chaotic-multi-fandom

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Art by qiaofu

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i need Severance to have a happy ending but the themes of orpheus and eurydice does not fill me with security

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SEVERANCE EPISODE 6 SPOILERS!!

I loved the fact that Helena's and Mark's sex scene was lit with very warm colours, and happened in a very cozy atmosphere with blankets and comfort, while Mark and Helly's occurs on a hard uncomfortable floor surrounded by cold and uninviting white and blue colours. And yet, it is this second scene that comes off as much more real and sweet.

What surrounded Helena and Mark was a fake simulated light just like the warmth which was entirely artificial and changed nothing about their freezing surroundings. That scene, is meant to unsettle us, given that the audience is most likely aware by now that Helly is really Helena, and thus that Mark is not consenting (and neither is Helly). The warm lighting reinforces this feeling because it is signalling to us the opposite message. We are used to relating warm colours in film with positive scenes, so it being used here creates a sense of discomfort.

However, then we get Mark and Helly. Their scene occurs in a real space, the office in which they've shared their entire life with one another, and one burdened with the discomforts of the real world (being nervous, the floor being hard and uncomfortable, clothes getting stuck), unlike the eerily "perfect" atmosphere of the previous one. It's much slower than the first, there is explicit consent several times, we focus on their faces while it is happening so that even though much less skin is being shown, it is much more intimate and sensual. All of this surrounded by almost sterile colours which would usually transmit to us an entirely different tone and atmosphere. There's no need for artificial warmth here, they are the warmth. Less skin being shown may also be a way of letting us see that Mark and Helly are reclaiming their own bodies, both of which have been violated by Helena.

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i love how different helena dresses for helly. like every morning she makes the choice to do her hair in a way she doesn't usually do and put on clothes different to her own personal style and she's been doing this since the first day. even before she went into getting severed that day, she made the decision to separate herself from this new person she was creating, yet she cannot accept her as a whole other person of her own. and it's fucked up because this hair and these clothes are not helly r's choice either. they are a part of her identity because that's all she knows but it is assigned to her by the very same part of herself who cannot see her as a separate human being with her own feelings and memories and agency.

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Non severance fans only what do you think “you fucked her outie at the ortbo” means

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all this and we are still nowhere near understanding what the hell is wrong with ms. cobel

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love my son Irving

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how it must feel to be my mutual rn

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Did you eat the baby Louis

Was it raining Louis

Are you schizophrenic Louis

Did we fuck Louis

What an interview.

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appreciation for my beloved girlfailure seth milchick. arguably the most overworked employee at lumon. he's not severed so he deals with both innies and outies, had to clean up cobel's mess by carrying fruit baskets to the outie's homes on a bike in the dead crack of winter and plans an elaborate corporate retreat only to have his employees laugh at his narration of a jerk off twin story and then deal with an innie trying to kill another (outie) and then being the person who has to essentially murder him. all this while the only person helping him is a child and they probably still haven't fixed the fucking monitor that greets him as ms cobel everyday

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Remember how Petey described the side effects of Reintegration?

"It's like having two different lives suddenly stitched together. But the relativity's fսckеd. So, my first day at Lumon's as far back as my fifth birthday. And with two pasts, it blurs the present too. But they said it will get better."

Mark will be experiencing these side effects too. The relativity of his life is going to be fucked. Which means his relationship with Helly might feel "as far back" as his relationship with Gemma. Due to the messed up relativity, his love for Helly may feel as significant as his love for Gemma for a while. What if this sabotages his attempts to save Gemma? If he keeps getting distracted by his love for Helly, and ends up fumbling with his Gemma rescue quest as a result? Without Reintegration, Outie Mark would have been locked in and completely focused on Gemma. But with Reintegration, his Innie's feelings will be affecting and distracting him. He Reintegrated for the purpose of saving Gemma, but the side effects of this very procedure may be what dooms her.

In the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice, it's Orpheus' decision to look back at his deceased wife that destroys his attempt to save her from the Underworld. He loses her forever. Mark chose Reintegration to "look back" at his wife. To see her again. And he might lose her forever because of it.

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"this is the largest water fall in the world"

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The wolf and the fox

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mdr.... my beloveds

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maybe love transcends severance