S2E33 - REWATCH09-PT01 - The After Hours - Severed: The Ultimate Severance Podcast

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:03):
Severed The Ultimate Severance Podcast.

Speaker 2 (00:14):
Hey the Refiner, so glad to have you back on
the Severed floor. Our full rewatch of season two continues,
and wow, are we ever getting close? This is the
penultimate episode. There's only one more for season two. Even
though we are nine episodes into a tenep season, I'm
still going to give you a stern spoiler warning. Refiner,
you must have seen all ten of the season two

(00:36):
episodes before you begin this podcast. This is Severed, the
Ultimate Severance Podcast. I'm your host, Alan Ass. If you've
made the trip this far, you probably already know. We
are digging deep into Severn season two. I plan to
continue to dig into every single detail until Mark and
Helly are running hand in hand down as Severed Hallway together.

(00:56):
See what I mean? I'm not kidding about spoilers. This
is a episode nine. It's called The After Hours. This
one was released for download on March thirteenth of twenty
twenty five. Uda Brezowitz is back in the director's chair. Uda,
you might remember, was also at the Helm during the
very entertaining episode Attila. She's the one who introduced us
to Bert's main squeeze fields.

Speaker 3 (01:18):
That's my husband's fields.

Speaker 2 (01:20):
We've had Uda running the show before, but we didn't
get up close and personal with her. Uda was born
in lever Cusen, North Rhine Westphalia, Germany. She graduated from
the Berlin Film and Television Academy directing program. She got
her MFA and cinematography from the American Film Institute. She
was also recognized as the recipient of the Mary Pickford

(01:40):
Foundation Award for Outstanding work in Cinematography while she was
at AFI. These days, Uda lives in Los Angeles with
her husband and two children. Dan Erickson is listed as
sole writer on this episode. This does not surprise me
considering how much this episode is working to set up
the finale. I can see Dan wanting to take the
helm for this one. The title of this episode has

(02:02):
a unique backstory. Since our titles so far this season
really don't have anything to do with the through line
of the story, I've been sort of ignoring them. They
sound provocative, like Cheek i Bardo or Trojan's Horse, but
ultimately they don't really mean anything. There is always a
title mentioned, but they're usually in a side somewhere in
the episode that doesn't affect the story. I will always

(02:23):
point out the title line, but it usually doesn't mean anything.
Woes Hollow did describe our destination within the app. Other
than that, titles are cute but ultimately don't offer a
lot of clues. This title, The after Hours, has a
rather prominent place in the world of television based science fiction.
The After Hours was the title of an episode of
The Twilight Zone. We're talking one of the originals. It

(02:46):
aired in the first season and was written by Rod Serling.
It even has severance themes. In a department store, the
mannequins are allowed to come to life and inhabit the
outside world, but only for one month. Although it sounds
like there might be something important in this title, there
really isn't. Cobela is going to reference the plot and
quote Serling's voiceover. She uses the words as a means

(03:09):
to gain entry to the large severed Demona birthing cabin
where Gaby Arteta was staying. The TZ episode description is
like a call and response password. I'll point it out
when we get there. Interestingly, this title might not be
the original. The Writer's Guild of America lists script titles
that are submitted for member credit. In July of twenty
twenty four, this episode was registered with the WGA under

(03:32):
the title The Snowfalls Yearly Thaw. Since these titles are
usually a sides or one off comments from the script,
it's very possible this was the title before they came
up with the after Hours password idea. This is a
big episode, refiner. There's a lot of table setting happening
in preparation for our finale. So how about it. Let's
open the file called the After Hours. We open on

(03:55):
black with a ticking sound. It's the sound of a timer.
Jacob Ribcof and Bob Schaffalis mentioned how much they like
the sound mix on this scene because of this ticking.
It's laid into the music track and fits with it perfectly.
We do get to see this particular timer. It's hanging
on the wall of an indoor pool area. It's measuring
Helena Egan's lap times as she's swimming. Helena is serious

(04:18):
about this. She is rigorously swimming, wearing a bathing cap
and goggles. This is not a casual dip in the pool.
It's a regimented workout that feels like a morning routine.
There may be some kind of six thing happening in
this episode, and possibly within the entire series. Whether it's
intentional or not is up for debate. We've got six

(04:39):
distinct sides to this timer. In a few minutes, Helena
is going to make her way to breakfast. There, she
will cut her hard boiled egg into six slices. Later
in the episode, we're going to see Cobell standing under
a six sided light fixture. Sixes have appeared frequently during
the season. They are so random we might be imposing
tinfoil hat conspiracy theory levels of connection when they pop up.

(05:01):
Back in episode seven, when Jemma asked how many rooms
she'd be visiting, the answer was six. Six is divisible
by magic number three, and it is also a number
long associated with the occult. When used in a group,
six sixty six becomes the mark of the Beast from
the Book of Revelation. Helena is entirely alone here in
the pool area. We don't see Helena alone often. She

(05:22):
was on her own during episode two of this season.
When reviewing security footage, I get the idea Helena doesn't
get a lot of a loone time. Not having any
space or freedom hassed a weigh on her metally. The
timer keeps ticking. Helena keeps swimming. It looks like she
puts in a solid thirty minutes in the lap pool.
The final shot of Helena in the water is of

(05:43):
her floating. She is facing the camera with only her eyes, nose,
and mouth out of the water. She is breathing heavily
as she floats. If this were reversed, if she were
facing down instead of up, this would look a lot
like the shots we saw of Helena's head being shoved
underwater during Irving's attack Woes Hollow, Helena does not seem
to be a stranger to water. There's a slow dissolve

(06:05):
from the water to a hallway. We're following Helena down
this hall. She's now dressed in a simple blue helly
R severed floor dress, with her hair also done in
the helly R main. She's ready to go to work.
At the end of the hall helly slash, Helena turns.
The camera continues to move in the same direction for
a few more moments. It pushes up to the windows

(06:26):
at the far side of the room she has entered.
We are shown the desolate and empty surroundings wherever we are.
This place is as easily isolated as the mother ship.
We can see forest in the middle range, then nothing
stretching out behind it. Like we saw with the panorama
of the Ortbow campsite. The usual indicators of civilization just
aren't out there. There are no flishing red lights on

(06:49):
a distant ridge marking a calm tower, no headlights tracking
on a distant highway. There is nothing out here for
as far as the eye can see by all indications.
That's how the Egans like it. We cut to continuity
as Hell and it comes up into the dining and
living room of this massive home. This is a real place,
even though it looks like a CGI creation. The first

(07:12):
time I saw the Belwarks building in the pilot, I
thought it was CGI. I had the same sense about
this place. Nope, it's a real house. This is the
Taconic or Tagconic Glass House on Old Rout eighty two
in Hudson, New York. According to how to Pronounce dot Com,
both of those pronunciations are acceptable. This amazing home was

(07:33):
the creation of architect Thomas Pfeiffer. The area where they're
shooting is considered the public area or common area of
the house. This space is utilized as living and dining
room on a day to day basis, It can also
serve as a hosting space for entertaining. The public space
sits in a large glass cube visible above ground. The
cube is surrounded by breathtaking views. The rest of the

(07:57):
house is contained in a ten thousand square foot plan
that's about nine hundred and thirty square meters. The plinth
is located down in the hillside below the large cube.
Private areas like bedrooms, study, kitchen, and guest suite are
housed in this lower area of the structure. In the
long shot at the end of this scene, you can
see the rest of the house below the cube. Jeremy

(08:18):
Hindel told GQ they enlarge the cube in post relative
to the rest of the house. Hindle loved this house
and what it had to say about the uber wealthy.
They are working so hard to appear comfortable in a
space that offers no comfort. He has observed people who
get this wealthy, he claims, they start to do weird
things with their money and their living spaces. These people

(08:41):
don't buy regular furniture. They buy pieces of furniture like
they're buying art. They search for things that are one
of a kind or incredibly expensive. It becomes their prize.
They want one offs and items no one else can have.
The Seven's production crew completely redecorated this space all the
way down to the carpet. David's lessengers said they laid

(09:01):
this white carpet, but then had to pull it up
when the strikes happened. They weren't done shooting here, but
they couldn't leave the house dressed. There was no way
to predict how long the strike, and eventually strikes would last.
They had to pull the carpet out, then relay it
once filming resumed. They weren't back in this space until
May of twenty twenty three. Since it was so late
in the spring, it was necessary to bring in fake

(09:22):
snow to keep the wintery esthetic going. They wound up
shooting at this location for two days. According to technology
news website fast Company, that delays and the cost of
the space meant the production spent right at two million
dollars to shoot here. Allow me to do the math.
If they shot there for two days, that's a million
dollars a day. Those reports of budgets reaching twenty million

(09:46):
per episode keep making more and more sense. The vibe
David was going for in this space was cold, weird
and uncomfortable, you know, just like the Egans themselves. He
was searching for things you've never seen before. One offs
unique one of account pieces. David doesn't usually have time
to go on shopping excursions with Jeremy Hindle, but for
this project they happen to have a chance to do

(10:08):
some prop hunting together. Dressing this space is what David
was doing while Sarah McMillan was in Bonavista Bay. Sarah
had the lead on creating those sweet vitriol spaces. You remember,
the dirty little clapboard house and the dark and dingy
coffee shop. Yeah, Sarah was dressing those depressing spaces while
David was out finding quirky design items to fill up

(10:29):
this fabulous glass mansion. I guess it's good to be
the boss. One of the first pieces David and Jeremy
selected for the space is that amazing wall hanging above
the fireplace. It's called Zebra and Ostrich. This piece is
the creation of contemporary fiber artist Tajiski Storm from Amsterdam.
Storm has a reputation for creating captivating tapestries like this one.

(10:53):
She integrates high resolution photography with digital design and traditional
craft techniques. This piece, Zebra and Ostrich, is from her
Art of Living Together series. It's made from one hundred
percent New Zealand wool and metal chains. The design was
created by Storm as a handmade digital artwork. The piece
itself was hand tufted by craftsmen in India. The main

(11:14):
body of the piece is two hundred and thirty two
centimeters or about seven feet seven inches tall. Hanging below
it are one hundred and fifty centimeters fibers or about
another five feet. The whole thing is three hundred and
eighty two centimeters, which is more than twelve feet high.
This also gives you an idea as to the size
of this room. I was, of course curious about how

(11:35):
much for this tapestry. I dropped a note to the artist,
Miss Storm. She was incredibly accommodating. She got right back
to me, but told me things like pricing are handled
by the various galleries who rep her work. She then
put me in touch with Catherine Suarez from the Todd
Merrill Studio in Tribeca. Miss Suarez said the gallery doesn't
publish prices, but I could note that Miss Storm's work

(11:58):
normally sells for upwards of ten thousand dollars. Catherine also
had some fun additional details about this scene. Todd Merrill
Studios also represents two other artists who have pieces in
the Egans home. If you check the shot where Jame
does his creepy moan look to his left, the chair
with the uneven headrest is called the Cozy Chair. It

(12:21):
was originally designed in twenty eighteen for Todd Merrill Studios
by Bauhause designer Hans Greeban. He describes the chair as
a living sculpture that is both fractured and asymmetric but
perfectly ergonomic. In the frame just left of the coffee
pot and cozy chair is a lamp created by still
another artist, wrapped by Todd Merrill. This is the Blooming

(12:43):
Tara lamp from Amsterdam based artist and designer Martin Rolick.
Rolick describes his work as bombastic ceramic. If you want
to know how much for these additional pieces, you can
drop a note to Todd Merrill Studios yourself. I felt
like I'd bothered them enough. Helena is about to make
her way to breakfast. Before she does, you should pour
yourself a cup of coffee. Severed will be right back

(13:10):
reading a seal carcass I can help.

Speaker 4 (13:13):
This is pan called the Sculptor from Severance.

Speaker 5 (13:15):
You're listening to Severed, the Ultimate Severance Podcast.

Speaker 2 (13:19):
As Helena enters the living area, listen to the footsteps,
the crackle of the fire. It's all the subtle work
of the Emmy Award winning Sound and Folly department on Severance.
We see that Helena is not alone in this room.

(13:40):
Her creepy daddy, Jamee Egan, is standing at the far
glass wall, looking out over the desolate, snowy landscape. Father
Jame doesn't turn to look at her. He's got that whiny,
quavery voice of his turned up to eleven this morning,
amos bruh. That eerie voice of his creeps me out,

(14:01):
although at least he's not spitting fetid moppet in her face. Yes,
no good morning deer, no hugs, no warmth of any kind.
It wouldn't be the lumen way. James talking business from
the moment he opens his mouth. The momentous day must
be a reference to Mark's completion of the Cold Harbor file.
He's anticipating the final four percent will be finished today.

(14:24):
It turns out the big day is going to be
delayed until tomorrow. Mark skips today so he and Devin
can meet up with Harmony Cobell. Mark is also still
pretty out of it from mcgabby poking around in his brain.
Helena sits at one end of a table with a
top that looks like a thick slab of loosight. This
is actually a fabulous piece from the John Pomp Studios

(14:44):
on Lex in New York City. This is a rift
dining table. It features hand poured clear crystal glass over
aged blackened metal with polished metal accents. It's available in
eight foot, ten foot and twelve foot sizes. That's two
and a half meters about three meters and three point
six meters. Lead time for this piece is sixteen to

(15:05):
twenty weeks refiner. You know how much I enjoy pricing
these high end set deck pieces. I tried to get
a price on one of these babies, but mister Pomp
wants you to be a member of his studio before
you can get any pricing. Jame turns and offers up
one of the creepiest possible responses to that question, Oh what,

(15:27):
James bizarre reactions to food have stoked several weird food theories.
I'm guessing he's on some kind of intravenous nutrition program.
Jame no longer eats solid food. Just a theory, but
I'd say they hook him up to a feeding IV
a couple of times a day. That way he gets
his nutrients in necessary calories without involving too much of
his digestive system. The idea is to lessen the impact

(15:50):
on his body due to his fragile health. It's also
been theorized that Jame is dead but reanimated. I don't
know how anyone would know, but this theory says reanimated
corpse doesn't have much of an appetite. Somebody needs to
tell that to the zombies on The Walking Dead, they
always seem to be pretty hungry. James steps to the
far end of the riff dining table from Helena and

(16:11):
our Nate square coffee pod is sitting there. Jame poors
himself a cup of coffee. I guess even reanimated corpses
can benefit from a shot of caffeine in the morning.
This coffee pot is also something spectacular what you expected
anything less for the inner sanctum of the Egans. This
coffee pot is part of a six piece tea and
coffee service created by Reid and Barton in about eighteen

(16:34):
seventy two. A complete set is currently listed on First
DIBs for eighty five hundred dollars. It might be a
good investment. First DIBs estimates the value of the set
can range up to twelve thousand dollars. Read and Barton
was a prominent US silversmith based in Taunton, Massachusetts. They
are primarily known for their silver flatware. Reid and Barton

(16:55):
was in operation from eighteen seventy four until twenty fifteen.
We cut away from the pouring coffee to a down
angle shot of a hard boiled egg in a vintage
egg slicer, or at least what looks like a vintage
egg slicer. There are two major prop items at work
in this close up scene. There's the slicer, then the
plate the egg lands on. We need to discuss both. First,

(17:19):
the slicer. This is not a vintage egg slicer, even
though it looks exactly like the Talle egg wedger manufactured
in the nineteen fifties. None of this slicer activity was scripted.
All it said in the script was we see one
hard boiled egg. Helena eats it, okay, but just how
does she eat it? Does she eat it like an apple?
Does she eat it with a fork or maybe her fingers?

(17:41):
Is there a plate? If so, what kind? These were
the questions being posed by Uda and the production team
regarding these shots. The slicing and the weird placement on
the special plate all grew out of this idea of
eating a single hard boiled egg on camera. It had
to be cool and if done right, it could even
and make a statement. The script didn't even specify it

(18:03):
had to be a chicken egg. At first, they looked
at other types of eggs, including ostrich. It's fun to
get exotic sometimes, but I guess not when it comes
to eggs. It was eventually decided that a standard old
chicken egg would work best in this scene. It was
also determined she's got to cut it. But how They
looked at guillotine style slicers. They weren't consistent. According to Udah,

(18:27):
they also weren't violent enough. She really wanted to chop
up this egg. She wanted a lot of pieces in
one swift motion. Propmaster Kat Miller started looking at vintage
egg slicers. These were designs to section the egg like
the one we see Helena use. As mentioned, the on
camera slicer looks exactly like a nineteen fifties era Tala

(18:47):
egg wedger. The Tala is the one the Severn's prop
team we're using as their example. Since the original had
quite a patina on it, they decided to create something
new using nickel plated cutting wires. The slicing effect using
the y had just the right amount of violence. Along
with a very repeatable move, they were able to get
the same effect every time they did it. This was

(19:07):
important when it came to doing retakes. The way the
cut egg blooms and the various patterns Helena places the
pieces in were all Uda innovations. She was looking for
something both visual and graphic in egg wedge placement. I
think she got it. The plate Helena is using has
an interesting story behind it. This is an actual historic

(19:28):
plate with an original image on it. You think this
is something they created for the show, but nope. The
picture of little Lord severed boy and the blue and
red witches or godmothers fighting over him is an original
image from the late eighteen hundreds. This is truly a
vintage plate. It was purchased from an antiques dealer out
of New York who specializes in eighteenth and nineteenth century flatwear.

(19:51):
The image was done by a French painter named Louis
Eugene sefer The English translation of this name is Seafert. L. E.
Seffert lived from Arch of eighteen forty two until May
of nineteen twenty nine. This plate is circa eighteen eighty.
Of course, this image has been interpreted through a Helena
Slish Helly r lens. The picture is showing a symbolic

(20:13):
Mark s the little prince of the severed floor. He's
being fought over by both the Helena and Helly personas
one is dressed in blue the other in red. They're
having a tug of war where each viz for the
young Prince's affection. The plate scene has also been interpreted
as Gemma fighting with Helena for Mark's affection. Since Gemma

(20:34):
is not aware of this fight, I tend to lean
toward this being a representation of Helena's any fighting with
her audi. This plate, gorgeous though it may be, is
truly a nightmare for a property master. It's a prop
that is incredibly delicate, irreplaceable, and one of a kind.
As kat Miller told us in the prop game, having
one is having none. Even if all the crew were

(20:57):
overly careful around this prop, there are things that can fail,
like light stands. A heavy light could come crashing down
on the plate and that's it game over. On this scene,
David Schlessinger did a scan of the plate graphic and
created a duplicate just in case. Kat Miller said they
didn't need to go to the plate backup, but she

(21:17):
was relieved they had it. Helena places the six egg
wedges in a circular pattern. The face of the boy
in the painting is in the center of the egg
wedge circle. Getting this circle exactly right seems to be
important to Helena. There is a cut in shot of
her face as she concentrates on arranging the egg slices.
Before she cuts her first bite, she glances over at Jaim.

(21:39):
There is a close up on the eggs. Helena's fork
enters the frame, piercing one of the wedges. She seems
to select only the egg white. This fork is pretty
obviously silver. It figures the uber wealthy Egans would have
only the finest silver for their meals. This would be
great if it weren't for the problems caused by exposing

(21:59):
silver to eggs. There are amino acids and eggs which
contains sulfur. Sulfur is what gives eggs their delightful aroma
when boiled. When sulfur is combined with silver, a chemical
reaction occurs that creates silver sulfide. This reaction is accelerated
by moisture and heat, which are of course both present
when you boil an egg. Silver's sulfide is a black,

(22:21):
insoluble compound. It quickly tarnishes silver and creates an awful
metallic taste in food, which can make it completely inedible.
Helena delicately slices off a tip of the egg white
and lifts it to her mouth. Listen. During this close
up you can hear the knife as it slices through
the egg. There's a gentle scrape on the plate and

(22:42):
a little clink of silver against china. All of these
amazingly detailed sounds are the work of severances Emmy winning
sound guys. There is a general air of creepiness pervading
this scene. They turn it way up when we get
a cut in shot of Jame. He is seated at
the other end to the heavy dining table with his
cup of coffee. His mouth is drawn down in a

(23:04):
decided frown. When Helena takes her first bite, he looks
down at his cup of coffee and I'm not kidding
moans yuck. Seriously creepy. Jame is studying his coffee cup.
He runs a finger along the rim. He's trying to
distract himself. He said he'd watch Helena eat, but it's

(23:24):
like actually seeing her take a bite is too much
for him to stand. He has to look away. Helena
is making small talk as she has her silver sulfid.

Speaker 6 (23:34):
Eggs or seeing to mister Bailiff.

Speaker 2 (23:36):
Seeing too is ominous. They're going to see to mister
Bailiff by sicking mister Goodman on him Bert ge, or
more accurately, his OUDI. Mister Goodman is a thug. He's
a low level goon. According to irv's notes, which we
will see in just a bit, this phrasing Helena ughes
seeing to mister Bailiff has mob overtones. Mob bosses like

(23:58):
to ask if you took care of that thing we
discussed taking care of it may have involved a brutal assassination.
But no one wants to hear those messy details. It's
best to keep everything civil by using phrases like seeing too.
Jame doesn't respond. He continues to obsessively watch Helena eat.
There's another cut to egg close ups. I'm picturing Ben

(24:19):
Stiller's squirming while watching the dailies of these scenes. She's
definitely targeting the egg whites with her knife and fork.
We get some wet mouth sounds as Helena starts to
chew a new bite. I get the point, but I'm
very definitely not a fan of wet mouth sounds, especially
in my headphones. Jame looks like the creepy guy at

(24:39):
a strip club who can't stop staring.

Speaker 6 (24:42):
Who should take the wrong WHOA?

Speaker 2 (24:46):
That little phrase is pushing the creep meter into the red.
Jame is referencing here and what we discovered in this
second episode of the entire series.

Speaker 4 (24:55):
You know, he used to drink three raw eggs and
milk each morning. We've heard his favorite breakfast.

Speaker 2 (25:01):
The way Jame is fetishizing the practice means it must
not just be a cute, little cure quirk. It sounds
like there might be something important about taking them raw.
As James says, this series certainly has an unhealthy fascination
with eggs. I wish we would get more explanation as
to why Helen is mourning. Ritual has comparisons to Gemma

(25:23):
and her mornings. She is also forced to eat a
very regimented diet and starts her days with morning exercise.
Helen them may not be down on the testing floor,
but she does seem to be a prisoner of lumen
just as much as Gemma. The take them raw comment
may have also been too much for Helena. She decides
she's done eating. She had maybe one sixth of the

(25:44):
white of a single egg. There's a close up of
Helena replacing her silver fork by the uneaten egg leftovers.
We actually saw Helena eat a bite of egg. This
raised a question during our interview with propmaster Kat Miller.
Brit Lauer is vegan. She does not eat eggs. So
what was Britt eating during this scene? Well, she was

(26:06):
eating an egg rather than trying to find some egg substitute.
Britt said she'd go ahead and eat the real egg.
It was only the white and only a couple of
tiny bites. I don't think she'll be forced to surrender
her Vegan membership card. James stands as Helena is still chewing.
I didn't realize an egg white would require so much chewing.
Maybe they do if you aren't used to eating them.

(26:27):
There's a cut to an exterior tracking shot. A drone
shot is following Helena's sleek sixties Lincoln along what is
almost a single lane through the woods. There's snow on
either side of the road. The pavement itself is dark
and glistening with moisture. As with all of the wet
roads in the entire series, this glistening pavement is most

(26:48):
likely courtesy of industrial light and magic. We cut to
inside the car. Helena, dressed like Kelly Are, is seated
on the passenger side of the back seat. She looks nervous.
The weight of this moment mentis day might be pressing
down on her. There's a shot of Helena through the
car window. She's looking out and down with her brow furrowed.

(27:10):
Check the cut to the wide shot. There is so
much computer animation happening here this might as well be
toy story. The road the Lincoln is on is in
the lower part of the frame. The entire and massive
taconic house can be seen in the background of the shot.
That's not really where it sits, and the cube on
top has been beefed up a bit. This shot does
give you an idea as to how the ten thousand

(27:32):
square foot plinth works in relation to the rest of
the house. It's subtle, but don't miss the shape of
the clearing around the Egans massive house. Yep, it's a
whitewater drop as helly slash. Helena makes her way to work.
You've got time to hit the vending machine, refiner, fruit leather.
Anyone Severed will be right back.

Speaker 3 (27:56):
Hey there, this is Haley Ericsson, Gelzer Dan Eric's and sister,
and thanks for listening to Severed, the Ultimate Severance Podcast.

Speaker 7 (28:05):
I do.

Speaker 2 (28:08):
As Helen is cool. Lincoln continues to move frame right.
We start to pull back. The shot reveals water in
the foreground. We keep pulling back. The massive house is
receding in the distance. Some main theme is sneaking into
the music signature. This very monochromatic shot continues to track
back and back, like a drone backing away from a
wedding party. Some heavier woods are revealed on the lower

(28:32):
edge of the frame. Then catwalk. Yes, it's a metal
railed catwalk. We are tracking backwards just over the top
of the Lumen water tower. We are looking the opposite
direction from the main Lumin building. Bell Works is behind us.
In this shot, the Egans live over across the way,
directly to the other side of the transistor water tower.

(28:52):
It's like a big compound where they can both live
and work in total isolation. The shot slows is the
water drop logo on the opposite side of the tower
is revealed. The tracking move stops and there's a cut
to black. This is the end of our cold open.
After a pause, we come up from black, looking at
the start of Extra Eggs second Emmy Award winning opening

(29:13):
animation sequence, Enjoy at Refiner. We've only got one more
this entire season. I'll talk to you on the other side.

(29:39):
Coming back from the main theme, we start out in black.
Unveil it's Milkshake's voice. We cut out of black to
a piece of linen. This is immediately pulled away to
reveal a head carved into dark walnut. This is the
carved head of the guy we were just having coffee with.
He was the one creepily watching Helena eat Eggs. More
than forty years later, Jame Egan is still the principal

(30:02):
behind the Winter Tide Fellowship.

Speaker 4 (30:04):
Eustace hom Today marks the end of your Wintertide Fellowship.

Speaker 2 (30:10):
Do you think it's really the end? Or is Miltchik
just wanting her out of here? After seeing her very
obvious anonymous contention on his performance review, Seth may have
decided it's time from his wong to go. The carved
head we're looking at is Jane Egan present day. This
is old Jame. The Jame we saw with Harmony out
in Saltznak was a much younger version of Jame. There

(30:33):
is a cut to the side of mis Wong's face.
She looks as serious as a pixeish eighteen year old can.
When we cut to Seth, we're looking at him over
the head of Jame. Mister Miltchik is seated at the
far end of the table. This looks like it might
be the room where Helly did her interview with Mark s.

Speaker 4 (30:50):
Congratulations.

Speaker 2 (30:52):
Oh yeah, he has to sound sincere. I'm just sure
he's glad to get this terminator in a Catholic school
uniform out of hisuristiction. A cut in shot of the
award reveals that Eustace Wong, just like Harmony Kobell, became
a Wintertide Fellow in the Year of Vision. I would
bet anything whatever this year is, it's a multiple of

(31:12):
nine years since Harmony's award. I guess it's been thirty
six years. Maybe this would make Harmony fifty four years
old if her senior year was in fact the Year
of Vision. We had this sense from the Sweet Vitriol
episode that Luman essentially takes over the lives of their
Winter Tide recipients. Harmony never returned home after leaving for

(31:33):
her Wintertide studies. The tradition continues.

Speaker 4 (31:36):
Your bed will be moved from your parents' home to
the Gunnell Egan Empathy Center in Svalbard. Will you will
work to stewart global reforms.

Speaker 2 (31:46):
This one line from Miltchik's spawned pages of theorizing this
is the first time we've heard of Gunnell or the
Empathy Center. Gunnell is a woman's name. It means battle
maid who is imbued with strength and grace. There will
be an another reference to Gunneal before the end of
the season. She is also mentioned in that Big Lumen
hit the Ballad of Ambrose and Gunnal Although we don't

(32:08):
get enough info in the song to know if Gunnell
was a wife or a sister to Ambrose. Muswog seems
taken aback by this announcement.

Speaker 6 (32:18):
I thought I'd be finishing the quarter.

Speaker 2 (32:20):
Yeah, but then you had to get all smart with
your contention, reporting plans. Change. Pack your bags, Eustace, it's
time to head north. Svalbard, Norway, is an incredibly unique place.
I did quite a bit of reading up on it
while prepping for the Upper Cap. Frankly, I'm fascinated by
extreme living conditions. I don't want to live there, but
I love reading about it. Svalbard is located on a

(32:42):
Norwegian archipelago where the Arctic Ocean meets the Atlantic. The name,
translated to English means either cold ridge or cold edge,
cold being the operative word here. Svalbard is not just north.
This place is halfway between Norway and the North Pole.
Baalbard is regarded as the furthest northern city in the world,

(33:03):
with a year round population. About twenty five hundred people
in habits Falbard, alongside about three thousand polar bears. If
you venture outside of the city, you are required to
carry a gun just so you can scare off polar bears.
A weird detail about Svalbard when mentioned in conjunction with lumen.
You can't be born or die in Svalbard.

Speaker 4 (33:26):
I think this is a good time to remind ourselves
that things like deaths happen outside of here.

Speaker 3 (33:32):
Not here.

Speaker 2 (33:33):
Well, you can die, you just won't be allowed to stay.
The primafrost does not allow for burial, so if you
do die while in Svalbard, your body will be transported south.
Being born in Falbard is dangerous because there's very little
in the way of healthcare equipment. That's why pregnance Falbard
women are required to travel to the mainland to give birth.

(33:54):
They leave a few weeks before their due date. They
can return with their child, and there are many children
in side Falbard, but none of them were born there.
Spalbard is also home to the Global Seed Vault. This
secure facility is built into the side of a mountain
on the island of Spitzbergen, which is part of the
Spalbard Archipelago. The Seed Vault safely houses more than one

(34:16):
million seed samples gathered from gene banks around the world.
Should something catastrophic occur which damages or destroys huge amounts
of vegetation. The world has a backup plan for regrowing
pretty much everything. Miss Wong looks genuinely concerned as she
is peering over the jamebust. She's not silenced, but at
this angle her mouth is entirely obscured. I love the

(34:40):
reverse of this shot so much. Seth appears to be
growing out of the top of James head. You can
hear the old Miltchik Cheshire grin as he encourages Eustace
to seize this new opportunity.

Speaker 4 (34:53):
Empathy awaits fellow Wong.

Speaker 2 (34:56):
We cut to his side shot of Miss Wong's face.
She is I need but willing to endure this new challenge.
The adventure begins promptly.

Speaker 4 (35:06):
You may resume your duties for the day. A shuttle
will pick you up at dusk.

Speaker 2 (35:11):
Wow. When a decision is made around here, they don't
procrastinate on the follow through. You can tell Seth is
loving this. This smug arrogant thereman playing office Pixie has
been a thorn in Miltchik's side the entire season. How
dare she question his decision about at any funeral. How
could she possibly report him to management for using too

(35:32):
many big words. She is out of here, but first, Oh,
that's right, she can't leave without enduring one last bit
of vengeful humiliation from mister Milchik.

Speaker 4 (35:43):
Lay the game on the table.

Speaker 2 (35:45):
This is a demoralizing ceremony associated with mis Wong's accomplishment.

Speaker 4 (35:50):
The hand book requires that you mark this betterment with
the material sacrifice.

Speaker 2 (35:55):
Seth stands and makes his way over to miss Wang
Young Eustace lays her Cure ring toss game on the table.
It is now a material sacrifice. We've talked at length
about this game in previous episodes. It was created by
Kat Miller and her props team. It's the severed floor
version of a cell phone to a kid. The figure
of cure inside the game was carved by the incredibly

(36:17):
talented Pinko, the sculptor Platikonov. A dozen of these games
were fabricated. Ten of them were destroyed during the shooting
of this scene. Pinko gave us some additional detail regarding
the creation of these games during an interview. This figure
is too small for sculpting. Pinko claimed his eyesight was
a big part of the reason. He didn't create it

(36:38):
to size. Instead, he sculpted the original figure at four
inches tall. The props team took that original sculptor and
three D scanned it. They were then able to adjust
the size to fit the watertight plastic housing and print
out a dozen for use in the games. The scenic
department also handled painting these figures. Mis Wong could not
look more vulnerable or innocent as Seth comes up next

(37:02):
to her.

Speaker 4 (37:02):
I have chosen your ring toss game as a proper totem.

Speaker 2 (37:06):
The idea seems to be sacrificing something important as a
way of marking this transition. I think there is also
a bit of the casting off of childish ways happening here.
Seth prepares the table for the sacrifice. He spreads a
white handkerchief in front of Miss Wong and places her
game in the middle of it. She lifts the bust
of Jame. This bust is heavy, Pinko made it out

(37:28):
of a solid hunk of walnut. Miss Wong was able
to lift it here, but she can't really control it
enough to get a good smash. We see an inset
shot of the game, then an up angle shot of
Miss Wong as she prepares for the first drop. There's
a continuity looking at the game as the bust crashes
down on it. The housing is smashed. Water soaks the handkerchief.

(37:51):
It's not red, of course, but the idea, according to
Kat Miller, was to make that water look like it
bled out of the game. There's a feel of the
life force draining from it. Kat said it was all
intentionally very symbolic. The game is thoroughly destroyed. We can
see blue shards of plastic from the housing. Keir himself
looks flattened. Red, blue, and green rings are scattered around

(38:14):
the table. Yellow had already been removed from the game,
since yellow represents frolic and Miss Wong is supposed to
be putting away her childish frolicking ways. The game is unplayable,
but it's not enough for mister Miltchik. I think he's
working through some anger issues vicariously. Again, there's another up
angle shot looking at Miss Wong. On this close up,

(38:38):
we can see Kir is now torn in half. One
of his legs is gone. The blue shards we had
seen before are shattered into even smaller pieces. You certainly
made your point there, seth again. Oh come on, really,
On this upangle shot, mis Wong looks like she's about
to burst into tears. This is certainly overkill, but it's

(38:58):
what mister Miltchik want. This close up reveals a decimated Cure.
His midsection is crumbs, his head is gone complete, and
total game annihilation has been achieved. We can see Sarah
looks great in the up angle shots when she's preparing
to smash. According to Kat Miller, actually smashing was a

(39:19):
bit beyond miss Wong. That's why propmaster Cat Miller told
us in an interview she was the one doing the
smashing that jame Head Bust is truly heavy. Controlling it
and causing it to crash down with just the right
amount of force and accuracy was more than the young
and diminutive Sarah Bach could muster. Kat said the plastic
housing was also very difficult to crack. I think these

(39:42):
games would hold up as commercial toys. Ten of the
Cure Water games were destroyed during the shooting of these scenes.
Two of the games do still exist. Kat said they're
in storage with the rest of the severance props and sets.
I'm launching a personal campaign to get those two remaining
games in the hands of Panca the sculptor and Mark
Geller the guy who made it and the guy who's

(40:03):
in it should both have their own versions of this game.
As we hold on a shot of the now destroyed
Keer figure, music can be heard. It's a cartoon symphony.
We're about to head over to the George's apartment for
a little soul cleansing before we do, this is the
perfect time for you to head for some hand cleansing refiner.
Go wash them Severed. We'll be right back.

Speaker 1 (40:28):
This is Mark Geller ker Egan on Severance. When I
want to hear the latest details about the company I founded,
I listen to Severed, the Ultimate Severance Podcast.

Speaker 2 (40:41):
Because to the interior of the Georges apartment, Gretchen and
her nine to one to one dispatcher uniform can be
seen at the pass through between the kitchen and dining room.
The silly symphony is coming from the standard def TV
sitting frame left. The cartoon playing on it is pretty obscure.
It's an American production called Colonel Bleep. This particular episode

(41:02):
was number twenty five, entitled The Killer Whale. General consensus
says one hundred and four episodes of Colonel Bleep were
made starting in nineteen fifty six. It debuted in September
of nineteen fifty seven on a local market kid show
called uncle Bill's TV Club. I'm not positive, but I

(41:22):
think uncle Bill was broadcasting from Birmingham, Alabama. It might
also have been Philadelphia. The Colonel Bleep episodes range in
length from three up to six minutes each. The animation
is very basic, but this was the first cartoon ever
made in color, specifically for television. Colonel Bleep is a
futuristic alien sent to Earth following the Earth's first nuclear

(41:44):
blast in nineteen forty five. Bleep, along with a time
displaced caveman name Scratch and a cowboy puppet named Squeak,
establish a base at zero zero Island in the Atlantic
Ocean to protect Earth's Solar system from X to terrestrial threats.
And you thought severance was weird, Remember this story was

(42:05):
being told in nineteen fifty six. I would imagine a
number of jazz cigarettes were consumed during the writing of
this bizarre tale. Unfortunately, most Bleep episodes have been lost.
Somewhere between forty four and forty eight known epps remain
following an incident which occurred in the early nineteen seventies.

(42:25):
Details are sketchy, but series director Jack Shlay was moving
a lot of Colonel Bleep material in a van in
the early nineteen seventies. Sound Dack out of Miami. The
production company which originally made Bleep was shutting down while
transporting the items. Schley says dozens of Bleep epps and
other animation materials were stolen. They don't say it, but

(42:50):
reading between the lines, I'm wondering if Shlay was also
living in this van at the time. If you want
to know more about Colonel Bleep, there is a pretty
detailed Wikipedia entry about the cartoon. The last line of
the legacy section mentions this appearance of Bleep. On severance, Dylan,
dressed in a white shirt, passes through the dining room

(43:10):
and goes into the kitchen. Gretchen continues working at the
counter as Dylan grabs the blender. We are point of
view voyeurs looking on through a slightly shaky handheld camera.

Speaker 6 (43:21):
Picked up the kids.

Speaker 2 (43:22):
Okay, so if the kids aren't here, why are the
cartoons still running any Gretchen continues to occupy herself with
whatever is on the counter. You can tell she's bothered
by something. Is Dylan making us smoothie? Gretchen turns. Dylan's
back is to her. I think it's easier for her
to say what she has to say if she can't

(43:42):
see Dylan's face.

Speaker 6 (43:44):
I kissed your Any and she.

Speaker 2 (43:46):
Is destroyed with guilt about it too. Contrasts this response
to Helena Egan, who slept with Marks Any then emotionally
destroyed his audi at a Chinese restaurant. You think Helena
is riding around in her Lincoln feeling angsty about what
she did to Mark. I don't think so. It's the
difference between being a good and kind soul like Gretchen

(44:06):
and you know an Egan. Dylan turns, blenders still in hand. Pardon,
Gretchen pauses. She's made the leap. Now she has to
wade into this topic fully.

Speaker 6 (44:17):
I saw your inny again at Lumen.

Speaker 2 (44:19):
I initially lied to you about it, but I was
actually there and right.

Speaker 6 (44:22):
Before I left, we ended up kissing for about a minute.

Speaker 7 (44:28):
Ouch.

Speaker 2 (44:29):
A minute's a long time, especially when you're kissing. Dylan
is having trouble taking this in. He turns and sets
the blender down on the counter, then turns back. He's
still trying to process. But this statement just does not
compute what Gretchen has been carrying this guilt with her
since it happened. She's known all along just how devastating

(44:49):
this news would be to Audi. Dylan. I'm sorry, remember
how hesitant Mark was to admit his dalliance with Audi Helena.
That was bad, but somehow this seemed so much worse.
Dylan hands on Hips, who is still trying to get
his brain around her confession.

Speaker 1 (45:06):
How what the fuck?

Speaker 2 (45:09):
Gretchen stammers something about it didn't Dylan jumps on this,
asking the cheater cliche. So it didn't mean anything.

Speaker 6 (45:18):
I wasn't going to say that.

Speaker 2 (45:19):
Well, sure it had to mean something. It was Dylan
after all. Wow, Yeah, Dylan, who's suddenly a flurry of
nervous activity. He puts something back in the fridge.

Speaker 6 (45:29):
You've been addressed, you know that.

Speaker 2 (45:32):
We get an inside shot of Dylan dumping the contents
of the blender into the sink. It looks like he's
pouring out some cucumber, maybe a piece or two of plantain,
and some shredded kale. I think Dylan was working on
a green machine style smoothie. Gretchen's news caused him to
lose his appetite. Dylan crosses the kitchen to replace the
blender on the counter.

Speaker 4 (45:52):
This is so many fucking dimensions of fuck.

Speaker 2 (45:57):
Just I have noticed some commonalities in this beach patterns
of both Dylan's inny and oudy. Gretchen is trying to
explain what happened.

Speaker 6 (46:06):
He reminds me of how you used to be, back.

Speaker 2 (46:08):
Before kids and bills and money worries and work schedules
that keep them almost constantly apart. Any. Dylan reminded her
of a simpler, happier time, and Gretchen was seduced by it.
Dylan is putting on his suit coat and grabbing his keys.
He has to get out of here. He suddenly goes
all Caveman on Gretch.

Speaker 4 (46:28):
I'm going to go to work and earn a paycheck
to feed our children.

Speaker 2 (46:31):
Ee there, mister hyen mighty, take a quick glance at
your wife. She is still wearing the uniform which allows
her to also go out and work and earn a
paycheck to feed our children. She also happens to be
earning this paycheck while working the graveyard shift, which is
so much more draining than a regular nine to five.
Gretchen can't get a word in edgewise. Dylan continues to expound,

(46:54):
getting louder and more agitated as his anger grows.

Speaker 4 (46:58):
And I'm going to respectfully requests that you don't follow
me there and use my own body to fucking cheat
on me.

Speaker 2 (47:04):
Dylan's reaction to this situation speaks to his lack of
self confidence. He is jealous of the other man, and
the other man is him. As cringe inducing as this
situation is, Ben Stiller loved it any Dylan having an
affair with his Oudi's wife is the kind of storyline
that could only happen on severance. Gretchen doesn't want Dylan

(47:26):
to go away, mad don't leave. Dylan is wound up.
He rolls right over her with his continuing rant, which
belies a lot of paranoia about his inny. Can you
know what, since I would have no way of knowing
if that's happening or not, I don't know.

Speaker 6 (47:40):
Maybe I just go quit.

Speaker 1 (47:41):
Maybe I go in and I quit and I just
end his existence.

Speaker 6 (47:44):
How about that?

Speaker 2 (47:45):
Gretchen gives up. She's standing silently as Dylan slams the
door Emmy winner Merritt Weaver contemplates this exchange, then drops
her head exhausted. We cut to another apartment. This time
a door is opening or he makes his way through
the door into his apartment. He tosses his keys in
a dish. So, uh, where's Radar? He didn't meet IRV

(48:08):
at the door. This causes IRV to pause cautiously. Something
isn't right. He slowly makes his way down the hall.
He peers around a corner where he finds Radar sitting
on the carpet. He's staring intently at something off camera
frame right when he notices IRV. Radar finally glances towards
him check the table just beyond Radar. In another nod

(48:29):
to the weird time distortion happening, and Keir IRV has
a rotary phone. If you don't remember these things, ask
your parents. I'm sure they probably had one. Rotary phones
were the standard in telephonic communication until the early nineteen sixties.
In November of nineteen sixty three, the push button dial
phone was introduced. Businesses jumped on the new dialing technology

(48:51):
pretty quickly, the home market not so much, since phones
were expensive and the rotary phone still worked. The switchover
to push button in the home was a long, slow process. Finally,
by the nineteen eighties, rotary phones were phased out entirely.
One of the big reasons to switch to a push
button dial phone was so you could use automated menus.

(49:12):
It was impossible to choose two for parts in service
with a rotary phone. I remember for a lot of
years there was always this option at the end of
the list. If you're using a rotary phone, stay on
the line for the next available operator. I, like many others,
discovered that staying on the line was the fastest way
to get anyone to help you. A lot of us

(49:33):
pretended to still have rotary phones for years. HERB slowly
continues into the room. We cut to a reverse shot
from the other side of Radar. As IRV approaches Radar
looks back to where he was looking when IRV first arrived.
This dog is an amazing little actor. You might recall
his real name is Ditto. We talked about him in
season one. This canine gets a lot of work and

(49:55):
high profile stuff too. He was also a featured player
on HB succession. IRV is making his way towards the
camera there's a look of concern on his face. The
music is getting ominous. We cut to an IRV point
of view shot. He's approaching a door jam. As he
moves to the left, we see more of the room. Finally,
we see a seated man wearing reading glasses. Why it's

(50:18):
Bert Goodman sitting here in RV's apartment. Bert, there is
guarded hesitation in his voice. Bert is holding one of
irv's notebooks. The reverse cut reveals he's sitting next to
RV's open foot locker. He's even opened the secret compartment
where IRV keeps his most important Lumen spy materials. Irv's
secret compartment seems to be one of the worst kept

(50:40):
secrets in kre Bert doesn't respond to IRB's greeting. Instead,
he takes some measured breath and begins to read from
the notebook he's holding.

Speaker 3 (50:50):
They may be also connected to several recent disappearances or deaths.

Speaker 2 (50:59):
There's a reverse cut to IRV still standing in the doorway.
Bert continues the narrative. Goodman he pointedly pauses and gives
IRV an exasperated look.

Speaker 3 (51:09):
May have anticipated as a low level Loman enforcer or goon.

Speaker 2 (51:15):
So Audi. RV was aware of Bert Goodman, and not
in a good way. There might be a gray area here, Audy.
IRV was concerned enough about whatever Bert was involved in
to make a note of it. It must not be
that big a deal because he wasn't frightened enough by
him to miss a night of wine and ham with

(51:36):
Bert and Fields. This meeting continues a theme where each
scene of this episode features a pair of people. We
started during the cold open with Jaime and Helly, then
Miss Wong and Seth, followed by Gretchen Withouty Dillon. In
addition to Burt Nerve here, we're also going to see
Mark with Devin, Helly with Miltchik, and Gretchen with any Dylan.
For whatever reason, one on one conversation is a hallmark

(51:59):
of this episode. Once Cobel shows up, that's when the
pair's theme ends. Lumen Goon, that's things he's smiling. He
doesn't seem to be that mad. The fact he's broken
in and is going through Irv's stuff is proving to
be unsettling. IRV doesn't know what to do. He's still

(52:19):
standing in the doorway, swallowing hard. There might be some
fear in his eyes. I think IRV knows things about Bert.
We don't. If he's angered this man, could there be
danger in the air. IRV doesn't speak. Bert continues to talk,
commenting on the Lumen goon moniker.

Speaker 3 (52:38):
We never used words like that.

Speaker 2 (52:40):
He pauses here, and there's a cut to RB's face.
Herb looks off quickly to the left and back at Bert.
It's possible Herb's not sure what Bert is talking about.

Speaker 3 (52:50):
Lumen specific language.

Speaker 2 (52:55):
Very specific language, can be used to hide certain things.
For instance, there's a subtle but important distinction to be
made here. Bert is not denying he was a Lumen gooon.
He's denying ever having been called that name. Luhmann has
specific names for their employees and their activities. He was
most certainly a goon, but he was probably called something

(53:18):
like an associate or possibly a facilitator. No need to
get anyone upset with a harsh term like goon. Bert's
recollections kind of explain the timeline issues we encountered during
dinner in the episode Attila. They never spell it out,
but I get the idea of Bert worked for Lumen
prior to being a severed employee, and probably for quite

(53:41):
a while based on Field's comments, Bert may have been
on the Lumen payroll for more than ten years before
being severed. Bert and Fields met at some point when
Bert was still a Lumen gooon. Fields was working on
severed chip development and occasionally getting slathered with fake blood.
Getting married had a profound impact on Bert. Having a

(54:03):
significant other may have caused Bert to rethink his priorities.
It also made him consider his chances when it came
to eternal life. Thanks to Pastor feel Good, Bert felt
his inny had a shot at the Pearly gates. Bert
gave up his goonish ways and got the chip. He
traded in the strong arm tactics to become any Bert
g head of the O and D Department. Down on

(54:24):
the severed floor, Bert takes off his reading glasses. He
is not smiling now, and got to say he is
pretty damn imposing just sitting there. There's a cut to IRV.
He practically gulps. Being confronted like this with his secret
work must be a shock. Herb starts to backpedal. It's
not what Bert thinks.

Speaker 3 (54:44):
That was before. I know now that I was wrong, Or.

Speaker 2 (54:49):
At least that's what he's claiming here because it feels
like a good way to save his own neck.

Speaker 4 (54:54):
I know you're not with them, I.

Speaker 2 (54:55):
Get it you have to say that, But seriously, IRV,
between you and me, he is obviously with them. IRV
may or may not have angered a lumongoon. Sure it's
possible his any and the goons in he had some
kind of romantic entanglement down on the severed floor. Even
if it's true, it is so far removed from real

(55:16):
life they might as well be talking about people in
a romance novel. This is Audi, IRV Bailiff and former
Lumongoon Bert Goodman. When you get right down to it,
they don't really know or trust each other. The discovery
of this foot locker notebook has made finding trust even
more difficult on both sides. After another big gulp from IRV,

(55:37):
there's a cut to Walkin's face. He is as still
as stone. He holds for several seconds. This guy, this
Christopher walken Fellow, He is an amazing and foreboding presence.

Speaker 6 (55:49):
Would you go for a ride with me?

Speaker 2 (55:51):
Oh lord?

Speaker 6 (55:52):
No, are seeing to mister Bannoff?

Speaker 2 (55:55):
Run away, mister Bailiff. The guy who's supposed to see
to you is sitting in your bedroom, Audie. Bert must
still be at least a part time lumengoon or some
more specific word that says the same thing. He's already
decided his Audi is going to burn in Hell. I
guess he figured there's no need to try stopping the
inevitable irving swallows hard, then stammers ert, I'm sorry. He

(56:21):
lets the thought trail off. Perhaps he meant to say,
I'm sorry. I didn't want to be killed today. Bert
stands and approaches herb radar, even to observe a look
of concern.

Speaker 1 (56:30):
Go for a ride with man.

Speaker 2 (56:33):
If you've ever seen a mob movie, you know these
rides don't end well. Just ask Maury, the whig guy
from Goodfellas. Bert's phrasinghead a familiar rhythm to it. Here.
Remember when these two were in the plant room during
the season one episode Hide and Seek, Bert said something similar.

Speaker 7 (56:51):
Just stay.

Speaker 5 (56:54):
Stay with me.

Speaker 2 (56:57):
We're about to head down to the testing floor. But
before we do, I just put on a new pot
of some rich, dark Rwandan coffee. Severed will be here
right back.

Speaker 4 (57:09):
Hey, this is Chansy Micheau, the lead graphic artist from Severance.

Speaker 3 (57:13):
You're listening to Severed the Ultimate Severance Podcast.

Speaker 2 (57:18):
We cut away from Burt Nerve, not knowing what irv's
decision is going to be. The transition we cut to
is a drone down angle beauty shot of the entire
Lumen campus. This shot has been heavily altered by ILM.
The houses which ring the building are gone as usual.
There are full parking lots at both ends of the building.
Oh and snow is covering everything. After establishing we're at Bellwarks,

(57:43):
there's a cut to the testing floor. Our POV is
high up in the ceiling, looking the length of one
of the halls. The testing floor is quiet. There's another
cut to a corner shot looking down two of the
testing floor hallways. Nothing is moving. We cut to a
shot of the new watcher floor. Since no macrodats are
currently in MDR, no watchers are at their workstations watching them.

(58:06):
I really want to know about the private lives of watchers.
They have to be severed. The creepy and dorky doctor
Mauer is seated at one of the watcher workstations. Robbie
Benson has created an indelible character with his twisted and
kind of dumb Doc Mauer's sporting a blue water truck
band aid on his head where Gemma clocked him with

(58:29):
the chair. I get the sense Mauer is perving on Gemma.
Sure he's trying to justify it as concern for her
well being, but I'm getting big peeping Tom vibes from
his expression. With a flick of the watcher control panel,
he pops up a video feed of Gemma seated at
the weird little triangle table in her apartment. Mauer studies
Gemma for a few moments, then selects a new monitor screen.

(58:52):
This one is the completion screen for the file Cold Harbor.
We've seen this screen before. It shows the relative percentages
of the various temper in the five bins. The overall
completion bar to the far left of frame sits at
ninety six percent. Mauer's reaction shot is giving us a
lot of not pleased. He focuses in on that ninety

(59:12):
six percent. What's going on? This is Cold Harbor. Finishing
this file is going to mean more to humanity than
toilet paper on a roll or sliced bread. If Mark
would just get around to finishing it. The numbers are
not moving. Maur yanks open a desk drawer and picks
up the phone. Yes, it's Drummond. These two maur and

(59:34):
Drummond should be joined at the hip. It's nine o'clock
and well, I hate to tell you this, Drummond, old buddy,
but the numbers aren't moving. There is an immediate cut
to Seth Milchik. They're shooting Seth in an up angle
as he answers the phone, No hello, no niceties of
any kind. Drummond just isn't that kind of guy. As
soon as Seth puts the phone to his ear, we

(59:56):
hear the numbers aren't moving. With such an important employee
doing such an important job, I'd figure Seth was keeping
close tabs on Mark's whereabouts. This does not seem to
be the case.

Speaker 6 (01:00:07):
He may just be running late.

Speaker 2 (01:00:09):
Wouldn't he know? If Mark was running late? Don't they
have any way to monitor the MDR space like, oh,
I don't know, maybe cameras and all of the monitors.
Drummond doesn't accept late as an excuse.

Speaker 7 (01:00:22):
Final quota was promised today.

Speaker 2 (01:00:24):
Somebody really should have checked with Mark s before making
this promise.

Speaker 6 (01:00:28):
Get in cheer now.

Speaker 2 (01:00:29):
Seth allows the phone to drop away from his ear.
His look is a combination of stressed and pissed. He
is glaring over the receiver, wondering where in the hell
Mark s is and why he isn't at his workstation.
Completing Cold Harbor, we cut away from mister m to
the severed elevator. Oh okay, this must be Mark arriving
for his big day. The white up arrow lights and

(01:00:52):
we get that familiar The door opens to reveal Helly R.
She's dressed just like Helena this morning, but this is
most definitely Helly R. Upon arrival, she glances at the
cure painting, then turns towards MDR. She chomps down the
hallway and her heels like she's wearing army boots that
don't fit very well. When Helly gets to MDR, it's dark.

(01:01:16):
She flips the overhead switches. The lights do that cool
tracking thing as they turn on. In my experience, a
light switch turns on all of the lights at once,
not at lumin here an MDR. When you turn on
the overheads, they do this cool chase thing the entire
length of the room. Sorry, dear, Mark's not here. I

(01:01:36):
love the framing. As Helly approaches the diamond desk. You
can only see her head and shoulders above one of
the green sliding panels. We are reminded by the framing
this is Helly r severed worker. She's only part of
a person, so we're only going to see part of
her in the shot. So where is Mark? We cut
to mister Scout sleeping while going somewhere. He looks pretty bad.

(01:02:00):
His face is being cradled by a seat belt. He's
got a good three day growth of beard, and he's
darned near unconscious. We hear a voice from off camera.

Speaker 1 (01:02:09):
Do you know where you are?

Speaker 2 (01:02:10):
It's devoted sister Devon. She's behind the wheel, transporting Mark
to a clandestine rendezvous with none other than kobel Vig.
This is what they worked out when Devon was on
the phone with Harmony at the end of Sweet Vitriol. Fine, yeah,
he says that, but he's not very convincing. This is
mere hours after having a giant needle and some unidentified

(01:02:32):
fluid jammed into his brain. Ragabbi claims she flooded his
chip in an attempt to speed up the reintegration process.
No clue if it worked. It did cause Mark to
collapse completely unconscious, he was out for pretty much all
of the best episode of the season. Cheekui Bardo. He
did get to have some fun in the flashbacks, but

(01:02:52):
those don't count. Devon is relentless. It's like she's quizzing
a concussion patient. I think she's starting to understand the profound
sense of displacement brought on by reintegration. When down there
memories collide with up here memories, it can get pretty confusing.
For the time being, at least Mark knows where he is.

Speaker 6 (01:03:14):
A snowy fucking cutr.

Speaker 3 (01:03:17):
That's nice.

Speaker 2 (01:03:18):
Wow OUTI Mark bustin' balls, even while practically unconscious. Devin
won't let this rest. She's not going to allow a
Gabby Shenanigans to ruin Mark's brain. She's treating it like
a concussion protocol. If she can just keep him conscious
in talking, maybe he'll get back to normal.

Speaker 1 (01:03:36):
And how about me and my mere a copy machine.

Speaker 2 (01:03:38):
There's a pause. Mark's voice is a bit stronger. I
think he's waking up tragically. You're you, Mark coughs. It's
that deep down reintegration cough just like PD had. I
figured PDS was due to staying out in the cold
of the Greenhouse. Maybe not. Mark has developed the same
cough and his only sleeping out experience happened at the

(01:03:58):
Ort Bow. Devin glanced over to him with some concern.
He sounds so weak and he's completely racked with coughing spells.
Mark is considering what they are about to do.

Speaker 6 (01:04:09):
He's a mistake.

Speaker 2 (01:04:10):
I think he's gonna have to get his brain around
the fact. It's miss Cobell who's helping them. Cobell has
let Mark down in every way imaginable any Mark only
knows her as the iron fisted, hard assed Harmony Cobell
who runs the severed Floor Audie. Mark recognizes her as
his former next door neighbor, missus Selvig. She greatly betrayed

(01:04:31):
and lied to Mark for months, pretending to be both
Selvig and Cobell depending on who she was talking to.
She also weaseled her way into Ricken in Jemma's Lives
with that whole lactation consultant stick. I mean, Jee's good
at it, but what a liar. Devin knows all of
this too, but she's not put off by asking Harmony

(01:04:52):
for help. I think Devin sees Cobell as an insider
a lifeline to the severed floor if anyone knows what's
going on down there and can help partially reintegrated Mark
Devin firmly believes it's gonna be Harmony Kobell, who has
the goods. The shot cuts to a drone tracking the
hails Range rover along a snow lined road. Turns out

(01:05:12):
Devon is pretty good busting balls herself. It must be
from growing up with a brother.

Speaker 5 (01:05:17):
I'm sorry. The wind was whistling over the hole in
the back of your skull, so I didn't quite get that.

Speaker 3 (01:05:22):
Damn.

Speaker 2 (01:05:22):
The lady gives as good as she gets. Oh but
she's not done.

Speaker 5 (01:05:26):
Did you just call it my plan?

Speaker 6 (01:05:28):
The fucking mistake.

Speaker 2 (01:05:29):
Mark doesn't back down. It's the sibling thing. Jen Tellick
was asked in a Variety interview how she and Adam
Scott connected as on screen siblings. She cited two important
touch points in their relationship. Number one, they share the
same dry and slightly twisted sense of humor. Adam Scott
is devastating when it comes to perfectly delivering the straight line.

(01:05:51):
He's one of the funniest things about Parks and w
rec but you never think of him as landing a joke.
Jen has the same thing going on. The wind whistling
over the hole in your headline was a perfect example.
She says it earnestly, but it's hilarious. The other thing
these two on screen siblings bonded over was the Mexican
soft drink Topo Chico. They both love this stuff. Adam

(01:06:14):
Scott had a cash of Topo Chico with him hidden
in his dressing room. Gentullick said he was very stingy
with those things. Adam is a generous soul most times,
just not when he's guarding his precious Topo Chico. We
told her everything, well, sure, you kind of had to.
She even said tell me everything when you picked up
the phone. She told us shit because she knows what

(01:06:37):
she has is valuable. Handing it over without compensation or
at least being a part of the project doesn't sit
well with Harmony. She's going to get in on this
deal if she can. Mark says they can't trust Cobel.
Devon agrees. Still, they are racing to see her.

Speaker 1 (01:06:53):
Is a set.

Speaker 2 (01:06:54):
We cut to a high down angle shot of the
road and a section of woods. Mark and Devon are
about to meet up with Harmon Cobell for the first
in depth talk they've had since the season one finale.
Before Devin turns off into the clearing, it's time for
us to shut things down for the day. Refiner, you've
done some excellent work. We'll pick up right here next
time with the After Hours Part two. As always, a

(01:07:15):
big thanks to volunteer researchers Slish producer of NEP for
his contributions to this week's podcast. Also a big thanks
to those of you who are supporting the podcast with
your positive words. Thank you for your comments on the
Facebook page, Reddit or as an Apple podcast reviewer, I
do read them all and your kind words and encouragement
are greatly appreciated. Your glowing reviews are also bringing new

(01:07:39):
listeners to the podcast. Quick reminder before you leave, get
to the Severed Patreon page. You can support the Severed
podcast by pledging five dollars a month on Patreon. Signing
up is easy. Go to patreon dot com slash severed pod.
That's patreon dot com slash severed pod. You'll be supporting
the podcast and and supplementing my retirement income. Once you've

(01:08:02):
got your workstation shut down and you've picked up a
little around your seat, you can head to the Severed
elevator refiner. Thanks for returning to the Severed floor. We'll
continue our breakdown of the second season next time. Now,
as always, please stagger your exits.

Speaker 5 (01:08:18):
You've been listening to Severed, the Ultimate Severance podcast. Severed
is written, produced, and hosted by Alan Stair.

Speaker 7 (01:08:25):
Severed is not endorsed by Red Hour Productions, DVOR Content,
or Apple tv Plus. This podcast is intended for entertainment
and informational purposes only.

Speaker 5 (01:08:35):
Severance, the Severance logo, and all video and audio of
Severance and Severance characters are registered trademarks of Red Hour,
Endeavor Content, Apple TV Plus, or their respective copyright holders.

Speaker 7 (01:08:47):
Please make sure to leave a five star rating and
review for Severed at Apple Podcasts.

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S2E33 - REWATCH09-PT01 - The After Hours

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