thelesterlee
The Severance Season 2 finale just dropped. I cannot stop thinking about Gemma standing in the stairway, watching her long-lost husband leave with some random ass redhead instead of escaping and returning to their lives together.
Homegirl has no idea what Severance even is and she—Lumon’s most important project—is roaming free, confused as shit, having lost the last 2 years of her life because she dared to rear children.
Life is hard.
But let’s talk about what’s next after Severance Season 2…
Can Dichen Lachman lead this show?
Dichen Lachman is one of the most beautiful and talented actresses on television—in the most hyper-specific ways.
She excels at haunting—as a fading memory.
No one in the game better at being under someone else’s thumb. She is the GOAT of being mind-controlled.
Dichen is jaw-dropping stunning—when wearing antiquated clothing and hairstyles and staring, aloof, directly into the camera.
Dichen Lachman was born to be montaged.
But as a contemporary, sober and frankly—a speaking woman—I’m not sure she can handle the heavy lifting that may be asked of her character going forward.
Like, her greatest skill is being a tiny brown photograph inside the heart-shaped locket around a soldier’s neck. I have no idea if she has the skill set to be the soldier herself.
Adam Scott is still the star of this series but Miss Casey moving in and out of rooms like Rosey the Robot from The Jetsons is gone. Gemma Scout has to be a complete 3D character, with emotions and conversations and monologues and we’ll see how that goes.
Speaking of Gemma though…
What was the point of her experiment?
In the Severance Season 2 Finale, Cobal tells Innie Mark that each Gemma torture room is a separate, individual severed consciousness from the next and Cold Harbor was the 25th and final severance.
However, she doesn’t explain why Lumon is even interested in this.
Cobel’s bottle episode—which will age better with binge-watches despite it feeling like a waste of time as the show aired weekly—we learn Lumon’s entire project was the result of Kier huffing ether, temporarily losing his memory and having the ‘ah-ha’ moment—discovering he can rid himself, and eventually the world, of pain.
And Gemma’s experiment is a way of finding out if they can sequester and silo off specific pains, discomforts and traumas—through the little chip in their brains—thus allowing their Outties total peace by making their innies experience all of the hardships.
Cool.
But I reckon I don’t understand what this billion-dollar, all-encompassing corporation wants.
A religious, philosophical and cult-ish ethos surrounds every aspect of this company. So I’m having trouble discerning exactly what Lumon’s endgame is.
Is it to sell these Severance chips and make bajillions of dollars or indoctrinate the world in Kier’s teachings?
Does one fund the other?
Regardless, if this Cold Harbor project was as groundbreaking and earth-shattering as we were led to believe all season, Lumon probably should’ve invested in, I don’t know, security guards.
Perhaps the welfare of their entire endeavor shouldn’t be duct-taped together by a pre-teen hall monitor. Shout out Miss Huang though. Free the child slaves. Although I imagine the Joe Rogan of this universe is telling his millions of listeners that child labor is actually a good thing.
What’s Innie Mark’s game plan?
Okay so innie Mark made a split decision: he followed through on his agreement to help free Outtie Mark’s wife but he chose to maintain his own life—instead of sharing a fraction of it with Outtie Mark.
I, too, have made some of the most selfish decisions of my life under the guise it may lead me to have sex with a woman again. In fact, that was my 20’s. Entirely.
I understand Innie Mark more than most.
But like, uh, what’s next?
From my understanding he can only remain an innie on the Severance floor so is it just going to be him, his gf, his work buddy, Goat Lady of Tarth and a marching band against the world? I like Lumon’s odds.
Is this show about to fall off a cliff?
I fucking loved Westworld when it came out. They were able to create a mystery box show with genuinely unique and interesting reveals with new and exciting shit happening every episode. Season 1 Dolores will always hold a special place in my heart.
But by the end of the show, when all the robots escaped Westworld and were in the real world, the plot was lost. The identity of the show was unrecognizable from where it began. It became a show about Aaron Paul playing the least interesting character of all time.
The further Severance gets from being a satire of corporate office structure, the greater the likelihood of a quality decline. Severance season 3 has such a narrow margin for error now.
Okay, let’s wrap this up. I can spend the rest of the weekend thinking about this show. So here are a couple quick questions off the top of the dome.
1. Will Outtie Dylan get the chance to be better for his wife?
Dylan has always been the heart of this show for me.
His innie’s relationship with the workplace is by far the most relatable as, despite being literally designed to enjoy his job, my guy has been complaining about everything from day one.
I’m 90% sure his character was created after interviewing every boss I ever worked for.
Both versions of Dylan and their relationship with Meritt Weaver’s character, Gretchen, really stole the season.
We know Mark joined Severance after Lumon zombified his wife.
Hellie is there basically so Helena Egan learns a lesson from her asshole father.
Irving’s origin is TBD (and we’ll talk about that in a minute)—but Dylan was a self-proclaimed loser who simply needed money to help his wife pay for diapers.
While Outtie Dylan hates himself all day, Innie Dylan is the ideal version of himself—and his wife’s instant connection made Outtie Dylan realize he needed to try harder for the woman he loves.
That note Outtie Dylan wrote for Innie Dylan to explain why he’s back on that Severance floor was incredible.
But it looks like we’re marching towards a season spearheaded by the innies—robbing Outie Dylan of an opportunity to become that better man.
We’ll probably see more reintigration shenanigans but yea, honestly, I feel Dylan. Merritt Weaver’s face card has never declined. I, too, would fight myself over her.
2. The fuck is up with Irving?
Hey man, how does Outtie Irving remember exact conversations with Burt?
That final scene where he said he was finally “ready” to share himself with Burt was a continuation of a conversation his innie had with Burt’s innie—who Outtie Burt presumably wouldn’t remember either.
However, both men seem highly aware of their feelings for one another—to the point where I’m fairly certain Burt was supposed to kill Irving, but elected to drive him to the train station instead—sparing the life of a former sidepiece.
Irving has the longest history with Lumon. What does he know? Who is he calling on that payphone?
Honestly, I’d start season 3 with a full Irving origin story. I need an IV full of Irving lore STAT.
3. Free Milchick
This isn’t a question I have as much as a core desire. As a former middle manager myself, surrounded by white people playing in my face—like the time a man old enough to have left work and paid for a ticket to see the first motion picture asked me what I thought of the latest Jay-Z album when Jay-Z hadn’t released an album in years—I ride with Mr. Milchick to the death.
All my man wants is a little recognition for his work and he’s in weekly fistfights with his ungrateful employees while his boss hands him blackface paintings, expecting him to drop to his knees in appreciation.
Working in an office sucks, yo. And now Milchick is locked inside Lumon with a building full of people who don’t appreciate his incredible dance moves. Been there too.
Free Milchick, man. He doesn’t deserve what’s about to happen to him.
Ayyy, let me know what y’all thought about Severance Season 2. All theories welcome.
If you enjoyed what you read, head over to our Substack. We’ve got more content making fun of the ridiculous world we live in, sent directly to your email inbox daily.
Follow us over on TikTok, Twitter, Facebook or Instagram. Or shoot me an email at Deadseriousmailbag@gmail.com. Let’s chat, bay-beeeee.
GIPHY App Key not set. Please check settings