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Alex Pettyfer - I Am Number Four

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The cold harbor scene is so compelling to me because like. Love does not transcend severance. At least not in the way Lumon is thinking about love. But humanity does.

Lumon has been working to create this smoothed-out emotionless product to market to the world, this Gemma who has been refined out of all her “tempers”. A medical company trying to create the ultimate opioid. We can guarantee YOU never have to feel pain again, just please don’t worry about the other version of you that only exists to feel the pain.

But this version of Gemma that has only been alive a few minutes still chooses to leave the room with the strange man covered in blood, despite her supposed “refinement”. Because notably, innies are NOT a product. They’re not an AI trained to do their programmers bidding. They are human, and that’s Lumon’s downfall: Humanity’s innate desire to seek connection. This man is clearly terrifying to her, but he looks at her with love in his eyes and holds out his hand to her. Despite the voice on the loudspeaker, (which is all she knows so far of life) warning her to stay, she goes with him. A human being is always going to take the outstretched hand over the disembodied voice.

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the way I see it, innie!Mark’s choice at the end of the episode was thoroughly explained by the conversation he had with outie!Mark through the camcorder.

even though outie!Mark is apologetic and sympathizes with innie!Mark’s suffering in LUMON, he doesn’t really understand it. it’s all innie!Mark has. helly is all he has. so when he undercuts his life by telling him that they can just “share”, he is showing his ignorance and inability to comprehend what innie!Mark is going through.

that’s where the distrust that bubbles to the surface comes from. innie!Mark is a fully formed person, but his other self sees him as lesser. why wouldn’t he want to assert what little power he has in order to enjoy what’s left of his life? he and helly might just die in ten minutes. he has no idea, but for once, he isn’t being dictated to by LUMON, or Milchick, or his outie.

and of course he saved gemma. it is the right thing to do, and she didn’t deserve to suffer. but other than that, he has no ties to her. she isn’t what he wants. he wants helly, and for the first time he has the complete freedom to enjoy his time with her.

freedom. that’s what he deserves and what he craves. of course he stayed.

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Mark Scout and Helena Eagen in the Season 2 Finale - Analysis.

He said “Helena Eagen, right?” like a some old dude flirting with his son’s girlfriend. Lol.

Mark Scout sees Helena Eagen as a sexual object, since he’s only seen her in sexual contexts (reintegration flashes) and flirted with her at the Chinese restaurant. “Taking me home, already?”

Helena Eagen and Mark Scout are similar. They both think with sex. They dehumanize Innies. They get their names wrong. They are both self-serving. They’re both somewhat dishonest.

This is the smile of a man who didn’t hate the flashbacks he was getting. But also didn’t take their relationship seriously, and diminishes his own experiences as an Innie.

But then Innie Mark says something unexpected: “Helly, actually. It’s the person I’m in love with.”

This moment forces Outie Mark to look at himself. He has a moment of shock. He’s speechless for a while, for the first time in the conversation, then he starts apologizing. One of the few times he’s actually honest during the entire exchange. (Even the first message of him being “nice” was followed by his fake smile disappearing as he stopped recording.)

This moment potentially makes oMark re-evaluate the way he flirted with her at the Chinese restaurant. The fact that’s it’s love and not just lust for his Innie is a terrifying thing for oMark, who’s been trying to diminish all these flashes.

Not just to diminish his Innie, but also diminishing whatever he felt when he looked at Helena.

Them flirting was confirmed by both Adam Scott and Ben Stiller. They said there was a heavy flirtatious charge in the air. (Partially due to Britt Lower and Adam Scott’s chemistry, but also because this is just the dynamic between Helena Eagen and Mark Scout.)

Ben Stiller: “Its a question of what permeates, what pheromones are there, what’s the love feeling like…”

Finally, when Mark Scout gets the name wrong, which is exactly what Helena did, this is ultimately what seals his fate. Being similar to Helena Eagen is what seals his fate. Now, he’ll be trapped down there as their Innies take control over the floor.

But the Outies aren’t exactly invincible to the way their Innies feel about eachother, either.

That’s why Mark and Helena felt something for eachother at the restaurant, when Innie Mark and Mrs. Casey felt nothing at all.

It’ll be interesting to see where Season 3 goes.

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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.

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it’s seriously wild to me how so many people think mark s should have ended his life right there, accepting to live his outies life with a woman he doesn’t love. i was heartbroken watching gemma pound on the door too, but it’s very hypocritical of people to not lend the same empathy they lent gemma to mark s. it’s not even a matter of helly vs gemma, it’s mark s wanting to keep his life, a life he was given without his permission, yet managed to build and make something out of. he has people he cares about too, a life down there too. but suddenly none of that matters because his outie and his wife matters more? mark s is a person too!

it’s not a black and white thing, you can be upset for gemma and be happy for mark s, for regaining whatever small amount of autonomy and agency he can. he knows he’s going to die either way, whether he stays or leaves. so why wouldn’t he turn around to hold the hand of the woman he loves, to spend whatever amount of time he has left with her? it was a selfish choice yes, leaving gemma there, but that’s the point of the scene. for once in his life, mark s did something for himself, without regard for his outie. the show has always been about the innies, it was always going to be THEM.

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see you at the equator 📍

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[ID: Gifs (left side) of Helena saying "I am a person. You are not." and Helly's reaction. Then gifs (right side) of Mark Scout saying "Honestly, I love that you had that experience. So now, you can imagine...like what you and Heleny had, but multiplied." and Mark S.'s reaction. End ID]

HELENA EAGAN and MARK SCOUT + dehumanizing their innies

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SEVERANCE 2.07 – Chikhai Bardo // 2.10 – Cold Harbor

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when YOUR religious devotion is rooted in some kind of just revolutionary worldview and HIS religious devotion comes from following an actual god.

Severance asking the big questions: Can a Christian and leftist ever make it work?

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Severance (2022 - )

Parks and Recreation S06E12 "Farmer's Market"

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it’s so deeply sad that helly probably longs to be a bush girl but helena absolutely keeps that thing bald as hell

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obsessed with the Helena and Irving parallel and what it says about the aspects of our identity we think are fundamental (but aren't)...

Like Outie Irving assumes his Innie is just as radically anti-Lumon as he is. He assumes his hatred of Lumon is something ingrained in his personality! That's why he stays up at night drinking coffee and making paintings, because he hopes that when his innie dreams about the testing floor, he'll say "okay bet" and start exploring. That's what Outie Irving would do, after all. But he miscalculated! His hatred of Lumon isn't inherent--- his desire for meaning and art and spirituality is inherent. That's what his hatred for Lumon is built on. But in a world where there's no meaning outside of Lumon propaganda, of COURSE his innie would become ridiculously devoted to the company.

And Helena!! She is the corporation, that's her whole identity. She presumably assumed that Helly would be just as pro-Lumon as she is. But she miscalculated too! Her devotion to the company isn't inherent, her headstrong and entitled nature is what's inherent! And in a world where she's denied any agency whatsoever, that manifests as rebellion.

It's the same dynamic flipped on its head. They both sent their innies in there with opposite intentions--- one to take down the company, one feed the company's expansion--- only to realize that rebellion and devotion aren't inherent characteristics. Their innies have become the exact opposite of their outie selves, while still being exactly the same!! Because even though your personality is inherent, the values you hold are determined circumstantially. OUGH IT'S SO GOOD.

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my gf said something sooo insane about helly the other day and i cannot stop thinking about it. she was like. helena and helly’s relationship is almost maternal. the way helena created helly as an extension of herself, to serve her interests, to try and impress her own family. she scolds helly, talks down to her like a child. “i understand you’re unhappy with the life you’ve been given” “i am a person, you are not”. the way she envies and resents helly’s freedom. the way she feels entitled to helly’s life and is now living vicariously through her in the most literal sense. what if you created life and now they’re experiencing the things you’ve always wanted for yourself. what if you created life and they were flawed and loud and demanding and they were loved more than you’ve ever been. and you hated them for it. the mother/daughterisms are insane my girlfriend is insane

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happy severance day! here's some studies I've done while waiting for the new episode

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helena eagan talks to a man as herself for the first time and she drives him straight to basement brain surgery she's such a freak i'm obsessed with her

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Was it different with me?

Severance— Season 2, Episode 6: "Attila" (2025)