Severance

ivrytwr3 said:
Well that was a mind ****! Are we now saying that there not just innies and outies, but a mind can be severed into several?
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It seems like Gemma is a test subject for Lumon to fully map the mind and be able to have a chip coveted by the world that can remove the memory/experience of anything that person finds unpleasant or wants to forget. The elimination of all suffering… by fobbing it all off to a poor innie (who Lumon don’t seem to consider human) as we know now that’s what MDR do on the severed floor - they’re essentially decoding her consciousness/memories and refining all the negative stuff into those rooms/scenarios (just one left!) which a unique innie of her has to suffer, but equally there must be a greater aim of it serving their cult in some way...
 
Somnambulist said:
It seems like Gemma is a test subject for Lumon to fully map the mind and be able to have a chip coveted by the world that can remove the memory/experience of anything that person finds unpleasant or wants to forget. The elimination of all suffering… by fobbing it all off to a poor innie (who Lumon don’t seem to consider human) as we know now that’s what MDR do on the severed floor - they’re essentially decoding her consciousness/memories and refining all the negative stuff into those rooms/scenarios (just one left!) which a unique innie of her has to suffer, but equally there must be a greater aim of it serving their cult in some way...
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So the dentist scene was a metaphor for the pain angle? Go in as in innie, have the horrible dental work done, unsever and when you come out, all you feel is the afterpain from the procedure?

I suppose that would be a great advertisement for the product, your innie suffers everything the real you does not have to.

I like your idea that the work they are doing is decoding/segmenting the brain.
 
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ivrytwr3 said:
So the dentist scene was a metaphor for the pain angle? Go in as in innie, have the horrible dental work done, unsever and when you come out, all you feel is the afterpain from the procedure?

I suppose that would be a great advertisement for the product, your innie suffers everything the real you does not have to.

I like your idea that the work they are doing is decoding/segmenting the brain.
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the thing is it could be that or it could be to trick AI into thinking its alive and feeling pain. each room has different " feelings " scenarios. its going a interesting way whatever the path its treading.
 
ivrytwr3 said:
So the dentist scene was a metaphor for the pain angle? Go in as in innie, have the horrible dental work done, unsever and when you come out, all you feel is the afterpain from the procedure?

I suppose that would be a great advertisement for the product, your innie suffers everything the real you does not have to.

I like your idea that the work they are doing is decoding/segmenting the brain.
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Yeah so they specifically have Mark mention that Gemma hates writing thank you cards and then that leads to one of the rooms being an innie version of her that does nothing except write Christmas thank you cards with her left/wrong hand (to the point it’s cramping). She hate’s flying/turbulence? The room that’s a like a flight sim deck. When she comes out they’re checking that she doesn’t remember anything about the experience i.e. severance has worked for that particular thing. The testing form is basically hell / torture - imagine your entire experience is just having to go through something you dread over and over and over!

We already know there’s a retreat for wealthy elites where they can ‘forget’ having to go through pregnancy and childbirth. This would - I assume - be like anything you hate, anything that causes you pain/grief/anxiety - you don’t have to experience it. The fact your innie suffers it is sort of swept under the rug.

The impression I get is Cold Harbour is some sort of extreme trauma - it could be her miscarriage, death of a loved one etc as it seems like there was no car accident, she just went to do something w/Lumon and they essentially kidnapped her w/little possibility of escape (as she has to go through the severed floor which switches her to her Miss Casey innie who is basically a child and none the wiser), faked her death and are lying to her about Mark.
 
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Such a great episode and show. I don't feel like a second is wasted. Everything on screen is relevant.

Poor Gemma's mind is shredded. Genuinely felt sorry for her, even the humourous Xmas card room was actually horrific in context.

is she the final room reliving a car crash over and over? Being forced to watch her husband banging someone else?

With the new progressive we got that episode it does feel like a lot of the weirder side stuff is just padding on reflection.

Still Love it.
 
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I just watched the latest episode and tbh I found it all really confusing. Not sure why, as I've been paying attention throughout and I enjoy sci-fi. Is this how a normal person feels when they watch Inception?!?!? :p

Anyway, for me it was really hard to tell what's real, what isn't and (more importantly) the timeline of some things. When they showed Gemma and Mark in the past, what time period is it supposed to be? The tech, scenery, furniture etc used is really confusing me.

Edit: Do I need to take a specific drug before rewatching the episode? If so, where can I get it and what dosage is required?


rp2000
 
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Best episode of the lot for me, revealed a lot of back story, beautifully directed/shot, and emotionally devastating. I might have to watch it again because as much as it filled in some blanks, it also raised a crazy amount of questions.

The lumon logo was present both at the blood donation and IVF(?) clinic, they've both clearly been groomed/chosen by lumon long before mark chose to get severed. Why?

Whats the purpose of the clones/lookalikes watching MDR?

Whats the connection between the birthing retreat and lumon HQ? I get the theory above that it could just be for rich people to forget the trauma of childbirth but then why are they still testing the chip? Surely that would prove it works.

Also just read that the scene transition between floors through the vents was all practical, not a bad debut for a director.
 
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rp2000 said:
I just watched the latest episode and tbh I found it all really confusing. Not sure why, as I've been paying attention throughout and I enjoy sci-fi. Is this how a normal person feels when they watch Inception?!?!? :p

Anyway, for me it was really hard to tell what's real, what isn't and (more importantly) the timeline of some things. When they showed Gemma and Mark in the past, what time period is it supposed to be? The tech, scenery, furniture etc used is really confusing me.

Edit: Do I need to take a specific drug before rewatching the episode? If so, where can I get it and what dosage is required?


rp2000
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Yeah, i'm sure there is a lot i missed, so much going on! I'm going to take LE's advice and watch:

 
That was an utterly depressing episode and just when I thought they would give a little breather to end on..nope they twist the knife in further.
But brilliant TV despite the sad tone this episode.

Given how much they are starting to reveal now I guess they will introduce some of the threads of a much wider plot for the remaining episodes in order to setup season 3.
 
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question
Just watched first ep of season 2. Can't totally remember what happened in season 1 to be honest.

The "outies" appear to see having "innies" as a way of not having to deal with work at all.

But doesn't it imply that an outy only has a life from say 5pm to 8am or whatever plus weekends, and half of that is going to be sleeping. I don't see what the big advantage is, outies are only living half a life, and it's the dark half and the half where you sleep ?
 
tangey said:
But doesn't it imply that an outy only has a life from say 5pm to 8am or whatever plus weekends, and half of that is going to be sleeping. I don't see what the big advantage is, outies are only living half a life, and it's the dark half and the half where you sleep ?
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Yes. They basically don't have to go to work, but they get paid still. I find it odd that you think this is bad? I mean, some folk are lucky and they enjoy their work, but most would happily skip through it and keep their pay.
 
Exactly that. They wake up on a morning > usual stuff, shower, shave, eat, family > travel to work > blink and they are on their way home again > arrive home, usual after work activities > bed.

Although, not sure if you could go out partying all night > drive to work > let your innie suffer the lack of sleep/banging headache, but **** him :)
 
Yeah there are many aspects of it that it's best to not to over analyse. It seems like we're being shown that if it was a paid service there could be a scale of severance product. So one off short time (birthing, dentist/doctor interactions) as well as Mark's long term depression.

@tangey it might not feel like a big advantage, but to those people it becomes their only way they think they will be able to cope. Different levels of desperation.

I thought S2E07 was great, it's all getting rather intense! And yeah @rp2000 I watch a couple of the short YT discussions/recaps after each episode, part of the fun (and helps fill in some gaps sometimes).
 
AndyCr15 said:
Yes. They basically don't have to go to work, but they get paid still. I find it odd that you think this is bad? I mean, some folk are lucky and they enjoy their work, but most would happily skip through it and keep their pay.
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I guess there are some jobs that provide no stimulus at all, but for the majority, human interaction, intellect stimulation, sense of purpose, bonding, all done at work are a significant part of what makes us be us. It's pretty common to have work colleagues who are lifelong friends. I take it their job looks pretty mindblowingly numb, but it appears they selected this job for their innie, as opposed to having this job as their only possible employment.

I'm looking at it from the traditional view of retirement, and the problem that many find themselves lost without the sense of purpose that work gives them, i.e. as well as money, people see work as a valuable part of their life.

But if your sense of purpose isn't centred by what you do for employment in the first place (if you've had an innie since you were eligible to work), then it's not something that is lost by not working.

And also is retirement for an innie really that much different from regular retirement, you end up with 8hrs every day that you need to do something with !
 
Cold Harbour looks like it could relate to where Mark's wife was supposed to have died. The opening credits show a car half in a frozen lake. I wonder if that room, when Mark completes it, is where she will relive the experience of the so called crash?
 
I take it there is something deeper going on with the female innie. She is the CEO's daughter (granddaughter ?), there is no reason for her to sign up to have an innie as one assumes shes mega rich and doesn't need to trade-off losing her daytime doing a mind-numbing job, for the money.

Only watched 2 episodes of season 2 so far.
 
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