Real or Simulated: 'Severance' and Its Fourth Episode

Hey y'all, it's the podcast taking it down.

We're the TV and streaming podcast for the website the Alabama Take.

And not only are we the TV and streaming podcast for the working class, we refuse to spoil a thing until we give some general non ruinous thoughts on the show or movie we're covering for the week.

This time, Adam Donovan and I will primarily focus on the ongoing Apple TV plus series Severance.

It continues its second season each Friday on that streamer.

Before I get them in here to talk about those kinds of things, though, I've continued American Primeval on Netflix.

I gotta be honest, I can't remember if I brought it up on the podcast.

My mentioning of it may be new to you if you're a regular listener.

My first reaction, I think, was with the first and second episode.

I had some frustration with character writing for Taylor Kitsch's Isaac.

I feel like his development was stymied by a lot of tropes.

But it starts to jump that obstacle in the third episode, the most recent I have watched.

It's always a joy to see Shay Wiggum and the fact that he's in a Western is a perfect fit for him.

It's a good cast, it's good acting.

I think the direction is really stylized, sometimes to a fault, but it's taking a segment of history, even if it's fictionalizing it, that we don't see as much.

Granted, it's a western, we've all seen those, but I didn't know much about the Utah War with the Mormons and the natives and the army and just settlers as well.

I think that can be interesting.

Betty Gilpin is in this show and she's doing a wonderful job.

And I also like when there are several plot lines going at once.

None of them are any worse than the other.

They're all quite good and interesting.

So when you switch a bunch of scenes like this, you're engaged in what's going to happen to this particular set of characters, and you just know that all of them are snowballing into the same point at the bottom of the hill.

If you're a fan of Kind of a new Western, Neo Western, I think you'll get a lot of enjoyment out of this Netflix series.

Eight episodes, limited series.

It's directed by Peter Berg.

I can sometimes take or leave his choices, but it's coalescing into a pretty decent 45, 50 minutes of television just to go around.

Okay, I'm going to bring in Adam and Donovan and we're going to talk Very briefly about what's coming on television.

Then we're going to get into non spoilers for episode four, severance.

We'll take a little break after that, and we'll get into all the details of episode 4.

Let's get them in.

Here they are.

First up, studio and touring musician Adam Morrow.

Adam, you want to plug Sister Ray Davies real quick?

I mean, we got.

I guess we have the single out, right?

We could talk about that war machine.

The purpose of the system is what it does, which is the news that we see every day now by the hour.

I'm gonna toot Adam's horn, because he won't, but it's good stuff.

And you might see him in your neighborhood because he's.

There might be a little traction to.

His music if I can encourage it.

So I got.

I told these guys this, but I got nice ish headphones for Christmas, and the song I used to try them out for the first time was this one.

And God damn, y'all, if you can actually hear it.

That's smart.

It sounds very good.

Get y'all some good headphones.

Go look up Sister A.

Davies and just play it three times through.

I promise you, you will not regret.

It if you could do that on one of the services that pays a higher per stream.

If you're gonna stream it three times, maybe don't use Spotify.

Oh, I'm an Apple guy.

I made the switch to Apple.

We don't have to get in the weeds here, but I could edit this.

If you want to just chat about Apple, I'm cool with that.

Well, I mean, I think it's relevant to people who would listen to this.

Yeah.

This podcast.

How much better Apple sounds.

It does.

Yeah, thoroughly.

Have you uploaded the single to pornhub yet?

I can't access it from Alabama to upload it.

Well, only if you.

Only if you're too cowardly to put in your id.

Could you imagine the denial of.

Sorry, my government id.

My driver's license was uploaded to pornhub.

I was trying to put my band's song on there.

I read it for the articles.

Hand on the Bible, I swear that's why.

People of Alabama, Are you gonna let.

Are you gonna let John Roberts out?

Porn you.

If you like Shoe Gaze with a bit of a twist, can I say, is that fair?

She goes with some twists.

Yeah, yeah.

If you like.

She goes with some twist.

I'd add multiple twists.

Give Sister Ray Davies a.

A listen.

I mean, and I'm serious, guys.

If Adam is absent this summer, or later from.

From our show.

It's.

He might be in your neighborhood.

Go see him and his.

His pal, his friend, his co musician.

Jamie.

Jamie Seago.

Good stuff.

And then, well, you've heard him already.

It's film connoisseur, media specialist, the smartest of the bunch.

It's Donovan Reinwalt.

Hey, Donovan.

Two of those three descriptors just go hand in hand with this pornhub rant.

So, of course, we're continuing coverage on Severance as it's released its fourth episode of its second season on Friday.

Friday releases are where it's at, guys.

Yeah, it just.

It works perfectly for us.

Yeah, well, that's what I was gonna add.

We.

You know, we have White Lotus debuting its first episode of their third seasons in a.

In a week, give or take less than a week.

If you're listening to us on Tuesday, and those are on Sundays.

Sunday television is wonderful.

There's a comfort to it.

It takes care of the dread of Monday in a lot of cases.

But it gives our podcast this appearance that we're always a week behind the times.

And for those new to taking it down, we record on Sunday, and we release bright and early on Tuesday mornings.

And we'll probably talk about the White Lotus.

We're all three fans, I think, so.

Big fans, I would say.

Yeah.

And because it's an anthology, it's a lot of fun to unpack when it begins again.

Yeah.

Have y'all seen the trailer for the new White Lotus?

Yeah, I've yet to watch it.

I know it's out, but what can you tell me?

There's a setup, there's a premise, but honestly, it's like you guys have done enough, built up enough goodwill that you could show me anything.

Yeah, that's the way I am a lot with trailers.

If I know I'm gonna watch it, I just.

Just did.

Not right.

You know, they've already.

They passed the test because they.

They had a great first season and then a great second season.

So now I have full trust that they can do it again.

There was a sophomore slump there.

That's Mad Men rules right there.

Yeah.

Well, you do.

You do one, too.

Good.

I'm there with you the rest of the way.

Yeah.

I mean, hell, all you gotta do for me is do it one season.

Pretty.

Pretty well when I'm on.

On board.

The only thing I know about the White Lotus is that this season's supposed to be a little more intense.

Brutal.

What's.

I've just seen that in different articles.

How.

How Is.

How is that possible after last season?

Maybe more murder?

I have no idea.

I would love if they just brought Jennifer Coolidge back with no explanation.

The gays.

They're trying to kill me.

Great line from season two.

I don't think we could add any more to our severance discussion.

That's non spoiler.

Did.

Did y'all like this week's entry?

I liked that it gave me an opportunity to bring up pornhub.

Okay.

You're gonna.

You gonna tie that bow for us in the spoiler section?

Yeah, so.

So I will.

And this is non spoiler.

And I didn't accomplish it.

But I will tell you what it made me do.

It made me sit down and look Freud's.

Freud's.

Freud's essay on the uncanny.

And try to.

Because that was what was going in the back of my head.

Did you read it or just look at this episode?

Freud's kind of dense.

I'm about three pages in.

Yeah.

His writing is short, but it's so dense.

And a lot of it is like Freud's psychoanalytic theory, too.

But I was watching, and I think this is where he.

He actually quotes.

I think it's Hoffman.

ETA Hoffman.

Oh, no.

Sorry.

E.

Gents.

And I think this actually bears on this episode.

In telling a story, one of the most successful devices for easily creating uncanny effects is to leave the reader in uncertainty whether a particular figure in the story is a human being or an automaton, and to do it in such a way that his attention is not directly focused upon his uncertainty so that the effect of the story is heightened.

That's a lot to unpack.

We got some of that going on very visually, literally, in this story, in this episode, and then also on almost like an emotional level.

Good stuff.

Yeah, thanks for bringing it up.

All right, so I like this episode is what I'm saying.

I loved it.

And I think it.

It continues to do a thing that we talked a bit about last week, which is it's answering questions that seemed big and the lesser shows would need to build a whole season around.

And the fact that they're just flying through some of this information in episode four and three, you know, all along the way, they're.

They're doling it out instead of making us wait and.

Yeah, I mean, I think it's great.

It's funny that they.

We.

Maybe the three of us kind of would probably teeter on.

Let's do a deep dive.

Let's.

Let's really focus on a couple of big questions and unravel them in depth versus get around and answer some of these questions and quit stretching it thin.

It's such a balancing act, right?

Because it's almost here's where I'm really going to tie it together.

It's almost like sex.

If it doesn't have an ending, then was it really worth it?

But also, do you want it to be all over right away?

That's actually pretty insightful, donwan.

I mean I'm being silly, but also like think about something that I think we would agree is the antithesis of this Lost, which was doesn't satisfy us.

Yeah, no.

What are the reasons?

I'll also say this is non spoilerly too.

Just talking about what I liked about this episode.

It wasn't perfect, but when it got to the end I was like, I bet Ben Stiller directed this.

Oh yeah, and by gosh, he did.

It looked good work, Mr.

Still.

You learned a thing or two over the years.

That's absolutely one of the things I want to touch on, which I'll save for spoiler section.

I think we've reached that point.

We're going to stop briefly here so no one's ruined or spoiled on coverage of Severance.

For the fourth episode especially, we'll do so with a podcast promotion you'll enjoy from our friends Tim and George at SETI Bimco.

I've gotten to know them via email and they're super nice guys.

So uh, we'll be back after about a 30 second break.

I'm George O'Connor, the New York Times best selling author of the Olympians and Asgardians.

I'm Tim Hamilton, cartoonist for the New Yorker.

Here at SETI Bimco we watch movies of dubious quality and fabricate revenge sequels for them that they never had before.

We also have fun games such as George's current currency.

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What do you think they would cost today, Tim?

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Seti Pimco Part 2 the Revenge Every.

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Okay, we're back.

If you haven't watched Severance and its fourth episode, Woes Hollow is the name of this.

Am I right about Hollow?

Yeah, yeah, Holler.

Yeah, it's pronounced.

Well it would be this were set in the south.

We don't know where it's said I guess, which is some of our discussion.

Easily be Tennessee I think that was.

A live look at New Orleans a.

Few weeks ago that got me.

This episode was the one that really drove home an idea that you don't give a corporation control over your head.

Yeah.

Just this episode finally got around to saying this.

Well, no, no, yeah, I will say that because we have all been in agreement that this is very anti capitalism, of course, but here it was even more anti capital corporation, specifically within the capitalist structure.

We're not sure that this isn't all a dream or a hallucination, especially since the previous episode left off at such a pivotal spot that you kind of accept the writers are going to be willing to resume right there.

I'm not going to say this is a perfect read, but I think it's kind of acceptable to say this could be a.

A poke it.

Facebook and meta have that much control and really get in your mind and be virtual.

Oh, I see it.

Yeah.

You know, my.

My thought watching this is like, if anyone out there is truly letting Elon Musk put anything in their brain, you should watch this episode.

Yeah.

Possibly with your lawyer present.

Blaine, are you entertaining the idea that.

Do we want to go ahead and just spoil the entire thing?

Yeah, we're in spoilers.

You can say whatever you want.

I think the question.

There's a.

There's a point that needs to be made, like, is this a simulation of some sort?

Or is this in a room somewhere?

Or are they all like.

Or are they actually out in the woods?

I think it could be either one, and we'll probably get the answer at some point, but for now, it's fun to speculate.

So you think it's simulation?

I don't know.

I haven't decided.

I haven't come down on what I think.

That seal was the polar bear on Lost.

Oh, my God.

I forgot about the seal.

There's so.

There's so much going on in this episode.

Yeah.

There's two things that make me think it's not a simulation.

And I am.

I'm fine to be wrong about this as more information is given, but one, when he says this is the tallest waterfall in the world, wouldn't you create a more.

Obviously, it doesn't take a lot to impress the innies, but wouldn't you still see a waterfall?

Wouldn't you still create a larger waterfall than that?

Did you guys point at the TV and yell fake news?

No, I actually wrote a letter to Apple.

This is not the largest.

This is misinformation.

I have done my research.

Two, if they were somewhere in controlled space.

Lumen, controlled space.

Couldn't they have dealt with the pivotal scene in a different way?

Heli.

Being held underwater.

It seemed like they really had to like radio back to home base.

Yeah, that's a good point.

You know, there's also this theory floating about the Internet that's even their home lives are somehow controlled or like manipulated.

Manipulated?

Yeah, like see that like there's, there's some form of severing going on even at.

At home or outside of the office.

I'm willing to believe that the, the totalitarian corporation does in fact want to absorb all aspects of its employees life.

Like I would be willing to believe.

That they live in company neighborhoods.

Right.

I mean they're all named after like different.

Mark definitely does.

Yeah, I guess the other ones were not.

It's not confirmed.

Donova brought up in non spoilers that it's directed by Ben Stiller and just some.

A little checklist of things that, that make it wonderful direction.

The soundscape of this episode deserves some praise.

It's definitely the most cinematic of any episode so far.

Those distant shots of them going to and fro in the, in this wilderness and then right after the sex scene their faces are cut in two.

It's a nice reminder of that these aren't just two personalities of work versus home, but two separate people.

Probably as in Mark is a separate person than he is when he's at home and grieving over Gemma.

There was some stuff here and it's probably just because it's been on the mind, but there were a couple shots there, especially like when they really pulled out or the director really pulled out.

Just choice of words.

Oh yeah.

Hey, that was good.

I knew that one.

The others were intentional.

Dude.

I almost thought like, wow, this is.

This is like on the edge of something I'd see in like Twin Peaks, the Return or something.

Yeah, I mean this was.

It was hard not to think of lynch this whole episode, really.

Yeah, I felt the same way mostly in a.

Like this is the first time I've seen television try to do something like this since Lynch.

Just embrace not only the weirdness but the darkness and the, you know, finding the seal and then being like, do we need to eat this?

You know, all of this, like the creepy story.

Yeah, creepy, Very creepy story.

And he did.

There were a few shots.

You're talking about the, the sex scene specifically where Irv is also wandering through the woods.

There was one shot where it almost looked like their skin like came in through the woods.

Yeah.

The way that they transitioned.

But I don't.

I meant to go back and watch it again.

Yeah, it looked like an old school like screen wipe kind of thing.

Yes.

The way that it faded in, but it.

It was almost like a creature was going.

And you're like, oh, that's.

That's just two humans, you know.

Yeah.

And it just such a strong.

Like that.

The evening scene, the night scenes, they're diving into subconscious kind of exploration.

And that.

That muddy water of that.

That screen wipe was so good.

Yeah.

So.

Yes.

So editing there as.

As well as some of the other things we've mentioned.

This episode felt like it.

Like mil check saying to them, you wanted to see the outdoors.

Well, here's.

Yeah, that's totally what it is, right?

Oh yeah.

It's almost a form of you asked for it, now you're gonna get it.

Yeah.

You know, they keep showing the picture of.

I guess it's.

It's the founder looking over the hilltop down on the lakes.

And it looks a lot like Michigan.

Have you guys noticed this?

It looks like the Great Lakes.

That's a good thought.

I just keep getting stuck on like it's so clearly.

What is it?

Wander in the sea of clouds or whatever.

You're right.

The.

That.

That's Wanderer above the sea of fog.

Yeah, something like that.

Boy, it looks.

It looks just like that.

It.

That was painted by a German, Frederick.

Is his name Frederick Dieter as well, or is it Dieter artist?

Yeah, it's something like that.

His first name is Frederick.

It's a.

It's a painting I've used in.

In class to study some things before.

Casper.

David Friedrich.

Okay.

It's Casper Friedrich.

I said Frederick.

Apologies.

You know, something that's of note is that when they're inside the office, so much of it is white.

Except for maybe Irv's nightmare of the blackened hallway.

But everything outside here is white with all the snow.

Not just in this episode, but anytime they're outside, there's so much snow that it's pretty white all over.

That's a choice I haven't thought about a whole lot, but it's worth mentioning.

Well, it also restricts the timeline so far to at best, what, like a four to five month window?

Like, is it ever.

So do they ever.

The Audis, like, go to the beach, you know, like what.

Yeah.

What do they do when?

In the summer months here.

I.

I like it for that reason because it like, kind of destabilizes the time where it's like, we know more time should have passed than that, yet it's just always cold and dark, you know?

Yeah.

Or you're in the office where time doesn't really exist and time doesn't really exist.

For the Ennis, it reminds me of white symbolism in religion being about purity.

And there's so many religious elements to the show, for sure.

Or at least quasi religious.

Like I mentioned last week, Scientology relationships.

They have some sort of projection or hologram of themselves that help point the way throughout.

They're trying to get to Woes Hollow.

Did anyone else notice that Heli's hologram is really putting out some I'm dead, I'm dying kind of vibes?

Yes.

It looks.

The other ones are kind of like this is where I was started thinking about the uncanny.

Because they say they're doubles and you can't.

And they.

They're.

The way they're holding themselves.

They, they.

They are stiff and inhum.

You know, they're hu.

We recognize them as human beings, but they are stiff and inhuman.

Heli, the worst of them.

For.

For whatever reason, she gives that stance, physical stance of referencing the right movie there.

All bent and kind of ghostly.

Yeah.

Also rep.

Reminiscent of Irv seeing the.

The balding, tiny human woman.

She's the.

Not the bride of woe.

She's something of woe.

Scary stuff.

Whoever did the art for this is great.

Like in the little sacred book they're reading, they have what's clearly, you know, like a late 19th century, middle to late 19th century illustration of this.

And it looks really up.

Just like.

Just like, you know, like a book you'd find in a library as a kid would.

Would scare you.

And then I like her in the true.

Because we know what's gonna happen, but we all.

It's also great that she's just like working on her computer while Irv's, like, staring.

It's fantastic.

It was spooky.

It was spooky.

I liked it.

It was good.

That's a compliment.

Britt Lauer had some super subtle work happening here.

So.

And you.

I'm sure y'all noticed it.

You're gonna nod along to this.

There's an expression she makes for a millisecond with Irving where if you blink, you missed it.

Where she drops the facade for.

It's a little bit of anger.

Yeah.

And I love it when shows throw you a scare when they're not a horror like that.

That balding lady at the computer.

It's not quite a jolt, but it was, like you said, spooky.

I like it when shows do this.

That's.

That's a.

Of course a Lynch perfected it.

Like, this isn't necessarily a horror, but here's something that's going to haunt You.

Well, it's very dreamlike.

Dream.

The idea of sleep has been talked about a lot online since the episode dropped.

And, I mean, Irv really uses sleep in his subconscious to figure it out.

Yep.

He's not willing to really lay his cards down, go for it with heli.

Until he has the dream.

And it.

It all seems to unlock.

Did he figure it out too easily?

I.

I wondered that.

I was like, you know, so there's.

A big theory online right now that we see him fall asleep in season one, and he gets in trouble for it.

Oh, and they.

You know, these are people who have never experienced sleep.

Right.

We don't actually know that they slept.

That night, by the way.

That's also my experience with life.

I rarely.

Some people think that he.

Audi.

Irv, was keeping himself awake all night to be exhausted at work to try to access the subconscious that they would share.

And that's why he's able to.

He's found a way around the communication barrier between two.

Like, the chip doesn't go deep enough to impact dreams, which seems.

I mean, don't you dream about work sometimes?

Yeah, I do by default.

Do they not all do this?

It's.

Yeah, it's come up before.

And he.

I think he got in a fair bit of trouble in season one.

Right.

Personally, they were pretty stern about.

There's no sleeping at work.

Yes.

Most jobs are.

Sure.

But if it.

If it's gonna upset your security measures even more.

So the connection that she's an Egan is the one I was questioning.

Is that a little too easy for him to have figured out?

Not that she is her Audi now, that they all should be questioning that story she told them about.

Right.

The gardener boy that stuck with him.

What was he wearing?

I thought that that was a really cleverly handled way for him to say, like, who would have the power to do this?

Yeah, it was.

Isn't his Audi a former military, a Navy guy?

Possibly.

People are.

Again, not to be Mr.

Reddit over here, but people are pointing out, you know, he calls her a mole immediately.

He.

Some of the tactics that he's using, even the fact that he.

If we want to be grim about it, he waterboards her to get a confession out of her.

He's very willing to.

Yeah, yeah.

All of his.

You know, he tries to.

He's using tactics that are, like, by the book to try to get a confession out of her.

I'm 100 for Irv's actions here.

I did think that the.

There was a whiplash sort of zoom.

The show I don't think has ever used, which really helped with the intensity of it of these moments.

I loved that I was like, whoa, that was a very quick camera movement.

How evil bad is Helena, right?

What does it say about her that she's willing to sleep with Mark, although she's not her any and hasn't been of late.

Is that a form of assault?

Sexual assault or rape?

I mean, the levels of consent that are in question here.

Yeah, it's, it's pretty wild, Blaine.

But like what you said, if in real life I were to trick somebody else into thinking I was someone else so that they would have sex with me, that would be a crime.

Like I could go to jail for doing that.

Oh, that's a crime.

Maybe not in Alabama.

I'm actually not a millionaire.

And.

But you know, like at the, at the beginning it's a betray or like, at the very least it's a betrayal.

And does it like spiral out to even work?

You know, just because.

And it helps to ask the great question, like, who are these people?

Oh yeah.

Are they people?

Well, and you, if you wanted to be generous with her, you, you would say that when she is shown watching footage of herself and she sees that this kiss that she shares with Mark, you know, as their enies, she is jealous of the woman that she sees because she's been obviously in this highly structured world where, I mean, if it, if it ended up coming out that don't they say that she's like pure Egan or they say something like that.

That kind of makes it sound a little incesty.

You're literally, genetically.

It's like a Targaryen thing.

Like you really have like no choice but to like, you're.

You're going to be the perfect corporate woman.

And she sees this pretty free any person and she's like, I want some of that.

That would be the generous read that still has a lot of complex consent questions.

But that's like as much as you can give her, I think.

Yeah, I still think it's.

It may be a bit darker than that with some.

I mean, Donovan made a pull out joke earlier.

I mean, what are the chances that she doesn't get pregnant?

Are like, not good, right?

Yeah, I thought that was interesting too, since Adam, you just raised.

Was it last week, like, what does.

What happens if you're pregnant, which is.

They talk about in season one to some degree with that, the woman, they go to the birthing thing and the woman has been severed and then she doesn't remember meeting them.

So when you think about what heli.

Any heli has experienced lately, it is waking up in this room full of people and giving that speech and then being tackled off stage.

Right.

Essentially.

And then she goes from that moment of consciousness to underwater and icy water.

Damn.

So like, if you're the woman at the birthing center, if you have three kids, does she just suddenly come to consciousness in childbirth and then goes away and then comes back and is in.

I mean, what.

What?

Hell, talk about a nightmare.

Yeah, it is nightmare.

If you talk about shows that are, you know, lynch is not horror, but it is horror.

Oh, yeah.

Like Helly's last 20 minutes are pure horror.

You use the phrase pure Egan.

I think there were two years of my life where I was pure Egans with this.

Yeah.

Lucid joke there.

This episode was bizarrely different in such good ways.

It kind of had a slower pace.

Yes, it did.

Which made that last six to eight minutes all the more shocking.

I almost completely forgot Mark was getting reintegrated from the previous episode's ending.

It kind of made me just forget all about that.

In a good way.

No, I.

I agree.

The pacing was very deliberate until it was very fast, which was also deliberate.

Oh, yeah.

Well, I think now you have every reason to question talking about Mark and his reintegration, the levels of awareness that all of them have.

Yeah.

Because Mark is already slipping.

Right.

And now we know that Heli was not heli.

So that she was under question.

I think we have reason to maybe question Irv.

That he's not fully severed anymore.

That's right.

He is at least able to.

As you rightly pointed out, his subconscious when he's outside seems to be able to access things and possibly when he's on the inside too.

Right.

Because he's painting.

He's painting the.

The hallway.

Yeah.

Yeah.

It's perfectly.

With the military conditioning, if that's his previous employer.

Well, and remember the.

The woman who is doing the.

We praise the procedure that's happening for Mark last episode.

She says, I've gotten better since Petey.

Yeah.

Who did she get better with?

Could it have been Irv?

Good question.

I hope it's not the last we see of Irv.

I don't think it would be.

There's no way they're gonna waste him.

There's no way.

He's so good, isn't he?

But he's my favorite character.

The smirk.

Or when he's like, we have to eat the seal.

Like, that was smack.

That was so.

That was so good.

Yeah, it was so good.

Who.

Who comes upon a dead animal after a couple hours in the woods and said, well, we gotta eat this one.

I love that whole scene because, like, there was like the weird Frisian of them being like, maybe this is just what dead things look like.

Because it just constantly.

Like what, like, what is their level of like, human experience that they bring with them?

And then him just instantly being like, we're starving to death, we have to eat the seal.

I wanted to know what his.

I wanted to know what his plan was.

That was a great one.

It's like 1:30 and they probably all ate breakfast.

Yeah, yeah.

But Dylan had some classic ones in this episode too.

He was very funny.

Hell of a dichotomy, that.

Kyrie.

Keirigan.

Keir.

Thank you.

Keir Egan is all about nature.

And yet they're deep in.

In an office without any connection to nature.

No windows, no plants that I have seen.

Only the goats in the grass.

That's right.

That one area.

That's right.

As far as I can recall.

So Milchick mentions removing a glass Glasgow block.

I think that was seen quickly in episode one of this season.

Was it?

Yeah.

There's like a screenshot with other names on those old ass Apple style computers that they have.

And.

And their names are Beehive, Elephant, Freeze Frame.

There's some more glass globe blocks on there.

It seems like those are things they could all do to the severed employees.

The Glasgow thing is what he's saying when he.

When Helly.

When they're negotiating.

Yeah.

Well, talking about the theme of nature, it's also been pointed out that we know that Mark's mom's name is Fern Scout.

Wait, what?

Oh, her first name is Fern.

Fern Scout.

Yep.

Huh.

We do know that.

How do we know that?

It's in some previous episode.

It's come up.

Okay.

Makes you wonder about Dieter spilling his seed into nature, huh?

Oh, Deeter, man, that was hilarious.

Hey, I'm of the notion that Lumen's a company made to perfect AI so that it can replicate a human and bring this consciousness that they've saved of Kir Egan.

Yeah.

Like put him in a body, bring him back to life.

I think we might have said that off mic last week.

Is.

Is Mark and Egan?

He could be.

Yeah.

He.

You'd have to think that he probably is at this point because the pregnancy plot line seems to be the direction they're pointing.

We'll see.

Yeah.

You almost wonder if.

Right.

Like, there's a economy.

Right.

Maybe you've got like Technology guy.

And then, you know, his brother, who's all nature.

You.

You.

I almost wonder if it's like, oh, wait, are they maybe being synthesized in some, like, horrific way?

Right.

Like, there's a bioengineering project and whatever.

Pure.

Pure speculation.

I mean, it would.

It would say that maybe you could.

You know, some people think that the team is creating consciousness and that they need Mark because he.

The.

The numbers.

Having emotions and knowing how to sort them in a certain way.

He's so good at it.

Yeah.

So it's.

Is it that they're creating his wife?

Right.

As a practice run?

I think that was a practice run.

Yeah.

And that they kidnapped her and have been holding her in some way, and maybe, like, at some point, the body is not a thing that needs to exist anymore, and you have this consciousness that you can then reintegrate.

That's right.

That's what I think.

Yeah.

The last time I saw such a strict bifurcation between technology and nature is Train Dreams from Dennis Johnson's novella Tell Me More.

Well, it's right there in the title.

Train Dreams.

And talk about Train Dreams to me.

Yeah.

Well, that.

That movie is.

Is made now.

Speaking of a being highly praised.

Yes.

It just needs someone to pick it up, and I don't know if that's happened yet.

Rumored to be Netflix, and if so.

Man, Focus Features or something.

Yeah, but I don't know.

I haven't caught up.

I haven't been keeping up with that news, so.

Have y'all seen the title of the next episode?

It's.

Yes.

Thieving Nanny.

Which we were lucky.

Which we were.

You know, we weren't lucky enough to get that the next morning.

Mr.

Milchek, when he finished the chapter, said we might be lucky enough to get to it the next morning.

Oh, that's right.

I don't want to get too into it, but it's.

Thinking about the uncanny made me think about Milchek and Huang too.

The way they.

They also act in ways that makes you unsure if they're human or automaton.

Yes, they do.

At first, I think it's like.

It's like, oh, maybe they're severed or something.

But just why?

I'm like, maybe there's something else going on.

I agree.

There's something there that seems like a threat or a disruption to the ego or the sense of self that are other severed people don't necessarily experience.

Anyway, I found it.

I found this episode to be one that tied things together thematically without explicitly saying, like, hey, do you notice this connection.

Well, some people have pointed out the.

You're talking about the uncanniness that the first crew.

Episode one, the replacement crew.

They talk about the differences in the facilities.

Yeah, yeah.

And don't they say that they have like animatronic giggins in one of them?

So is that what we're dealing with here?

Is that what the.

They repurpose some of them to be the four team members?

Maybe.

I don't know.

One guy does remind.

He's like.

It's just like a mop handle tie with something tied to it.

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.

The Italian guy.

Something.

Yeah.

Shouldn't be overlooked that this show manages to remain very funny.

Well.

Oh, yeah.

Something David lynch was also very good at.

Totally.

Yeah.

I love it when.

When Dylan makes one of his ridiculous quips.

I'm a.

I'm a big Dylan fan.

Yeah.

And they're so upset about the marshmallows.

Yes.

It reminds us of the child.

Childlike quality you talked about them having.

We don't get s'mores.

Do you remember, like in the first episode with the replacement team.

I think it's with the replacement team.

Right into that, like, childlike quality.

They're like, what do you think sky looks like?

Yeah.

Or.

And then even in this one, they're like, I knew it wouldn't be ceiling.

You know?

You know, it's like, what kind of like.

Like obviously they can read, speak, they know numbers.

Like they can do stuff.

But like, what.

What are they.

What are they missing?

Yeah.

Dylan was all about maybe a whole person.

Yeah.

In what ways are.

Are they.

Their state, a threat to a unified ego?

You probably want to add in that Dylan is the most childlike Audi.

You know, he's.

Yeah.

He's got that childlike quality.

Just sitting on the couch and not understanding how to bake cookies from this.

It's a tube of cookies.

It's a tube.

Yeah.

Which.

Which reminds me, I'm about to go eat a tube because junkies for Super Bowl.

No, I'm not.

Maybe a snack.

For sure.

Do you.

Any final thoughts about episode four or severance in general?

I mean, I feel like they've just set the table so well.

You know, I said at the top.

They keep answering questions.

We get.

We get the answer to heli already.

A lesser show would have made that the entire season.

Yep.

And just more and more questions come out every time.

And it's.

It's like you.

The classic.

Like you're seeing the tip of the iceberg, you know, and you.

You know it's all there and you.

A show can feel like it has the mythology of like the book that's being read.

You know, like we don't have to hear the rest of those stories, but we feel like they're informing what's happening.

I think that's the mark of like a really great piece of art, piece of film, piece of tv.

Well, Apple's done the smart thing by hiring really good directors and writers.

I think that's where Netflix falters so much.

They get the actors, but they don't get the good writing or the good direction.

You got.

You got to get it all together.

You gotta have once they real like I read sort of unrelated but I think it was an N plus one.

A somewhat interesting analysis that like once Netflix put Kevin Spacey and I forget who it was in House of Cards.

Yes.

And realized that people were watching it based off of that than anything else.

They were like, we'll just get like we've, we've got the formula.

We'll get some big names in here.

We don't have to spend money on anything else.

That's why I'm so anti algorithm.

I don't want the same thing in five minutes or tomorrow or next week.

It's not going to find things I didn't know that I wanted.

Yeah, exactly.

That's why I all but quit social media almost.

I found this episode to just be a really satisfying one.

I think.

Adam mentioning how they set the table.

I think that's part of what works for me with the, the quote unquote mysteries.

I don't feel like I'm being jerked around.

It feels like they're, they're asking questions about the same stuff they've been asking questions about.

So it really does feel like it's going somewhere.

Well, that's it for today this week.

I just mentioned social media.

We're there, but the best way to reach us is to send nudes via.

Email in the mail.

Oh, you want old school.

I want them printed out on a Polaroid.

Black and white's fine.

Doesn't have to be of yourself.

Could be your cat not wearing clothes.

As they're want to do.

I'm suddenly reminded of Dylan saying we live in a saloon now.

If you want to have a conversation a little more private, email us@thealabamatakegmail.com.

i know that's not taking it down.

That's our home site.

Or if you want to have a open conversation, then just comment on the Alabama take site.

We, we see those we respond, we'll be back next Tuesday and you'll have things you'll want to talk about.

And we will, too.

Adam and I might be headed into the direction of talking about MO on Netflix.

Yeah, we were just hating on Netflix, but Mo, pretty good program.

It'll be a couple weeks before we can get around to.

I feel like we got to get to season two.

Season two?

Yeah.

Because it's, it's much buzzed about right now.

Right.

It was a January release.

But we'll get to Mo if you want to play along.

If you haven't seen mo, it's on netflix, 25 minute episodes.

Quick hitters.

Quick hitters.

I'm three or four episodes deep.

We'll see.

I won't make any judgments yet.

We'll talk to everybody next Tuesday.

Thanks for listening.

Sometime with your.