i thought the exact same thing. The biggest give away to me was she said "He said there's no microphones in here". Seemed awfully suspicious that Helly would just automatically believe that.
I’m very much on team “Helly = Helena,” with Lumon kind of switching off the Severance chip (assuming that’s possible) so they can gather information about what the others learned/told people on the outside. Her behaviour seemed kind of off and unnatural throughout, and it just doesn’t seem like it would make a ton of sense for Helena or Lumon at large to willingly let Helly back in with the others after the MDR team presumably caused such a ruckus, which was probably a PR disaster. It also explains why there’s no microphones or security cameras.
That raises the bigger question though - what happened to “our” Helly? Does she still exist somewhere, will she be able to come back, or is she gone? At the end of S1 Cobel suggested that the Helly identity would be more or less killed after the gala with the others “left to suffer”, which could be what we’re seeing here. I hope that’s not true of course, and I’m guessing Mark and co. will figure out something’s off pretty soon.
I’m sort of fixated on the person Mark saw standing behind him in the hallway outside wellness - the body type kind of looked like Mark himself, so I’m wondering if we might be seeing some kind of reintegration with Mark? Or at least, the boundaries between Innie and Outie Mark blurring a bit. Lots of question, and a hell of a first episode. Somehow even more excited to see where this season goes now
I definitely think they want us to think Helly is Helena, but I wonder if it's maybe "too obvious"? I guess her insistence that the Innies and Outies are not the same could be read as a restatement of "I am a person, you are not" from S1, but it feels at least equally plausible that that's Helly trying to convince herself she's different from Helena. But yeah, I'm only 51% sure about this.
This was also my first thought, that's it's really Helena undercover. Although it leaves me wondering why she wouldn't have prepared a better story about when she woke up. She was wearing a "Save the Gorillas" t-shirt and went outside and told her story to a gardener? At night? In the dead of winter? It kind of does sound like something Helly would spew out spontaneously. Although--how do they know what gorillas are?
I actually think the poor story sells it more for me - Helena is the heiress to a company which seems to sown pretty much everything, she would have no idea how people “beneath” her live, so can’t come up with a decent cover story. Also seeing as shes never actually interacted with Innie’s as doesn’t see them as real people, I can totally see her not seriously considering whether any of them would question her.
WRT gorillas, the Severance procedure seems to seperate episodic memory but preserve procedural and semantic memory (so things like basic facts and skills) - it’s why they know what things like “sleep” and “dinner” and “the sky” is, and why Dylan knows about bodybuilders even though they’ve never experienced any of those things.
Fair enough on the gorillas. As for the sham story, if it really is Helena, it just feels like they would have prepped her with something. Obviously they were all going to talk about their experiences, so arming her with a solid cover story would make sense. Time will tell!
I thought it was Helena, too. She could just have the Overtime Protocol still going, or perhaps even got the chip removed, if it is removable. If it was going to be removed for anyone, it’d be her.
I also wondered about who was standing back there but got distracted by all my other questions, ha.
I thought so too, but the outfit doesn’t match - Milchick shows up in the next scene wearing that godawful turtleneck thing, and the person we see looks to be in a blue suit with a white shirt. Definitely a different person
It is strange that we only have Milchick and a small child supervising four people who Lumon already knows can cause untold mayhem. Maybe there are more unsevered staffers we not have met yet.
That opening scene is basically everyone who is being forced to return to the office lately lol. My buddy suggested that the little girl is Mark’s daughter which I don’t buy but this show is so weird anything is possible I suppose. I love they immediately started punching holes in Helly’s mundane lie. I’m not sure if it’s Helena or her covering up her secret but I know it’s a question the show wants us to be asking. I sincerely hope Milchick’s screen gets updated to Hello, Mr. Milkshake. The mysterious 5 month gap seems ripe for some flashbacks down the line as well. Overall wonderful to be back in what can only be described as Hell.
“ He says a lot of shit so just fucking whisper.”
“ Fuck there’s easels up there?!”
Dylan remains the fucking best.
“If you take the name of the room at face value, then yes,” pretty much sums up Lumon right there.
Glad the show and these reviews are back; looking forward to the discourse.
I also wondered about Ms. Huang being Mark and Ms. Casey/Gemma's daughter but dismissed it thinking about the timeline. Were Mark and Gemma even married 12-13 years ago? Unless Lumon can accelerate human growth down on the Testing floor.
In my first season re-watch I did flag Mark mentioning that they tried for kids but it never worked out for them. That could be normal date banter or some foreshadowing perhaps.
So I’m not entirely sold on the whole 5-months-out timeline. Without any window to the outside world, the innies have no way of confirming the situation. The fact that Mr. Milchick’s computer still has the wrong Welcome screen suggests a much shorter timeframe to me. And that newspaper seemed so fake.
I’m guessing Lumon would’ve moved a lot quicker to get damage control ASAP. Obviously there had to be enough time to get together some sick claymation, though.
I also have no reason to believe it's actually 5 months later. We also have no way to know whether Mark seemed fired one day and then he and the rest of the team were back was that actually the next day.
One piece of the Innie puzzle I'm fixated on after watching the episode is the Mark and Helly relationship. Lumon exposed their kiss - obviously to show their ever constant surveillance, but also to form cracks within the 4 by revealing secrets. But Helly seems pretty neutral about the reveal, AND learning about Ms. Casey - and the spark is sort of there, but certainly not like it would be if you'd just returned from a dangerous mission to find this person you care about is alright.
It definitely leads me to the Helly = Helena theory, but I don't think Severance would be so simple as to make that the long term conspiracy of the season. So, I'm looking forward to how they reveal it and what possible Outie Helena is going to do to fuck with the others.
- So if you take the “published since” and “edition number” from the newspaper you’re looking at roughly 2035 (assuming it publishes every day, also assuming it’s a real publication).
- Also, with your theory that the other MDR team was a plant, I think the real plant was Helly - who we saw today was the outie. The way she angrily talked about how the innies and outies are different, and how she spent most of the episode convincing mark to go back to work etc
- the shot at the end when he was back to refining of Miss Casey’s face, maybe they’re rebuilding the personality subconsciously, and that’s why they want mark back at work (and why miss Casey is there in the first place)
Just watched; and I am so glad this show is back. Spent the last two weeks rewatching Season 1 (which I’ve been intentionally holding back until just before Season 2 released) and have had the added gift of Ben and Adam’s podcast, which I highly, highly recommend.
Some thoughts:
I keep thinking back to Helly and Mark’s interview in the first episode where we hear it twice, but from different perspectives and it radically changes our understanding of the scene (Mark initially appears to be quite an ominous presence until you realise he’s just fumbling through the scripted lines). I feel like that emphasis on perspective is something that carries on here, so always on the lookout for what we’re being told and how that might fundamentally shift later on, I.e Helly’s lie.
The Keanu Reeves cameo was great; I’m a huge sucker for an uncredited celebrity voice cameo.
Quite funny that of all shows that Apple doesn’t do it’s “two episode drop”, it’s this one, where the next episodes title suggests you are right about this being a pair of episodes that probably play well to each other. That said, who can blame them? They probably want to have this season go as long as it can and that’s fine by me!
I didn't watch anything past the credits, I didn't realize there was anything. Should I?
Do we really believe Milkshake is unsevered? What about Miss Huang? I won't even bother trying to make any sense of the whole child deputy thing, we'll learn more when it's time.
Bob Balaban practically stole the episode and did it showing only half his face.
Anyone else wonder if they can sever people multiple times? Could there be the Outie, the Innie and... a second Innie? I can't point to anything in particular that made me wonder that other than Helly acting kind of strange. I'm having trouble reconciling her behavior with either Helly R. OR Helena the Outie. Could it be some third persona trained to go undercover? I'm probably overthinking things. Or I'll get a coveted shout-out in Myles' finale post. Either way.
EDIT: I almost forgot the "reforms." Salsa snacks! And new perks! I'll give them this, that's an incredibly corporate attitude.
Like everyone else, I thought Helly was obviously Helena, and I was surprised the review didn't even mention that possibility. The many comments agreeing are gratifying.
What fascinated me the most though is the millisecond flash of Gemma/Ms. Casey along with a bunch of data and images at the very end of the episode. I paused on this and pored over the whole thing, and I have a few theories related to it I want to put out there:
- I think the data that MDR is refining is actually brain activity. They're identifying problematic emotions and boxing them up to keep Ms. Casey docile, and this is why her affect is always so flat.
- The boxes they're sorting into are actually emotions composed of Kier's four Tempers. The bottom of the screen has the five boxes with a breakdown of each into four percentages - WO, DR, FC, MA, aka Woe, Dread, Frolic, and Malice (I'm so glad I rewatched last week!). Maybe each box is a certain type of emotion (anger, joy) that they're suppressing.
- This work may require special emotional skills that could explain why Mark specifically is in this group and why they chose to keep these four on the job even though they caused such chaos. Mark has personal knowledge of Gemma, Dylan is a father with obviously deep emotions, Irving is an artist with an incredible commitment to rigor, and Helly... helly is a firebrand (and also an Eagan).
- The top left of the screen has an IDNO (id #) and "ITNO (item #?) 25.00 (BUILD)". Is Ms Casey an android?? Or a clone?? With the 25th iteration of some kind of "build"?
- Ms Casey's file name is "Cold Harbor" which just sounds to me like a twisting of "safe harbor" which is kinda heartbreaking. Are other file names referring to other people? How many people/clones/androids are on the "testing floor" with Ms Casey/Gemma??
I'm so glad this is airing weekly! Can't wait for the show to unspool for us!
Some great catches there. I'd missed all that about Ms Casey and the build number - interesting that it's another name that breaks down into something, a bit like Ricken = Rick N, Ms Casey certainly seems like Case Y, which looks like the 25th build of something.
I agree the four tempers and the refining have to be linked somehow, maybe some form of tech therapy for VIP Lumon customers.
I mentioned it in a reply, but did anyone else wonder if Ms. Huang was actually Miss Casey/Mark's wife as a child? The idea that the severance process could allow you to make the innie at any timeline of a person's life is another level of f*ed up and terrifying. Perhaps Lumon did this to stop Mark from finding his wife?
I really hope they aren't going that direction, because it would be a big misfire. The two don't really look alike. Dichen Lachman (Miss Casey)'s background is Tibetan/Nepali, and Sarah Bock (Ms. Huang) I believe is of Korean background.
That actually hadn't occurred to me, though it certainly is intriguing. It also suggests Lumon has biotechnology even more advanced than we'd imagined, if they created a clone or whatever.
It also raises some concerning questions about Mark and Miss Casey/Mark's wife "finding" one another again, since she would very much be a child. This show is pretty creepy, but making Adam Scott fall in love with a teenager would be a little too much.
I'm interested in the parallels between the supposed coup by Optics and Design that was rumored in season 1 and the real "Macrodat Uprising" as they're calling it. What if wasn't just a rumor and Optics and Design actually did something similar in the past?
There were two similar paintings showing bloody rebellions by both departments, so me assumed it was all fiction to keep departments from working together.
What me still not really understand is why Lumon was so intent on those departments not getting along, or why card Dylan slips into pocket is important enough to use Overtime Protocol, given potential ramifications.
I've been curious about the card too. Milchick was clearly panicking a little in dealing with everything but still, why was it so important that it couldn't wait until the next work day?
This review popped up just as I’d finished watching the episode. Perfect timing and very glad to have you writing for us again about this show! I really liked the energy and urgency of the first few minutes. Genuinely excited to see what this season will bring.
It is comforting to have a proper series worth discussing again in all its gloriously bizarre mythology. Like apparently everyone here, I am uncertain which Hel we are seeing, but considering Cobel's words in the S1 finale, I am leaning towards Helena. However, why would they need to set up Mark with a new team, except that it is great to see Alia Shawkat (Search Party!!!)? The innies have no perception of actual time, so why include that little intermezzo? The only logical explanation seems to be that Lumon is not entirely in agreement on which course to take, and the failed attempt was followed by what might be Helena's preferred approach. Anyway, there is too little to go on beyond some vague suspicions and child labour (this is so strange, even for this show), as this episode was mostly about reintroducing the oddball vibe and basic dynamics of the show.
One thing about the Keanu voice acting cameo is that I thought the meter/word choice sounded SO much like Ricken.
This got me thinking about if Ricken is somehow connected to Lumen.
—In the redacted newspaper text it mentions a new book by Ricken that’s called _These Values Nine: How I Let Kier in_.
—Going to the birth cabins was Ricken’s idea. And it’s where we meet the severed Senator’s wife and where Cobel infiltrates Devon’s own birth.
—Ricken’s friends are DEEPLY weird, almost like they are severed too albeit in a different way than our innies. The one who pushed Mark out of the way to say he found Devon’s baby is particularly fucking bizarre. Also “Rebeck”‽
I will say that in my rewatch before the S2 premiere (my first since original airing and joining EM as an early days paid subscriber!) I found Ricken more sympathetic, strangely. However, I also found it so weird that we never really see why Devon is married to the guy, what drives her connection to him. Given that the show excels at writing these kinds of moments for the other characters, the complete lack of any real connective tissue b/w Ricken and Devon is so strange to me. I do believe that love is a thing between two people, and no outside observer can ever really know or understand a relationship that they aren’t in, but this void feels intentional.
It occurred to me as we were watching that I met my fiancée a few weeks after the s1 finale aired, and well now we're engaged so really quite a lot of time has gone by!
I'm also incredulous that THIS was the one time apple didn't do a two episode drop, but if they're just trying to delay subscriber churn I'd understand.
I spent most of the episode thinking Helly was really her outie but I was convinced she was normal Helly by the end. It looks like they're going to try to sell us a love triangle between her, Mark and Gemma/Casey and that wouldn't work if it really was evil Helena.
Can't wait to get to ep 2 and see what's really going on in the real world.
For now I am also with you on it being normal Helly, with the reason she didn’t tell them being that her outie is one of the villains here, and given that she theoretically learned this minutes before she enters this episode, she is just not ready to share it yet.
> It’s a fact she doesn’t tell her colleagues, either out of shame or a belief that it would lead the others to distrust her
A far too compelling theory is that it's because she's Helena, not Helly
i thought the exact same thing. The biggest give away to me was she said "He said there's no microphones in here". Seemed awfully suspicious that Helly would just automatically believe that.
Also Irving is onto her, which is why he whispered in Dylan's ear when they were alone.
Also why was she running off the elevator. Shouldn’t she be mid sentence given where we left her?
I’m very much on team “Helly = Helena,” with Lumon kind of switching off the Severance chip (assuming that’s possible) so they can gather information about what the others learned/told people on the outside. Her behaviour seemed kind of off and unnatural throughout, and it just doesn’t seem like it would make a ton of sense for Helena or Lumon at large to willingly let Helly back in with the others after the MDR team presumably caused such a ruckus, which was probably a PR disaster. It also explains why there’s no microphones or security cameras.
That raises the bigger question though - what happened to “our” Helly? Does she still exist somewhere, will she be able to come back, or is she gone? At the end of S1 Cobel suggested that the Helly identity would be more or less killed after the gala with the others “left to suffer”, which could be what we’re seeing here. I hope that’s not true of course, and I’m guessing Mark and co. will figure out something’s off pretty soon.
I’m sort of fixated on the person Mark saw standing behind him in the hallway outside wellness - the body type kind of looked like Mark himself, so I’m wondering if we might be seeing some kind of reintegration with Mark? Or at least, the boundaries between Innie and Outie Mark blurring a bit. Lots of question, and a hell of a first episode. Somehow even more excited to see where this season goes now
I definitely think they want us to think Helly is Helena, but I wonder if it's maybe "too obvious"? I guess her insistence that the Innies and Outies are not the same could be read as a restatement of "I am a person, you are not" from S1, but it feels at least equally plausible that that's Helly trying to convince herself she's different from Helena. But yeah, I'm only 51% sure about this.
This was also my first thought, that's it's really Helena undercover. Although it leaves me wondering why she wouldn't have prepared a better story about when she woke up. She was wearing a "Save the Gorillas" t-shirt and went outside and told her story to a gardener? At night? In the dead of winter? It kind of does sound like something Helly would spew out spontaneously. Although--how do they know what gorillas are?
I actually think the poor story sells it more for me - Helena is the heiress to a company which seems to sown pretty much everything, she would have no idea how people “beneath” her live, so can’t come up with a decent cover story. Also seeing as shes never actually interacted with Innie’s as doesn’t see them as real people, I can totally see her not seriously considering whether any of them would question her.
WRT gorillas, the Severance procedure seems to seperate episodic memory but preserve procedural and semantic memory (so things like basic facts and skills) - it’s why they know what things like “sleep” and “dinner” and “the sky” is, and why Dylan knows about bodybuilders even though they’ve never experienced any of those things.
Fair enough on the gorillas. As for the sham story, if it really is Helena, it just feels like they would have prepped her with something. Obviously they were all going to talk about their experiences, so arming her with a solid cover story would make sense. Time will tell!
I came here to say the same thing. I instantly thought Helly was no longer an innie at all.
I thought it was Helena, too. She could just have the Overtime Protocol still going, or perhaps even got the chip removed, if it is removable. If it was going to be removed for anyone, it’d be her.
I also wondered about who was standing back there but got distracted by all my other questions, ha.
I honestly thought that was just Milchick, he wanted to see what innie Mark what would do as soon as he came back.
I thought so too, but the outfit doesn’t match - Milchick shows up in the next scene wearing that godawful turtleneck thing, and the person we see looks to be in a blue suit with a white shirt. Definitely a different person
It is strange that we only have Milchick and a small child supervising four people who Lumon already knows can cause untold mayhem. Maybe there are more unsevered staffers we not have met yet.
That opening scene is basically everyone who is being forced to return to the office lately lol. My buddy suggested that the little girl is Mark’s daughter which I don’t buy but this show is so weird anything is possible I suppose. I love they immediately started punching holes in Helly’s mundane lie. I’m not sure if it’s Helena or her covering up her secret but I know it’s a question the show wants us to be asking. I sincerely hope Milchick’s screen gets updated to Hello, Mr. Milkshake. The mysterious 5 month gap seems ripe for some flashbacks down the line as well. Overall wonderful to be back in what can only be described as Hell.
“ He says a lot of shit so just fucking whisper.”
“ Fuck there’s easels up there?!”
Dylan remains the fucking best.
“If you take the name of the room at face value, then yes,” pretty much sums up Lumon right there.
Glad the show and these reviews are back; looking forward to the discourse.
I thought she was a young Miss Casey/his wife.
I also wondered about Ms. Huang being Mark and Ms. Casey/Gemma's daughter but dismissed it thinking about the timeline. Were Mark and Gemma even married 12-13 years ago? Unless Lumon can accelerate human growth down on the Testing floor.
In my first season re-watch I did flag Mark mentioning that they tried for kids but it never worked out for them. That could be normal date banter or some foreshadowing perhaps.
Whether it’s Mark’s kid or not, they really played up the long, puzzled stare he gave her
So I’m not entirely sold on the whole 5-months-out timeline. Without any window to the outside world, the innies have no way of confirming the situation. The fact that Mr. Milchick’s computer still has the wrong Welcome screen suggests a much shorter timeframe to me. And that newspaper seemed so fake.
I’m guessing Lumon would’ve moved a lot quicker to get damage control ASAP. Obviously there had to be enough time to get together some sick claymation, though.
The office made it look like milkshake was still moving in. Stuff was still covered in plastic.
I also have no reason to believe it's actually 5 months later. We also have no way to know whether Mark seemed fired one day and then he and the rest of the team were back was that actually the next day.
One piece of the Innie puzzle I'm fixated on after watching the episode is the Mark and Helly relationship. Lumon exposed their kiss - obviously to show their ever constant surveillance, but also to form cracks within the 4 by revealing secrets. But Helly seems pretty neutral about the reveal, AND learning about Ms. Casey - and the spark is sort of there, but certainly not like it would be if you'd just returned from a dangerous mission to find this person you care about is alright.
It definitely leads me to the Helly = Helena theory, but I don't think Severance would be so simple as to make that the long term conspiracy of the season. So, I'm looking forward to how they reveal it and what possible Outie Helena is going to do to fuck with the others.
Agreed. If it’s true hoping it’s revealed sooner rather than later.
- So if you take the “published since” and “edition number” from the newspaper you’re looking at roughly 2035 (assuming it publishes every day, also assuming it’s a real publication).
- Also, with your theory that the other MDR team was a plant, I think the real plant was Helly - who we saw today was the outie. The way she angrily talked about how the innies and outies are different, and how she spent most of the episode convincing mark to go back to work etc
- the shot at the end when he was back to refining of Miss Casey’s face, maybe they’re rebuilding the personality subconsciously, and that’s why they want mark back at work (and why miss Casey is there in the first place)
A physical newspaper? In 2035? Now I KNOW they fabricated it!
Seriously though, that badly photoshopped parade picture was pretty laughable.
Hey, Onion went back into print, anything possible.
Just watched; and I am so glad this show is back. Spent the last two weeks rewatching Season 1 (which I’ve been intentionally holding back until just before Season 2 released) and have had the added gift of Ben and Adam’s podcast, which I highly, highly recommend.
Some thoughts:
I keep thinking back to Helly and Mark’s interview in the first episode where we hear it twice, but from different perspectives and it radically changes our understanding of the scene (Mark initially appears to be quite an ominous presence until you realise he’s just fumbling through the scripted lines). I feel like that emphasis on perspective is something that carries on here, so always on the lookout for what we’re being told and how that might fundamentally shift later on, I.e Helly’s lie.
The Keanu Reeves cameo was great; I’m a huge sucker for an uncredited celebrity voice cameo.
Quite funny that of all shows that Apple doesn’t do it’s “two episode drop”, it’s this one, where the next episodes title suggests you are right about this being a pair of episodes that probably play well to each other. That said, who can blame them? They probably want to have this season go as long as it can and that’s fine by me!
I didn't watch anything past the credits, I didn't realize there was anything. Should I?
Do we really believe Milkshake is unsevered? What about Miss Huang? I won't even bother trying to make any sense of the whole child deputy thing, we'll learn more when it's time.
Bob Balaban practically stole the episode and did it showing only half his face.
Anyone else wonder if they can sever people multiple times? Could there be the Outie, the Innie and... a second Innie? I can't point to anything in particular that made me wonder that other than Helly acting kind of strange. I'm having trouble reconciling her behavior with either Helly R. OR Helena the Outie. Could it be some third persona trained to go undercover? I'm probably overthinking things. Or I'll get a coveted shout-out in Myles' finale post. Either way.
EDIT: I almost forgot the "reforms." Salsa snacks! And new perks! I'll give them this, that's an incredibly corporate attitude.
Like everyone else, I thought Helly was obviously Helena, and I was surprised the review didn't even mention that possibility. The many comments agreeing are gratifying.
What fascinated me the most though is the millisecond flash of Gemma/Ms. Casey along with a bunch of data and images at the very end of the episode. I paused on this and pored over the whole thing, and I have a few theories related to it I want to put out there:
- I think the data that MDR is refining is actually brain activity. They're identifying problematic emotions and boxing them up to keep Ms. Casey docile, and this is why her affect is always so flat.
- The boxes they're sorting into are actually emotions composed of Kier's four Tempers. The bottom of the screen has the five boxes with a breakdown of each into four percentages - WO, DR, FC, MA, aka Woe, Dread, Frolic, and Malice (I'm so glad I rewatched last week!). Maybe each box is a certain type of emotion (anger, joy) that they're suppressing.
- This work may require special emotional skills that could explain why Mark specifically is in this group and why they chose to keep these four on the job even though they caused such chaos. Mark has personal knowledge of Gemma, Dylan is a father with obviously deep emotions, Irving is an artist with an incredible commitment to rigor, and Helly... helly is a firebrand (and also an Eagan).
- The top left of the screen has an IDNO (id #) and "ITNO (item #?) 25.00 (BUILD)". Is Ms Casey an android?? Or a clone?? With the 25th iteration of some kind of "build"?
- Ms Casey's file name is "Cold Harbor" which just sounds to me like a twisting of "safe harbor" which is kinda heartbreaking. Are other file names referring to other people? How many people/clones/androids are on the "testing floor" with Ms Casey/Gemma??
I'm so glad this is airing weekly! Can't wait for the show to unspool for us!
Some great catches there. I'd missed all that about Ms Casey and the build number - interesting that it's another name that breaks down into something, a bit like Ricken = Rick N, Ms Casey certainly seems like Case Y, which looks like the 25th build of something.
I agree the four tempers and the refining have to be linked somehow, maybe some form of tech therapy for VIP Lumon customers.
I mentioned it in a reply, but did anyone else wonder if Ms. Huang was actually Miss Casey/Mark's wife as a child? The idea that the severance process could allow you to make the innie at any timeline of a person's life is another level of f*ed up and terrifying. Perhaps Lumon did this to stop Mark from finding his wife?
I really hope they aren't going that direction, because it would be a big misfire. The two don't really look alike. Dichen Lachman (Miss Casey)'s background is Tibetan/Nepali, and Sarah Bock (Ms. Huang) I believe is of Korean background.
Very rarely do child actors actually look exactly like the adults we see other actors play.
In any case, it's just a notion that popped into my head.
That actually hadn't occurred to me, though it certainly is intriguing. It also suggests Lumon has biotechnology even more advanced than we'd imagined, if they created a clone or whatever.
It also raises some concerning questions about Mark and Miss Casey/Mark's wife "finding" one another again, since she would very much be a child. This show is pretty creepy, but making Adam Scott fall in love with a teenager would be a little too much.
I don't think he'll be falling in love as I suspect the indie side of him will be all about Helly, but I understand your concerns.
Also, I could be completely wrong.
I'm interested in the parallels between the supposed coup by Optics and Design that was rumored in season 1 and the real "Macrodat Uprising" as they're calling it. What if wasn't just a rumor and Optics and Design actually did something similar in the past?
There were two similar paintings showing bloody rebellions by both departments, so me assumed it was all fiction to keep departments from working together.
What me still not really understand is why Lumon was so intent on those departments not getting along, or why card Dylan slips into pocket is important enough to use Overtime Protocol, given potential ramifications.
The card was also featured again in the previously on segment. So seems like it will come back in some way.
I've been curious about the card too. Milchick was clearly panicking a little in dealing with everything but still, why was it so important that it couldn't wait until the next work day?
This review popped up just as I’d finished watching the episode. Perfect timing and very glad to have you writing for us again about this show! I really liked the energy and urgency of the first few minutes. Genuinely excited to see what this season will bring.
It is comforting to have a proper series worth discussing again in all its gloriously bizarre mythology. Like apparently everyone here, I am uncertain which Hel we are seeing, but considering Cobel's words in the S1 finale, I am leaning towards Helena. However, why would they need to set up Mark with a new team, except that it is great to see Alia Shawkat (Search Party!!!)? The innies have no perception of actual time, so why include that little intermezzo? The only logical explanation seems to be that Lumon is not entirely in agreement on which course to take, and the failed attempt was followed by what might be Helena's preferred approach. Anyway, there is too little to go on beyond some vague suspicions and child labour (this is so strange, even for this show), as this episode was mostly about reintroducing the oddball vibe and basic dynamics of the show.
One thing about the Keanu voice acting cameo is that I thought the meter/word choice sounded SO much like Ricken.
This got me thinking about if Ricken is somehow connected to Lumen.
—In the redacted newspaper text it mentions a new book by Ricken that’s called _These Values Nine: How I Let Kier in_.
—Going to the birth cabins was Ricken’s idea. And it’s where we meet the severed Senator’s wife and where Cobel infiltrates Devon’s own birth.
—Ricken’s friends are DEEPLY weird, almost like they are severed too albeit in a different way than our innies. The one who pushed Mark out of the way to say he found Devon’s baby is particularly fucking bizarre. Also “Rebeck”‽
I will say that in my rewatch before the S2 premiere (my first since original airing and joining EM as an early days paid subscriber!) I found Ricken more sympathetic, strangely. However, I also found it so weird that we never really see why Devon is married to the guy, what drives her connection to him. Given that the show excels at writing these kinds of moments for the other characters, the complete lack of any real connective tissue b/w Ricken and Devon is so strange to me. I do believe that love is a thing between two people, and no outside observer can ever really know or understand a relationship that they aren’t in, but this void feels intentional.
Myles, so glad we are back!
A link to the redacted newspaper:
https://www.reddit.com/r/SeveranceAppleTVPlus/s/T6NKrR0kCa
It occurred to me as we were watching that I met my fiancée a few weeks after the s1 finale aired, and well now we're engaged so really quite a lot of time has gone by!
I'm also incredulous that THIS was the one time apple didn't do a two episode drop, but if they're just trying to delay subscriber churn I'd understand.
I spent most of the episode thinking Helly was really her outie but I was convinced she was normal Helly by the end. It looks like they're going to try to sell us a love triangle between her, Mark and Gemma/Casey and that wouldn't work if it really was evil Helena.
Can't wait to get to ep 2 and see what's really going on in the real world.
For now I am also with you on it being normal Helly, with the reason she didn’t tell them being that her outie is one of the villains here, and given that she theoretically learned this minutes before she enters this episode, she is just not ready to share it yet.
Congrats on your engagement!
Yes agreed! But I guess we'll see when the next ep is released!
When I watched it, the subtitles said "erotic fixation" so I guess they fixed it after you watched it.