Breakdown
Gunnar Durden
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Severance
- Thread starter kroenen
- Start date
Gravel
Mr. Poopybutthole
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Watching episode 9, and I couldn't help but think, "what is the conflict in this season?" Anyone? Like, we had a big thing they were chasing in season one. They all figure out what's happening and it's a huge reveal. And then season two happens and it's just...
They just all kind of stop giving a shit. They find out who Helly is, and outside of the quip this episode about her being "Helly E" it's like no one cares. My biggest complaint is we probably spent a whopping 10 minutes of the entire season in Lumon with all of them present. Otherwise it's been random stuff that makes no sense.
So I come back to, what's the conflict? All I can come up with is some vague thing about Gemma, and Lumon may or may not be evil, but 90% of the way through the season and nothing concrete.
I think the only thing redeeming this show is it's shot absolutely superbly. The entire production is honestly insane. But if you strip that away and look at the story? Oof. A good example is that conversation when they meet Kobel in the middle of nowhere. "It's too late if he finished the file..." two minutes of close up face shots later "Cold Harbor."
No "what the fuck are you talking about," "what is that," "what file," "why is Gemma dead." We just move on to vague statements from characters, so everyone is just as in the dark as we are. The Kobel thing is especially annoying when you consider two episodes ago when everyone said how retarded the sister's plan is, but it magically works because of something her character had no clue about. Cool. Or how about that extended faggot sequence where literally nothing gets answered between Bert and Ernie? That was super fun. "Hey, get on this train and never come back. I have no answers for you, or reasons to give you, and you don't get to take anything with you, or any money or possessions. Get fucked, faggot." "Oh hey, let's make out though before we leave because my "innie" was in love with you, and so I guess I'm a giant flaming cockholster too."
Seriously...Fuck this show.
- 3
- 1
Arbitrary
Tranny Chaser
- 30,653
- 86,628
We just didn't build to anything. I think the thread of this season was supposed to be Mark's reintegration but it didn't really progress from episode three. We're all the way at the end with Mark yet to have a single piece of useful information from either of the two procedures. A number of episodes were non-sequiturs in that they in no way advanced anything from episode before it. It's like the season itself was severed.
- 2
Lanx
<Prior Amod>
- 68,146
- 156,706
severance s2 is garbage, it's just like westworld s2 is garbage except for that one awesome westworld akecheta episode, and this was the same w/ the gemma episodeWatching episode 9, and I couldn't help but think, "what is the conflict in this season?" Anyone? Like, we had a big thing they were chasing in season one. They all figure out what's happening and it's a huge reveal. And then season two happens and it's just...
They just all kind of stop giving a shit. They find out who Helly is, and outside of the quip this episode about her being "Helly E" it's like no one cares. My biggest complaint is we probably spent a whopping 10 minutes of the entire season in Lumon with all of them present. Otherwise it's been random stuff that makes no sense.
So I come back to, what's the conflict? All I can come up with is some vague thing about Gemma, and Lumon may or may not be evil, but 90% of the way through the season and nothing concrete.
I think the only thing redeeming this show is it's shot absolutely superbly. The entire production is honestly insane. But if you strip that away and look at the story? Oof. A good example is that conversation when they meet Kobel in the middle of nowhere. "It's too late if he finished the file..." two minutes of close up face shots later "Cold Harbor."
No "what the fuck are you talking about," "what is that," "what file," "why is Gemma dead." We just move on to vague statements from characters, so everyone is just as in the dark as we are. The Kobel thing is especially annoying when you consider two episodes ago when everyone said how retarded the sister's plan is, but it magically works because of something her character had no clue about. Cool. Or how about that extended faggot sequence where literally nothing gets answered between Bert and Ernie? That was super fun. "Hey, get on this train and never come back. I have no answers for you, or reasons to give you, and you don't get to take anything with you, or any money or possessions. Get fucked, faggot." "Oh hey, let's make out though before we leave because my "innie" was in love with you, and so I guess I'm a giant flaming cockholster too."
Seriously...Fuck this show.
- 1
Intrinsic
Person of Whiteness
- 15,626
- 14,232
All the conflicts this season are character conflicts sort of internal / love
Mark’s conflict with his innie’s love for Helly vs his outie’s need to find Gemma.
Dylan is similar and including his wife the conflict with his innie being the man his outie can’t be.
Irving is love also. Love of Burt as both an innie and outie.
Harmony is conflicted about her love of Lumon / Egan and the falling out she experienced.
Helly and I’d say Helena is centered around the love her father can’t show her and what she experienced with Mark.
Milchik is experiencing similar as Helena and Harmony.
It is just a bunch of character development individual growth / conflicts without the larger upfront emphasis of Cold Harbor being finished and the team vs Lumon. I don’t hate the season at all but it is a big departure thematically from Season 1.
Mark’s conflict with his innie’s love for Helly vs his outie’s need to find Gemma.
Dylan is similar and including his wife the conflict with his innie being the man his outie can’t be.
Irving is love also. Love of Burt as both an innie and outie.
Harmony is conflicted about her love of Lumon / Egan and the falling out she experienced.
Helly and I’d say Helena is centered around the love her father can’t show her and what she experienced with Mark.
Milchik is experiencing similar as Helena and Harmony.
It is just a bunch of character development individual growth / conflicts without the larger upfront emphasis of Cold Harbor being finished and the team vs Lumon. I don’t hate the season at all but it is a big departure thematically from Season 1.
- 2
Seananigans
Honorary Shit-PhD
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- 36,301
Arbitrary
Tranny Chaser
- 30,653
- 86,628
The first fifteen minutes worried me quite a bit but it got better. Mark talking to Mark should have been in episode 9 as the lead up to this but whatever.
The big issue this season continues to be the amount of time we spent on things that go nowhere or otherwise do not play in to the finale at all. This is such an Act 2 rather than it's own entity it's unreal. So next season it'll be important that Cobel invented Severance when was still in high school? Next season reintegration will be a thing? We didn't really spend all that time on Irving to put him on a bus to his home planet, right? No narrative arc for Ms. Huang. We spent so much airtime on stuff with no payoff. This episode would have worked as the capstone regardless of what happened in episodes 1-9. This season is almost episodic rather than serialized. You remember how the X Files used to mostly have monster of the week episodes with occasionally lore episodes and then a cliffhanger finale? Season 2 of Severence is more like that. Tune in this week to see a wacky team building exercise!
I think people are going to really like this episode only to later sour on the whole thing a few episodes in to rewatching the season.
The big issue this season continues to be the amount of time we spent on things that go nowhere or otherwise do not play in to the finale at all. This is such an Act 2 rather than it's own entity it's unreal. So next season it'll be important that Cobel invented Severance when was still in high school? Next season reintegration will be a thing? We didn't really spend all that time on Irving to put him on a bus to his home planet, right? No narrative arc for Ms. Huang. We spent so much airtime on stuff with no payoff. This episode would have worked as the capstone regardless of what happened in episodes 1-9. This season is almost episodic rather than serialized. You remember how the X Files used to mostly have monster of the week episodes with occasionally lore episodes and then a cliffhanger finale? Season 2 of Severence is more like that. Tune in this week to see a wacky team building exercise!
I think people are going to really like this episode only to later sour on the whole thing a few episodes in to rewatching the season.
- 1
Lanx
<Prior Amod>
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yea who needs to pay writers for a decent 1season story, we need 2 congruent marching bands!
Tuco
I got Tuco'd!
- 49,351
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Headcanon: The entire Kobel winter episode was her hallucinating while parked on the side of the road and becoming hypothermic.
- 2
Tuco
I got Tuco'd!
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Mystery scifi or drama shows like start out fun because the audience is prompted to ask questions as you unfold the world you've created.
But then in season 2 if you can't start providing satisfying answers, the audience gets frustrated and stops giving a shit about your world because they realize it's a Ben Stiller fever dream.
I'll watch season 3, but I have low hopes that this will cement itself as the top tier show the first season made possible because the questions asked will have answers like, "idk, the Eegans and Lumon are weird I guess, lol.".
But then in season 2 if you can't start providing satisfying answers, the audience gets frustrated and stops giving a shit about your world because they realize it's a Ben Stiller fever dream.
I'll watch season 3, but I have low hopes that this will cement itself as the top tier show the first season made possible because the questions asked will have answers like, "idk, the Eegans and Lumon are weird I guess, lol.".
Burns
Avatar of War Slayer
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Tuco
I got Tuco'd!
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The codes are your wifes feelings is fiiiine. But that just pushes the question back one step to why they care. If they only care because they want to stress test severance, that just pushes the question back to why they care sooo much to have this entire contrived system. If the answer to that is "because they are weird idk" then the whole series is just a big Erickson and Stiller jerkoff show.
Tuco
I got Tuco'd!
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Part of the reason i care about the why is my current theory is they are trying to figure out how to revive the concept of Kier in living or future people. Idk how any of that fits season 2, but philosophically if they can use severance to instill the Kier tempers into people it justifies alllll the insanity from their perspective.
- 1
Burns
Avatar of War Slayer
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I've assumed it's going to be immortality or something else run of the mill like that. Kier lived like 10 generations ago, or some shit, so how would he have anything to do with it? They have tried to fan in the whole cult thing, so who knows if they will go all in on non-sensical "twist" to say it's all conceived from insane people (taking inspiration from Scientology).
There are certainly holes starting to show with this season. To me the codes were the dumbest thing I have seen so far, that immediately jumped out. The notebook of a teenager having the schematics to severance took reading here to catch that stupidity. Also, they are something like 8 floors underground and acting like all they need to do is get the stairway, how is there not a wall of security to stop them?