#thread: irving

[consultingfujoshi]

I'm starting to think that maybe outie irving sees his innie in a similar way that helena does, ie. a tool he can use to further his own ends. he's clearly got a plan, and he chose to become severed to advance that plan somehow. is he going to be shocked or even angry to find out his innie has spent the last 3 years worshipping the company he's been trying to infiltrate from the outside? he literally created his innie for the purpose of bringing down lumon, and you're telling him he's actually the MDR hall monitor and lumon's biggest cheerleader?? will he freak out if he finds out he's been down there falling in love and getting his heart broken and wanting to LEAVE because of it instead of trying to find the testing floor hallway? innie irv's reaction to breaking out is like the total opposite of what his outie would have wanted if you ask me based on how he immediately goes to tell whoever he's working with that his innie got the "message" (saw the paintings) and that probably means to expect forward movement in whatever their plans are, and instead of pursuing it innie irv wants to leave the severed floor forever. what would outie irv's reaction be if dylan had let him walk out into that stairwell. would he have walked right back in like helena did on her first day?

[fulcrums501st]

the issue with Burt and Irv’s ending(?) isn’t that that was the ending or that they didn’t kiss or that it’s tragic. the issue is the screen-time ratio.

(this is written under the assumption that this is how the show is planning on sending off these characters. I am still holding out hope that this won’t be the case, after all the finale hasn’t aired yet)

but the issue is that we skipped over seeing just HOW the love transcended severance with them. we go from Irv awkwardly asking Burt out after an awkward dinner with his husband to BAM ominous car ride, and theyre talking to each other like they’ve met many times since the dinner but we don’t get to see any of that.

plus like now irv has now walked away, but supposedly he was fighting/investigsting against Lumon. and that was clearly important to him cuz he was painting the door over and over again. so his trust and connection to outtie burt must also have reached the same level of significance to him for him to do what burt says and get on that train, but we don’t see that develop. and if the show revisits Irvs implied corporate espionage them like cool, but it does as of now feel like irv is being written out. but still him getting on that train is like Irv abandoning all the implied corporate espionage without us even being cued in onto his corporate espionage and is not seeing his relationship with burt develop, the thing that convinces him to abandon the corporate espionage.

there should have been something in between where burt and irv meet up alone, and despite not knowing each other they still have this sense of familiarity that motivates them to keep going back to one another. like let’s see them realizing that this connection does in some weird way transcend severance. we don’t need to see them falling in love all over again across a season the way we did in s1, we could have just seen a couple moments of them seeing each other and hitting it off cuz the feeling and connection is still subconsciously there. we should have seen the complexities of their love transcending severance, instead of skipping it over and POOF now they’re saying goodbye and it’s unclear how much time they’ve even spent with one another, how deep the connection went, and how we got there in the first place. cuz theyre clearly talking in ep9 like they’ve grown closer since ep6 but I have no idea how. it is lwk left up to speculation.

meanwhile the markhelly stuff this season has no major skips or cuts in their development. we see the fallout of mark and helly being violated by helena and them overcoming that. and yes, they bang. but that’s not what annoys me. I didn’t need burt and irv to kiss or fuck cuz I agree theyre more reserved and the longing and the fact that they cant is a huge part of their dynamic. plus I hate when kissing and sex is just thrown in to make up for lesser romantic chemistry (markhelly cough cough). so I didn’t need burt and irv to kiss cuz there was the love.

but I needed their relationship to be treated with an appropriate screen-time ratio for their development, which markhelly gets, while it feels like burt and irv fell like they have scenes missing. so in the end the writers chose to show more development of the straight couple on screen while the gay couple feels like it has missing scenes. that’s why it feels rushed. thats why, despite the beautiful parallels and the beautifully tragic implications of their love transcending severance, it’s frustrating. cuz it largely happened off-screen, while markhelly was full screen, and after burt and irv got sm development in s1 the difference is noticeable.

love may transcend severance, but major missing beats in storyline threads and character development don’t transcend off-screen into the audience.

[stillthesunkenstars]

Relistend to Braxiatel in Love and realized it’s actually the best Benny audio ever written . Quotes cited:

oomf’s meta linked

—

—

Liria’s context:

[porcubus]

i think a lot of plot threads were really unceremoniously dropped and I think it is so evil that gemma gets sidelined so much especially as a woc (which severance seems to be gaining a bit of a track record for now) and ends the season in just a brand new form of pain like jesus fucking christ

at the same time I don't think mark and helly were running away thinking they'd have a life down there they were running for the sake of being alive and together just a little longer & I don't think the implication is that they fumbled the gemma rescue I think it'd be just insane if s3 begins and she's just. Back in there and while some choices are questionable I don't think they'd do that devon and cobel are more than likely just outside. maybe this is too hopeful but it felt clear to me

my hope is for s3 to do due diligence with the way things ended and spend more time with gemma as a main character (hopefully having that time tie in more with devon And Her Kid We Forgot & ricken and whatever the hell he's doing since we've been told they were all close)

[losingdcgs]

STATUS: closed for @mcktub

LOCATION: Coral Cove Academy Teacher's Lounge

There wasn't one particular incident in the last few days that made the week drag on for what felt like an entire month, but rather numerous small ones. None of them were really out of the ordinary and ultimately just came with the job of teaching high schoolers, but his growing discontentment with his job made it all feel more unbearable. He turned his attention from the rather disappointing essay he'd been looking over to see one of his coworkers. "Spring break can't come soon enough." Santiago commented in a rare moment where he actually went out of his way to start a conversation. It was honestly preferable to returning to that dreaded essay. "Any big plans for that week off?"

[fieldbling]

hilarious that while mark s chose helly and had this whole argument with mark scout I know that writers room is just trying to prolong the helly gemma mark of it all as much as possible

[macrodatum]

@lumonst ( irving ) // plotted starter.

This was the third "Irving B" on the list Reghabi gave him-- Irving Bailiff, fired a few weeks prior. Standing at the man's door in his sweater and puffy jacket, the uncertainty that'd been in him since the ORTBO (and it was strange, still, feeling the grief of that loss without any walls to shield him from it) bubbled up his throat, as it always did.

I'm sure this is it, came a voice from Mark's mind, as jarringly positive as ever. Mark set a hand on his chest, told himself not to be weird (Irving won't remember us the way we remember him), and then lifted his hand to ring the man's doorbell.

Then... silence. Mark dragged his teeth over his lip, rocked on his heels, and shoved his hands into his pockets like this would make him look any less pathetic for standing in front of the door of someone who ought to be a stranger.

(He's not dead, he's just not here.)

The door opened and his chest swelled. Mark's eyes were bright with hope, and when they finally fell onto the face of the man on the other side--

"Hi."

--oh, God. The backs of his eyes went hot, and Mark had to blink to keep himself from crying right then and there. Regrets and apologies stormed his head-- I'm sorry I didn't listen, I'm sorry I wasn't there for you, I'm sorry I let them take you away, I'm sorry I wasn't who you needed me to be, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorrysorrysorry-- but Mark attempted a smile even around the knot of grief that threatened to split his throat open.

I missed you.

"Irving Bailiff? Uh... I'm Mark Scout. We used to work together at Lumon before you were fired."

[irvinnie]

tag dump:

[consultingfujoshi]

irving b fans our finest moment but at what cost. at WHAT COST. "I'm on the fucking ice" 67 year old man trekking through the wilderness with a cunty outfit and a dream. insisting they eat the montauk monster. being heterophobic towards mark and hellyna. nearly dying of hypothermia so he can see his boyfriend one last time in a terrifying prophetic dream. being the only one to have both the intuition and conviction to confront helena and do something about it. WATERBOARDING THE CEO'S DAUGHTER. and as soon as helly's back he's pulling her close to him and apologising and holding her because he loves her and he doesn't want to hurt her and he's sorry. staring down milchick totally fearless as he's sent to his death. owning the first frame last frame of the best episode of the season so far. and now what. now he's gone. the biggest thread of mystery left without anyone to chase it. outie irv being fired for the second time this week with no idea why. he gave everything for his team and for the truth and he fucking DIED for it!!!!! his old man yaoi swag too powerful they fucking KILLED HIM!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[eagans]

ether as severance + “the courtship of kier and imogene” (relationship parallels)

(just so we’re clear, while the kier-imogene dynamic is clearly paralleled with helena and mark, it is also reiterated in cobel and mark, dr mauer and gemma, and even burt and irving to some extent; season 2 has also made it a point to show us that helena and cobel are both victims in their own ways while being perpetrators. it is not a black and white situation and misogyny will get you blocked.)

original threads: (x), (x)

[losingdcgs]

Axel placed his attention back on the pair to size them up once more, "You think they'd be that bold?" They were bold enough to go skinny dipping in front most of the town so he didn't know why he wouldn't put anything else pass them at this point. Maybe he just thought Palmview was too much of a sleepy town for anything remotely scandalous to happen. He really ought to keep up with the town's gossip more to realize that wasn't the case. "Right, so you say twenty to thirty, I say ten to fifteen." He stooped down to gather some of the garments the couple left out. "Winner gets what, twenty bucks or something?"

    “as   long   as   they're   not   having   too   much   fun   .   ”   the   suggestive   tone   with   which   he   said   the   words   should   be   indication   enough   of   what   kendrick   had   meant   .   it   was   simple   math   ,   really   ,   and   he   truly   hoped   that   wouldn't   be   the   case   ,   but   some   people   sought   the   adrenaline   rush   with   too   little   care   for   consequences   and   how   that   might   affect   others   .   in   that   specific   case   ,   the   big   number   of   people   forced   to   watch   it   .   “   a   good   twenty   to   thirty   ,   to   be   honest   .   they're   not   even   looking   this   way   .   we   could   swap   their   clothes   for   clown   suits   and   they   probably   wouldn't   realise   .   ”

[plantfeed]

status: open

location: fannies

              the bar was quiet in the kind of way that the coast felt just before a storm ; apprehensive, on the cusp of something. bitterly windy outside and just shy of eight thirty on a tuesday, she’d come from one of the worst sales pitches of her life. so she went to the place where any sane resident of the town would go after a rough, strenuous day when all they really needed was to let loose, chug a tequila, and dance until they felt seasick enough to skinny dip ; fannies, where she was anonymous, standoffish enough for the regulars ignore her yet frequent enough for the bartender to know her drink order as soon as she neared the bar.  quiz night was wrapping up, a younger crowd than usual. the median age was probably thirty-six, and for the first time natalya felt too old for a place in her pin striped trousers and her pussybow blouse. she'd decided to just bra and blazer it in an attempt to fit in  ( that was vogue, right ? )  popping the buttons of her blouse undone to pull it off and stuff it into her purse as she waited for her drinks ( a large glass of merlot and a shot of café patron ). shrugging her blazer on, she rolled up the sleeves, a pop of red lace visible beneath her suit that felt both slutty and empowering. suddenly self-aware, she reapplied her eyeliner in the reflective screen of her phone, dragging out the wing, smudging black into her waterline. standing back to look at herself, she noticed another patron in the reflection of her phone, and with a reluctant sigh, announced. “ do you want a shot ? i ordered one and now i don’t want it, but i’d feel like a cunt to say no when they’ve poured it. ” she reapplied her lipstick — pillarbox red, like the lace frill of her bra, the heel of her stillettos and the strap of her bag ( she loves an accent colour )  — and sunk down onto the bar stool next to the other patron. “ honestly you’d be doing me a favour. saves me from looking like a washed-up forty-something drinking alone. ” her laugh was curt and acidic, like the squirt of lime that followed a tequila shot.     

[losingdcgs]

STATUS: closed for @mcktub / Kendrick Irving LOCATION: Fleurist

Priya's dark eyes carefully looked over every individual flower the shop had to offer, wanting to select the perfect combination. In her heart she knew whatever she picked out would be fine — Faye was never picky about this type of thing and would appreciate the gesture no matter what, especially since it was coming from both Priya and Kenny. "What are you thinking about getting? I was thinking about white tulips and maybe some forget-me-nots or pink carnations. They're all supposed to represent remembrance, I think." Therefore all very fitting for a grave. "But maybe we should get some that symbolize love and friendship too?" She fiddled with the rings she still wore on her finger, "Sorry, I'm overthinking it and if I keep doing that, we're going to end up walking out of here with every flower they have."

[sunlaire]

OKAY so the video tour of the terror set is gone forever (sad, devastating, heartbreaking) BUT, i was able to find a TON of detailed pictures on the website of the theme park its resting at. so heres some of those

^ This is if you were standing on the quarterdeck, facing fore. you can see nearly the entire length of the upperdeck. you can see the mizzen mast in front of the wheel

^ Same angle on deck, if you took a few steps past the wheel. the first thing you see on the left is a faded red painted box with glass (this is the light box above the wardroom), then theres the mizzen, a bit further on you can see the capstan

^ this is further down the deck, past the main mast, looking fore. You can see the bowsprit, The Bell (shes so famous) and that red box is the cover over the ladderway leading down into the forecastle.

^ The galley and the crew ladder-way in the forecastle. its hard to see in this picture, but to the left and right of the galley, there are doorways. these lead into sickbay.

^ The only picture of sickbay they have on the website, but thankfully we see it enough in the show to get the full picture. If you looked to the right, there would be a wall with the two doorways on either end. In the middle, above the operating table there is the start of the bowsprit. you can see it in this picture rising up at an angle in the top right. In the scene where David young is about to die, you get a really good view of this part. so that just tells you the position of the sickbay (its as far fore as you can get on the lower deck)

^ Crew mess in the forecastle. behind the person taking this picture is the galley. to the right is one of the doorways leading into sickbay. to the left, and down at the other end of the deck is the great cabin+wardroom+lieutenant cabins (officer's country)

^From the last picture, if you turned left and walked a few yards. (this is almost the exact spot where hickey gives gibson the ring) You can see the companionway leading through officer's country. The cabins on the right (white painted doors) belong to masters, stewards, mates. further down where the dark wood starts, on the right those are the lieutenant cabins. On the left is the wardroom. Of course straight ahead is the great cabin+captains berth

^Wardroom, with a combo of Erebus and Terror paintings on the wall. the entrance to this room is just out of view a bit to the left of that bird painting. if you turned around, you'd see two doors leading into cabins where historically the surgeon and clerk would sleep.

^ Great cabin, viewed from just a couple step beyond the entrance to the room. If you turned left and walked to the wall, on the left would be the doorway to the captain's berth

^ Captain's berth. You can see the doorway of the entrance to the right. if you broke through the wall on the left, it would lead into the wardroom/surgeons cabin.

^ If you take a left before entering officer's country, and go past the main mast, to the other side of the deck, you get to the purser's pantry! full of perishables the men could buy (like candles, tobacco, thread, small things they'd need to replenish)

^ If you turn 180° away from the purser's pantry, beside the main mast there is a ladderway leading down to the Orlop. This is where they stored everything needed for the carpenters, sailmakers, black smiths and caulkers. In the show, we get to this place at the start of the second episode when james and sir john walk through. In that scene you can see the smith working as they pass

^ The Hold below the orlop, with the water tanks, and those two white pipes on either side of the mast are part of the water pump system. they lead all the way up to the upper deck. we dont see the hold very much in the show. only 3 times (fagin hunting a rat, Irving having a homophobic homosexual moment, and when hickey+hartnell carry hornby to the dead room) They took the Engine out of the set, but if it was still here, you'd be able to see it just behind the mast

^ If you turned around from the last picture, this is what you'd see. Since its just a set, the door leads outside, but in the show thats where the Dead Room was. also the ladder, thats where irving climbed down and Heard Things coming from behind that stack of stuff to the left of the dead room. <33 If you go up a couple decks, this is directly below the forecastle. (it figures they would keep the dead room as far fore as possible, away from the officers aft)

There are more pictures here <33333333

[ceruleanvulpine]

just watched the outie cut of severance (by the talented @allonsybadwolf) and it was craaaazy how well it worked. it's movie shaped! the pacing and reveals are transformed but still engaging. your questions aren't answered at all! but the structure!

ex.: normal cut: mark's neighbor is weird. oh shit it's cobel!

outie cut: mark's neighbor is weird. wait, petey recognizes her?

normal cut: we meet helly -> we see helena's experience of her first day -> everything else

outie cut: we see helena in the parking lot and her first day -> just enough time elapses for @luckydicekirby to say it feels like a loose end -> incredibly disorienting and scary helena POV hanging sequence, which of course outie mark completely misses

even irving gets very early appearances in petey's awareness slippage, so when he reappears *that* feels like a payoff. and you get just enough of innie mark to show that he's Very Different. and the break room tape.

dylan unfortunately gets short shrift for obvious reasons. his outie scene with his kid feels disconnected, and everyone appearing in the elevators and in their lives at the end feels like the threads are converging, while he is still absent. I am looking forward to seeing him again.

overall, I enjoyed the outie stuff more when I wasn't chewing my nails waiting to go back to the innie stuff.

the corollary of that, as @slothcollector pointed out, is that the innie cut is going to be a WILD RIDE.

[space-feminist]

irving being the member of the team who is ultimately the bravest and most committed to the anti-lumon mission (literally dying for it) reminds me of that twitter thread* about how a lot of people who end up leaving christian cults are people who were once extremely committed to the faith, seemingly "true believers", and that's because they were so committed to reading the bible they also read the parts that conflicted with what the institution was telling them and started to question what was going on. they were engaging so deeply that they weren't passively absorbing propaganda. lumon forbids workplace relationships but irving and burt have read the actual literature and know that kier and his wife met in the workplace. sure they're justifying their relationship within their faith but knowing that the institution is wrong about him and burt, wrong to rip burt away from him, is what ultimately shatters irving's faith and makes him want to burn the place to the ground. the distance from true believer to revolutionary can be a lot shorter than it seems

*at least i think it was a twitter thread. i don't remember