Severance - 0109 - The We We Are

[00:00:00] a music dance experience.

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[00:00:13] You are listening to a lorehounds plus properly Howard production.

[00:00:19] Today, see you when I covered the season one finale of severance.

[00:00:23] For more great coverage, check out the lorehounds.com.

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[00:00:36] All right, without further ado, here is Comic Steve Osborne.

[00:00:39] I was thinking before maybe it was just, you know, sort of like a recency bias thing,

[00:00:47] but on the second watch, this is, this is one of my favorite like first seasons of almost

[00:00:53] anything.

[00:00:55] I was trying to figure this out because you never watch Andor, right?

[00:00:58] Right.

[00:00:59] So when I was watching Andor, I was thinking kind of a times can I say that about a TV series?

[00:01:07] And then it kind of had like a little right before the climax.

[00:01:11] And I think that that's purposeful a lot of time.

[00:01:14] You need to like a set up episode.

[00:01:16] This one I think it's pretty clear that I am more invested every single episode.

[00:01:19] And I think that's a lot of time.

[00:01:21] You need to like a set up episode.

[00:01:24] This one I think it's pretty clear that I am more invested every single episode.

[00:01:30] Yeah, I would agree. And the rewatch is great because I don't remember how much or you don't realize in silly how much the impact of all these like reveals that

[00:01:46] lead to a new question sort of takeover and so like there's certain things like for sure

[00:01:51] remember and it's interesting what I remembered the most versus things that I'm like

[00:01:56] oh I don't remember that part that is like probably equally about more significant than

[00:02:01] the things that I remember right but it's just about like where you get emotionally invested on first watch.

[00:02:07] Yeah.

[00:02:08] So we're covering the season finale of season one and.

[00:02:15] I think I might have been really tired when I first watched this.

[00:02:19] Because there was just a ton of things that I miss first time.

[00:02:24] Yeah. because there was just a ton of things that I missed for a time where I... Yeah, I don't remember for a Rebecca head.

[00:02:30] LAUGHTER

[00:02:34] Her eyes are small.

[00:02:36] Her eyes are small so she has to read close.

[00:02:39] And is that how eyes work?

[00:02:41] I guess.

[00:02:42] And also, you know, just please, if you see the sores

[00:02:47] in the back of my head, know that's from my bird.

[00:02:50] Well, she's got an all kind of, she's got a very specific worry.

[00:02:55] She's thinking, I'm going to have to put my nose into this book,

[00:02:59] which means that he's going to be looking at the back of my head.

[00:03:04] And I know that my bird's been back there.

[00:03:07] Reeking, right?

[00:03:08] Reeking, epic.

[00:03:10] Yeah, I don't have to get a mirror to know that it's,

[00:03:13] it ain't great.

[00:03:14] It's like North Turner's neck.

[00:03:17] I forgot about her entirely.

[00:03:25] She's fantastic.

[00:03:26] I have to reconsider my name.

[00:03:28] She, man, she just, I wouldn't say that she stole the episode because it was a very

[00:03:36] eventful episode, but it was nice to have some comic relief there because it's not like

[00:03:41] Dylan was given as much.

[00:03:43] Right.

[00:03:44] So that's the thing is our characters are now completely like anything

[00:03:47] that we would have expected comically from whether it's like,

[00:03:51] or earvings, you know, uptight qualities or Dylan's, you know, sort of irreverence,

[00:03:57] whatever it is, it's just like, you don't get to get any of it.

[00:04:00] So it was really important that we do get a taste of because even Rickin doesn't

[00:04:04] offer a ton. I mean, there's still there's certainly some.

[00:04:07] Well, he definitely definitely.

[00:04:09] And we're going to wait or certainly amazing. But, but yeah, so that's kind of a, it's kind

[00:04:16] of a fun thing because it is, there is so much. I mean, you are like, I'm watching this for

[00:04:21] the second time and I was still gripping like, like there were, I was still super tense. Like is he ever gonna see jammus face? I didn't know how

[00:04:33] to break up. But the good news is now we don't have to have a spoiler free section right.

[00:04:36] That's right. If you're this far with us then then here we are. We have not watched any

[00:04:41] episode past episode nine.

[00:04:45] That's right.

[00:04:46] So we will only spoil the first season.

[00:04:48] All right.

[00:04:49] Now we do.

[00:04:50] Unless you are watching the season in reverse.

[00:04:53] Oh, yeah.

[00:04:53] So if you're watching this in the future, don't spoil for us.

[00:04:57] So we don't know yet.

[00:04:58] I mean, we might with you then, which is your now and podcast

[00:05:04] or complicated.

[00:05:05] I didn't know how to break up this episode,

[00:05:09] so I decided to go by character.

[00:05:12] Okay.

[00:05:13] So I'll just sort of read what happens pre-credits

[00:05:17] and then we'll go character by character.

[00:05:21] Mark's any awakens in Devin's home

[00:05:24] and finds himself hugging Cobell.

[00:05:27] That's gotta be weird, right?

[00:05:29] Right, yeah.

[00:05:30] How often have you hugged your boss?

[00:05:33] Boy, I'm trying to think of the last time I hugged the boss.

[00:05:36] The weird part is I need to have.

[00:05:39] Well, I mean, you were a male prostitute for a while.

[00:05:44] Yeah, I mean, hugging, but even then,

[00:05:46] it was like, in these hugs, these hugs, these hugs,

[00:05:48] and pre.

[00:05:50] Irving wakes up in his apartment,

[00:05:53] discovering his Audi's paintings.

[00:05:55] He'll be wakes up at a gala and learns that she is an egan.

[00:06:02] So I, wonderful, wonderful, pre-credits scene, the split screen with the three faces, all coming out of severance at the same time, very effective.

[00:06:16] I mean, once it started, I was like, alright, let's about, I mean, that's the thing is we've talked in other forums about like great, you know,

[00:06:29] cliffhangers and just great final episodes and, um, or especially for a season.

[00:06:34] And this is, it's start to finish.

[00:06:36] It's, it's, man, and you talk about it's riveting, but it doesn't, and it, but without, I mean,

[00:06:42] without gimmicks, you know, it's like it's just, but it doesn't and it but without without I mean without gimmicks you know like it's just but it just maybe we're almost gonna get something here well

[00:06:48] let's go to somebody else and then now I'm fully invested in that you know

[00:06:51] senior and if it's like a minute you know I'm just I'm locked in

[00:06:55] no no don't leave that leave okay good we're here wait

[00:06:57] only no okay good we're here now it's odd to think that I feel equally invested in these characters now.

[00:07:06] I mean, I was almost...

[00:07:08] Right.

[00:07:09] I kind of couldn't take my eyes off Cobell just because she's such a mystery to me.

[00:07:13] But in terms of emotional stakes, I was equally invested in all of the employees' plots at least.

[00:07:23] Yeah.

[00:07:23] All of the employees plots at least. Yeah.

[00:07:29] All right, who do you want to do first? Do you want to do Irv Mark Dylan or Helly?

[00:07:34] Um, because it all kind of happens at the same time.

[00:07:38] All right. Let's let's go Irv.

[00:07:41] Yeah, I yes.

[00:07:43] All right.

[00:07:44] Irving discovers his background in the US Navy and finds a map Let's go Earth. Yeah, I, yes. All right.

[00:07:45] Irving discovers his background in the US Navy

[00:07:47] and finds a map and employ directory in the closet,

[00:07:52] which he uses to locate Bert.

[00:07:54] Earth arrives at Bert's house only to find that he

[00:07:58] has some sort of a relationship.

[00:08:02] I noticed something in this plot line that I had never seen before and I'm curious to get

[00:08:09] your take on it.

[00:08:11] Earth pulls out a piece of mail that's posted to him.

[00:08:18] It says Irving Bayliff.

[00:08:20] Did you see this address?

[00:08:22] Mm hmm.

[00:08:23] I didn't.

[00:08:24] All right. Well, you know that I'm curious about where this, where this place is.

[00:08:28] Well, it's here.

[00:08:30] It's, the town is here and I was thinking, do we have a, a state abbreviation?

[00:08:36] The state abbreviation is PE.

[00:08:39] Oh, I didn't catch that.

[00:08:43] So that's not Pennsylvania.

[00:08:46] Right.

[00:08:47] And that's not only its print-set word island.

[00:08:50] Nope, that's PEI.

[00:08:54] Then I thought, well, if there's any provinces with PE,

[00:08:58] there is one in Australia.

[00:09:00] But the Australian zip codes are four digits.

[00:09:06] So this is a made up place.

[00:09:10] It's a made up state.

[00:09:12] Steve.

[00:09:13] So that's a big reveal, right?

[00:09:15] I mean, I think we get that when we know

[00:09:16] that the town's name is here.

[00:09:18] I think we get this set.

[00:09:19] But it's not played for a big reveal.

[00:09:20] It's kind of played for like,

[00:09:23] the only way that you would notice that

[00:09:25] is if you paused and like we're really looking for clues, right? Right. So I mean, but that

[00:09:33] was though, that was one of my big questions. And I didn't, I didn't think that the season

[00:09:37] is when he when he pulls the map for a year that that I think is, yeah, is meant it,

[00:09:42] like there's a little bit of a hold on there because then you're like, okay, that's clearly not a coincidence.

[00:09:48] Yeah, but I think it's even different to me if it's like,

[00:09:52] cure Pennsylvania or cure Idaho or something. I kind of assumed that this is Pacific Northwest.

[00:10:01] I don't know why. I guess I just, that's kind of how it felt to me.

[00:10:06] But it's the, everyone in this world

[00:10:11] believes that they're living in some state

[00:10:14] with the abbreviations PE.

[00:10:16] So I think that this is further indication

[00:10:19] that everyone in this town is an experiment.

[00:10:24] Right.

[00:10:25] Well, yeah.

[00:10:26] And we do get a sense of the magnitude when Mr. Egan says,

[00:10:36] you know, everyone in the world.

[00:10:38] Yeah.

[00:10:39] Can we serve it?

[00:10:40] So this is a big deal, right?

[00:10:41] So it's almost like you've got these microcosms.

[00:10:44] It's like these, these employees were their guinea pigs.

[00:10:49] But then you've got these wider concentric circles.

[00:10:53] And it seems to me like this sort of was a bubble town

[00:10:59] that was serving as a massive experiment.

[00:11:03] And if it all goes well, then they can market this globally.

[00:11:07] Right. So, it's like you create, you, well, it's, is egan's worlds 200 people large.

[00:11:13] Right. Yeah, right. Right. So, there's that. There's, there's this other sense too that like,

[00:11:18] is this like, they've created a manufacturer to control group, right? Which is not truly a control group if they've manufactured it.

[00:11:27] But if the idea being like, okay, let's create a world

[00:11:32] where everything is as close to like real world is possible.

[00:11:39] And then we can within that, we'll still control that world.

[00:11:42] So it's truly not a controlled experiment.

[00:11:44] But like we give them the illusion of free will.

[00:11:47] So that people like Rick and Ken actually become, you know, considered intelligent.

[00:11:56] That's another interesting thing to me.

[00:11:58] We're kind of skipping around here, but at one point, Devin says Rick and has some big

[00:12:04] wig journalist friends in New York.

[00:12:07] So that indicates.

[00:12:10] So does he think he had to, does he like, is this in his imagination or in this world,

[00:12:18] they know what New York City is and there?

[00:12:21] Is this a, is this a Truman Show situation?

[00:12:24] I have no I think Rickens got

[00:12:27] Connections to the whole you think he's in on the plot. I think so

[00:12:33] My gosh that would that would blow my mind if that if that was true that would blow my mind

[00:12:39] Okay, let's talk more better

[00:12:42] We learned that his name is Irving Bayliff.

[00:12:45] Do you think there's any significant significance

[00:12:48] to the name?

[00:12:49] I mean, it is an interesting last name, right?

[00:12:52] Yeah, there's, you know, this show sort of leans into allegory.

[00:12:56] So I don't know if this, I mean, a Bayliff,

[00:13:00] a Bayliff can be, you know, the judicial assistant in a courtroom, right?

[00:13:09] Right.

[00:13:10] Uh, etymologically, I looked it up sort of the, someone who's responsible for a castle,

[00:13:17] like not royalty, but like the, the head butler or whatever.

[00:13:23] Uh, yeah, and mark, and mark scout, right? Yeah, that or whatever. Yeah and Mark in Mark's scout, right?

[00:13:26] Yeah, that's right.

[00:13:27] Yeah.

[00:13:29] But Dylan is just Dylan George.

[00:13:31] I wasn't sure what to do with that.

[00:13:33] I did think that radar was an interesting name for the dog.

[00:13:37] Yeah.

[00:13:38] Could just be, you know, he was,

[00:13:40] he worked on a submarine back in the day.

[00:13:44] Now his dog's name radar, maybe he was a big mash fan back in the day. Now is Dogg's name radar. Maybe he was a big

[00:13:46] mash fan back in the day. Right. Did you know that my dad's nickname used to be radar? I could see

[00:13:53] that. It was it was a basketball nickname. Oh, I just thought it because he kind of looked like

[00:14:00] right now. It was like he didn't have to look at the basket to sink a hook shot and people

[00:14:06] said, right?

[00:14:07] Yeah, so he got the nickname radar.

[00:14:09] That's a pretty good one.

[00:14:12] I mean, this sort of the legend of my father before, you know, it was what he tells you.

[00:14:19] If you ever run into anybody like an old friend that's like, right, I'm going to guess

[00:14:23] no.

[00:14:31] It was actually a Navy trained dolphin back in the day.

[00:14:40] All right. So yeah, let's talk more about Earth. What struck you about this reveal in Earth's life?

[00:14:49] Well, once again, like, even though he he comes like and I understand he's alone, but we don't hear him speak, right? It's interesting that we haven't heard. Like when we first got to see the

[00:14:53] Audi, there was like, Irv's character doesn't speak until they had. And so that was interesting.

[00:15:00] That was interesting that he has, he already has Bert on the map.

[00:15:04] that was interesting that he has, he already has Bert on the map.

[00:15:09] Yeah, well, he has a few different people on the map. Right. But Bert is on the map. So Bert was, so whatever, whatever it is he's doing with his list,

[00:15:16] or Bert was included. So I started to create some questions about,

[00:15:28] to create some questions about, you know, we've talked about like, is this, is there multiple

[00:15:34] episodes of severance in for these people? Right. Right. So like the Audi, the Audi's

[00:15:39] static, but the any is always changing. And so, but like there's something, you know, so he's got some research he's doing, right. So like it feels like there has to be some tap in, right? And maybe that's a result of the testing floor. But the very fact that he is clearly his

[00:15:50] Audi is connected to some degree to the to the any in the sense of his paintings, right?

[00:15:57] So I mean, he's painting this image. So something whether it's subconscious or conscious

[00:16:04] is is is happening there. So he's

[00:16:07] got an interesting connection that none of the other ones seem to have. Well, I think that

[00:16:10] there's a parallel here with Mark because it seems like he's doing sort of investigative

[00:16:16] work outside of the office and try to figure out what's happening with Loomin enough so

[00:16:23] that he sort of acquired an employees list and he's mapped them out.

[00:16:27] He lots of notes lots of notes interesting notes like about you know, like

[00:16:31] same age. Are there any other 58 year olds? Yeah. All these other I was

[00:16:35] looking. I was trying to pause a bunch trying to find any kind of me too. All

[00:16:39] like they was get a bunch of names and you saw I saw a Becca and I was like,

[00:16:42] no wonder that was Rebecca. Oh, yeah, absolutely. So yeah, the city's called Kerr, a cure.

[00:16:51] And he's got a military background. Does this mean anything to you?

[00:17:00] It may. I mean, it's, it sort of explains a little bit more of his obedient nature as an

[00:17:07] any. And his ability to comply with a larger mission, right?

[00:17:14] Right. I'm kind of fascinated again about like to this this one, and maybe we've seen it before

[00:17:20] on this haven't been attention, but this episode of course shows us a smartphone.

[00:17:25] Yeah, yeah. Yet course shows us a smartphone. Yeah.

[00:17:26] Yeah.

[00:17:27] Yeah.

[00:17:28] Yet he's using a map.

[00:17:29] That's interesting.

[00:17:31] That is interesting.

[00:17:33] So I thought that was really, he's very, he's very analog approach to this, which might

[00:17:38] suggest that he is not trusting of the technology.

[00:17:43] Right.

[00:17:44] He doesn't want people to be able to know what he's searching for.

[00:17:46] Yes, if he taps into the GPS and he sees this as a bigger,

[00:17:53] if he at least suspects that there's a bigger conspiracy going on

[00:17:57] or then the map makes sense, right?

[00:18:01] So I thought that was a little bit of a clue

[00:18:03] into how he operates.

[00:18:07] Do you know anyone with us without a smartphone?

[00:18:16] I don't think I do anymore. There was one person recently, I can't remember who they were exactly, and they had a really, they were trying to text in one of these old, old style,

[00:18:22] you know, like what I guess our kids will consider rotary.

[00:18:25] old style, you know, like what I guess our kids will consider rotary. The flip phone isn't it?

[00:18:27] The new one.

[00:18:28] Yeah.

[00:18:29] Yeah.

[00:18:30] And I forget the reason why I think it was it may have been one of those off the grid things.

[00:18:34] So I think I want to be tracked as well or something.

[00:18:37] But I've a colleague that doesn't do smartphones.

[00:18:40] He doesn't have cell phone at all.

[00:18:42] And it's sort of a conscious choice.

[00:18:50] But it's always a problem. It's always like his wife is always calling someone else to find that way. That's funny. So I there's a little bit of that that I'm

[00:18:59] a little bit attracted to. I'm a tiny bit jealous of people who are off the grid in that way.

[00:19:07] You probably have no inclination to that at all.

[00:19:11] No, not really.

[00:19:13] I mean, I wouldn't mind.

[00:19:15] I mean, it's just, it's one of those convenience factors that's like,

[00:19:20] if I didn't have it, it'd probably be better.

[00:19:22] I don't know how much I need to interact with some of the things.

[00:19:25] There have been sort of months of my life

[00:19:28] where I put my phone on gray scale.

[00:19:32] To kind of make it more boring to me.

[00:19:36] It works.

[00:19:37] You're definitely less addicted to your phone if you do that.

[00:19:48] And then you wanna play candy crash or something. Or a ball pool.

[00:19:52] And you need to see some colors.

[00:19:54] So anything else about Earth?

[00:19:58] He runs to the door. He yells, burnt. I mean, I've seen television shows before where people mistake a brother or a cousin or a

[00:20:07] relative for a lover and they I don't know. Do you, you're pretty certain this is a lover, right?

[00:20:15] It's the sense I got.

[00:20:25] I mean, I got the sense, I mean, I don't,

[00:20:28] because I did seem like it was,

[00:20:29] it wasn't played in such a way that herb was gonna be less

[00:20:32] inclined to go over there because he thought he was with

[00:20:34] the lover.

[00:20:35] This is more of, this was the, he finds someone

[00:20:40] you can trust to go talk to.

[00:20:42] And this is the irony, right?

[00:20:43] I mean, he assumes he can trust this

[00:20:45] version of birth because of the only relationship that he has. And because he goes to the,

[00:20:51] when he goes in, or when he goes out and he goes out, the only person around him is, well,

[00:20:58] there's just a dog. So he doesn't readily seem to have someone that he can go and talk to or do

[00:21:04] anything with because you only, he knows he has a short amount of time.

[00:21:06] So it's kind of like, well, I only have so much time.

[00:21:09] So it's is he going to talk to Bert to reveal or is he going to talk to Bert because it's like, I just want to see Bert one last time because I know my, you know, this clock stick in on this.

[00:21:17] So it's an interesting thing because he doesn't do a lot more.

[00:21:20] Yeah. We talked about whether or not this is a good plan. And we sort of came to the conclusion like, this is a good plan for someone who is a

[00:21:29] little bit naive, right? Right. Because I'm thinking, if that happened to me, I

[00:21:36] immediately start writing a note to myself. Right. Yeah. Who you should be able to

[00:21:42] trust yourself? You should. I mean, I guess, hell he can't, but right. I would imagine, but you're not gonna spot where well if I can't,

[00:21:49] then I'm kind of screwed anyway. So, so, all right. Okay. Shall we talk about Mark? Sure. All right.

[00:21:59] Mark navigates the party piecing together. Who is who? Well, excuse them himself to find Devin.

[00:22:05] He calls Cobell by name alerting her to the overtime contingency that has been activated.

[00:22:14] Mark learns that he underwent severance because of his wife's death.

[00:22:18] He finds a photo confirming Miss Casey is actually JAMA. He rushes to tell Devin,

[00:22:25] but is only able to say she's alive.

[00:22:32] Rebecca has, here are my notes on Rebecca.

[00:22:34] Has small eyes, has bird source

[00:22:38] gonna have to change when you look in.

[00:22:41] I hope we get more Rebecca and see some too.

[00:22:45] Just such a, such a bonkers edition.

[00:22:49] I mean, I feel like I've had several next to our neighbors who kind of fit into Rebecca.

[00:22:56] Yeah.

[00:22:57] Rick and Coles, the group together by telling, saying, calling them dearest ones.

[00:23:04] That was pretty good them dearest ones.

[00:23:05] That was pretty good.

[00:23:06] Yeah.

[00:23:07] Dearest ones.

[00:23:10] And then I wrote that he's got an iPhone.

[00:23:13] This was sort of like the backbone of the episode, right?

[00:23:16] You got Mark in a party.

[00:23:19] This is like the worst possible place

[00:23:21] to come out of the severance procedure. Right. Because a party could have

[00:23:29] people that you trust, people that you don't trust, you don't know if your sister might be your

[00:23:34] wife, you don't know if the author of the book that changed your life might be your brother-in-law.

[00:23:42] be your brother-in-law. So this was high drama.

[00:23:45] I love this.

[00:23:47] If you remark what, I mean, we said right in there to yourself,

[00:23:52] but what would you have done differently here?

[00:23:54] I think I would have been a little more

[00:23:55] insistent on getting anybody's time,

[00:24:00] especially the sisters.

[00:24:02] He's right to be cautious at first.

[00:24:05] Right.

[00:24:06] He wakes up hugging his boss.

[00:24:07] And so immediately you're thinking,

[00:24:10] oh man, I'm in mixed company for sure here.

[00:24:14] Yeah, I mean, it was kind of remarkable

[00:24:16] that he did, you know, didn't like immediately refer to her

[00:24:24] as a disco bell, you know, because why would he, you know, didn't, um, like immediately refer to her as a disco bell, you know, because why would

[00:24:27] he, you know, I mean, I'm sure there's this whole, what is she doing here? What, you know,

[00:24:32] where am I? Why am I going to get my boss? Right. Um, so yeah, I mean, that's definitely,

[00:24:40] it's definitely worth thinking about. I mean, immediately, you got to think how often does this happen?

[00:24:45] Is this, is this my entire life outside of the office?

[00:24:48] I just go home and hug my boss.

[00:24:50] Right.

[00:24:53] Yes, I'd friend of think what he would do differently.

[00:24:57] I know he's trying to navigate and he's just thrust in this crazy situation where he doesn't

[00:25:02] know who anybody is. And I like that. Like, it's our baby, you know, and, um, uh, and then he's so starstruck by Rick and that's amazing.

[00:25:12] Like, I love that sequence of the point where Rick and waiting for his netty pot to heat up,

[00:25:19] doesn't realize that, you know, he just assumes that he's kind of mocking him.

[00:25:23] that he just assumes that he's kind of mocking him. Which, I mean, yeah, what a turn around for Rickon.

[00:25:30] Right.

[00:25:31] Yeah, it's just like is that valid?

[00:25:36] It's interesting because it's sort of validating,

[00:25:39] but at the same time, it's like he still is condescending.

[00:25:42] God, I just love it when he finds the baby and he immediately takes credit for it.

[00:25:50] Four.

[00:25:53] All right.

[00:25:53] So begins his book by saying that Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart killed the boy with a piano.

[00:26:04] Yes. I killed the boy with a piano.

[00:26:05] Yeah, smashed his head in the piano.

[00:26:06] Then the next line is, I, my research has confirmed that this rumor is not true.

[00:26:14] As your heart rate is decreasing, so incredible.

[00:26:18] Assuming that the first line of the book is going to create a gasp. I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, a gasp. I am the reader. Oh, I got

[00:26:29] it so good. I just need me more rickin. I think if you're right and rickin is nefarious,

[00:26:37] I feel like I'll be a little bit disappointed. Yeah. I kind of need r refer I mean I need Rick and did remain true to himself

[00:26:48] You're Rick and purest. I am I become a Rick and purest

[00:26:54] So everyone in this party do you think everyone in this party thinks that this is a good book?

[00:27:01] I think so, right? I don't think I I mean, I can't imagine that Laura thinks that this

[00:27:07] is error or not Laura, but um, Devon, I can't imagine that Devon is taken in by this.

[00:27:16] But that's quite a big, I mean, I've hosted book launches before. That's a pretty

[00:27:21] big gathering for a book launch. Most's put book launches there a little bit more.

[00:27:26] Yeah, yeah.

[00:27:27] No, it's fair.

[00:27:28] It's like you spent the last 10 years of your life for this.

[00:27:34] Yeah.

[00:27:36] In, I mean, I've had these.

[00:27:40] I've had these, but anything more on Mark.

[00:27:44] Well, I mean, first of all, I think it got to talk about Adam Scott.

[00:27:48] I think he does such an incredible job.

[00:27:51] I mean, you know, actors can play two characters.

[00:27:55] That's totally fine.

[00:27:57] That happens all the time and multiple characters in their life.

[00:28:00] But you know, within the context of the show, like you really, like especially

[00:28:06] because when you're navigating kind of the same setting,

[00:28:11] you know, you're okay.

[00:28:12] Now you're gonna, now we're to the same set,

[00:28:14] you know, same, everything, same actors,

[00:28:16] okay, now you're in your mark, you know?

[00:28:17] And it's like that just such a convincing moment

[00:28:21] and it's, and you know,

[00:28:22] also credit to Ben still over the way he directs it.

[00:28:24] I mean, just with, it's, and you know, also credit to Ben still or the way he directs it. I mean, just with

[00:28:27] it's no mean feat that they were able to pull this off to where you do feel like two worlds collided

[00:28:32] and it's done just just purely through acting. It's subtle. It's subtle because you really believe

[00:28:39] that this is the same person with one key difference.

[00:28:47] It's hard. It's hard to play someone that I'm exactly the same person.

[00:28:52] It's just like turn up the naive meter to 10.

[00:28:57] It's really amazing. Yeah, and it's, it was, it was heartbreaking really. I mean, I think it was it really, it really moved me the whole sequence and everything that, you know, the of all the things because you I want them to I want them to say something to help out of your mark, you know

[00:29:27] Like that's kind of the thing and then it becomes the Gemma reveal

[00:29:31] Well, I'm not I really want them to see now I want them to find out that it's Miss Casey, right?

[00:29:35] Like there's all these different elements to it and his reaction when he sees that it's it's for like it could have been anything

[00:29:42] Right like it could have had all these different types of reactions, but he has a reaction. And remember, this is the any,

[00:29:50] if he had no feelings for Miss Casey, then it would have been like, like you know, like it would

[00:29:56] have been jarring, but you get, but there was he was overcomets if it seemed with like, almost

[00:30:02] an understanding of what like there were feelings and he, and it was coming through an understanding of what, like there were feelings and it was coming through.

[00:30:07] Like, and that was a big moment, I think,

[00:30:10] for the severance concept,

[00:30:13] at least what it does to the brain.

[00:30:14] Yeah, the other thing about this is that what would he do?

[00:30:19] Like, what is to be done?

[00:30:21] As far as we know, Miss Casey's been taken

[00:30:23] to the testing floor to be done. As far as we know, in this case, he's been taken to the testing floor,

[00:30:26] to be what, to be wiped. We have, it's hard to know what the information is going to change

[00:30:36] in the mode of for the character. Because they still seem very, very powerless.

[00:30:41] It's so the reveal itself is interesting. But it tells me

[00:30:49] nothing about what the plot will be going forward. The cracks of the mystery

[00:30:54] box are shining through but you don't actually know what's in there. Yeah well

[00:31:02] and that's and that's what you end up like. So with the Mark story, so the

[00:31:05] the herbs, the herb story, you know, you know, what, what happens now, right? Like, so there's the

[00:31:11] other element of like, okay, it gets shut off. We see, Mark is the only one we see, turn back, right?

[00:31:21] And it's just a, it's just a quick little glimpse, but it does.

[00:31:25] It's a great way to end the episode because like you go on this journey and then I, oh, that's right.

[00:31:32] Now, Audi Mark is like, what's just happened?

[00:31:35] And that's a fascinating moment, right?

[00:31:37] Because Audi Mark is kind of the last thing he was doing is he was hugging myself like he was you know getting ready to explain that he's getting ready to leave severance and

[00:31:49] And he's about to find out a bigger reason why he should yeah

[00:31:55] And what it like what happens next do they tell mark?

[00:32:00] What do you mean like the first thing to do is run up to go what do you mean?

[00:32:03] She's alive and he's gonna be like who?

[00:32:11] So just like oh let's go it up like his is probably the most tenuous of like and it never stops well And you don't trust anyone else in this room

[00:32:14] Right right cuz Devon is sort of like totally

[00:32:19] Invested in finding

[00:32:21] Eleanor

[00:32:23] Right she she is a mother whose baby is missing.

[00:32:27] And everyone else at this party,

[00:32:30] like what's a matter with them?

[00:32:33] Like what's a matter of these people?

[00:32:36] They want Mark to settle an argument

[00:32:38] of whether or not Rick and should have introduced

[00:32:39] the baby in this setting.

[00:32:42] What is the matter of these people?

[00:32:44] Like I don't, like find something you trust.

[00:32:46] Is there anyone in this town that can hold a coherent thought in their head?

[00:32:52] They're so, so creepy.

[00:32:55] Like those, that party sucks.

[00:33:00] All right, hellie.

[00:33:03] Hellie.

[00:33:04] I found your, what did, and then I was saying. I found your child. It was me who found her. Yeah, I was me who found her. Like it's such a, like that's another.

[00:33:05] It just continues like, okay, Rickens not.

[00:33:07] Like these, it really does feel like a lot of these.

[00:33:10] Adults are about third grade, you know, they're like eight years old.

[00:33:14] Hell he wakes up at a Loomin Gala. And he's like, I'm not a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit a lot of these adults are about third grade, you know. They're like eight years old.

[00:33:28] Helli wakes up at a Loomin Gala where she learns that her Audi is Helena Egan,

[00:33:34] daughter of Loomin CEO James Egan, who underwent severance to build public support for legalizing

[00:33:41] the procedure. Cobell tries to stop her before her speech,

[00:33:47] but Heli tells the gala that she's in any,

[00:33:50] and the lumen is torturing and imprisoning their employees.

[00:33:55] I think I mentioned this before, but the actor who

[00:33:58] plays her father, same actor who's doing the video game.

[00:34:03] Congratulations. So the consistency there, which brings

[00:34:09] more meaning to the I love you, phrase, I think. Right. Yeah, I think so. Not sure what to make of that,

[00:34:16] but there it is. And then we see, I thought the most interesting part of this entire

[00:34:26] And then we see, I thought the most interesting part of this entire plot line was that

[00:34:35] she does, she repeats the lumen confession in the bathroom mirror.

[00:34:40] Right. What is what's going on there? I'm not real sure about that.

[00:34:47] That's an interesting element. I can really took me, It can take you right. I mean, I guess it shows that it's ingrained, right? It does that. I think you could read it as

[00:34:58] she's apologizing to herself. She's confessing her own sins to herself in the mirror,

[00:35:04] knowing that she's done something horrible to herself. She's confessing her own sins to herself in the mirror knowing that she's done something

[00:35:06] horrible to herself. Yeah, she wasn't sincere when she had to keep repeating them for the sake of

[00:35:13] getting released back as an innie, but then saying it in that context, it says if she's

[00:35:21] she's atoning for her out he's in and then that case she means it right and because it's it's a great it's a great time

[00:35:32] so I found that very interesting I think that there's multiple ways to read it

[00:35:51] I don't get the sense that the people at the par at the gala are as clueless as the people at Rickens party.

[00:35:52] Right.

[00:35:53] No, it doesn't have that at all.

[00:35:56] Back this feels very this almost, I mean, this is corporate, right?

[00:36:00] This feels corporate.

[00:36:01] This feels like this is if there's any group that has a touch to an outside world or a regular world

[00:36:07] This is it. I think I'm developing something of a theory. I think whatever the bubble is whatever the cure

[00:36:15] town bubble is

[00:36:16] It could be that there are people who come to the office because they work at corporate and they live in the bubble

[00:36:24] But they have,

[00:36:26] they are not severed. I mean, Gabby has severed herself. It is confirmed for at least three

[00:36:34] pregnancies. Right. Um, but her name is the same, right? Natalie's name is the same Cobell's got a different name. Cobell's name is the same I

[00:36:48] Think because she called when she calls mil check on the phone

[00:36:53] You know comes up as Cobell and she's calling from like her outside and it seems like she's been spying on Mark on her own

[00:37:01] Right time so maybe miss Elvig is just sort of an alter ego that she came up with for herself.

[00:37:07] Yeah, as opposed to from like, yeah. So so yeah, I mean, and hell yeah,

[00:37:12] obviously she's got a different name, but that's right. I mean, of all of these characters,

[00:37:16] she's the one that I guess does the most damage on the outside, but it's not like she's confessing to someone she trusts. She just

[00:37:28] I sort of out

[00:37:30] The imprisonment to the world

[00:37:33] Well, she does exactly what she set out to do as an any and that is to

[00:37:38] Destroy her outie to destroy her outie. Yeah. Okay. That's good. So did any of these people accomplish what they were what they said out to accomplish?

[00:37:47] Well, that's the whole thing is like we talked about it as the plan good like well

[00:37:50] What are you trying to accomplish?

[00:37:52] They're trying to find someone who they trust and then tell them everything about what's happening in

[00:37:57] No, I don't think any of that happens mark. Well, we don't we don't know what Mark said to Devin

[00:38:04] That's that's the biggest so we assume that there's more information if we don't know what Mark said to Devin.

[00:38:05] That's the biggest.

[00:38:06] So we assume that there's more information there,

[00:38:09] but we don't know, like, that's a lot of information to give,

[00:38:11] right?

[00:38:12] That's true.

[00:38:13] But I mean, there wasn't a ton of time.

[00:38:16] So that happens off screen.

[00:38:18] But we should also, Mark, it was able to tell Devin

[00:38:21] some key bits of information.

[00:38:23] So that'll be a, so Devin's a key component because I like now Devin is the only

[00:38:27] person that knows what we assume what what the whole point and mission was of this.

[00:38:35] So, so yeah, so the, so Mark, Mark, I think is the closest thing to, um,

[00:38:43] getting the information out there.

[00:38:44] I mean, obviously, hella yard does as well, but is this live? closest thing to getting the information out there.

[00:38:45] I mean, obviously, Heli Gardust as well,

[00:38:47] but is this live?

[00:38:49] I mean, this is, and do this hero audience care?

[00:38:53] Well, and you get the sense that, like,

[00:38:56] it's not just corporate lackeys there,

[00:38:59] like there's a politician there, right?

[00:39:01] Yeah, this is, this is a,

[00:39:03] this is supposed to be a big step into convincing people to

[00:39:07] embrace this process. But in my experience, these are people if you show up to the dinner and you're eating the food,

[00:39:15] you're pretty sympathetic to what's going to happen, right? Yeah, you're there because you are

[00:39:22] because you are a part of a, people with money making more money.

[00:39:25] So, and in addition to that,

[00:39:29] when Marcus talking with Devin,

[00:39:31] he says, shouldn't we go to the police?

[00:39:33] And she said,

[00:39:35] lumen's, she has a pretty good sense

[00:39:39] that lumen is a big deal.

[00:39:40] Like lumen might control the police.

[00:39:42] I'm not sure if you can trust him.

[00:39:43] I mean, that she doesn't say it in so many words,

[00:39:45] but like,

[00:39:46] it's just said there's so many hands.

[00:39:48] Yeah, fingers and eyes.

[00:39:50] It's like the owner, you understand,

[00:39:51] I'm out of force, yeah, hands pies.

[00:39:54] Which I thought was kind of,

[00:39:56] it was a fun moment because I think it was nice

[00:40:00] to see Devan's's interaction with any Mark.

[00:40:06] I mean, she sees him as her brother, but she sees him as a part of her brother.

[00:40:11] She's never met.

[00:40:12] Right.

[00:40:13] And that's I mean, there's so, the thing is this, all of this is so rich.

[00:40:17] And you know, you said you talked about the more they get to reveal the more questions we

[00:40:22] have.

[00:40:23] And like that, the tension in all of these sequences, Mark's especially because Mark is

[00:40:28] actually making a connection with somebody close to him.

[00:40:32] Nobody else is.

[00:40:33] So Mark's any gets the most FaceTime with people that he cares about, at least the closest

[00:40:40] thing, at least with Devin.

[00:40:44] But you know, Heli, Heli R is on a mission at this point.

[00:40:47] When she comes to, when she gets the realization,

[00:40:49] like, oh my gosh, I did this.

[00:40:51] I'm responsible for all of this.

[00:40:53] She doesn't lose that sense of this rebellion

[00:40:57] and this sort of burn it down mentality.

[00:41:00] Well, she was shaky at first.

[00:41:02] I think that there was also something about

[00:41:04] the photograph display.

[00:41:10] Then maybe a comment on sort of social media curation.

[00:41:16] You know, she's miserable down there.

[00:41:18] However, every picture shows her being happy and happy to find what they're called.

[00:41:22] Yeah, she smiled ten times and they've got a photo of every single time she smiled.

[00:41:26] Exactly.

[00:41:26] Now she looks like she loves her job.

[00:41:32] Yeah, I thought that was there's a lot of really cool stuff that they did there. I love that

[00:41:36] she comes out between like her faces severed when during when she makes her get ready to do her

[00:41:42] presentation and just a lot of really fun stuff there.

[00:41:46] And it was just, but just again,

[00:41:49] so now we have that.

[00:41:50] So the way we go with Mark,

[00:41:52] like when everyone's like, who's alive?

[00:41:53] And he's like, huh?

[00:41:54] Because his out he's back.

[00:41:57] And then you get the,

[00:41:58] and then you have Heli who's just got tackled.

[00:42:01] It's just no idea why she got tackled

[00:42:03] or like taken off and how do you fix that?

[00:42:07] Right?

[00:42:08] Like that's the big thing is like,

[00:42:08] what happens next?

[00:42:09] What happens next there?

[00:42:11] How do they spin that?

[00:42:12] I mean, even if it's,

[00:42:14] because you can't say, oh, well,

[00:42:15] it's just a byproduct of the procedure

[00:42:17] that she had this issue.

[00:42:18] It's like, okay, well, that's an sound good

[00:42:19] for the process either.

[00:42:20] All right, it's a question that we've asked a million times

[00:42:23] and I still don't think we have an answer for it,

[00:42:24] but why does cobel care? Right. She's like, she hasn't, she's been just

[00:42:31] fired. She seems to want Mark to quit Looman. She seems to want to prove that you can reverse severance and that it's possible. And yet she really,

[00:42:47] really, really doesn't want Heli to reveal anything.

[00:42:52] Yeah, so that's a part that's really interesting too, because like if we're to believe that

[00:42:57] she was genuinely excited that Mark was going to quit and she was genuinely excited or she

[00:43:02] was trying to prove that, you know,

[00:43:06] reintegration is real. Not that this is reintegration.

[00:43:09] This is obviously a different procedure or process that she could,

[00:43:15] you would think she'd be interested in hanging around Mark,

[00:43:18] once that information, once she made that realization, right?

[00:43:21] Like there's would be something to glean from that.

[00:43:24] Well, she's been fired. Why is she, why she held that on helping the company? Or is it that she

[00:43:32] thinks maybe, you know, maybe she's been working on taking down Lumen for 10 years and these

[00:43:41] dummies who just figured everything out are about to ruin it

[00:43:46] Sort of unwittingly ruin all of the

[00:43:50] plans she has

[00:43:52] Or maybe this has happened before and then they have to reset everything and she has to go back

[00:43:57] Right

[00:44:00] I mean, she's definitely passionate about it and she definitely she doesn't and she goes to hellie not anybody else

[00:44:06] She's a known commodity

[00:44:09] And she wants to get a hold of desperately get a hold of mil check because he can stop it so she can stop it

[00:44:15] so all right anyway, again

[00:44:18] the I think cobel represents the biggest mystery of the show and I

[00:44:24] Don't know if we have any answers. So I do hope

[00:44:28] that they built her out a bit more in season two. Finally, Dylan struggles to hold the over

[00:44:37] time switches while Milchick attempts him with a lumen coffee cozy. finally milkshake breaks through and stops the unease plan.

[00:44:47] Sort of an arbitrary way to be, you know, sort of to create tension, like this guy doesn't

[00:44:53] quite have the wingspan to hold this for very long. But it worked. It totally worked.

[00:45:01] Now it's not like a ticking time bomb, but now I know that this can't go on indefinitely.

[00:45:07] Right.

[00:45:08] And it's such a, and so I'm thinking about Dylan in every scene with even when he's not in it.

[00:45:13] Cause I'm like, man, you are just, you are good thing Dylan's been through all these muscle shows.

[00:45:21] Uh, Tim some with the coffee cozy, Tempton with man.

[00:45:25] Uh, paint ball paint ball.

[00:45:28] And then the ultimate temptation.

[00:45:31] I mean, of course all that pales in comparison to I, I want

[00:45:34] in there, I want to remember my child being born.

[00:45:37] And then of course the ultimate, I mean, this is like satanic.

[00:45:43] You actually have three kids.

[00:45:45] And then I can tell you about them.

[00:45:48] Man, milkshake is just pure evil.

[00:45:51] That's pure evil.

[00:45:52] That's secret.

[00:45:53] The Dylan character, what a transformation to,

[00:45:57] because I was so moved and he had so little dialogue in this,

[00:46:02] but his screams at milkshake.

[00:46:04] And it's like like it's like so

[00:46:06] like moving. And he's still kind of Mr. Milcheck too. I know. I know. I know. But it, but in a way

[00:46:13] that's way different. No, because it's like, but it that brings back the sort of the child like nature,

[00:46:18] right? Like, I mean, if you were going to tell off your principal for once of a while. You don't probably even know his first name. I mean, what a wonderful finale.

[00:46:31] Just, you know, like I said, strap into the beginning

[00:46:36] and it's just tension, tension, tension.

[00:46:40] And you get to this final scene.

[00:46:44] And it's like everything's gonna come to a head,

[00:46:47] but at the same time,

[00:46:48] you could totally see things going back to normal.

[00:46:52] You know, everyone, it could be that people

[00:46:54] just laugh at hellie,

[00:46:56] you know, and not take care seriously.

[00:46:57] It could be that no one at that stupid party

[00:47:00] even understand what Marx tried to say.

[00:47:03] It could be that herbv gets to the door,

[00:47:05] yelling, Bert and then, you know, the two have no recognition of each other. So, right.

[00:47:11] So that's the thing too is that Irv is in a real weird spot because he is not going to

[00:47:18] know why or how he got there. He's just going to go from painting to being outside of a

[00:47:23] stranger's house. Right

[00:47:29] So he's in a spot where he could think he had like an episode, right?

[00:47:36] That'd be terrifying if you just also woke up across town that a stranger's house

[00:47:42] So that's serves in a real weird spot. I mean at least I will know something like

[00:47:45] He should know if he knows I mean I don't know if he's ever been there,

[00:47:46] but at least he's got a map.

[00:47:48] Right, you know.

[00:47:49] I think it's at some point I think.

[00:47:50] With birds' name.

[00:47:51] So he must know who bird is to at least,

[00:47:54] at least on paper, right?

[00:47:56] It was just amazing to watch

[00:47:59] and realize how much I've forgotten.

[00:48:01] Oh, yeah, I feel like,

[00:48:03] I feel it was an entirely different episode a second

[00:48:06] time there.