skygiants | (no subject)

Severance S2, the finale and overall:

I loved the first season of Severance, but my favorite episode was absolutely the last one; it pulled some things together and opened others up in a way that filled the narrative with tension and possibility, and made me feel retroactively higher on the entire season, when I had already really enjoyed. Unfortunately the last episode of S2 -- honestly, the last three minutes of S2 -- is having something of the opposite effect.

There's some stuff in this season I really loved. Big ups on everything to do with Milchick and Ms. Huang and the miserable position of the marginalized middle manager; the production team clearly looked at Travell Tillman and said "THIS MAN IS A PERFECT GEM AND WE NEED TO HIGHLIGHT HIS GIFTS FROM EVERY LITERAL AND METAPHORICAL ANGLE" and they were right. He lies effortlessly! He dances ferociously! He's trapped in a petty power struggle with his direct report, who is twelve years old! He fights desperately for his dignity even as it becomes increasingly clear that everything about his so-called successes are designed to mercilessly strip him of it, and yet nothing about this slow and terrible realization stops him from his endless commitment to ensuring that every bit of absurd corporate choreography goes off without a hitch! Every time I see the impeccable results of his labor I am absolutely riveted and also irresistibly reminded of this meme; this man has bought up every pineapple arrangement in town and where is his pineapple arrangement? If ever anyone deserved one, Mr. Milchick does.

And .... medium ups on the Irving and Dylan plotlines? Medium because while I liked them while they were happening, the way in which they happened ties in to my two big complaints about this season:

a.) One of the things I loved about the last episode of s1 was that it felt like the world was opening up: this was becoming an ensemble show, about a big, rich world. It is not. It is a show about a central love triangle with a lot of interesting side characters and b-plots. But they are side characters, and b-plots. Mark S is the center of the show. He is the specialest boy. What was everybody else doing in MDR for all those years? Who knows. Seems unimportant.

b.) One of the other things I Loved about s1 was the fact that it felt like the dynamic between the core MDR team was the show's central relationship. It is not. The love triangle is the central relationship. This season, romantic love is, for everyone, the central relationship. It is the thing around which they build and explore their identities. It is, as

genarti put it, shipper-brained.

Coming into this season, the thing I was most excited about was finding up what's up with Irving Bailiff, after the extremely evocative hints we got in the finale of S1. Episode after episode, I got hyped on tiny hints -- but in fact the show did not seem much interested in Irving Bailiff except as a man whose innie fell in love, and what did that mean for him? Dylan's outie, last season, was introduced through his children; this season, we explore the question of the fact that both his innie and his outie love his wife, and what does that mean for him? Let me be clear: I don't dislike either of these things except that they are the only things. How does Mark S feel about having a sister? How does Dylan feel about his children? How does Irving feel about his dog? Last season it seemed like we might care about that; this season we don't. There is some really lovely and evocative stuff with innie Irving and his connections to the team this season, everything that happened in the ORTBO episode absolutely hit for me, the fact that Irving was the only person to recognize the difference between Helena and Helly hit for me -- but then it didn't matter? I think it didn't matter. Why do I think it didn't matter? Well, the last three minutes of this season, the thing that it really wants to leave us with as we go into break, are a stylishly cinematographic evocation of Main Character Man, Caught Between Two Women --

It's a really effective statement of priorities, and unfortunately they are not my priorities. It's amazing how differently I would feel about this if Dylan had been in those shots as well -- if the choice that Mark was making had not been so clearly framed as Two Love Interests, but two lives lived. But as one of my friends pointed out, Dylan does not even talk to his friends in the final episode. He shows up at the right time to help, and it's important, but it doesn't matter. What matters is who Mark is going to choose to be, and who you are, this season, is who you love [ROMANTICALLY]. How do you erase Gemma from Gemma? By erasing Mark. How does Helena steal Helly's identity? By banging Mark. I don't hate romance, but using who's macking on who as a shortcut for all the show's other big themes is just so lazy. Surely there is more to a selfhood than this? (Surely we could care about Helena and Gemma's selfhoods more than this?)

Well. We'll see whether it doubles down in S3, I guess. As long as Travell Tillman gets at least one fantastic dance sequence per season I'm still in.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

sovay

How do you erase Gemma from Gemma? By erasing Mark. How does Helena steal Helly's identity? By banging Mark.

I am sorry everything collapsed into the event horizon of romantic love. The parts that had osmosed into my awareness sounded like they were playing with Orpheus and Eurydike.

From:

skygiants

They definitely are playing with the Orpheus myth and you can tell they are very proud of themselves about it! And that's fine! No shade to a fun riff on Orpheus; some shade to making your theoretically interesting Orpheus riff feel like the distracted boyfriend meme.

From:

sovay

No shade to a fun riff on Orpheus; some shade to making your theoretically interesting Orpheus riff feel like the distracted boyfriend meme.

You basically have to be Cocteau to carry that off without everyone looking like an idiot and not everyone is Cocteau.

From:

musesfool

Agreed! Though I like the show less than a lot of people I know, so I might just be a crank about it.

Also, there was so much stuff that they could have shown us - Mark and Devon making a plan, Cobel answering some actual questions, wtf Iriving is up to on the train to the Medium Place - but instead we got a lot of cool visuals that I at least did not find emotionally resonant.

(Also, even without going with her, Mark S. could have conveyed to Gemma that she go upstairs and find Devon in the parking lot ASAP! I am so scared for Gemma right now, that after all that, she's not going to get out.)

From:

skygiants

Yeah, I feel like the creative team got very hype on visuals this season to some storytelling detriment. As a vidder I understand, but I think some things were perhaps lost along the way!

(Honestly it REALLY seems that all the time they spent making in the sub-basement could have more usefully been spent conveying actual information about what was going to happen next!!)

From:

kore

"stylishly cinematographic evocation of Main Character Man, Caught Between Two Women -- "

Oh that's my absolute DNW. I can't stand love triangles.

I read an article that said something like, it's Orpheus and Eurydice except at the end Orpheus is the one who looks back to remain in Hell.

From:

skygiants

Yeah, the article is right! I'm not mad about the Orpheus and Eurydice riff; in and of itself, it's clever enough. I'm mad that it's framed as if the reason that Orpheus turns back is Another Woman, rather than His Whole Life As A Human Person.

From:

alias_sqbr

Oh god I hadn't put together that "romantic love is all that matters" was the theme for EVERYONE but it totally is /o\ And I like stories of romantic love plenty but not when it's literally all that matters to everyone. Even that creepy scientist dude!

From:

skygiants

It really does seem like the show this season feels like the most Fundamental Human Thing you can do is fall in love, that the fact that you can fall in love is what makes you a Real Person. And the more I think about it the more it feels like a really stark contrast to last season, where the whole team's loyalty to each other were the humanizing forces within MDR.

From:

sovay

And the more I think about it the more it feels like a really stark contrast to last season, where the whole team's loyalty to each other were the humanizing forces within MDR.

Did they change showrunners?

From:

skygiants

The showrunner's the same and I think most of the writing team is as well, but they did get caught mid-S2 planning by the writer's strike, and I wouldn't be surprised if that had an impact ...

From:

lirazel

I'm hoping that's the explanation and they can re-calibrate for season 3.

From:

lirazel

the production team clearly looked at Travell Tillman and said "THIS MAN IS A PERFECT GEM AND WE NEED TO HIGHLIGHT HIS GIFTS FROM EVERY LITERAL AND METAPHORICAL ANGLE" and they were right.

All the Emmys! His performance has been incredible! We better get a backstory episode next season!

Totally agreed about the way it closed in on Mark this season and how annoying that is.

One of the other things I Loved about s1 was the fact that it felt like the dynamic between the core MDR team was the show's central relationship. It is not. The love triangle is the central relationship. This season, romantic love is, for everyone, the central relationship. It is the thing around which they build and explore their identities. It is, as [personal profile] genarti put it, shipper-brained.

THANKS I HATE IT.

Let me be clear: I don't dislike either of these things except that they are the only things.

EXACTLY.

. It's amazing how differently I would feel about this if Dylan had been in those shots as well -- if the choice that Mark was making had not been so clearly framed as Two Love Interests, but two lives lived.

Yes.

I am really hopeful that the show knows how narrow it went this season and is going to use it for a purpose next season, but WHO KNOWS at this point.

From:

skygiants

I'm rooting for them to pull it together for S3! Part of this is definitely that the last episode of S1 had my expectations so high that it's hard to imagine where things could have gone but down so it is certainly possible that we'll have the opposite trajectory next time.

From:

lirazel

Yeah, I definitely think they can pull it together for S3, but whether they will remains a mystery.

From:

in_the_blue

It seems to me that this is a show that fell more in love with its own popularity and mythology than with its consistency (cue seasons 5&6 of LOST). I really did love the first season because it was all about discovery. What is going on, why is it going on, what can be done about it, should anything be done about it? All that got shoved under the table and was replaced with easy-ish explanations (except for the goats, and How Devon Knew Everything™) and a way bigger interest in Mark S and his love life than was actually warranted. Style over substance can take viewers through an episode or two, but not a whole season.

From:

skygiants

Yeah, it's a beautiful show and I don't mind it reveling in its own style -- I loved the ridiculous ORTBO episode -- but not at the expense of its heart!

From:

starlady

I became significantly more reconciled to the innies' choices when one review or another pointed out that they are not adults, they are probably equivalent to teenagers, and like teenagers in love for the first time, they are making a lot of stupid and short-sighted decisions.

Not that it necessarily disproves your point, but it is striking to think about how the secondary cast is not motivated by romantic love. Devon, Cobel, Milchilk, Eagan...these are not lovers. (I honestly think they sort of forgot about Devon's baby after the first few episodes, which is just funny.)