Your joke about Harmony answering the question for Patricia Arquette made me realise that there would definitely be severance going on in Hollywood. It would probably start with serious method actors who just want to completely become the character, but eventually even the extras wouldn't remember a world outside the one they appear in.

When Irving was calling for help outside the conference room and no one showed up told me they are definitely not watched closely

I’m watching this In May or 2024, we still waiting 😂

"Lumon manipulates people into thinking it was their own idea to work for them" holy shit, I just got chills... Imagine if they had severed sleeper agents around the town, people who didn't even realise they were severed, who could ensure that subliminal messages reached their targets? Freaky shit.

SO impatient for season 2.

I just binged the show for the first time and now I'm binging on your videos. I can't believe how long you've all been waiting for since this first came out! I'm dying for season 2 already.

Just wanted to put together my thoughts about the season one. 1. We learn throughout the series that Lumon is hiding something and lying about what they actually do. What makes us believe that severance procedure is what they say it is? - Lumon owners appear to be wealthy and very powerful people already. What would be that they are still looking for, doing those strange experiments? My theory - they are looking for immortality. To be able to transfer their immortal (or recorded) mind to new body. The chip that implanted into employees’ brains does actually contain different personality all together. And when they are in elevator, that personality takes over, while still using its carrier chemical processes to interact with the surroundings. That would help to answer next question. 2. Petey - why does “reintegration” affected him that much? If it was only about isolated memories comes together, why would it kill him? We all have a memories that are not related to each other (work and home, for example). Some people remember things that never happened to them (false memory syndrome). And it is not lethal. Why did Petey straggled that much and died eventually? Seems to me that another person got activated in the environment that cannot support his life (outside of Lumon). 3. What’s up with the numbers that Marks team is working with? - in episode when Helly sees “scarry” numbers, we see following numbers on her screen (top to bottom, left to right) 3960051441. If we wright down those number in Binary code (one that computers understand), we get - 1110011100010111001001 . If we then translate it to hexadecimal, we get - 39C5C9 . Which is (surprise) an HTML color code for RED. Which is color code of Dread - one of 4 tempers mentioned by Kier, as part of every human soul (we can see them all listed and colored on the Dylan’s screen. Woe - Green, Frolic - Yellow, Dread - Red, Malice - Blue). That make me think that the chip OS is based on AI of some sort, and this is how it is “developing” its own emotions - by reading the computer code and matching it with the feeling of the chip carrier. That bring us to next question. 4. Why Gemma is so emotionless? - Could be next step of experiment.. Gemma might have actually died (or was killed) and only the person in the chip is there in her body now (she could work for Lumon before). And that person has no memories of Mark of course. She might be continue learning different way - observing reactions of people, when she tells them about their outies (?). And remeber Petey's map (people might live here)? There might be more like her. 5. Why did Helly joined the program? - Lumon says that this is to prove that severance procedure is safe. But… Why do we believe them again? They are lying about pretty much everything. According to Helly’s dad , they had a prototype around for at least 17 years. Experimenting that long should give you an idea on how this procedure affecting people. I think this is because Helly has no choice. Won’t surprise me if in the next season we discover that she is sick with some incurable disease (or her dad is, and he is sacrificing his own daughter to see if technology ready yet). Thank you for your videos!!

The code detectors couldn’t detect memories, because Mark got in with the security card he stole, unless they only scan innie’s memories, which seems unlikely.

Not as much a theory on anything specific, but just an observation that the end of Episode 7 aside from its big reveal, it has some interesting details in the scene that seem quite deliberate. When Alexa is leaving, Mark starts a sentence "she was great, she was.." and Alexa interrupts the thought to say she's leaving. She drives away, and Mark repeats "she was great....she was extraordinary". The way he delivers the line seems as though he's remembering more than just Gemma, but a specific memory of uttering that phrase " she was extraordinary" . We then get the scene of Mark piecing the picture together, which starts with off screen dialogue "my wife was extraordinary..." On first watch I thought, maybe this was just internal dialogue in Mark's head, nothing more than that, but I now think this might be a replaying of a specific memory. Mark then says all these facts about Gemma. The way all the facts are spelled out, it has a deliberate parallel to the way Ms. Casey tells an innie facts about their outie in cadence and content. Mark ends with the phrase "I loved all these things about her....equally" a parallel to Ms. Casey's rule to "try to enjoy all the facts equally"- a nice touch. But I guess the theory or question here relates to that offscreen dialogue....when was that from? Could that have been some pre-Lumon psychological screening Mark had done where he was incentivized to talk through whatever trauma or grief led to him wanting to be severed, or was it just conventional therapy? Somehow, I feel we might get to actually see this scene at some point.

I think Severance might go down in history like my personal favorite show: The Twilight Zone. It will remain an icon of originality, renowned for it's brilliance and craftsmanship in all facets.

Joy - Petey (“he set the tone”) Fear - Irving (ptsd) Anger - Dylan (constantly aggressive towards other department) Sadness - mark (wife died) 4 positions in refinement to control the 4 temperances in people from different towns ig

Yeah, I think that if the elevators scanned the chip for memories or thoughts, then they would've known Helly's plan to take her own life, before she attempted it. And you'd think they'd spare no expense trying to prevent that since she was an Eagan. But in the same vein, she was pretty verbal about hating being there so maybe Cobel just really didn't care about ultimate ramifications of it??? Thanks as always for these videos! What a treat to find a new severence theory video pop up today!

“I promise to enjoy all of your theories equally” Great one. This makes me think that on our society we have misplaced egalitarianism, which is actually cruel. For example, love everyone equally. Treat everyone the same. No one is different. Erasing diversity is low key cruel and is a virtue we indoctrinate into children. Rather than inclusivity, equity, or radical acceptance.

I just rewatched your Irving video to make sure you hadn't mentioned it, but did you ever notice the weird time stuff with Irving? They treat him like he's an old timer, he says things like that line "back in the old days we'd just be excited to get coffee creamer" but then when they are in the circle introducing themselves to Helli, he says he's only been there 3 years. He also kind of acts and talks old-timey? I think they put his dad's chip into him maybe, or something like that.

Really appreciate the continued Severance content as we wait for the next season, it's much appreciated! I recently did a re-watch of S1 and while these aren't full theories these were some of my personal observations: -In episode 1, the first shot of Mark in his car crying looks like it's from the point of view of someone looking/spying in on him, he may be being watched. -In the perpetuity wing episode we get Dylan's Lumon Bingo. The bingo card has something about a 'mysterious Eagan death' and we get our first of several mentions of the "Black Sheep' Ambrose Eagan. Also we learn Kier Eagan was a sickly child who married a co-worker. -Harmony Cobel & Mrs. Selvig have two, distinct voices--This feels very significant to me. I also get the strong impression she is VERY pro Kier but VERY anti Lumon/Severance, like she's fighting the corruption of Kier's teachings she sees in Lumon. Cobel suspects Petey has been re-intigrated and has that confirmed after Graner has the diagnostic run on Petey's chip, she has concrete proof of re-integration and intentionally chooses to not share that information with the board. The one other Lumon employee we know knows about reintegration is Graner who Cobel then sends out alone and is promptly murdered. Cobel/Selvig is also just obsessed with Mark in general. In episode 8 after she's been fired by Lumon Mark asks Cobel/Selvig if she wants to go to the party, she at first declines before saying she'd drive herself in case she's 'uncomfortable or afraid', two of the four Tempurs. That line just really stood out to me as odd. Code Detectors/Lumon Security: Other than his first trip back up from the Severed floor Mark is not scanned by security after he leaves the elevator. Whether or not there are code detectors is harder to determine but security at Lumon sucks - Irving's Outtie reads Marcus Aurelius's The Emperor's Handbook, more evidence to me that a military background for him is being suggested. -We know MDR refines numbers on their computer screens. We know MDR groups numbers and sorts them into a bin that corresponds to the four tempurs, Woe, Dread, Frolic & Malice. But each MDR screen has 5 bins, not 4 so what's going on?

Does anyone find it strange that they changed their whole procedure (using first names and last initials) for Ms. Casey? I can guess that they think her first name is a trigger, but still. How about the fact that Casey wasn't her married name??

Fall 2023 does seem far away, but honestly I was expecting to wait until 2024 at the earliest for season 2 so October works for me! And we have Nautilus Files severance videos to keep us fed until then lol

A couple thoughts/questions: - Where did Mark get the laser engraving on his desk? We don't see anyone else with this kind of swag and he doesn't seem like he's refiner of the quarter material (compared to Dylan who has toys you'd get at an arcade as his prizes) - Is Jame Kier trying to steal Helly's body? He mentioned she'll be at his side at the revolving or whatever they called it. - As another commenter mentioned, is this some type of post apocalypse in the real world? The town of Kier is desolate. The few times Mark is outside we see only a few random people on the street, Pip's seemed empty, the neighborhood is empty. Very strange (or could be due to covid filming). - WTF is up with Rickon's friends. They definitely seem severed or something. They behave very strangely, and react to things very emotionally, like toddlers, and think Rickon is a genius.

October 2023... if only. It's crazy how much the writers' strike delayed shows. I mean it was only a few months and I've seen series get pushed back a year over this. I am not a patient person and I only just watched Season 1 for the first time so I won't be waiting nearly as long as you, but this cliffhanger is torture.😭

I love reference humor and you landed every joke in this video. Thanks for the laughs! I'm digging the Gemma theory, that she was severed before her accident. An observation: Billie Holiday's song, Solitude, plays at least twice in season one during Gemma-related scenes. It plays during Mark's second date with Alexa, during which they talk about Gemma, and while he's reassembling her torn up photo. (It may also play during Mark's first date with Alexa, but I don't remember.) The song lyrics reflect Mark's behavior, and I hope he gets the reunion they're setting up. Lyrics: In my solitude you haunt me With reveries of days gone by In my solitude you taunt me With memories that never die I sit in my chair Filled with despair There's no one could be so sad With gloom everywhere I sit and I stare I know that I'll soon go mad In my solitude I'm praying Dear Lord above Send back my love I sit in my chair Filled with despair There's no one could be so sad With gloom everywhere I sit and I stare I know that I'll soon go mad In my solitude I'm praying Dear Lord above Send me back my love ----- Thanks for another great video!

"It's a card game like Uno, but you have to do what's on the cards. Loser ends up in the ICU." HAHAHA 😆 😂

I think the code detectors are only used in the elevator because they are only in place to make sure messages don't get OUT or IN to the building.

Milchick's conduct in the closet is making me a "code detector denier" too, the way he asks Dylan so casually if he smuggled the card out, rather than asking where he hid it on the severed floor. The simplest explanation is "panopticon" (watching them on the security cameras and pressing the alarm button if they've seen them hiding the contraband on the camera earlier).

The walls of the office building look like partitions, like they can be moved around, which would fit a theory I heard in another video about some employees who may have been wiped to start over. "Perpetuity" implies some type of bond without an end, forever, how many are maybe dead like Mark's wife? Anyway, been binging Severance stuff for the past 2 days, and I went to the store earlier today; felt like a glitch in the matrix when I saw the name tag of the cashier who rung me up, "Memory." Trippy, but also kind of a cool name, yeah?

Mark was a history professor, particularly of WW1. I don't think that was a random choice by the writers, so it will probably have a payoff down the road. The other thing that is driving me crazy is the dichotomy between all of the low tech and high tech items, both on and off of the severed floor. It's like a post apocalypse setting but not quite so severe. Like maybe a virus that causes declining birth rates, or lowered mental capacity, or something else that is threatening a slow decline for humanity. Lumon thinks that they can fix it. Ruthlessly, if necessary. And whether they caused it or are just taking advantage of it could be another twist.

Mark’s outtie watch as always tripped me out. It looks like an old Soviet pilot or paratrooper watch. Gemma taught Russian literature. Any connection? Is this an old topic of discussion or a new one? Keep up the great work man. I love your severance channel. I wish that you were my neighbor and I could go next-door and talk to you about it.

When they were considering going into the security room to trigger the otc Mark mentioned “maybe it’s enough that we THINK we are being constantly watched,” a hint at Focault’s theory of surveillance. And yet when Helly was about to reach quota, we saw that Cobel can look at her directly through her monitor. This makes us confused about how much they are being watched at first. But we can see how much by the discerning the natures of the surveillance we are shown. They walk a lot before they are noticed, and their walks are even discovered afterwards. Also what else is management doing when they are not in the departments? I think they may be monitoring their reactions to the numbers with the computer monitor cameras because they’re more concerned with how the chips are working. They also watch the wellness sessions to see how WELL the chips are working. Ms. Casey lists facts about their “outie” not to comfort them but for management to observe their reactions and see if it triggers some of their “outie” to resurface. Milchick even mentions this about Mark’s last session with Ms. Casey. Also why did they give her a prefix? And note how it’s Ms and not Mrs although she was married.

I think Dylan’s outie and Milchick are friends/good colleagues. I saw it in Milchik’a face when Dylan bites him. Makes me wonder if Dylan’s outie is involved in the severance program kind of like helly

I have two issues with the Helly character when i rewatched season one again recently. - Outie Mark almost hits Outie Helly in the parking lot leaving work at the beginning of the show. I find it hard to believe Outie Mark, who is aware he works for Lumon, wouldn't recognize Outie Helena since in the last episode she is portrayed as the "new face of the company" and a descendant of Kier. Its like working for Facebook and not recognizing Mark Zuckerberg. - If Helly/Helena take over as the leader of Lumon her likeness would then be in the Perpetuity Wing. Innies like Mark, Dylan, Irv and folks in O&D would realize that they have met her and worked with her before. i am sure that there is some sort of "memory wipe" to account for that but its a big risk to take that could lead to Innies figuring out whats going on

I don’t think the code detectors are fake. Milchick just flat out didn’t know where the card was and had to trigger OTC just to ask, even if it didn’t leave through the elevator (which it didn’t). He just spent hours searching and didn’t find it in the office and so he had to go and ask.

Thank goodness we have a date now!!! October can’t get here fast enough!!! L❤VE your theory videos!! I’m so excited that I can’t think straight! Thank you, Nautilus Files for all your hard work, and all the great theories…yours and the other Innies! 💗 Love to you all!!

I really enjoy your voice, both your literal voice as well as your "voice" in terms of your script writing and delivery. Still very happy I followed. And boy am I excited for season 2 of Severance!

Good to see you back! Great video is always!!!

I predict Mark gains the ability to reproduce through parthenogenesis. An entire room of Marks doing the Mark dance? That's the very scary season two content Patricia Arquette was referring to. Maybe not, but damn it, there's something about that man's waxy skin, and still features, that screams clone.

Just binged Severance plus all of your theory videos. I'm locked in!

I have a theory about Irving that his chip may be malfunctioning, and allowing a few memories to slip through, appearing in abstract and strange ways to Irving on the other side. This could explain the paintings of the elevator to the testing floor. He may have seen the elevator at some point as an innie, and the chip failed to block it, so now he paints it as his outie because he has a strange memory of the elevator that he knows nothing about. Also, his behavior as an innie begins extremely disciplined, like someone in the military would be. Even if Irving didn’t serve himself, we know his father did, and may have raised his children in a militaristic way, and the malfunctioning chip is allowing that discipline from his outie to bleed through.

Don't forget that Lumon has existed for more than 100 years now, and that Mark used to be a history professor. What's so special about him? Maybe he conducted research into Lumon and was very close to discover one of their most guarded secrets, so they did this car accident in an attempt to injure him and and/or Gemma, get him off of research with the trauma, and get him to come to Lumon in a "keep your enemies closer" strategy. That sounds to me quite possible.

My theory is that Cobels original name was Charlottle. When she was young she got ill and nearly died, hence the breathing equipment, but Lumon took her in and saved her and gave her the severance procedure. She was used as the very first test subject and her innie became Harmony Cobel. Then they transferred her harmony consciousness back into her outie Charlottle body, while at the same time taking away some memories from the Innie. The Mrs Selvick persona is a combination of Harmony Cobel, trapped inside Charlotte Cobels body without her full memories. I think she remains as this persona in and outside of work, hence the kind of split personality. I think her mission is to get her old charlotte consciousness back, and i think she is still so loyal to them first of all because they saved her life, and second because she needs them to get her original consciousness and memories back and she is using mark as her test subject to see if it is possible.

I have (what should be) the most obvious theory that nobody ever talks about for some reason! They’re recreating the scene from the painting. Theyre having that big department make the hatchets, so that they can smuggle them and use them as weapons, they’re having them make the cards so that they learn combat… and they’re raising the goats because the goats are in the painting too. It’s just a cult that’s setting up their ritual battle to the death inside of lumen

Thanks for posting. Cant wait for S2

Omg. So many possibilities! I think Gemma’s car accident was an example of her being targeted. Do I already believe she was an innie? I don’t think so. I also don’t know that I’d deny code detectors as functioning technology that they use. But I’m ready for anything. Eight months is less that it takes to make a human. I’m excited.

After watching this video, I might be a code detector denier too!! I didn’t realize the card had Lumon printed at the back. I initially thought the diagram in the front wasn’t “spelling” anything out so it could theoretically pass through the detectors, but nope. Time for a rewatch, I guess.

My theory on how the "code detectors" work is that they're essentially glorified polygraphs- they can detect a heightened heartrate, maybe even monitor things like adrenaline production through the severance chip, but ultimately they rely on the employees buying into the hype and getting nervous when thye enter the elevator with their cards. The time we saw the corridor lights blare red, Helly was full-on legging it down the corridor with the note obviously in her palm, so the cameras could easily detect that. It's likely they do have many hidden cameras throughout the building in places a typical workplace wouldn't, such as the bathrooms- I keep thinking about poor Mark's comment when he warned Helly not to swallow her note- but if an employee was calm enough, they could definitely smuggle things out of the severed floor, which is what Petey must have done with the tape recording of Mark being tortured in the break room.

Just discovered your videos about Severance and I LOVE THEM. Excellent work. Please do one about wtf is going on in Optics and Design. What are they making?!? And why?!?

Maybe “code detectors” are as simple as them searching new employees at random when they exit. Or there being a stop on the elevator where the chip totally scrambles their brains for a minute or so. A lot of the elevator ride stuff is supposed to put us in the mind of the severed. If neither innie nor outie is active, they can use state of the art natural code detectors (security guards) which would fall in line with the shoddy surveillance theory. They don’t always get searched, so they would be able to regularly get things in and out any time they are not under active suspicion.

Ok, you’ve convinced me the detectors are fake. Those cards are definitely a big part of Lumon’s mission. They don’t exactly depict wholesome actions either. I’ve always felt like Gemma’s crash was no accident but caused by Lumon. Maybe her and Mark were working together on discovering some things and their research caught up with them. Or maybe it’s the other way around and Gemma was trying to purposely infiltrate deep into the heart of Lumon by putting her life in danger, knowing they would want to ‘keep’ her. Orrr maybe she’s world’s most knowledgable expert on goats. I really don’t know but can’t wait to find out. I know I’ve said before but I really enjoy your videos and editing. You have a great voice too. Would you consider doing more videos on other tv shows or movies in the meantime?

We still have that water drop logo. Even on the Band-Aid on Mark's forehead. Is it a cover for a legitimate business? But if so, why? It seems they own and control the entire town.

love your videos! also you have such a soothing voice like an audiobook

Code Detectors would measure entropy. Since information and entropy are basically the same (check information theory if you didn’t know about this) then measuring the entropy in the elevator could reveal if they carry information with them. The problem is that something as simple as going to the bathroom changes your entropy way more than carrying a book, so maybe it’s not as plausible

A Theory: there has been a coup in the past with MDR blue tags and Optics green tags. They are all pawns in a game. When the microchip is activated to a certain frequency they fight to the death. Thanks for your videos and humor

Could Gabby’s baby be severed? Maybe his “innie” is William and his “outie” is Bradley? Maybe they’re experimenting inserting chips in the babies and the goats. I can’t wait for season two!

I’m not sure it’s that deep re the code detectors. If it was based on reading the chips for guilt or some kind of emotion relating to knowingly having contraband on them, Peggy K would’ve triggered them with her Puglish letters (unless they chose not to stop her for some reason, but then she still pays for it in the end so 🤷‍♀️). I honestly think it just doesn’t do pictures. Puglish was all symbols and, besides the Lumon logo on the back, the card was just an image with no writing. Maybe the Lumon logo is coded differently and just appears as an image? Maybe only certain chips will trigger the detectors as well, we know Cobel likely has a chip and she brought in The You You Are with no issues. I might be reaching here tbh, I don’t know!

soon we are going to wait between 3 and 4 years for a 5 episodes season ..... it coming people get ready!!!

Code detectors can be similar to how polygraphs work: it doesn't explicitly detect you lie, but they detect you are nervous. An implanted chip could definitely signal higher stress, and fear, especially if people are purposefully lied about detectors

I think there’s definitely something to the idea that Lumon uses vehicular accidents, and likely causes them. It doesn’t seem a far stretch that they can remotely control vehicles (they probably manufacture many of the parts) but if someone in the vehicle is severed and they can activate them remotely well…that would work too

I would’ve never imagined Zoolander would be behind such a great show.

There's potential foreshadowing in an early episode when Mark is on his date and confronts the boy handing out anti-severance flyers on the street. Mark brings up the notion that some people might not be aware that they've been severed. His intention was to mock the anti-severance movement with this silly conspiracy theory but it might just turn out to be true.

Me watching this at the end of April 2024 just after they announced that production wrapped twiddling my thumbs... come on, apple! Release it!

1:40 it’s March 2024 now and we still don’t have a definitive date for season 2 👀🤦‍♂️🥲

You deserve way more subs

I think code detectors work but much worse than we think. They couldn't possibly detect ALL codes. but they can find written words, written letters maybe even SOME images or hidden communication systems. but they cant be foolproof. Sewing morse code patterns into your clothes for your innie to read, assuming you know morse code, your innie should too. Then innie can talk back with other systems. Innie tying shoes in an odd way to communicate messages? (you have 6 eyelits. can send 2-4 binary letters per day) - could be shirt buttons but that might be too obvious for security guards. standing or sitting in different places in the elivator? holding up a sign language word to yourself in the elviator during the switch? (help is a simple sign) honestly, I feel like you could force yourself into an emotional state during the ride and feel it both ways. In the Lexington letter, its confirmed she could sense her innie's last emotion on her. I think if someone tried it before and got caught, then the code detector can find it. but if its a new idea, the detector needs to be updated first.

Awww man, just realized I’m behind by 5 theory vids!😫D’OH!…🤔But on the bright side, I’ve got 5 theory vids to binge🎉🎉🎉😂❤

1:50 I'm watching this in January 2024 and crying because the writer's strike put us soo far behind. Glad everyone held out though for what's right and I hope that they give themselves the time it takes to make season 2 as enthralling as season 1 - thank you for your content, so many other theories on youtube are just so superficial.

Hearing that season 2 was supposed to come out a little over a month after me watching this. 😭 However, I’m excited for the writers and hope they get paid significantly more and treated far better in terms of standards! ♥️

Watching this in 2024... oh you poor soul... 8 months....

So I watched all your Severance videos over the last couple days (except the Lexington letter one cause I haven't read that yet) and anyway, I am loving your videos! The editing is awesome and you've pointed out things I never even noticed, like the fact that there was writing on the back of that card Dylan took. I thought Millchick was freaking out because the front of the card just had pictures so possibly could have beaten the "code detectors" but now I'm questioning everything. So, here's a couple theories/questions I have about the show (though the goats may be the #1 thing I want answered lol): 1) Alexa. Maybe I'm paranoid but I just don't trust her. I don't see a connection between her and Mark, and I'm wondering if maybe she's working for Lumon, possibly working for Cobel because what better way to spy on him? But I do think it's weird that Alexa first kisses Mark right when he starts to tell her about Petey- did she not want him to talk about Petey? Did she want to distract him?? Or is she spying for an anti-severance group?? 2) The town they live in makes no sense. It's called Kier based on Irving's map, but it's in a state that doesn't exist in the real world. But they mention other states like Delaware, Minnesota, Montana... so where is Kier? Is this an alternate universe? Did the state it's in take over part of another state? Was there some kind of apocalypse and that's why the town seems so empty at times? Why is Mark's neighborhood mostly empty? So many questions! October can't get here fast enough!

Update: season 2 still isn’t out

I don't believe they're scanning memories in regards to code detection because of the Lexington letter. I don't want to spoil for people, but you can probably figure what I am talking about. (Unless they were letting it go on purpose for some sort of experimental/study reason, but I think that's a few layers too deep...)

Watching in April 2024. The way you say innies. Just hits different brahh. Where Tf my season 2

Whoa! They announced a release date, that's great! Honestly I'm just relieved that it's going to be released this year and we don't have to wait until next year haha.

Here we are in 07/24 and it's not coming for another 6 months!

When you have hardware like that, they tend to be created for very specific purposes and they aren't adaptable outside of that design. To keep it small and implantable, they may have needed to target a reduced, specific, set of functionality. The primary is the Severance of course, but I could see an additional connection specifically to detecting stochastic emotion related to contraband like 'conniving victory' or something. If they work like RFID, then they'd only be able to go from person to detector if they were close, but a stronger signal could still be sent to it. Which would mean they could only get data /off/ the device if they went close enough to a collection point like an elevator, but could still have them react to a strong external signal like triggering the innie to come to the top.

Thought about Milchick and the OTC. If it takes two people theoretically to trigger the OTC, who was helping him do it? Who was back at Lumon holding the two levers for Milchick? Are there multiple Milchicks? Figuring out the whole OTC process is the last couple of episodes was a major part of the plot, so I don’t think this is an insignificant consideration. I don’t think it was Cobel or Grainer either. Maybe it is just a plot hole but I think there’s more there.

What's the deal with Mark's neighborhood why is it just him and Harmony? There are a lot of severed employees why is she watching his outie so closely?

I think Gemma was working for Lumon first and I think Gemma is dead but Ms. Casey isn't. Ms. Casey = Ms. KC = K.C. Kier's Children. She get sent downstairs, the elevator triggers the chip and she reverts to the brain dead body of Gemma

Maybe i missed something, but Dylan didn't take the card into the elevator. He stashed it behind the toilet.

I'm betting that Irving was a combat medic or some sort of medical professional. Between his military paraphernalia and his strangely informed opinions on health. First when he shows concern for Mark having "food poisoning" and then again after Dylan bites Milchick, he says he'll need a full tetanus toxoid panel.

I believe the actual "code detector" is Judd the security guy who sits next to the elevator, and he's just not doing shit to detect anything. Most of the time when Mark leaves he's just gone or coming back late. That guy is just lazy as hell.

Can't see this mentioned anywhere else so here goes: OK so we know that Harmony Cobel is chipped, her name is on the wall of the security office as a person who's undergone the severance procedure. What if she's not chipped in the typical sense and instead she's Harmony Cobel while she's at Lumon but she's Charlotte Cobel when she leaves the office. Thry are still mother and daughter and Charlotte is dead but Charlotte is the digital version captured by the chip recording her life. The hospital bracelet we see says Charlotte Cobel d.o.b. 3-17-44, the picture of the pigtailed girl at Myrtle Eagan camp isn't Harmony, it's Charlotte. She would have been a child in the late 50's / early 60's which is when I think that photo is from. Think about the differences in the character at work and at home. At home she acts and dresses much older (and also wears the pigtails of her childhood), she's very maternal as indicated by her actions with the baby. Harmony hates what was done to her by Charlotte so she's interested in reintegration as a way to undo it, Charlotte is the Eagan cultist which is why she's desperate to save a company that just canned her. This also relates to what Jame Eagan says to Helena at the gala, "you'll be NEXT TO ME at my revolving". He means literally next to him in the same head. It's an immortality game. I also think the board are all digital composites of former CEO's which is why we don't see them physically. Pending results of the field test and legalisation of the procedure, they'll be back in bodies (maybe of Eagan descendants). Long story short, the Eagan family through Lumon is looking to create a population of devoted worker drones to see them as god-kings of a new utopia. Hence the 'Beehive' protocol.

Was Mark targeted because he was a historian specializing in WWI? That's when Kier Eagan would have been CEO. There was that weird remark at the no-dinner dinner party about the Great War not being called WWI... At the time I thought it was just to show how out of touch his circle of friends was, but perhaps that was also intended to probe into Mark's memories of his pre-Lumon life. What if Mark was beginning to uncover some Eagan/Lumon history during WWI that the Eagan's need to bury? And so they killed (?) his wife to motivate him to get the operation, and are now monitoring him inside and outside Lumon to make sure his memory of whatever he uncovered has been thoroughly, properly scrubbed...😮

I've watched multiple times.

Harry Lime!!! That's not a screen name. It's REALLY Harry Lime, who knows a LOT about Lumen because he was in the corporation going way back to just after the war.

it did not come out in october 2023 :(

I still don't understand how the code detectors didn't detect the extra access card that outie marks brings to lumon? Because I remember innie mark has his own & the security card from the head of security too. SO if the code detectors can scan memories they should have detected that outie mark is bringing that card in. SO that theory doesn't hold up imo.

Maybe the real Gemma has been staring us right in the face? And we’ve likely already met Peg Kincaid, author of the Lexington Letter. If we’re looking for a 54 yr old veteran bus driver who’s completely burnt out after over a decade of shuttling misbehaved kids all day - do we need to look much further than Harmony Cobel? She’s stuck shepherding newly minted over-sized toddlers all day, that the actress who plays her is also 54 yrs old makes this far from a stretch of the imagination. The letter has not one year listed (lots of months, plenty of days, but no years!) - either way it’s been long enough since her “death” to bring her back into the Lumon cult-fold. But why be so nice and darn near loving to Mark at home, yet want to ring his neck like the rest of the toddlers at work? Simplest answer being the best at times - she’s Severed with Mark’s wife, will the real Sevy-chipped Gemma please stand up! Lol! Prob no wickeder punishment than forcing 2 Lumon runaways to share a host body - Peg wanted to know what was going on inside Lumon so badly, now she’s stuck there perpetually, meanwhile Gemma is stuck forever pining over a husband who has no idea she’s one driveway away. Feels very much like a dancing Milchick move (poor Dylan!). Ms. Casey seems like a failed experiment that ultimately had to go back to the factory - can a person truly survive as the perfect emotionless shell, devoid of all 4 tempers? Guess it’s back to the chalkboard, I mean Testing Floor. Nautilus Thank You for all these super entertaining walkthrus! It’s been a LOT of fun putting my detective hat on and tucking my tinfoil! (:-D

Gemma and reghabi were working together, lumon wants to find reghabi to do the same they did to Gemma, I think Gemma sacrificed herself to help reghabi get out, that is why reghabi knew Mark when he answered peteys cellphone.

If the "code detector" works by scanning recent memories, then what's to stop one of them slipping a note to another? Whichever innie is leaving first, the innie leaving last put-pockets the note on them. If the scanner can detect that, the first innie is already outtie and far away from Lumon and hopefully has found the note.

There is a panopticon in use in New Delhi today.

I, too, think the code detectors are absolute bull. It's a scare tactic and the times the superiors actually know something it's just because of regular surveillance.

im just very scared because of netflix ptsd, that severance will eventually be cancelled

ok so hear me out… pls! this is a theory i have been formulating for like two days now in regards to the “5th bin” in the MDR computers as well as the 5th bathroom despite there only ever being allowed 4 innies in that department…. and it’s also related to the connection between their department and the optics group: perhaps the 5th bin represents something much … deeper. perhaps, it represents the empathetic nature that emerges as the innie employees develop relationships within the confines of that space. and because they are “new” and evolving “trauma responses” that have nothing to do with the outies subconscious memories or woes, they are literally experiencing new emotions that are thus far “mysterious” and important and crucial not only to the employees themselves, but to the collective “purpose” (evolution) of the “company”… i’m using a lot of metaphors here because it’s basically impossible to verbalize… which even proves my idea to myself right now even more so literally as i am writing this lol. maybe the 5th stall is meant to represent “growth” but not in the literal/visual way as so much as the internal structure of the healing process. as we rid ourselves of suffering, we become receptive for “the new”… or maybe it’s simply for milchick? he’s in there pretty often. in fact, he’s… everywhere, pretty often. this empathy/evolution/healing idea of mine can also somewhat be supported by the fact that when the two departments finally meet and the head of the optics department assures them that the MDR innies are “friends” and welcome, and not to be feared, nobody really does anything on the optics part of it. it’s almost as if they are paralyzed by the actual first hand visualization of seeing their most trusted guides irving and burt (both of them being the most “balanced” and non/dual even to the degree they have seemingly no gender/sex bias and are sapio sexual beings although irving seems to be only just coming into the knowledge of within as that is probably what his reasoning for joining the company was but that’s not certain of course, just my personal perspective based on his tentativeness versus burt’s confidence and self control and awareness within) leading the connection with a solidity and confidence that manifests into a general “calming atmosphere” throughout the entire room and even effects milchick, despite him being adamant about making sure to prevent any further connections. i find it super interesting that instead of punishing burt, he basically rewards him with the greatest reward that is truly substantial (retirement from the program) in contrast to the menial dopamine inducing child like rewards the MDR department receives from their accomplishments… i could go on and on and on. i have a HUGE theory about the whole of the show in general that is genuinely outstanding and monumental making it quite possibly one of the greatest works in cinema, if it is true. but i will have to spend a lot of time working on formulating and perfecting the way in which i administer it.

If the code detectors scanned chips Peggy would not have been able to sneak anything out. Also it's possible Milchick needed the card returned to save his own skin/job, it's also possible that the missing card needed to be returned as soon as possible for corporate Lumon reasons. So that's why the sudden over reaction that resulted in the rash decision to wake up Dylan G. Corporate powers often over react when they feel their control may be threatened. Also also since Peggy was able to get something past the code detectors in the Lexinton letter, then Lumon has every reason to believe their may be other ways around it. All in all, not that shocking that Milchick did what he did to secure company data/property.

The code detectors are definately real, why else did everything turn red when helly entered, and why did mark speak about the enema or whatever as if it had happened before? Tho i did get the feeling milchick thought dylan smuggled it out. I think the code detector only detects some messages, and the ideographic cards were specifically designed as to not activate the code detector

I wonder if the "code detector," is just a high-tech polygraph. 🤷🏻

Why is Lumon spelled with an -mon and not -men? Could it be referring to Lucifer?

Ayy that SamSepi0l art is tight

October 2023?! Oh how I wish… now because of the writer’s strike and actor’s strike which is still ongoing now, the internet is saying it won’t release until 2024 or 2025 even. Wth

Whyyyyyyyyyy????? Why is it going to be EIGHT MONTHS? Thanks for your content. It does help. :)

Don’t the cards around their neck have the Lumen logo/name on them?

Where was the information abt Gemma running from the Lumom goons and crashing her car from? Don't ever remember hearing abt this