Severance

[Intel® Core™2 Duo E8400]

Incredible how well she could hide being a secret genius all this time.

 

[BiggestKai]

In spite of this being the shortest episode in terms of runtime it genuinely felt like two hours.

I really am hatewatching at this point but it's going to be a lingering itch at the back of my mind if I don't at least finish this season and see how it ends(a pointless cliffhanger for the equally pointless season 3).

 

[Harold Godwinson]

Ya, I feel like this could have gone better with parts of it cut in between the season instead of just one episode. I was pretty disappointed. It's iffy but I am still enjoying the season I just really not a fan of how they decided to cut it up.

Agreed, the pacing in season 2 has been bizarre and is really letting any excitement and goodwill from season 1 deflate. Season 1 was pretty kino, a really solid season of tv, so I suppose it set the bar really high for anything to follow. But Mark getting re-integrated a only couple episodes into the series, then spending another 6 episodes or so not doing much except for getting annoyed at Reghabi and boning Helly and Helena (why is this ugly nigga’s sperm in such high demand?). I don’t even think him reintegrating so soon would have even been an issue if he did more than get dizzy sometimes and have a couple of flashbacks - we now have what, two episodes to have any sort of resolution when Mark was just about braindead last episode?

Similarly, Cobel disappearing for most of the season just for her to spend a (contrived) episode finding the deus ex machina for Mark’s reintegration issue. It’s surely fortunate that Cobel, coincidentally the inventor of the chip, decided her allegiances had changed at just about the same time as Mark needed someone who knows severance technology inside and out to help him. Also, why the fuck would Mark (and his sister) trust Cobel and want her help after everything that happened lol.

The set dressing, lore with ether and the factories etc. was interesting and helped to give Lumon some more scale and history, but it could have easily been dripfed in little intriguing plot B segments throughout the season instead of wasting a whole episode and slowing the pacing down further.

The ”Hang in there” clue having no payoff because they figured it out immediately, then doing absolutely nothing with it - to the point it’s obvious that that‘s because that plot point has already been put aside for a high pressure finale escapade.

Constant tangents that don’t add anything to the story, like Milchik getting black Kier portraits, or the dinner party at Burt’s meandering after having already said what it needs to say, learning about outie Dylan’s home life, the goat farm department??

It’s lost a lot of the tightness and snappiness that made season 1 so gripping. It almost feels like this season’s episodes so far are just a means to an end, rather than it’s own interesting breadcrumb trail and a story in its own right. Like they’re hour long lore drops circlejerking about Lumon=Evil Creepy Cult with 10 minutes or actual plot development at the end to keep you interested.

I’m very much expecting to get to episode 10, and the last thing we see is Mark pressing submit on Cold Harbour, the camera cutting to his monitor showing it tick to 100% completion, and the screen cutting black and the credits rolling. Or them making it to the spoopy elevator and just as they get there, the elevator dings at their floor, and it opens just enough that we see a sliver Ms Casey’s face, and it cuts to the credits.

There’s a lot I really like about the show but I hope they manage to at least scrape some semblance of composure together for the finale they’ve clearly been hedging their bets on at very least to make all this meandering worth it (it won’t be).

 

[MilkThePig]

I really am hatewatching at this point but it's going to be a lingering itch at the back of my mind if I don't at least finish this season and see how it ends(a pointless cliffhanger for the equally pointless season 3).

This is why I hate committing to TV shows early in their run. My stupid autistic brain feels the need to finish them even if they become awful, which let's be honest - about 50% of shows do. Silo reminds me so much of this show in that it had a really strong first season and the second season was just meandering as fuck and it was clear the writers didn't really know what to do with it, although it did have a very strong ending to be fair.

 

[Three-letter Agency]

Incredible how well she could hide being a secret genius all this time.

I made the mistake of checking the responses to this in X/Reddit and it was about what I'd expected: accusations of doing a hecking misogyny for doubting that a character with zero demonstrated technical ability (other than probably drilling a hole into a corpse's head) was a child genius inventor. If the shows continues to go in this direction the number of retards willing it eat it up would means it'd probably suffer a slow, drawn-out death over multiple seasons.

It's a real shame, this was probably one of the best things on television I'd seen in a few years. I'm still holding on to the hope that it can redeem itself in the next 2 episodes.

 

[MadStan]

A good portion of it's entire content is based around Scientology, namely, the management of Scientology The Sea Organization and specifically, a division within that management known as Commodores Messenger Organization as well as hints to other divisions within their "secretive" locations.

But Season 2 has been odd and some of the episodes have been stretched out to cover the period of an entire episode when really, 15 mins would have done it. I do wonder if they are going to suffer the "Lost" fate and the show doesn't know where it is going to land.

It's funny someone mentioning Silo because I thought the premise held a lot of hope, but I actually could see the train wreck on the horizon after just the 1st Episode and new it belonged in the bin asap.

 

[Google.com]

It's funny someone mentioning Silo

I think Silo had the exact same issue where they decided to cut it in a dog shit way so you have these episodes that are just filled with boring slow shit that could have easily been cut between the more interesting episodes in little 10 minutes segments. I still think both shows are great but whoever is arranging the episodes is doing a terrible job at it. Silo season 2 picks up towards the middle of the season and ends at a pretty good point.

I think the Cobel episode is boring but also important enough to the story to be included. It would have been perfectly fine if they had these segments spliced in between the entire season instead of one episode of her wandering some random town.

 

[MilkThePig]

the goat farm department??

That scene is like a microcosm of what makes this show so frustrating. They introduce something that's really visually interesting and piques your curiosity and then they just never go back to it or explain it. There's so many aspects of the show like that - Mark's girlfriend who is just seemingly written out now, his best friend from the first season who dies in the first few episodes and is pretty much never referenced again, the work they're doing at Lumon, why they chose to get severed in the first place, why there's a 10 year old kid working there. None of it ever gets explained. You can't just keep introducing random shit and never giving any pay off for the stuff you've set up.

 

[Jar-Jar Fanboy]

That scene is like a microcosm of what makes this show so frustrating. They introduce something that's really visually interesting and piques your curiosity and then they just never go back to it or explain it. There's so many aspects of the show like that - Mark's girlfriend who is just seemingly written out now, his best friend from the first season who dies in the first few episodes and is pretty much never referenced again, the work they're doing at Lumon, why they chose to get severed in the first place, why there's a 10 year old kid working there. None of it ever gets explained. You can't just keep introducing random shit and never giving any pay off for the stuff you've set up.

The kid's presence is referenced by Milchik in one episode. He says something about her getting a fellowship, and then in the most recent episode, young Cobel is pictured with an Eagan also receiving a fellowship. The implication seems to be that it's related to Lumon school, or it's some sort of internship. We know why Mark and Helly got severed, and Dylan seems to be because he hates every job he's ever had, so he figured being severed would allow him to provide for his family without hating 8 hours of his workday. Right now, my guess for Irving is that he was either a test subject like Ms. Casey, and has been severed more than once, with memories of the elevator bleeding in through his subconscious. I got nothing for the goats, though

 

[Pedophobe]

Seems like the pacing problems would be less of an issue if the show was bingeable. These people don't know how to write episodic television.

 

[Quijibo69]

The last few episodes have been a Mehfest and me losing faith in the show. I just hope they're going somewhere with this.

 

[Hitman One]

The kid's presence is referenced by Milchik in one episode. He says something about her getting a fellowship, and then in the most recent episode, young Cobel is pictured with an Eagan also receiving a fellowship. The implication seems to be that it's related to Lumon school, or it's some sort of internship.

They stumbled upon Cobel being a super genius in that shithole town so I think the scholarship is a way for Lumon to attempt to search the world for the next Cobel. The more we see the more convinced I am that all the weird shit like how the Eagans are worshipped and how much secrecy and ritual there is at Lumon is just window dressing. It is just a really fucking evil biotech company that has gotten so advanced and so rich that it can do whatever it likes.

I can't give a final judgement until the finale airs but I don't think this season has been as good. It's had its moments but there are major pacing issues. I actually really enjoyed the Cobel episode, I think because I'd guessed early on that she was far more involved than was being let on.

 

[BiggestKai]

Never knew fatboy had such pipes on him.(volume warning)

HOLY SHIT GUYS MARK AND COWBELL ARE FINALLY MEETING AND THEY'LL EXPLAIN EVERYTHING
>the meeting:

>Give me 5 minutes to set up the chairs and the fire so that the first thing he sees is me standing there menacingly

 

[Hitman One]

>Give me 5 minutes to set up the chairs and the fire so that the first thing he sees is me standing there menacingly

Unironically based power move.

 

[Brutality]

The final episode is 76 minutes long. Hoping that the next episode sticks the landing cause if it doesn't about half the season was filler imo

Another thing I've been thinking of is what if apple TV draws it out like lost

 

[BiggestKai]

The final episode is 76 minutes long. Hoping that the next episode sticks the landing cause if it doesn't about half the season was filler imo

Another thing I've been thinking of is what if apple TV draws it out like lost

You know for a fact the season's going to end in one of two ways.

1. One big protracted event/chase/whatever happening in the offices that ends with Mark and the gang entering the testing floor hallway. The last shot will either be a slow pan(at least a minute) onto a black wall that ends with the elevator sound, or it will be the doors opening and then like two frames of gemma's face before credits.
2. A bunch of shit leading to Mark being forced to complete Cold Harbor, and the last shot of the season is Gemma entering the Cold Harbor room and then the severed static noise being played and then cut to credits.

I'm more concerned as to how boring and drawn out they'll make those 76 minutes

I've been lurking the /tv/ threads for severance and someone keeps reposting this webm, it's from some different series I've never seen but it's so on point.

 

[ProfDongs]

They could have easily done a solid 2 season show if they weren't gunning for 3 seasons. You cut all of the fluff from what happened this season and make it the first half, and all the inevitable filler for season 3 and make it the second half and there you go. Anything that's mattered for this season could be cut down to five episodes without losing much of anything.

 

[nosemouth]

Running down the same hallway except with red lighting. What a fucking clown show this season has been.

 

[lIllllIiiiiLLLLiiiiIIIIll]

Boy do I love this show. You really gotta follow the podcasts to catch all the detailed and byzantine writing. Incredible stuff, glad they have a clean plan moving forward and all the character writing is really immaculate, especially all the little tragic love stories that can never truly resolve.

PS: Would so hard and 1000 times re: Gemma.
PPS: I cannot overexpress how much I would.
Edit to add:

 

[Quijibo69]

Spoiler: Oh no!

Some fat man dies in funny way! RIP FATTY!