Severance on Apple TV. I really need to talk about it.

[EileenBrysonsTeabags]

Late to the party. I Loved loved LOVED this series so much. So weird and unsettling and mind bendy.

So many unanswered questions.

I think I will personally go and stalk Ben Stiller for an answer about what the numbers are about if we don’t get a season 2.

Did anyone else watch it?

Bert was meant to 'get rid' of Irving, as Lumon had found out what he was doing. He couldn't bear it due to their connection so he bought him a train ticket instead.

Thanks @ImRonBurgandy, I didn’t get that he was there to off him but was sus of the whole ‘come for a ride’ thing!

What does everyone think Cold Harbour is? Trying to resurrect Kier is all that I can come up with!

ds, and to some extent dp, have the hypothesis that Cold Harbour is attempting the severance of the Outie from a traumatic death experience and the death they have planned for Gemma is drowning, as foreshadowed throughout the second season by Helena swimming in the pool, Ms Huang having to destroy her toy with the swimmer, Irving nearly drowning Helena, Gemma's miscarriage scene in the shower, and also Cold Harbour being a seaside location. Also, Cobel saying that if Mark completed Cold Harbour then Gemma is already dead would support that hypothesis.
I don't think Irving is going to stay away, that wee smirk he gave to his dog in the train makes me think that he wants Burt to think he is leaving for good but he's got no plans to do this. He's not the meek older man he seems to be at first glance, he's ex-Navy and somehow as his Outie researched all this information about other severed people without Lumon noticing until his Innie showed up at Burt's during the Overtime Contingency. He is not just going away. And if I were a showrunner, I wouldn't write John Turturro out of a show unless he really wants to leave it.
What I want to know is what did Jame Eagen mean right at the end of the episode when he said "You tricked me, Helly R". The internet seems to think he is talking about her tricking him into believing him to be Helena rather than Helly R during the overtime contingency, but I'm not sure about that.

I was thinking Devon and outie Mark could have used all those hours waiting for nightfall to quiz Harmony on what the work actually was, why Mark specifically was so important and why they not only kidnapped Gemma, but intended on Mark's completed work, the cold Harbour file, causing her death (again). Maybe they did but we haven't seen it yet. The show just gave the impression they sat around not demanding answers for several hours before going to the cabin. It's not like innie Mark knows the answers to any of those questions either.

I also didn't know why Helena's father was making an appearance on the severed floor for the first time ever accusing Helly of tricking him. Helly didn't meet him during the overtime contingency if I recall correctly. Helly didn't appear to know who he was in that scene.

I was intrigued by the flashback scene a couple of episodes ago, which went back to Miss Casey observing Helly in the MDR office after her suicide attempt and it showed a room of 4 people monitoring them really really closely. The big guy says "is the severance holding?" or something like that. I think they were referring to Gemma because we now know she has a different kind of severance linked to specific rooms. Previously she'd just done her wellness sessions on the severed floor. She commented to Mark that she'd never been awake for a whole day before and that day in MDR was the best day of her life and she really liked spending it with Mark. To me, it suggests they were monitoring Gemma, not Helly and her severance for longer periods on that floor was only just about holding as she was starting to have an affinity with Mark.

I think they are trying to perfect some kind of multi-severance thing and Gemma is the first guinea pig for that.

My DH thinks the whole severance thing is a way of turning the brain into supercomputers that can do really complex data manipulation and that's what MDR do. I'm not sure. They seem to be fine with letting the team spend ages not actually working which is odd considering they seem so keen for innie Mark to complete this file.

Sorry for ramblings. I guess we'll find out soon!

Hello R did meet Jame during overtime contingency. He called her a fetid mopped.

Harmony said if cold harbor had been completed then Gemma was already dead. So why didn't they ask her what cold harbor is? Does she not know?

I thought that was after the overtime contingency was ended so he was speaking to Helena. Maybe I got that wrong.

The fetid moppet happened after the contingency ended but IIRC they also met before she gave her speech in the bathroom/cloakroom, just after her Innie is activated

I assume they talked about it but from a script/suspense perspective, showing this to the audience, would not be good. Maybe Mark and Devon know by now but the audience doesn't.

Or maybe she doesn't know? Only that it's mysterious and important?

And maybe they didn't ask her as they think she's just talking in riddles. I like on the podcast how they poke fun at the character and her dramatic dellivery.

I'm excited and nervous about next week's episode! I'm expecting the ending will be another cliffhanger. Hopefully not so long to wait for season 3

The whole time I am watching this I am asking myself is that the innie or the outie?

I'm so grateful for this thread, because there are so many things that I miss or clever observations of the details that elude me completely. I don't think I can add anything, other than I am utterly gripped and will definitely have to go back and watch this series again to pick up on all the stuff I missed!

I think cold harbour is turning Gemma into someone devoid of any negative emotions- all the emotions she experienced in those rooms she went into. She would then essentially be like a servant to them, doing what they ask and happy to comply

I do agree that I don’t think cold harbour is about killing Gemma as such - I think that it will be more about a permanent severance or something, so the old “Gemma” is dead but a new version of her lives on IYSWIM.

(I am usually wrong about these sorts of things though).

I am hopeful that we have not seen the last of Irving or Burt, because as a PP said, you surely wouldn’t get rid of characters played by John Turturro or Christopher Walken unless they wanted out!

Just saw this in the Times, last episode is supposedly a "corker". There are no spoilers in this article. I'm travelling tomorrow and Saturday and won't be able to watch till late evening Sat.
https://www.thetimes.com/article/15d29d07-7bc8-41a9-be21-ad285bf7e090?shareToken=e599ddb48eb16e5689341822cb61947e

I'm going to watch this evening. Very excited!!

More shows should do the one per week release.

Im waiting for you all to watch it so we can discuss! All I will say is - what an episode!

I've watched it 😄 OMG

I want to watch it all over again.

OMG here too! Bumper episode!

🤯 here. Loved it.

S3 set right up 🙌

Like in the old days!

Oh my word! We didn’t start watching until quite late and I wasn’t sure I could manage an hour and twenty minutes. But I very much did. Not an inch of fat on it.

I'm glad that Times article mentioned the belly-button confusion. We're always giggling about the innies and outies.

I’m going to watch from the start again too. The last episode pulls so much together, I want to make sure I haven’t missed anything! That last episode was amazing, such a brilliant series - everything about it is unique, from the concept to the lighting.

The last podcast episode is great.

They mention Milchick's exit after talking to Dylan, which I thought was hilarious. Actually I laughed a lot at this episode.