The Grim Barbarity of Optics and Design

So, first of all, did anybody really believe that Helly will die? Of course not. So the cliffhanger from the previous episode was just a lame attempt of raising tension.

With 5 out of 9 episodes over, it is fitting to take stock of what has happened so far. And if we talk about the main plot, the answer is pretty much nothing. So far, there has been plenty of atmosphere building, plenty of character stories, but as far as the main plot is concerned, where are basically at the same place that we started. We still don't know anything about Lumon, except that it is weird. We don't know what they do, we don't know why some workers are severed, we don't know how much power they hold in the outside world, we don't know what the severed workers do... And the list could go on and on. Early in the season, Petey told Mark that he had information about Lumon and that he will tell Mark, if he wanted to know. Mark took his offer, and what did Petey know? Apparently nothing. What did he tell Mark that is of any real significance? Also nothing. Oh, apparently, Lumon might be up to something. Well, stop the presses. And since we're there, how and why did Petey start to think about reintegration? How did his innie and his outie collaborate, because it seems that they had to, since his innie was making maps, and his outie agreed to reintegration. More of the things that are without answer.

Despite some seemingly big moments in this and the previous episode, there are absolutely no revelations regarding the plot. I just hope that they will not cram everything in the last episode.

This is still an interesting show, but I started watching because I wanted a sci-fi mystery, as this is advertised, not a drama about weird things and depressing life of corporate workers, as this is turning out to be most of the time. I have found myself more and more pausing the episodes to do other things. That never happens when a show really grabs my attention.

As a side note, whoever is leaving spoilers for later episodes within spoilers for a current episode, stop doing that. If you mark something as a spoiler for episode 1, do not write about how that relates to episode 9. Put that stuff in trivia for episode 9. That is how it should be done. I don't know if someone is ignorant or is doing that on purpose to ruin the viewing for other people, but it is extremely annoying.

I hope they handle plot reveals in such a way it stays mysterious and fun. The problem with these series is that sometimes they stack the mystery too much and starts to be unrealistic in the universe it created.

So far though it is such a thrill to follow the small bits we get. I hope this stays!!!

Lots of cool stuff in this episode with other departments and my interest in the show just keeps increasing. Still keeping the same quality and I'm excited to see the rest of it unfold.

On Severance Season 1 Episode 5. A brutal painting leads to many questions, with very few answers. Helly and Mark find more than they expected, but are they in control of their own destiny? How much are they being manipulated? It was a brutal way to end Severance Season 1 Episode 4, but the impact was lessened finding out that she hadn't actually died. It would have been quite a blow if our most relatable character died four episodes in, but probably not the message Severance is trying to convey. Helly has proven to be resourceful and determined when harming herself -- she could still find a way, despite removing the hazardous materials. However, there is the new addition of Ms. Casey supervising her at all times. We got a lot more time with part-time wellness counselor Ms. Casey this episode, but she's still a mystery. Is she also severed?

Ms. Casey has that affected way of speaking that middle management has, but still answers to Ms. Cobel. She covers the whole severed floor, though, as was evident when Burt had his wellness session, so surely it would be in Lumon's best interest if she was severed. Severance prods at the icky feeling that there's something deeply wrong with the world.

We devote our lives to gigantic, soulless companies that give us relatively comfortable lives, but those lives are ultimately indentured to them. Big corporations are great at taking people's alienation about the system and how the world works and then commodifying that alienation into a product for us to consume -- like Severance. Will Severance give us the tools to break free of the system we see ourselves trapped in, or will watching the Macrodata team do it be enough to satiate us?

The best way to destroy a society, is to make them turn on one another, and make a small groups out of other small groups till you have the person and his mind only. Then and only then, you can make the person turn and betray on himself. That's what happens in this show and today's episode confirmed it.