ianmalcolmreynolds

[ianmalcolmreynolds]

SEVERANCE (2022) S1 first shot | S2 last shot

Who are you?

[ianmalcolmreynolds]

baby, you can’t say shit like that to him

[ianmalcolmreynolds]

“They know everything, because Helena told them everything.” And yet the stairwell door was unlocked and unguarded when they got there. And Drummond only caught Mark by chance, not because he was tipped off. And Jame and Dr. Mauer were watching the testing floor cameras while completely ignoring the ones on the severed floor. He told her his plan within like 5 minutes of episode 3 and yet. And yet.

[ianmalcolmreynolds]

Adding onto the ways people aren’t getting the dynamic, the point of Severance has never been and will never be whether Mark Scout loves Gemma more than Mark S loves Helly. It doesn’t matter! It’s not meant to be measured! The point is that Mark Scout created Mark S and therefore does not have the right to deny his existence or force Mark S to live by his conditions on the outside!

it’s a real bummer to see some folks not grasping the full depth of Severance’s story, especially about Mark Scout. and it’s strange because the critics get it, and some people do too, but it seems like the average viewer is totally missing the point of this show.

mark severed himself to forget and cope with the loss of his “dead” wife. he created a version of himself who did just that, but guess what? she’s not even dead! he can actually get her back… but here’s the catch: half of his consciousness fell in love with someone else, and this someone else is none other than the heir to the company that caused all his suffering, who’s also severed.

and that version of him and that version of her are going to go against all odds to be together.

like this is some seriously good storytelling. why do some people want the boring version of it?

[ianmalcolmreynolds]

The ‘wife vs work wife’ phrasing is doing so much genuine damage to the way people see Severance’s central question of identity

[ianmalcolmreynolds]

Did her best 💖

[ianmalcolmreynolds]

My analysis of the MarkHellyna musical theme in Severance It is such a beautiful theme that carries so much meaning and complexity for the 3 characters that it represents The theme is heard often, but this is just a short video to show my understanding of how it is used!

[ianmalcolmreynolds]

I know we’re all focused on the second part but the recurring Hellyna character motif being a variation of the show’s main theme makes me feel so happy and validated that’s my co-protagonist baby

theodore shapiro i owe you my life

[ianmalcolmreynolds]

theodore shapiro i owe you my life

[ianmalcolmreynolds]

it is kind of a hilarious concept that dan erickson would change his entire story to pander to a corny audience who got too attached to the sanctity of marriage. like there was not a soul fighting for markhelly for the entire 3 year gap after s1. guess what was the emotional center of s2. helly was the fan favorite from the very start and guess who was missing for 6/10 episodes. be so serious if you may

[ianmalcolmreynolds]

Me watching a show/movie when I know the MC will triumph and my favorite characters will get a happy ending: This is fun but I think the anxiety of not knowing whether I’ll get what I want is what helps make an ending so satisfying

Me when there’s even a single percentage of doubt in my head about whether my favorite characters will get a happy ending: nrrgh im gona be sick 🤢

[ianmalcolmreynolds]

as the images unwind, like the circles that you find In the windmills of your mind

my first severance designs omg... finally manifested my passion for this show into something (soon to be) tangible aaa!! for the puzzle piece, i was inspired by @andruillus' study of mark scout. <3 i thought it was a brilliant idea and very fitting with their Situation.

these'll soon be keychains! my first ever "merch" other than stickers! aa! haven't felt this excited in a lawng time......

[ianmalcolmreynolds]

I think the silliest post-finale take I’ve seen is ‘I wanted Mark and Helly but not like this’ because like how else would that have ever happened?

[ianmalcolmreynolds]

the alarm in s1 was only red, but in s2 it’s blue and red… the red doesn’t just represent love, but the innies, and the blue represents the outies. “i’m her, mark. i’m her.” and innie mark is outie mark. no matter how much they fight it.

[ianmalcolmreynolds]

This desk used to have four seats. Our friend Irving is gone, and they want our whole department gone. If he gets out, we're dead. They're gonna turn us off like fucking machines. You've seen them do it. I know you've lost friends too. And you could be next. You could be next.

[ianmalcolmreynolds]

Okay, I’m writing this here instead of on Twitter because I don’t want to get Discoursed: I feel like the way some Severance fans talk about Mark’s relationships with Helly and Gemma is a great lightning rod for our weird (and kinda dismaying?) cultural shift about sex, romance, and relationships in fiction.

To be entirely clear off the top, while I’m more invested in Mark and Helly’s relationship, I think the show wants you to feel genuinely conflicted. This is not a ‘Why aren’t you guys on my team’ post or me indicating that every Mark and Gemma fan feels this way. They’re genuinely tragic, I’ve seen many great reads and insights on them, they’re a key part of the show.

But even tracking back to season one, it feels like people were looking for a reason to invalidate or dismiss Mark and Helly’s connection simply because ‘Prestige TV shouldn’t revolve around romance’ or the idea that they were too good for a show about a couple getting together. Mark and Helly and Burt and Irving’s relationship both say something essential about the show and the innies, the idea that people cannot help but fall in love with each other even when every force around them attempts to prevent and stifle that feeling. And I thought the show put some groundwork in on them! Even from the start (“I think we should kill Mark” etc), Helly’s clearly fixated on him and more interested in antagonizing him specifically, and Mark’s willingness to bend rules he used to believe in for her comfort is a pretty key aspect of his path. It’s shown in a veiled way, but I think the show made it earned and a lot of people just basically went ‘Ugh now there’s KISSING?’ And it’s not like there weren’t essential displays of platonic love between the innies either, the show makes time for those as well.

And then this season, I see SO many takes about how Mark and Helly represent lust compared to Mark and Gemma’s genuine love, and it’s hard to feel like that’s not just because we’ve seen one couple have sex and the other hasn’t? There have been so many displays of genuine understanding between Mark and Helly, from him trying to break rules to make her more comfortable in season one to her realizing he was just lashing out after the ORTBO. I mean, even earlier in the episode, she basically said he should leave her behind to have a chance to live! Sure, there’s no wedding band, but how is that not an ultimate display of devotion!

Even if you want to bring up that Mark couldn’t tell Helena and Helly apart, it feels hypocritical to then turn around and say innie Mark should have chosen Gemma because it’s *his* wife. Innies and outties are either one being or two, we can’t just flip-flop for morality and shipping.

I don’t know, maybe I’m reaching for something that isn’t there, but I feel like they’ve set up a genuinely complex story about the humanity of innies and outies that asks great philosophical questions and some fans are resorting to a weirdly puritanical way of talking about it.

[ianmalcolmreynolds]