severance: the after hours

Hi Bestie!!

This post-Cobel-capsule episode had MANY sheeeeeeeesh moments IMO as most Severance episodes do. But, in this penultimate episode, these sheesh moments set a crash course into a presumably epic finale. Probably my favorite was when Mr. Drummond tells Mr. Milchick it was his fault Mark S. was not at work to complete the mysterious Cold Harbor project and Milchick decides he’s not the one OR the two. Milchick basically says “Actually, I DO have time today” and reads Mr. Drummond for FILTH. Literally. Tells Mr. Drummond DEVOUR FLECULENCE aka EAT SHIT, I said sheeessshhhh I LOVE this messy bitch!

Speaking of Mark Scout, where IS he? Oh, he’s just in the middle of the woods with his sister and archnemesis/neighbor/corporate overlord Miss. Harmony Cobel, and oh my god he’s doing soooooo good. Mark’s main goal this season has been to get Gemma TF out of Lumon. But what Mark and we as an audience have yet to understand is the couple’s greater purpose to Lumon and the Cold Harbor project (96% done BTW) I’ve been wondering all season, what makes Mark and Gemma so integral to the completion of Cold Harbor?

Here’s my theory, I think that Lumon is trying to master cloning through AI. I’m thinking about the goats (in the real world we’ve literally cloned sheep!!), the weird man baby crawling in the title sequence, and I’m thinking all the way back to the first season where Miss. Casey would essentially malfunction and “need a break” Earlier this season we see a very much alive, but not that well Gemma asking for Mark while trapped on some restricted Lumon floor where she faces terrifyingly invasive tests. Could it be that Lumon has been using Gemma to model a life-like AI, and having Mark do some wildly dysfunctional Turing test on her through their “therapy” sessions? Cobel says herself that once Cold Harbor is finished Gemma will die and maybe that’s because they will no longer have use for her. Also isn’t the severance operation kind of adjacent to cloning in some ways? I could be soooooo off but, it’d be pretty sexy if I’m not.

Innocence and the loss of innocence are also a major focus in this episode. We explore how the severance operation takes a person’s multitudes and boils them down to the most basic form of oneself. A version that is innocent and untainted by disturbing and disheartening current events, complicated relationships, traumatic memories, and all the other ups and downs people face within their personal lives. 

We hear Gretchen tell outtie Dylan about her “affair” with his innie (so awk) and she tells Dylan that his innie reminds her of who he used to be. A Dylan before influences of the outside world had hardened him into the joyless outtie we see before ourselves today. Side note, it’s so funny to me how outtie and innie Dylan both love using curse words in new and exciting metaphors.  We see pieces of innocence when Helena eats her gross singular hard-boiled egg as her soulless father, Jame Eagan, watches on, declining to eat anything himself. This speaks volumes about their fractured and controlling relationship, we know that unlike her innie Helly, Helena really hasn’t experienced pure love –romantic or familial–  in all of its innocence. While Helena holds a lot of responsibility at Lumon, we’ve also seen all season how she’s infantilized,  I mean the plate her sad egg is on is of a baby literally being held down to eat. Then, we arrive at Burving. I shan't say what exactly unfolds between these two, but Burt reiterates that he opted to sever himself since it gave him a chance to have a clean slate. He tells Irving, “My innocent part fell in love with you” I CAN’T! I really can’t. I cannot speak on this any further, too heart-wrenching. 

We end at the Damona Birthing Retreat, which I feel like isn’t even a spoiler, we knew we were headed here. Cobel sneaks Mark in the back of her ex-man’s truck while Devon acts as a decoy, Cobel telling the guard she’s “one of Jame’s” and “no one is to know” okkkk playboy! Just kidding, Jame is clearly a monster. Anyways, this means we will FINALLY see a meeting of the minds (no pun intended) between innie and outtie Mark. Buckle up, because this hour-plus episode is bound to be a doozy!

Also, to my boy Jame…drop the link to that fly AF rectangular teapot.