With the latest episode I realized how much I’ve forgotten about season one (like how the BiL’s book got in) that I’ve started rewatching it.
Yeah I think we are at least supposed to be thinking it is Helena. But if so what does her honest look of surprise and concern in the goat room mean about what even Helena does not know?
Doh. Helena. Don’t know where I got Hellen (Helen). I still haven’t abandoned my theory that Helena’s agenda isn’t the same as Lumon’s or the other Eagans.
A few observations on this week:
- I was fully convinced that Gretchen was going to be revealed to be a plant that Lumon was using to distract Dylan. I was actually kind of glad to learn at the end that she was his real wife. Also, note that during the scene at home with outtie Dylan, Gretchen was wearing what appeared to be a police officer’s uniform. I wonder if that is going to turn out to be Chekhov’s Clothes.
- Is Milchick starting to crack a bit? He was clearly disturbed by those Kier series paintings he got. Milchick has been the epitome of a company man, but is that always going to be the case?
- The new opening sequence for this season has me convinced that cloning is going to be involved in the show somehow. I have a feeling that this may be what the goats are all about; Lumon experimented with an animal first, then moved on to humans (like Gemma?).
I think they are balancing the: Is it actually Helly or Helena pretty well. It can go either way.
Helly: She is acting weird because she has new information about herself. It’s not really fair to compare her to Season 1 Helly. It’s the same with Dylan G - he is acting weird/different (than season 1) because he knows more about himself.
Helena: if it’s her, then I think, after 3 episodes, it’s just out of pure curiosity/amusement/boredom…but not a mole trying to find out information to help Lumon. She very well may be the only person who knows it’s actually Helena on the severed floor.
Other odd things:
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The sign that said like “Turkey Neck - 273miles” - meaning that town was that far away. I live in Texas so the distance is no problem, but we don’t do small towns that far out. You’d only ever see big major cities with that distance. Do other States do that, and if not, what the fuck is that town/city?
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Probably a bit with the above, do we know when/where this is all occurring? I don’t remember. It has a bit of an old Soviet vibe to it (all the cars being really similar and crappy looking is the main thing); or at least a unique vibe that feels out of place.
It’s presumably modern times but there’s definitely some alt-history stuff going on here. We know it’s the US, we know Delaware exists, but the town they live is Kier, PE.
The woman in the goat room mentioned “husbandry tanks”.
During my mentioned rewatch, I noticed in the minutes after first being severed, Helly asked “Am I livestock? Did you grow me as food, that’s why I have no memories?”
We have billboards for Buckees that far away.
ha, true.
I had missed that they lived in a fictional state (PE, noted above) - even after watching it all twice. That explains a lot. There is definitely some major alt history going on which is great.
Wonder what tipped off Harmony that going back inside with Helena might be a real bad idea. She seemed to be heading that way until she saw Helena’s driver then made a very quick u-turn back to her car.
That was totally a Goodfellas moment where she realizes that if she becomes a problem, the organization can just kill her.
Want to be stricken by Ricken?
https://www.avclub.com/severance-you-you-are-real-book
(ETA, since there’s no preview, an ebook and audiobook of Rickenisms.)
There is no doubt in my mind—and I don’t even see how they are telegraphing any doubt—that she is Helena. Not simply because she lies about what she saw (she’s not the only one—Irving keeps a close hold on things as well), but that she is very very interested in having the others say what they saw. She’s not merely holding her cards close to her chest (which would make sense if she doesn’t know who to trust) but is actively trying to invade the confidences of her coworkers. And she clearly doesn’t know how she is supposed to act in the small moments with Mark.
I think they are by now minimally leading us to be confident that there currently is no Helly only Helena. But that is why I maintain doubt!
Separate question about the two identities sharing the same bodies.
The individuals have some shared and some very divergent aspects to their personalities and values. They are not Jeckyl Hyde versions of each other. Innies are created cleared of past episodic memories (all? Or only personal history?) and not procedural memory.
But how are their basic temperaments, personality types, and values reflected in each individual? Are the innies the basic personality type of each individual if only they each had no memory of their personal traumas? Be it failure to hold down a job, death of spouse, being in an evil family, whatever?
And will there be a deal to a kid being supervisor other than weird for weird’s sake?
She’s a few weeks? months? old. She only kissed him in a “what the hell, we’re probably going to die / never experience the innie consciousness again” sort of way. I think it’s pretty plausible they’d be awkward with it.
I strongly dislike weird for weird sake because it’s basically just noise when you’re looking for signal. It’s fun to try to piece together what’s going on, and adding weird for weird sake is just a cheap gimmick to throw you off and to think there’s more mystery than there really is. I was a little surprised we re-visited the goat farm, because that felt very “weird for weird sake” last year, but they didn’t explain anything and cranked up the weirdness on that. I didn’t like it and it’s hard to believe it’ll have a satisfying explanation.
The child manager really doesn’t make much sense and does seem like weird for weird’s sake, although I’m willing to see where that goes.
After having gone through the Lost experience, there’s nothing that will disinterest me in a mystery show more than the sense that the writers are just fucking with the viewer on purpose or they’re trying to cover a lack of a plan by cranking up the inexplicable weirdness.
After making that observation, I did read one plausible explanation for why Helly R. might have felt compelled to lie: she doesn’t want her friends (the only people she has ever known) that she is the literal embodiment of the enemy. She wanted to let the, know she tried to get the story out there, but not the gory details of how she was able to do so thanks in part to being hellspawn.
It starts to make sense if cloning is on the menu. Has anybody broached the idea that Ms Huang might be a young Gemma clone?
What was the deal with showing their bellies to the goat people? Do clones not have belly buttons?
Callback to season one. They were checking for pouches.
Could also be a commentary on the erosion of child labor laws. Or that plus something else.