I’m curious as to what Lumon is up to overall. The 2 perspectives of the interdepartment ‘war’ is a big WTF as is the whole art connection to the story.
And the lambs…
The consensus I’m getting reading recaps is that the Macrodata Refinement people are editing the brains of people who are undergoing the severance procedure. I don’t know if it is exactly that, but I wouldn’t be surprised.
I definitely hope that the latter half of the season shows more of the outie lives of everybody. It’s crazy to think about what sort of person would undergo severance.
Also, there is definitely some sort of bug with the severance procedure. I am getting the hint that Petey didn’t just decide willy-nilly to try to undo his sever; he clearly had some sort of experience akin to what Irving is undergoing right now (with the black slime).
I think the appeal is pretty clear. Imagine not only never having to worry about work, but not even experiencing it. Clock in for the day, and immediately you’re clocking out again. You’re making good money for what feels like not even working.
Of course, you have to completely ignore that the other you is experiencing nothing except work at all times. But for a selfish person, it doesn’t seem far-fetched. The last few years have proven there is no shortage of selfish people out there.
And you are suddenly aging 1/3 faster without experiencing anything from it.
Everyone appears to have different reasons for why they undergo severance. Mark is clearly to not have to think about his wife. But it seemed like Petey had an okay life. Helly clearly believes she’s doing something important enough to risk dismemberment and death.
I’m starting to think the whole business down in the basement is some sort of psychological experiment. Why set up everything like a maze to try and keep everyone separate, but still allow them to wander the halls? From the surveillance we’ve seen, there’s no way they didn’t know that Petey was making a map or that Mark is reading that book.
Speaking of which, I love that Mark S. is essentially finding religion from lines like “What separates man from machine is that machines cannot think for themselves. Also, they are made of metal, whereas man is made of skin.”
I love that bit. Just proves that any crappy writer can inspire a religion a la L. Ron Hubbard.
Is Lumon a cult? If it is, what is their goal? Hell, what is their goal as a company?
For the severed, definitely. But like a lot of cults, the true goal may be financial.
They gotta be doing something more than just partitioning off part of the mind—what makes them see number clusters emotionally?
I wonder if the number thing is just make-work to fool the innies into not suspecting they are part of something more nefarious.
Definitely some type of cult.
After this episode, there is definitely no doubt that Lumon is a cult. They might not consider themselves a cult, but one look at Cobel at home and this is definitely an organization that is close to stocking up on the Flavor Aid.
There were some other new tidbits we learned; Dylan apparently has an adorable son at home and Lumon has the ability to turn the innies on even when the employees are not physically on the severed floor.
And not having their murder flashcrards(?) get out is so important to them they are willing to do something that seems to be an extreme breach of oporational protocol.
I’m starting to think Satan worship…
Speaking of which, was that song she was humming to the baby the same one she was singing in the office?
Also, that rich lady was severed while she was giving birth right?
Yeah, I think so. I have absolutely zero theories about what Lumon is up to, which I find kind of exciting. So far, there is nothing predictable about this show.
Hopefully the writers do.
Just finished the new episode. More bombshells dropped:
I knew when Mark was taping the photo of Gemma back together at the end, and we couldn’t see her face, that Gemma was going to be revealed to be somebody we already knew. The obvious move there would be to reveal that she was Helly, so I was encouraged that they went with Ms. Casey instead.
Admittedly, this sets up more questions as well.
I didn’t. It was a total “Giles got magic—the target is a baby Yoda” level suprise for me.