#mark and helly vs mark and gemma this

[girlchomp]

severance is crazy bc why am i rooting for a month long work situationship as equally as i am rooting for a four year long marriage in which the love was so great it literally tore one of them in two

[douwatahima]

y'all, it was always going to end this way. from the moment mark scout told mark s. about reintegration, it was always going to end this way. mark scout literally looked mark s. in the eyes and said "we're going to have a life, and it's going to my life. we're going to live in my house with my wife and have the life i want. and you're going to like it because you're an extension of me." he didn't see mark s. as a person and that, in the end, was his greatest downfall.

mark s. did what mark scout asked. he fought his way to the elevator and he ran ms. casey to the stairs so she could be gemma again in the outside world. he saved the poor, tortured, woman trapped in lumon's basement because that was the right thing to do. but then, when faced with a choice between dying forever or turning around to try and somehow have a life of his own? with the woman he loves? of course he turned around.

this doesn't have anything to do with which ship is better or what was the most logical thing to do or even what mark and helly are going to do now. the point is mark s. stood there at the door, at the literal precipice of death, and said "i want to live. i want to live. i want to live." and come on, wouldn't you do the same?

[spiderworries]

if you were two years old and lived in a basement and fell in love in a way that wasn’t supposed to be possible for you (you aren’t supposed to have a life. you’re a body. you exist for labor). and you knew that if you left you would die (or cease to exist in the way you do now) and that the love of your life would die, and even worse- that the you that survives won’t even think of what you experienced as real love- you would stay too. mark s was never going to leave. this is the same person that severed himself to escape from the pain of losing gemma. do y’all actually think he was gonna let helly die for the good of his outie?

[whoviandoodler]

the restaurant scene my god. that brief moment when mark shared a real laugh and a close moment with helena despite just meeting her and then recoiled in confusion and shook his head. his manner and the look in his eyes by the end of that interaction when he shoved down the inexplicable, split-second slip into easy companionship and looked at her like the destructive, dangerous stranger she is to him. the stark difference between omark and imark in that scene; down at lumon, mark was the naif, the child, the fumbling one; outside the severed floor, helena took that role. next to a regular adult she looks like the sheltered woman she is, deprived of all the usual experiences that shape a person; in so many ways, she herself is as much of an innie as helly is, but unlike helly who can evolve, helena will always be waking up on that table, over and over, no matter how much she tries to convince herself having memories makes her immune to an amorphous existence.

[oncelerfucker]

Yes autonomy is a major theme in Severance. Yes there was a bold and beautiful statement about the autonomy of the innies, Mark S. in particular, at the end of season two. Yes it makes complete sense for Mark S. to have made the choices he did.

And also — trauma and healing from it (or a lack of healing from it) is also a major theme in Severance.

It's very common to view yourself as disconnected from yourself after trauma. Who you were before and who you are after are two "different" people. As such, a huge part of healing from trauma can be working towards seeing yourself as "whole" again. That's not to say that trauma makes one "incomplete" but that for some people beginning to recognize the "ugly" parts of their emotions as part of themself wrt healing from trauma is related to self compassion, forgiveness, and acceptance.

Which I think lends itself to the fact that innies and outies are the same person in the sense that their personalities and emotional patterns shine through regardless of their memories. Because of that I think the way they are treated by each other (innie vs outie) is more reflective of how the characters view themselves than anything else.

For example: Dylan hates himself, but he wants to like himself. He wants to be better, he just doesn't know how (thinking about how it's very heavily implied he has ADHD or another kind of neurodivergence that contributes to the way he struggles). Dylan is uncomfortable with and self conscious about his disregulation. He idealizes the parts of him that he wants to be more like, that he wants to strive for. Of course wanting to believe a part of him that he'll never fully meet is cool is something that is true for himself regardless of if he's at home or at Lumon — he desperately wants to like himself and find something he is good at. That's why he is angry but understanding to himself regarding Gretchen. That's why he gives himself autonomy.

Dylan sees himself and goes "That's a man I may not know, but I recognize him" because he recognizes his emotions and knows who he is despite the ways he may hate it.

Mark hates himself, but he fundamentally doesn't want to change. Mark does not see himself as autonomous because for the last several years he's been the guy that a bad thing happened to who can't confront it. Grief can cause you to strip your autonomy from yourself in real life, the severance procedure is just an extremely literal way of going about it. Mark is comfortable in his suffering. He's stuck in bargaining and depression. He is a man who lives comfortably in his depression hole and only changes his tune when it is theoretically possible to get his old life back. Of course neither part of himself sees the other as an equal — he hates that guy and constantly belittles himself because of his grief. He already doesn't see himself as autonomous so why would he ever view himself that way in any other context?

Mark sees himself and goes "That's a man I refuse to know and refuse to recognize" because he cannot bring himself to recognize his own emotions and understand himself in his emotional complexities.

For some the only way to heal from your traumas is to find a compassionate lense to look at and understand yourself through.

Dylan is beginning to do that without even working towards reintegration.

Mark has completely rejected that despite forcing himself into reintegration. Mark — innie and outie — will continue to lose narratively for as long as he cannot view himself with empathy.

[consultingfujoshi]

so if cold harbour actually has helly's ID number and helly is gonna be the one to find the testing floor not mark then I think they genuinely want her down there i think it was always intended for helena to take gemma's place once the severance procedure is "perfected" with cold harbour. after all lumon wouldn't want to present some random woman no one knows of as the example of a perfect human, and how would they explain where she came from, anyway? no, they need it to be helena, they need it to be an eagan, to further the mythology of the lineage and continue pushing the narrative of them being the chosen people who will save the world. in the end gemma's suffering will have been for nothing, no one will remember her name or what she gave for the supposed future of humanity, helena and the eagans will be the ones to take all the credit. just another layer of jame taking cobel's innovation for his own and burying her name and contributions. because the illusion of a better brighter future is always built upon the labour of less fortunate and often marginalised people whilst the rich, powerful, influential, often white people who facilitated that suffering hold themselves up as the heroes

[kestrel-of-herran]

oh nothing just some interesting quotes from the hollywood reporter's review of season two

[selfdesructs]

im waiting on all the creatives in the fandom to give me the mark and gemma fanfics and edits I need, im tired of the main fandom dominant discourse of “you don’t get it,” anytime anyone roots for mark being reunited with his WIFE, the central relationship that allowed the show to exist, like im happy innie mark and helly are expressing autonomy and their personhood is valid, but is it my fault dichen lachman stole the entire show for me by being that good and that adam scott played his outie with such constant, deep love and devotion to her like im sorry I just root for them more !!! (i though the season and finale were amazing)

[sorrydetka]

thinking about how we followed jimmy and kim’s relationship for the entire show, because they were the show, and how they did g say i love you until the end. “i love you.” “i love you too but so what?” and thinking about how in severance we have followed mark and helly for the entire show, because again, they are the show, and the love word is used by innie mark when talking to outie mark and it is so devastating. “it’s helly actually. helly. it’s the person i’m in love with. she’s who i’ll lose if i do what you say.” and how in both shows, we didn’t need to hear it said, because we could feel it, but once you hear it oh the fucking tragedy and the end truly sets in

[macdennisnation]

“Helly was never cruel” is not the same as Helly would never choose herself. Y’all are wild for saying that Helly would have told Mark S to go with Gemma. Why would she give up the only thing she truly loves? The only thing she knows? Her taking Mark’s hand is not cruel. He’s the one who made the choice, all she did was make it clear that he had one.

[coffeekaspbrak]

already annoying bitches on twitter hating on innie mark for the end of the episode…. you really just want him to roll over and die? just give his life for something he has no recognition or memory of? exhibiting entitlement over his literal LIFE AND BODY?? you want him to die so that his double who made him in the first place to suffer can experience love as a reward for his grief? you’re mad at the alter who’s exiled to the subterranean floor of hell company 24/7, born to toil and labor in his uncaring maker’s place, for not sacrificing himself 😭😭😭 lmao fuck y’all. how can you actually ask someone to be exploited, serve their ultimate purpose to the superior, and then die. y’all are no better than lumon

[greentea-and-honey]

MOOT DID YOU WATCH THE FINALE

yah and im having a normal one about it!!! im very measured about the media i consume. now if youll excuse me im going to go stare at my ceiling disassociate and listen to radiohead for as long as my psyche can physically handle

[coachbeards]

sometimes i read severance posts and theories and just think. huh. you guys really don’t see the innies as their own people, do you.

[thedailydescent]

instead of having interesting discussions about identity and autonomy with regards to innies and outies, the whole concept of "are innies and outies the same person?" seem to boil down to whom you are shipping, which...*sighs*

[good-enemy]

Finally started watching severance, I'm a few episodes in and I have several questions, first off why does Helly only seem to own 1 pair of shoes

[pk-heart]

people are crazy I'm on the innies' side always