was there. And that’s got to count for something.

[osteoptimist]

Severance S2 spoilers up to episode 2:

After watching S2E1 I was REALLY worried that the show might be nosediving. When Helly R didn't tell the gang that she was an Eagan, my fear was that the writers were so desperate to get the show back to the status quo and create conflict within MDR that they were going to have Helly go from "I'm going to burn your company to the ground" to lying to the team out of fear they'd reject her and she'd lose her developing relationship with Mark S.

I've seen plenty of shows do this, and it's one of my biggest pet peeves in television writing. Characters lying for silly reasons just so the show has more drama.

BUT! After reading some discussions online, rewatching the episode, and now seeing E2, I'm confident that's not the case and the writers are still doing an awesome job.

In E1, there were a few pieces of evidence in Helly R's behavior that indicated she might actually be Helena, her outie. Her interactions with the team and especially Mark were a little awkward, but it's hard to be sure.

The most compelling piece of evidence was the shot at the end of the episode where they're all sitting back at their desks and she has to feel around for a second to find the switch to turn on her computer. That was a very deliberate shot, easy to miss but super obvious in hindsight, imo. To me, that very clearly indicates that this isn't Helly, who has known almost nothing except this office.

One of the most interesting, though, and one I haven't seen a lot of people talk about, was when Irv was in the bathroom. The group was talking and suddenly she looks up at the ceiling and asks "what happened to that security camera?"

THAT is a big hint to me, and fits with what we've seen of Helena in E2. My guess is in E3 (or maybe E4), we'll learn that Helena refuses to let her innie Helly take over, and comes to a compromise with the company that she'll go down in disguise as Helly, with the chip disabled so she doesn't switch going down the elevator.

That will require her to watch pretty much every moment of Helly's time on the severed floor, so she doesn't make any obvious mistakes.

Ergo, she probably spent a lot of time watching footage from that one (now missing) camera to see the team interacting. Then, when she's down on the severed floor and feeling uncertain, she looks to that camera and notices it's missing.

There's a lot else to unpack about Helena that we saw in S2, especially her watching Helly and Mark kiss at the elevator, but other people have talked about that.

I'm just glad the writers are still cooking, it was on me for not paying close enough attention in my first watch of E1.

I AM still a little worried about Dylan going along with Milkshake and not telling the team about the family visitation room, I'm not sure that follows from what we saw at the end of S1. We know that Dylan has been very concerned about rewards and perks, but I think that's mostly because he didn't have anything else to focus on, and once he met his son that completely changed. Maybe Lumon is making the right move combining those two motivations, I'm just not 100% sure he would buy the "don't tell your coworkers cause they're all single and might get jealous" part.

[dawn-the-rithmatist]

Severance s2e3 live reactions, because I guess I’m doing this now

- hello Ms. Cobel :)

- Mark buddy why the fuck are you timing how long it takes to get down the elevator

- Irving’s hesitation to go to O&D?? just stab me in the chest

- helly being so encouraging to Irving when I’m so suspicious that’s not helly?? Fuckkkkk

- “Once we’re out the door my outie will know what to do!” Mark please don’t let your innie down pls pls pls

- OH THE TENSION BETWEEN MARK AND HELLY. IT IS. SO VERY THERE. THEYRE MESSYYYYY

- I suspect the balloons are going to be a running theme

- IRVING YOU ABSOLUTE KING FOR RECREATING THE PAINTINGS

- is this him wanting to look for that hallway in the paintings or is this him hiding from O&D

- Dylan has bought in to the bullshit room plans, noooo the union busting is working

- I desperately want to know what Natalie’s deal is. Girl who are you. Why does the board like you and only talk through you. She doesn’t say anything except what the board has to say.

- OH THAT CONGRATULATIONS WAS HER. okay so there is a person in there somewhere

- something something the fucked up reward of getting to see god portrayed as you when you move up in the system and how that encourages you to play god with the people under your control-

- HELLO MS. COBEL.

- istfg if anything happened to those goats-

- helly is awfully hesitant when it comes to investigating with the goats. Very different from the girl who broke so many rules and tried to hang her outie… interesting…

- GOATS!!!!!!

- Goat?? Man??? Man dressed as goat??? Why

- “are you here to kill me” “hi I’m mark :)” this is a comedy actually

- this woman is living in an apocalypse zone and bitch rolls up in his nice suit like “hi I’m mark”

- Irving is looking at that painting,,, psychic damage

- HI FELICIA (meme voice)

- RAGHHHHH HIM AND FELICIA HAVE BOTH LOST SOMEONE THEY CARE ABOUT AND THEY BOTH GET EACH OTHER THEY FINALLY HAVE SOMEONE WHO GETS IT

- “wellness. we don’t abide such fripperies here.” Girl we can tell

- Also something about how the cowbell calls people but the goats don’t respond… something about how the innies were “locked up like animals” and she just summoned her department with something associated with animals…

- “is it rude to keep asking why you’re a kid” no because we’re all thinking it. But also yes, probably.

- holy fuck they’re really out there lovebombing Dylan so goddamn hard

- something something they saw what Dylan G would do for his innie family with overtime and then they said “we need him to care about something else right now, he’s too dangerous”

- “who’s Seth” “please refrain from sharing sensitive or privileged information” THEY DONT EVEN GET TO KNOW MILCHECK’S NAME

- they’re guilting him into company loyalty and I’m going to start biting. “life is better on the inside” ass behavior. Fuck you fuck you fuck you fuck you

- do we think this is actually his wi- WHY THE FUCK IS THE PICTURE LIKE THAT

- BLACK AND WHITE AND OLD TIMEY CLOTHES???

- WHY??

- Irving and Felicia friendship is everything to me actually

- “I’ve only ever seen him scared of one thing. he spent two hours on his hair the first time he went to visit you” I am fucking unwell what the fuck

- the drawings are so-

- THE EXPORTS HALL???

- union organizer mark real

- POUCHLESS???

- Dylan’s wife has a pouch for her things that they made her carry in… hmmmmm…

- “no more cameras!” Mhm yeah so that camera angle had nothing at all to do with surveillance at all. We totally believe you

- Dylan’s visit with his wife is so awkward

- OUTIE DYLAN?!?!?!

- NATALIE HANGING WITH RIKEN?? What the fuck is up

- oh she’s mask off, interesting. Ain’t no way she gives a shit about the book

- they’re trying to make Riken into company propaganda Jesus fuck

- Devon my love my light my hope in the outie world she is so on to them

- THEYRE SO CLEVER. THEYRE SO FUCKING CLEVER

- CAN’T PASS A NOTE? SEAR THE NOTE INTO YOUR RETINAS I GUESS

- GOD THEYRE SO CLEVER, DEVON IM KISSING YOU ON THE LIPS

- I’m about to get jumpscared so bad by Harmony Cobel aren’t I

- oh that’s really not where I expected her to go. Maybe she is more obsessed with Kier than with Mark

- COLD HARBOR MENTIONED

- oh shit she really said me or Milcheck and LOST

- OH SHIT SHE JUST CALLED HELENA A NEPOBABY TO HER FACE

- “why don’t we reset. It doesn’t have to be this way” I just got chills, is she severed? Is she about to be severed? What the fuck

- I need to study Cobel under a microscope. What just happened

- mark is doing conspiracy shit and is simultaneously so exasperated when conspiracy shit happens

- REINTEGRATION?? OH I WAS EXPECTING IT AFTER THE THEME SONG BUT I WAS NOT EXPECTING IT TO HAPPEN THAT FAST

- Mark pls tell Devon before doing this. PLEASE tell Devon before doing this

- I’m so scared of this going wrong

- HOLY SHIT WHAT A WAY TO END THAT EPISODE

[argentnoelle]

i've come to the conclusion ms casey is like that because she actually enjoys & is proud of her job.

mdr wakes up flat on a conference room table, a person on a speaker asking them baffling questions, if they try to get out they realize they're locked in—as they can't answer the questions they realize they have amnesia, that something terrible (and unprecedented) has happened. ms casey wakes up in an elevator, opens on a black hallway with a door at the end a bit open, she curiously goes down to the end, milchick's there, he "explains" (lies) that she chose to get severed so she could get this job as a wellness counsellor, helping people. ms casey subconsciously *understands* the emotional landscape of waking up with no memories because it's something gemma's gone through a bajillion times by this point (she canonically has *more than* 25 innies)

we know innies are aware of if their outies aren't happy & vice versa, imark & petey recognizing that omark was miserable, gemma with the testing rooms knowing which ones hurt the most, dr mauer fishing around for knowledge of leftover emotional states from those rooms which she skillfully avoids answering, oburt feeling calm relaxed happy after getting home from work because iburt was falling in love, etc—ms casey subliminally knowing its worse on the "outside" that's why she asks milchick "am i happy up there?" like she's not really sure she is

ms casey feels scared for mark & helly when they wander off because deep down she feels bad things happen when you walk the hallways and step into the wrong rooms

then, compare. mdr's job is you sort numbers. why? "the work is mysterious and important" —while ms. casey's told you're here to help people feel better. & she sees the people. some of them do feel better! she meets the individuals, there's meaning, purpose to her existence

in her job as wellness counsellor she gets a tree, nice with scents and calm music, good room design, gets to meet tons of different people! maybe she has questions/disagreements about the way the sessions are designed but she believes in the underlying purpose. she wants to help people better themselves! she was a college professor! maybe it even subliminally reminds her of office hours. she gets to go places too—yeah she meets in the wellness room w mdr and o&d but also gets to go to the goat room, all the grass, & sees baby goats! she's a curious person and she's one of the only people on the severed floor who's job actually contains elements that you can be curious about: outie facts, a bunch of different people, a bunch of different places, always something a bit new & different

people thinks she's strange but she's also well liked, the goat guy says her telling him the outie facts was meaningful to him, and they're all eventually willing to rally around her being missing. so while she lacks in strong personal relationships she still has a sense of being in a community. she probably sees c&m too, maybe in another wellness room near them, maybe in their own department seeing the instruments even!

then she's also in a position of authority. yeah ms. casey doesn't set up the structure of the sessions but if anyone oversteps she can kick them out at her discretion, just like that. she can enforce her boundaries both professionally in sessions and as a person (rejecting dylan's attempt for a hug) walk places under her own supervision and make decisions like 'i'll get an entire stack of notebooks to replace the 1 mark ruined' even if it's not logical. tell irving that she saw burt in the conference room, because she knows they like each other and she's gotten invested in their romance! compare to gemma: gemma can't stop anyone from coming into her room, she can't choose what to do and when, she can't go anywhere, her innies are in constant pain & fear which she is definitely aware of. ms casey's job being, in comparison, such a freedom that she hasn't gotten to experience in 2 years, and the place she's felt happiness—again she's going to experience at least leftover tension in her body etc; she's going to know on some level that she's got a good deal of it that she can finally *relax* so of course she "plays by the rules" at least nominally, if not in actuality. & she is part of management! sure it's a meaningless title but it's still a title. something she can be proud of.

ms casey's body language: natural? not compared to pre-captivity gemma. but, much more loose body language than captivity-gemma always being so still and calculated, than allentown-innie-gemma so angry just carrying complete fury, than airplane-innie-gemma screaming, than dentist-innie-gemma always terrified, trying to be still & quiet. ms casey walks confidently, has stuff to smile about, doesn't have a problem shutting people down, yeah nicely, but she does!

she's so surprised & devastated when she's fired. she can't even imagine why it would happen. the *only time* she breaks the rules of the wellness session, by talking to mark personally when she's not supposed to, is after she's been fired. when she no longer has the incentive of keeping her job.

[mental-mouthful]

Hickey for the character asks pls? 👉👈

ohohoho! lovey suggestion !! i am always down to talk about a fellow ratt, so yes of course!

First Impression: IS THAT FUCKING HICKEY?? THE FERRET FACED FUCK I HATED WITH MY WHOLE BEING? THAT'S HIM? THEY MADE HIM A FUCKING TWINK???? People better not be fucking woobifying him i swear to god...

Impression Now: ohh noo. oh no my worst fear has come to life... i like hickeyyyy i like him a lotttt. i feel like this is how billy feels just "oh god. oh god is this working for me? son of a bitch it's working" On a real note though, he is sooo fascinating to me. He's a lot more genuine than i think people give him credit for. He's just so paranoid and has been taught to be so self-sufficient that it overrides any actual connection he might make with people. When given the chance to help, he does so, even if it is often tied to making himself look good. He didn't have to help Manson and Hartnell take Hornby's body down. He could've just cut in to undermine Irving and left it at that. He didn't have to grave rob to propose to Billy. He could've left everyone to burn in the carnival. (The fact he gutted McDonald do so and only looked as upset as "you fucking idiot, you stained my knife"... well that's just the other half of his personality showing) But he does all that. bc he does care. in his own twisted, detached way. Adam Nagaitas said something to this tune in an interview and its like. yeah!! he does care!! ...he just cares about getting himself on top (👀) more than any of that.

Favorite Moment: Goddddd what a hard question. Is it bugger victoria? (shout out fitzjamesbulletwound) Is it ratt wedding? (his smile is so sweet) is it his speech at the gallows? ("BUT ABANDONING HIS SHIP!!! SHOULD NOT BE AMONG THEMMM ☝️") i could be predictable and say its him taking his lashing like a fucking champ. his cheeky fucking smile throughout really encapsulates his "fuck you, I'll endure just to spite you" attitude. No it's not any of that. It's his casual smoke after he and billy get caught. it's really indicative of his personality and the unshakable force he'll be in the narrative. "there's worse things than being lashed ;)"

Idea for a Story: would loveeee to do a deep dive into his past. even if leaving it a mystery is more compelling, I'd really like to see what kinda menace he is on the streets of england.

Unpopular Opinion: that he actually doesn't want to eat people. he wasn't going into this with the hope that they'd turn cannibal. the situation had just gotten so dire and his lead poisoning and/or god compex had corroded his brain so bad he probably thought it made him an apex predator.

Favorite Relationship: He's got so many delicious dynamics to choose from but I think I'll go Crozier. He wants to be his friend. He wants to usurp him. He wants to fuck him. He wants to kill and eat him. He doesn't want his men to rough him up. He greatly looks forward to having a chat with him at the end of the world. He chains him to a boat.

Favorite Headcanon: that he plays the piano. and he's not great, but he knows his way around it. and its great fun to play for a crowd of belligerently drunk assholes who dont know the difference.

ANYWAYS THANK U THANK U FOR GIVING ME A REASON TO TALK ABOUT THIS FREAK <3333

[vviridescence]

NOTES FROM SEVERANCE EPISODE ONE SEASON TWO UNDER A CUT IN CASE NO ONE WANTS SEVERANCE SPOILERS (but you should watch it hooooly shit.......)

WE HAVE TWO NEW COLORS ON THE SEVERED FLOOR EVERYONE!!! FUCKING REJOICE!!!! purple and orange to add to the green we occasionally got last season :) yesssss leaning into the secondary color wheel......love the possible metaphorical analysis of this that is hopefully coming.....

the way the camera followed and lead mark when he ran out the elevator, oh my god, so so beautiful

seeing the wellness room label painted over and the outline of the doors still there is like. oh lumon painted over the only place for healing and recovery in landlord white.

DYINGGGGG to know who was watching mark when he was in the wellness room. the way it was shot reminded me of the way graner was filmed in s1. like a stalking, circling shark.

the balloons milchik gives mark reminded me so much of opening credits when he's carrying balloons of himself lol idk if that was the reason for it but i loved it. when he let's them float to the ceiling and they're trapped there :) cool. it's fine

THE PAINTING IN MILCHIKS OFFICE IS THE TIP OF AN ICEBERG. PLEASEEEEEEEEW

milchiks delivery of "what might be termed as a "throuple'" lmfao. i missed youhuuuuu

fascinating that the red ball for the game is now smaller and they do it at a table now. way more restrictive visually

mark signing the note "wrathfully' sjfjksjdn

this is a direct quote of what i wrote in my notes when they went down the break room hallway bc im a healthy normal person: the classic majn theme for the break room hallwayy!!! hello beloved i missed you!!!!!!!

ok so the claymation in the video looks SO MUCH like the claymation in sorry to bother you! apparently severance's claymation was done by starburns industries, (THANK YOU @narcsmelly !!) so idk if it's the same group doing sorry to bother you but i LOVED it. i was actually thinking about the similarities between stby and severance a while ago and maybe i'll post more about that sometime but it is really interesting to me lol.

idk if we're going to see the animatronic versions of the perpetuity wing statues but it fills me with terror and dread!

i saw a theory that the weird editing when mark thinks milchik might be firing him means he went to the testing floor, and that's a really interesting. idk what i think about it yet but it seems like a definite possibility

THEORY: the four posters in the break room are sanitized versions of the four tempers. hang in there (in an elevator to reference helly's suicide attempt?? EVIL. HOLY SHIT): my guess is dread? frolicaholic: frolic obviously. bee ever merry: malice? maybe? grin and baird it (is baird the name of someone that hasn't been introduced yet? idk): woe? just a guess!! idk how accurate that might be but it was interesting to me!

milchik being like, there's no cameras or recording equipment :) after showing them a video that had their recorded voices 😂 PLEASE.

PREDICTION: THE MIRROR ROOM IS GOING TO BE VERY BAD LOL

its so fun and cool and good watching helly find out about ms casey/gemma and you watch her will to live evaporate:) so fun im fine im having such a good time🫠 she's like oh i have nothing bc my outie is evil and i have no control and the guy i love has a wife with his other half and i have nothing:) ok fine!! my thing will be saving ms casey! and im not going to tell anyone about how evil i am!! HELLY..........I LOVE YOU.... YOU NEED THERAPY<3 :((( saw a theory floating around that helly is helena undercover, i don't think that's happening imo...

irving and dylan are going to make me CRY. oh my god..... that scene was so fond and sweet and ifkrodjfjosjnren the interpretation of death and suicide this season has really been kicked up a notch and its horrible and fascinating philosophically. UUGGFHHG

irving coming out of the elevator still screaming for burt and slamming on the elevator doors. COOL. IM IN PAIN.

the painting in the elevator lobby????? YIKES!!!!not subtle lol

ohhh yeah lumon has absolutely not changed milchiks computer from saying welcome cobel bc its psychological torture for his "failings". IMO.

i will bet all the money in the whole world that they hired miss huang as deputy manager partly bc people won't be horrible to a small child. LUMON YOU SUCK SO MUCH......GOOD GOD....

"IF YOU TAKE THE ROOM AT FACE VALUE SURE" SJFJSOXJJFOSKDND MILCHIK YOURE SO FUCKING FUNNY

i really hope the new characters come back they were really interesting 😭

ok......those are my first impressions on first watch lol. CANT WAIT FOR MORE. VERY FUCKING EXCITED.

[mscaseys]

Thoughts on Helena Eagan?

okay this is a loaded question... i think she's interesting when i think about her as a foil to helly and the nature vs nurture question is probably the most pronounced with her. and the thing is... i kind of see her and helly as a package deal, where the existence of the other makes them more compelling. like the most interesting about helly to me is the fact that helena is her outie, and vice versa.

that being said, i still need to know more about her. this is probably really harsh but i expected way more from the s1 finale reveal that helly's outie was helena eagan. i just thought the payoff from that reveal in s2 was lackluster, down to the innies' reactions to her being helena. especially since a huge part of s1 was rebellion, to find out that one of your closest friends is actually helena eagan on the outside? i just expected the innies to grapple with that more, hell i expected helly to have a bigger reaction to her outie being helena. i get that there were other threads like irving dying and the tent scene that took priority but really the only 'reaction' we get was dylan telling helly "you know you're the reason why we're down here in the first place" and there was no follow up on that...

also, in the finale where helly says "i'm her, mark" was setting something up for sure so i'm not discounting that, but when she shows up in the corridor in the final scene i am just confused all over again. could character development have happened in those 15 mins with the marching band? sure, but as a viewer there was still a disconnect for me with helly's writing in s2. and i think that's where the confusion about her being helena at the end (which, for the record, i don't subscribe to) is coming from.

dan said in an interview how the happy ending would basically be being 'whole' again, so i would like to see how s3 plays out and if helly and helena's goals would merge or diverge. it could really go either way for me, especially since the finale set up a situation where helly could 'take over' helena. i don't know how i feel about that, because as i've said i think they are the most interesting when they are feeding off of each other, and helena being a non-factor in the equation would be... too simple/boring a route to take.

[valentinsylve]

OK, I'm not really-really going to be posting about Severance, because I'm not sure I really want to share all that, but just devoured the entire show so far and wanted to jot down a couple interesting things before watching the most recent episode.

So yeah, when Helly first arrives, I noticed that Mr. Milchik's demeanor is not only kind in a way we don't see otherwise, he seems deferential. Saying what she's doing is so great. Telling her how much he loves seeing Kier's bas-relief face in the morning sunlight. Priming her for the breakfast question -- did he do that with any of the others? So, I figured immediately she had to be some kind of plant, but what kind -- I was thinking "investigative journalist there on official business and the higher-ups know it and it's going to be good publicity for Lumon." and the way Mr. Milchik takes a photo whenever she's smiling and getting some sort of treat seemed to back that up. But I really had no idea what level she was actually coming from, so that ended up having an amazing payoff.

I also thought it was interesting and funny that when Mark S. is doing the morning management checklist, sweeping and making coffee, the Muzak is "Joshua Fought the Battle of Jericho." So, will the walls come tumbling down?

Those were just my first impressions, and what followed was always a surprise.

I love the script. I love how it shows that even the most seemingly banal forbidden reading material can open minds in a totalitarian environment simply because its vocabulary and framing of reality causes intelligent people to imagine something different. IRL I do know someone who was able to get political asylum in Canada and leave the Eastern Bloc in the 70s because he published a whimsical book about talking animals which the government pegged as anti-establishment (I don't think he was purposely making a reference to Animal Farm). I actually love how they are dealing with the fact that Helena committed rape by deception and how both Mark and Helly are experiencing violation. When Helena comes into the restaurant and chats with Mark Scout, it's genuinely awful. I felt sick to my stomach, because she's behaving like a perpetrator who wants to act as if what happened was just fine and maybe not remembered by the other party.

Mr. Milchik -- I could go on forever. Tramell Tillman is brilliant. Milchik is so terrifying and lord help me I am here for a sexy sadist. THE DANCING. I could write a short essay about that part, the body language says volumes. And then in S2 his ambition and his precarity are both portrayed so well. His superiors humiliate him on a regular basis, and still he hopelessly aims for the sky, even daring to imagine he might have a romantic relationship with Natalie, who Simply Does Not See It.

I'm absolutely enthralled by the romance between Dylan G. and Gretchen. Anyway the ethics of falling in love with the alter-ego of one's spouse is just a delicious question. He's truly everything Dylan George is not. Potty-mouthed, immature Dylan G. is a persona. He violently mistrusts Burt, but then he relents because he wants Irving B. to find love. He's gentle and caring, and he has guts. He risks everything to help the others go into Overtime Override. He's an interior within an interior.

I don't want to write a whole essay and get over my own head with meta about race on this show, but it must be said that I am Thinking About That.

I wondered if the last names might have some kind of meta-meaning -- a Scout goes out and explores to bring intel to the rest of the party -- a Bailiff keeps order in the courtroom, a highly ritualized space. But actually I don't know, because then what does George mean?

Anyway this is amazing sci-fi horror. I'm actually about to watch S2E7 and have so far managed not to be spoiled about anything in the series.