Unbelieveable! The Sickos discuss an actual anime: the 2022 Apple TV+ live action thriller Severance starring Adam Scott. This shit is so good. We basically just go nutty over how much we love this show. Some spoilers but we leave the finale and the big twists unrevealed. Also we got a fun sketch with the Worst of All Possible Worlds boys. It's a banger
[00:00:00] First in the tank is a duo of morons from the Windy City. They're known for their podcast, but will they be able to get the sharks to bite on their new venture? This is Shark Tank.
[00:00:24] Real quick, just want to clear this up. Is this show still on?
[00:00:27] What the fuck? Yes. Told you dude.
[00:00:30] Hello sharks, we're the Anime Sickos. I'm Tom.
[00:00:34] I'm Joe. I'm kind of the leader of the Anime Sickos.
[00:00:37] Insane. Insane.
[00:00:39] So, you have a podcast. Is that part of your pitch for us today?
[00:00:44] No. Okay, so you know food, right?
[00:00:46] Yeah, I know food.
[00:00:48] Okay, perfect. So, have you guys tried the Old Bay Goldfish?
[00:00:52] I'm sorry?
[00:00:53] It's goldfish. Like, the food for toddlers, but they put Old Bay dust on there.
[00:00:59] So it's like the best food. It's like ideal food. Like, the best... Like, food's finished.
[00:01:04] Like, they did it. Like, it's done... We're done for food because it's... Like, they did it.
[00:01:09] Do you have a pitch? Or are you just going to talk about goldfish?
[00:01:12] We think they ought to put extra dust version on the Old Bay Goldfish. Like, they have an extra dust version.
[00:01:20] Yeah, flavor blast.
[00:01:21] Yeah, they should do the finger blast with the Old Bay.
[00:01:24] I'm just trying to understand. So, you're gonna make a cracker with a lot of Old Bay dust?
[00:01:29] We're not gonna make it, idiot. We don't make goldfish. That's some fucking company.
[00:01:35] Yeah, we just think they ought to do that.
[00:01:37] Oh, I'm sorry. What the fuck do you want us to invest in then?
[00:01:41] Yo, Joe, what the fuck is investing?
[00:02:15] Welcome to Anime Sickos. It's the podcast for geniuses and the only podcast.
[00:02:19] We take a look on Anime Sickos at the four pillars of modern misery, anime, gaming, posting, and jobs.
[00:02:24] I am Tom, an Anime Sicko.
[00:02:26] I'm Joe, an Anime Sicko, and my throat is always normal.
[00:02:30] We've never coughed.
[00:02:32] I've never gurgled or burgled.
[00:02:37] You've never burgled?
[00:02:39] Oh, wait, that means stealing. I have stealing.
[00:02:40] You know, burgling is so fun. It's like, you're cool if you do that.
[00:02:44] I do it all the time. It's called computer burgling. Torrenting.
[00:02:48] Torrent is the horse from Elden Ring.
[00:02:50] We have a new patron. It's Greasy Pete, our foulest patron yet.
[00:02:55] I'm willing to say this is our greasiest guy.
[00:02:58] Yeah, this is just a foul and disgusting Pete.
[00:03:02] Can I make some assumptions about the money that's being...
[00:03:05] Are we talking British pounds?
[00:03:09] I understand your impulse here, and I think that that's a good instinct to cultivate,
[00:03:14] but no, these are American dollars.
[00:03:16] Could be that Greasy Pete slid across the Atlantic because oil and water don't mix.
[00:03:23] They just went down a slip and slide or whatever fucking bullshit term they use in England for that type of play equipment.
[00:03:32] Because you know it's a bad one.
[00:03:35] And they slid across the entire ocean, and so their money changed to US dollars.
[00:03:39] Greasy Pete, I bet you're not actually that greasy. We're giving you a hard time.
[00:03:42] Thank you for patronizing us.
[00:03:44] We appreciate your support. And actually, good name for real though.
[00:03:48] Yeah. You can patronize us at patreon.com slash anime sickos.
[00:03:53] When we say patronize, it means give us money, not like talk down to us like we don't understand things that we obviously do understand.
[00:04:00] Don't do that. It'll make me so fucking mad.
[00:04:03] Yeah. Don't say we need to change our diapers or we're babies.
[00:04:09] I know about the diaper routine.
[00:04:11] I know I'm not.
[00:04:12] The diaper routine is so simple to me.
[00:04:15] So we're going to talk about anime for one of the first times in ever.
[00:04:19] We actually, it's okay.
[00:04:21] This is like, Joe's layoff.
[00:04:24] We had an episode just last week about how it was like, oh, what a traumatic thing to be laid off.
[00:04:30] How destabilizing.
[00:04:32] It's actually the biggest W for Tom of all time.
[00:04:35] Tom keeps winning.
[00:04:36] This is Tom's triumph of all time, folks.
[00:04:39] Because I watched this anime show that is one of the best animes I've ever seen when it was pretty new in 2022.
[00:04:48] Um, I was like, wow, wow.
[00:04:51] This is like a great show.
[00:04:52] And not only is it like a high quality show, it has like so many themes that are sicko, like 100% sicko themes.
[00:05:00] Like I gotta get Joe to watch this show.
[00:05:02] Uh, you'll recall that I said 2022 and that that is not the current year.
[00:05:07] So you can fill in the blanks about what happened there.
[00:05:10] However, Joe was hanging out at my house because he don't got no job.
[00:05:14] He was just like, I'm going to hang out.
[00:05:15] And I'm like, but motherfucker, sit your ass, sit your white ass down and listen.
[00:05:19] And I played him the first episode.
[00:05:20] He put me in a playpen.
[00:05:21] He turned on the DV.
[00:05:23] Uh, he was like, here's Prestige TV.
[00:05:26] Uh, you have to watch this or I won't put on Deadwood.
[00:05:29] And I was like, okay, fine.
[00:05:31] Yes.
[00:05:31] And, uh, I thought that that was going to be the end of it.
[00:05:35] I thought like, okay, I have something to share with my friend that we're both enthusiastic about.
[00:05:41] But I'm like, I'm not holding out hope that it's going to go any further than that.
[00:05:46] Folks, within days, I was getting texts that had indicated that he was slamming these suckers.
[00:05:54] Ooh, it was so...
[00:05:55] I'm talking about these Prestige anime.
[00:05:58] It's not actually...
[00:05:58] It's one of them live action animes that were produced in America.
[00:06:01] Those are happening a lot more these days.
[00:06:03] Yeah, uh, it's called...
[00:06:04] We're talking about Severance.
[00:06:06] The TV show Severance.
[00:06:07] It's funny you were cute and coy about the anime pillar when it's like...
[00:06:12] It's a show about just job.
[00:06:15] Like the worst version of it.
[00:06:17] But it's very much job.
[00:06:19] Uh, so...
[00:06:20] Like, I don't...
[00:06:21] What was the last show I watched?
[00:06:23] Binged.
[00:06:25] I don't know.
[00:06:25] It's been years.
[00:06:27] Uh, I...
[00:06:28] You've...
[00:06:29] Like the last three years, every couple of months, you inform me that like, I have watched
[00:06:34] an additional episode of The Bear.
[00:06:36] Yeah, that's basically it.
[00:06:38] Uh, and no, I fell in completely.
[00:06:41] Uh, one, because it's like just good on its merits.
[00:06:46] Two, uh, it's nice when I had brain capacity that could be used for consuming art and not
[00:06:54] like spreadsheets or emails or whatever.
[00:06:57] And then, oh wow, just that momentum of like, oh, I have a show and there's like, I can
[00:07:02] just keep fucking hitting next.
[00:07:04] And to sort of give, uh, context here, Trump got shot in between episodes.
[00:07:10] I didn't even follow up on that.
[00:07:12] I was like, oh, sucks for him.
[00:07:13] Next.
[00:07:14] I...
[00:07:15] Well, here's the thing.
[00:07:17] That's all well and true.
[00:07:19] And like Severance is good enough that it would make a Trump assassination attempt be like
[00:07:23] just low tier.
[00:07:25] But man, as, here's my reaction to the Trump shot thing.
[00:07:30] Oh, he didn't die.
[00:07:31] Don't care.
[00:07:32] And then I was like, hmm, if it's like a blue hair, if it's like a wokest who shot him, the
[00:07:38] life is like, it's over.
[00:07:39] It's all.
[00:07:40] Yeah.
[00:07:40] Like, again, all human life ends tonight.
[00:07:43] And then it was like, it was some fucking freak.
[00:07:47] And I'm like, okay, then it real, then truly this was not an event that occurred in history.
[00:07:53] Like, this was nothing.
[00:07:54] Um, you should think about the guy was, uh, I don't know.
[00:07:57] He just seemed like a Morrowind player that just was going to do a quick reload.
[00:08:06] I saw, did you see the news item?
[00:08:09] And again, who's to say if any of these news items are correct?
[00:08:12] Because like the sources are the police.
[00:08:15] The famous maker uppers of fucking events and details.
[00:08:19] Yeah.
[00:08:20] Yeah.
[00:08:20] Uh, but apparently someone went up the ladder to see, is there a scary guy on this roof?
[00:08:27] And this was the secret service had, uh, okay, maybe it is true because this makes the cops
[00:08:31] look bad.
[00:08:31] Uh, the secret service had outsourced some of their duties to the local cops and a local
[00:08:36] cop went up the ladder to see, is someone being assassin on this roof?
[00:08:40] They saw a gun and fucking did a full Uvalde, which is I'm scared and just left.
[00:08:48] And told no one else.
[00:08:49] Yeah.
[00:08:50] It was scary.
[00:08:51] Cause if you tell, uh, it might be like the captain who like left the Costa Concardia cruise
[00:08:56] ship when it was sinking and the coast guard in Italy were like, get back on asshole.
[00:09:02] Uh, you get yelled at for being like, don't you need to do your job?
[00:09:07] Does that mean we, uh, went down the ladder with scared urgency?
[00:09:12] Because that's fun.
[00:09:14] He did the thing that you do in video games when you hold the sprint button when you're
[00:09:18] going down the ladder and you just like kind of hold the edges and slide.
[00:09:23] Oh, is that real?
[00:09:25] Can you do that?
[00:09:27] What do you mean by, is that real?
[00:09:29] Because you're the one that is also, you're the person that has said, uh, like if I'm on
[00:09:34] a hike and I see people doing something fun, I know that I'm the one that will die doing
[00:09:38] it.
[00:09:39] Oh, so, so when you ask like, can, is that real?
[00:09:45] Can I slide down a ladder coolly and quickly?
[00:09:49] Like not you.
[00:09:50] Yeah.
[00:09:51] Fair enough.
[00:09:51] Good point.
[00:09:52] Um, your leg would fall off somehow.
[00:09:54] Yes.
[00:09:55] Here's the thing about severance.
[00:09:57] Every time I tell people about severance and they're not Joe, cause Joe knows every time
[00:10:01] I tell people about severance, like I've told my family about severance and they go, Oh,
[00:10:04] what is that on?
[00:10:06] What?
[00:10:06] Which is an absurd question because like the stealing internet.
[00:10:10] Yes.
[00:10:11] Like it's on the folder on my hard drive that has nine files in it that have little, uh,
[00:10:17] fucking traffic cones next to them.
[00:10:18] It's if you are a fucking rube, it's on Apple TV, which is to say it doesn't exist.
[00:10:26] It's just, it's not quite as bad as the curse, which like is on like Showtime plus.
[00:10:35] Like truly it is a, the curse is a pirating only show.
[00:10:39] I don't think anyone has seen it legitimately.
[00:10:41] Uh, but severance is on Apple TV.
[00:10:44] We talked a little bit about it last time.
[00:10:46] Here's the fucking elevator pitch in a world.
[00:10:49] Where people go to work.
[00:10:52] Boo.
[00:10:53] What if you could have a thingy put in your brain, they drill a hole in your brain and
[00:10:59] stick a thingy in there.
[00:11:00] And it makes it so that when you walk into the fucking office, your brain switches to
[00:11:06] brain two.
[00:11:07] And there's a second guy who has no memories of anything else, uh, who's just been in
[00:11:13] the office forever and they do your work.
[00:11:15] And then when you walk out of the office door, you switch back to brain one.
[00:11:20] And you, as far as you are concerned, you just walked in the office door and then immediately
[00:11:25] walked out having done nothing unpleasant.
[00:11:28] And you can just chill and have fun 24.
[00:11:31] Well, not 24 seven.
[00:11:33] Cause eight of your hours are just gone every day, but you don't, you didn't have to experience
[00:11:38] the bad work that you hate.
[00:11:40] Hell yeah.
[00:11:41] Slam dunk.
[00:11:42] Slam dunk.
[00:11:42] And this shows about how there's no moral implications of that.
[00:11:46] Like it's fine.
[00:11:47] Yeah.
[00:11:48] It's like a big, it's like a big time saver for sure.
[00:11:51] Uh, no, it's, it's, uh, so if we just take what Tom said, just logically this procedure
[00:11:59] that splits your mind or creates a second brain, it splits your mind is what it does.
[00:12:03] It partitions it like it's a hard drive.
[00:12:06] So you have like the work partition, but, uh, you're effectively, when you undergo this
[00:12:12] procedure, you are effectively creating a second version of yourself that you make a slave,
[00:12:17] uh, which is very dark.
[00:12:19] And also, uh, that person doesn't know like you.
[00:12:26] Mm-hmm.
[00:12:28] Like if you like showed up to work drunk, he would then be drunk and that would be not
[00:12:33] great, but it's not like they, they know about, uh, what they're even house looks like.
[00:12:40] Yeah.
[00:12:40] Like the, the very first scene is a new hire is waking up in the sort of like, uh, hell
[00:12:49] room and a voice over the loudspeakers asking them five survey questions.
[00:12:56] And they are, what is your name?
[00:12:59] What is your family's name?
[00:13:01] Can you name any U S state?
[00:13:04] Like, where do you live?
[00:13:05] And like, what color are your mother's eyes?
[00:13:08] And our hero waking up in the room, freaking out answers.
[00:13:13] I don't know.
[00:13:13] I don't know.
[00:13:14] Delaware.
[00:13:15] I don't know.
[00:13:16] I don't know.
[00:13:17] And then the door opens.
[00:13:19] That's like a good score.
[00:13:19] That's a really good score.
[00:13:20] Yeah.
[00:13:20] He opens the door and he goes, you got a perfect score.
[00:13:24] Like, so that I think sets the tone.
[00:13:28] You have to be told your own name.
[00:13:30] Uh, it's incredible.
[00:13:32] You don't even get your whole name.
[00:13:33] You get your name and first initial, which is just every, we're going to get into a lot
[00:13:39] of, we need to talk aesthetics.
[00:13:41] Let's talk aesthetics.
[00:13:42] Let's talk aesthetics from the top.
[00:13:44] Yeah.
[00:13:44] Let's, we're going to get into the spoilers later.
[00:13:46] This is just like general shit that, that represents excellence.
[00:13:51] Joe, tell me about the aesthetics.
[00:13:53] Uh, so the actual office that they work in, which is underground because it's a secret
[00:13:58] bunker.
[00:13:59] Uh, they can't have windows because then they might know what outside is and get curious.
[00:14:04] Correct.
[00:14:05] Yeah.
[00:14:05] And as Thomas said, the, the elevator descent down is when you switch over.
[00:14:09] So that's fun.
[00:14:11] Okay.
[00:14:11] So, uh, the aesthetic is 60s tube technology, kind of, uh, endless, uh, austere hallways.
[00:14:23] There is a bit in the beginning where Adam Scott, who is our hero, by the way, it's not,
[00:14:29] it's not named Adam Scott.
[00:14:30] It's the actor, Adam Scott.
[00:14:31] He's walking from the, uh, elevator to his desk.
[00:14:36] And because I was watching this the second time, I wasn't sort of like getting strung
[00:14:41] along by the suspense.
[00:14:42] I sort of, I knew what was happening.
[00:14:43] So I was just like.
[00:14:44] You could see objectively how fucking funny, like the twists and turns are.
[00:14:48] It's a, it's a, it's a lot.
[00:14:50] The hallway he walks down is a hundred percent sideshow Bob rake coded.
[00:14:56] Cause you're like, it's impossible for him to turn left, right, left, right.
[00:15:00] And left again, still in this hallway.
[00:15:03] No, he does it like 10 more times.
[00:15:04] It is an absurd hallway.
[00:15:06] I love it.
[00:15:07] But like, yeah, the, the, they work on computers folks.
[00:15:10] Hold on.
[00:15:11] The computers, they're black screens with green text on them.
[00:15:15] And the monitor and the keyboard are both contained in a big, chonky, molded plastic shell.
[00:15:24] It's got a trackball.
[00:15:25] No mice, trackball only.
[00:15:28] Oh my God.
[00:15:30] It's just, it's, and they have that.
[00:15:33] So there's only the, the, the main group of workers that we follow in our delightful series
[00:15:41] is a division of four.
[00:15:44] And they sit in this little cluster of desk that have these green cubicle walls that they
[00:15:51] can raise and lower to talk to each other.
[00:15:54] So those four desks though, it's worth mentioning are in the center of a massive cubicle space
[00:16:02] that is open.
[00:16:04] Yes.
[00:16:05] Yes.
[00:16:05] It is an enormous cavern.
[00:16:08] Of course, lit monstrously with, with like hellish fluorescence.
[00:16:15] So here's the thing about Adam Scott.
[00:16:17] If you've seen him from Parks and Rec or some other thing he's in, I don't know.
[00:16:24] He's in fucking Star Trek First Contact, the first next generation movie.
[00:16:29] He's like the guy who is flying the Enterprise and, and Picard is like, take us, take us
[00:16:35] to the planet, sir.
[00:16:37] And he's like, yes, Picard.
[00:16:39] And I'm just like, is that fucking Adam Scott?
[00:16:40] And he's never on screen again.
[00:16:43] But anyway, if you've seen him in Parks and Rec, you're like, that's like a handsome
[00:16:46] guy.
[00:16:46] Like he's like, he's like a hand, he's like a movie star.
[00:16:50] He's affable.
[00:16:51] He has a face that is like, okay, like this is a pleasant person.
[00:16:55] So I don't know what they did to him in this show because like, I've seen interviews with
[00:16:59] him like current and he's still his handsome guy.
[00:17:03] But in this show.
[00:17:04] I think they did the procedure on him.
[00:17:05] I think they did the severance to him.
[00:17:07] He's like so uggo-fied.
[00:17:09] It's insane.
[00:17:11] Like they light him so awfully in the office, which is like perfect.
[00:17:17] I love it.
[00:17:18] He looks like Tom Cruise from some angles, uh, kind of a fucked up Tom Cruise.
[00:17:23] Yeah.
[00:17:24] In the sense that like Tom Cruise has a very like, his face shape is very prominent, you
[00:17:31] know?
[00:17:32] He's got corners.
[00:17:34] Yeah.
[00:17:35] Um, he also, I think another thing that, that really, uh, lends to the uggo-fication is that
[00:17:41] he's never clean shaven or with facial hair.
[00:17:46] Uh, it's always the absolute worst looking transitional period between those states.
[00:17:53] Just the fucking dots that make your face kind of look blue from a distance.
[00:17:58] That's him every episode.
[00:18:01] Okay.
[00:18:01] We're getting away.
[00:18:02] So, okay.
[00:18:02] So that's, the office is, is this weird, like strange sort of like dream-like back room.
[00:18:09] It's a Castlevania castle if it's an office.
[00:18:10] It is this winding impossible to know.
[00:18:14] Oh, it's not impossible to know, but it's like the fact that they don't know where anything
[00:18:18] is, is a plot point to the point where like characters attempting to map, which is forbidden,
[00:18:25] uh, uh, is an important factor because.
[00:18:28] Like they are in elaborate.
[00:18:30] They're in Castlevania.
[00:18:32] Like they need, like if they, I bet if they got double jump, a lot of the places they couldn't
[00:18:35] get into would be like, oh, now we can do that.
[00:18:38] Or they beat it.
[00:18:40] Like they beat job.
[00:18:41] And then there's an upside down job right above.
[00:18:45] Oh my God.
[00:18:45] That they have to do.
[00:18:46] Uh, but we didn't, you didn't, when we talked about the computers, we left out what they actually
[00:18:52] do on the computers, which is wonderful.
[00:18:54] Oh my God.
[00:18:55] It's so fun.
[00:18:56] You asked me this in episode one.
[00:18:58] They're macro data refiners.
[00:19:01] So what they do is they look at a screen full of numbers and they use the track pad to sort
[00:19:09] of like mouse or track over them.
[00:19:12] Um, and then based on vibes, they will put certain numbers in boxes at the bottom of the
[00:19:19] screen.
[00:19:19] And then when the boxes are a hundred percent filled.
[00:19:22] They get perks.
[00:19:23] They get, they get.
[00:19:24] Yes.
[00:19:25] Uh, the other thing this show does wonderfully is take everything that is like just completely
[00:19:31] joyless, but still attempting to be fun about office stuff.
[00:19:35] Like, oh yeah, it's someone's birthday.
[00:19:37] Here's like the worst cake ever.
[00:19:39] That sort of thing.
[00:19:40] Here's, here's a koozie with the company logo on it.
[00:19:44] Here's a, here's the sweater with the company logo on it.
[00:19:47] That kind of shit.
[00:19:48] Yeah.
[00:19:48] Like, uh, so let's talk the perks.
[00:19:51] Dylan is, uh, one of the four macro refiners.
[00:19:57] He's like, he's like the, the sarcastic nerd type.
[00:20:01] He, you see him in every office.
[00:20:03] Uh, he is, uh, he's very flippant about the rules and about, he, he's very irreverent.
[00:20:11] He says swears in the office.
[00:20:13] And one of his things is that he's like, he's super confident about how good of a macro data
[00:20:18] refinery is.
[00:20:19] And he loved the perks because they are the proof that he is that good.
[00:20:24] And he's the first one.
[00:20:26] So, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, do it, do it, uh, to show how good the perks are.
[00:20:33] Uh, Dylan shows off that he has like a company mug that's filled with Chinese finger traps.
[00:20:38] and he's just like yeah every time i finish an assignment really fast i get one of these finger
[00:20:44] traps so like he shows it to the new the new hire heli who is uh freaking out she is like oh she
[00:20:55] was born today i was born today and i'm in hell and you're telling me i have to go to work forever
[00:21:00] no and there's like someone i forget who but it's like maybe give her a finger trap and she's like
[00:21:08] no no no the whole point of the finger traps is that you get is that you earn it like you would
[00:21:13] enjoy it yeah yeah she she won't get calmed down by the finger trap i just give it to her
[00:21:18] god damn so he is very competent though but he is like the the the flippant he knows the rules does
[00:21:24] not respect them but he gets the job done so like what you gotta love him but he's also acutely aware
[00:21:31] of like the power and politics of the place like he's not like ignorant like he knows what will happen
[00:21:39] then we have an amazing character actor who is playing a tight buttoned up guy which is a
[00:21:45] wonderful choice for a character actor it's motherfucking john torturo from barton fink folks
[00:21:51] his name is irving uh would you believe it he's great i don't know how they fucking got john
[00:21:59] torturo to be in this tv show as a supporting role not even the lead uh but like he is so he's like on fire
[00:22:08] he's so good he is the bootlicker he is the one who follows all the rules and we're getting into the
[00:22:14] characters but really quick and maybe maybe this comes later but i just want to like get it in front
[00:22:19] of people's minds now so like there's the aesthetics of the inside of the office you know in the hell
[00:22:24] world but even outside when you're in like the real world the show is like visual design and set design
[00:22:32] and just how it's lit and shot is still incredible and still is so in theme for example uh the entire
[00:22:43] show takes place in like the worst hell days of winter there is not a blue sky ever in the entire
[00:22:51] show there is just snow everywhere because i guess it's always five o'clock it doesn't say where it's at
[00:22:57] but i get like new england vibes yeah and like our man adam scott like he's the only guy who we see
[00:23:04] outside of the office he's the only person who we know who he really is uh and like he drives his awful
[00:23:12] car through these awful slushy streets and an awful gray twilight to his awful townhome
[00:23:17] and every single time we're in an indoor scene it's so fucking dark it's it's fucking pitch dark
[00:23:25] save for the single bare light bulb directly overhead again lighting adam scott to be the most
[00:23:33] uggo man who ever lived which is such a choice because like he's like oh he's like a key he's
[00:23:38] like a tv lead actor with the famously handsome face like no he's a fucking freak dude and now you may
[00:23:45] be wondering based on our explanation of the severance procedure and how like you have a work self
[00:23:52] self and an outside self now you may also remember that we're geniuses and realize that what makes anime
[00:23:59] good is that they often figure out ways to do more guys per guy like frieza can transform into a bunch of
[00:24:06] different guys so this show is doing the drama version of more guys per guy because there is obviously who
[00:24:14] they are at work and then there is their horrible sad baggage upstairs which is connected but unknown to
[00:24:20] each party it's it this would be great on the ds do you see what i'm saying yes yes oh my god you
[00:24:27] play the macro data refinement on the bottom screen because it is literally a touch screen game you put
[00:24:33] you get the vibe i feel like this five is belongs in folder number three yes and then the money stylus
[00:24:38] you get you can use to buy more light bulbs for your shitty house oh yeah on the top screen perfect um
[00:24:47] and like it it's it's not it's not only is it free more guys per guy because every one of your lead
[00:24:52] characters is two guys but it's free mystery box but legit like the mystery box concept uh everyone
[00:25:02] has sort of soured on especially after the show lost the uh if you're not familiar with the mystery
[00:25:08] box concept is a storytelling concept in which it could be anything yeah you show a crazy box what do you
[00:25:14] think's in here and like you keep pointing at the box mean like anything could be in here and you get
[00:25:20] all nutty being like what's in the fucking box and uh everyone hates lost the the standard dumb guys
[00:25:27] take on lost is like they didn't even have any answers they were making it up as they went along
[00:25:32] there's no answers at all that's wrong the slightly less dumb guy idea but still pretty dumb guy
[00:25:40] take on lost is like actually the show was really well done and if you actually pay attention
[00:25:47] everything is explained at least everything that really matters so the genius way to have a take
[00:25:54] on lost this is my take so you know it's the correct one is that they did explain everything it's just that
[00:26:01] the explanations were doo-doo ass and i hated them so here's the but the mystery box of like who is them
[00:26:10] the second guy for all these guys is like well you know that's gonna happen like they can't not have
[00:26:16] a sec like you know that at the beginning of the show they have to know who they are uh and as a result
[00:26:23] you're always sort of like pulled forward by the suspense of like when are we gonna learn who like
[00:26:28] dylan is in real life because like he can't be like this guy or maybe he can what would that even mean
[00:26:35] like what would it mean if like there was a guy who loved getting 50 finger traps but he like lived
[00:26:40] in a world where you could like get in a car like and i think the the sort of most uh present and uh
[00:26:49] in your face sort of example of this is so heli are the new hires like well i hate this like i want to
[00:26:59] leave this is where i kept telling tom i kept texting tom this or some version of this which was
[00:27:06] i would be so much more relieved if this show was just explicitly violent like uh what i believe you're
[00:27:14] about to describe is when heli is first i don't know woken up uh they're like just leave you can leave
[00:27:21] whenever you want and what happens is she leaves she goes into the stairwell and then her other self
[00:27:27] is like oh i wanted to go to work ah that's so crazy and then she walks in the door and then
[00:27:31] her work self is like what the fuck i like just i just left and the thing is after seeing someone like
[00:27:40] do that like 10 times you're like it would be less stressful if her head was cut off yeah yes yes like
[00:27:47] the first oh when you first see it it is entirely from heli the work self's perspective which is
[00:27:56] she is raised this huge fuss like let me out let me leave you have to let me leave i'm not a prisoner
[00:28:03] and they're like no you're not you can leave at any time there's the stairwell out and you see it like
[00:28:08] in first person view like it's that part of the movie doom with the rock where they show from the guns
[00:28:13] perspective first person view and it's just her opening the door to the stairwell and then being
[00:28:19] like like whoosh she immediately is walking back into the hallway uh and you don't see the fucking
[00:28:26] other side of that for at least like it's episode two that you see from the other side where heli walks
[00:28:32] out the door and she's just like whoa where am i i was just on an elevator and the fucking hell
[00:28:37] the head like the the head demon of hell it's like i guess you're a little fussy in there
[00:28:43] it happens from time to time and she's just like you know how workers are yeah and she walks back in
[00:28:49] and does it like three more times and every time she walks out she's just like i must be well i must
[00:28:54] be really raising a fuss uh and then eventually she sends like a video message being like hello i'd like
[00:29:01] to be i'd like to quit i hate the job um please quit i i don't want to be please quit i'd like you to
[00:29:08] quit and she's like now obviously i'm a reasonable woman i'm gonna see this and quit for sure i'm not
[00:29:15] gonna see you fuckers ever again bye bye and then the next day she gets a video back from herself that's
[00:29:22] like hey heli you better fucking shape up yeah so every single character is also their own slave master
[00:29:30] which is like i think there's a line where she says like heli you like you're not a person i'm a person
[00:29:39] uh it's just like oh i hate i hate me we're in fully in spoiler territory and uh so this happens a little
[00:29:48] bit later but like it's very easy to see how heli goes from like oh i the other version of me hates me
[00:29:55] well fuck you and uh she attempts to hang herself in the elevator and she like does it right as she's
[00:30:03] approaching the part of the elevator where you switch right so she the the real quote unquote real
[00:30:09] person would sort of tag into life dying yes obviously she doesn't die uh it didn't work but
[00:30:18] like it is a hell of a scene it's like and also like this is why it's anime this is like
[00:30:25] pure nen stuff where like we set up the rules and then the author is like now let's actually
[00:30:30] think about what would happen if a really smart person were to like use these rules as defined
[00:30:37] in their most efficient way and it's just like oh fuck oh my god well we're gonna talk about rules
[00:30:44] and not jump into plot stuff yet we got to talk about mr milichek who's the enforcer
[00:30:48] of rules and generally just like a real killer performance so this is this actor named trammell
[00:30:58] tillman who i've never heard of i don't know if he's ever been in anything else uh but like this role
[00:31:03] is i think what he was like born to do because he is like the hell jailer who keeps them all in hell
[00:31:11] he's like jordy like he's almost exactly jordy yeah not a teen but professional instead yes and he
[00:31:18] he is always smiling and he's talking in very like corporate hr approved positive tones but every once
[00:31:28] in a while you're like oh he like will kill any of these people with no remorse if it became the thing
[00:31:38] to do uh he and also just like as it goes on the the contempt and astronomical disrespect he has for
[00:31:49] the homunculus's who who live and work hell is like so disgusting but like just his face like so much of
[00:31:57] his acting performance is his face very subtle face acting i would also like to add that uh i really
[00:32:04] think he juices the 60s 70s off his aesthetic because he has the most 70s mustache of all time
[00:32:11] it's so perfect it's like especially with uh adam scott's facial hair being like nightmare to see the
[00:32:20] the juxtaposition of like the perfect mustache like literally not a hair out of place yeah it gets
[00:32:27] combed every night and every morning i'm sure it's beautiful he's like there there's one bit where
[00:32:35] okay because mark mark adam scott is like the head of the department because of peaty he left you'll get
[00:32:41] into that uh and like he's being coached to like help his new hire get used to you know get through
[00:32:50] orientation and it's not going well because she just tried to kill her outside self and and she's
[00:32:57] mr basically freaking out at every opportunity i mean correctly yes absolutely mr milchick is like
[00:33:04] no mark when heli comes through that elevator it's going to be her first time conscious since
[00:33:09] she was hanging so it's really important that you make your eyes kind can you make your eyes kind
[00:33:19] mark and it's just such a funny thing because like he's basically saying like so you see what i
[00:33:23] fucking do like you you know that this is fake right like can you also fake this uh and then uh
[00:33:31] of course adam scott makes the worst face of all time yeah he just kind of bugs them out like because
[00:33:38] how could they be emotionally intelligent these are people whose lives are like maybe six months long
[00:33:44] who have only ever sat at their desks and put numbers in boxes i think the last big picture piece
[00:33:51] uh that is worth communicating here is tone we've said details that are like suspenseful
[00:33:57] sort of like thriller-esque and that is definitely the case it is however a very funny show at the same
[00:34:06] time because it's so dark it's fun yes yes it's so dark and the it makes the absurdity of like
[00:34:13] the corporate positive hr speak which is absurd in real life it's like so ridiculous in uh this shit
[00:34:22] like the very first episode when heli is waking up and again it's like her seventh minute of life
[00:34:27] and she's like why don't i remember anything i feel like i should remember something and she's in
[00:34:33] orientation or supposed to be in the equivalent of orientation and adam scott's character is like
[00:34:39] supposed to be reading from this binder like like it's like very much like welcome new hire and
[00:34:46] anytime the script has anything with like a little bit of personality just like how are we doing today
[00:34:52] or just like a clause that opens a sentence like that it's just the most awful like he just fucks it
[00:34:57] up it's so good he does such a bad job i mean because every time she says something like you know
[00:35:04] that she is putting a lot of like terror and rage into he kind of goes like wow you sure seem excited
[00:35:12] to get started no yes but first when i was the thing he goes uh and he like flips through the binder
[00:35:20] to find like the flow chart branch that she just triggered and then he's like oh yeah this page
[00:35:27] i see you're feeling a little disoriented however lucky you because you're at in orientation
[00:35:35] and she's just like what she's like throwing stuff at this point yeah uh she does throw something at
[00:35:42] him he when he gets when real mark comes out of the elevator they hand him uh like an envelope that
[00:35:47] says like you fell uh carrying a thing of printer paper and you got a wound on your head here's the
[00:35:54] gift card we need to talk about the logistics because like work can't say what your work self
[00:36:01] was doing because it's top secret shit so if you if you get if you sustain damage they send you back
[00:36:09] into life with like a note pinned to your chest that's like you got a boo-boo uh because you tripped
[00:36:15] on the stairs please enjoy chilies on us sorry uh oh there's one more uh main character that we
[00:36:24] haven't gone over so we have our four guys you have mark adam scott the the main data refiner we
[00:36:29] have dylan the kooky comic relief we have john trotero as irving as the boot licker the rule believer
[00:36:35] and then we have uh heli who is like i refuse to accept any of this i'm in hell stop get me out
[00:36:43] uh then we have mr milchick who's sort of like their jailer like he's the one who's like coming
[00:36:48] into the uh fucking office with like a wheelie cart being like how are we doing today guys he's like
[00:36:54] they're like the guy who brings them their gruel and then there is their boss miss cobell who's
[00:37:02] played by patricia arquette in one of and i think the one of the best and certainly the weirdest
[00:37:08] performance in the entire show weird lady uh and i mean that with like highest compliments but
[00:37:15] their boss miss cobell is like this very uptight i would i would call her austere yes manager uh she
[00:37:24] is obviously like all into the company mission and everything i want to be clear like it should be
[00:37:29] kind of obvious that like this is kind of culty right yeah uh so she's definitely all in in every
[00:37:35] sense of the word and she's just like very intense uh she uh is very hard on mark as he starts out his
[00:37:45] his his job is head macro guy uh but this is where it really gets cooking um she's mark's neighbor
[00:37:54] uh and she's like uh just kind of like a fun old lady she is so my note on miss copel is such an odd
[00:38:05] odd odd freak on just like a moment to moment acting level there are performances even very good
[00:38:14] performances where you can kind of tell what the next line read is going to be like uh miss cobell is
[00:38:22] like it feels like yeah like every line she says she's gonna roll the dice and it could be like
[00:38:29] she's about to say these words in the most insane fucking way like i didn't really love the show
[00:38:34] shits creek but that's kind of you know like the the the mom character everyone loves her because she
[00:38:39] kind of does that sort of thing but in a very broad sitcom-y way miss cobell has that kind of like just
[00:38:46] like weird ass delivery uh but in a way that's very scary all the time so yeah she like
[00:38:55] so part of the reason that the severance shit is happening it's not just so that people can uh
[00:39:01] get paid to do work without having to do a boring job it's also like 1000 percent so that the company
[00:39:09] lumen that's doing this uh can indoctrinate these people who were like literally born yesterday
[00:39:16] into believing that the founder of the company and his family are godlike and that they have that the
[00:39:24] company handbook is often referred to in a way that the bible might have been in the 15th century
[00:39:30] where they will quote the handbook uh cite the teachings of the handbook irving will often tell
[00:39:35] them not to do something because the word of cure cure egan being the founder of the company the word
[00:39:40] of cure says that uh thou shalt not like make a graven image of mine office like that's why they
[00:39:46] can't make a map because the handbook says so like obviously okay they're going to indoctrinate the
[00:39:52] people who were born yesterday miss cobell is a real person who goes home and has the same mind as far
[00:39:59] as we know and she's like in the cult just because she likes it it's insane and yeah she's mark's neighbor
[00:40:07] and it's not coincidence it is like very clear she wants to control everything about mark 24 7 and it's
[00:40:16] very funny because there will be times where like there will need to be some person who needs to get
[00:40:20] involved in mark's life in a very uh you know intimate way for example his sister who he's very
[00:40:26] close with she's having a baby she needs a lactation consultant it's fucking miss cobell she shows up
[00:40:32] pretending bugs bunny like she's showing up in costume and it's so scary because she's like doing
[00:40:39] it and like she's bought and like she's her being there is like the devil's there yes yeah because
[00:40:46] the thing is that when she's in these characters when she's like being charming and like oh it's not
[00:40:53] like you can see the devil but the devil is tricking you it's like no she's playing it so well like
[00:41:01] everyone would believe that this is a really sweet warm-hearted uh lady who really wants what's best for
[00:41:09] you and it's only because we see her in the office where she is able to sort of let her seething rage and
[00:41:17] hate out without any consequence that's the only reason we know that like oh this is the this is big
[00:41:23] satan no just sort of an underlying amazing thing about the show is that like it's not clear what the
[00:41:33] macro data is but they have to they have to do it like it's very important and uh mark gets like
[00:41:40] she throws a mug at mark's head uh because they're not doing the macro data fast enough it's she's like
[00:41:46] mark i'm gonna throw this mug at you and then he ducks and says that was really hard for me i need to
[00:41:51] reflect on this there's something to that effect uh but it's again i'm just like the delivery of like
[00:42:00] mark i'm going to throw a mug at your head and he's just like what and then goes to her throwing
[00:42:05] and like she's like feral while she's throwing it which is like ah it's so good that's the other yeah
[00:42:12] yeah yeah they keep the the line that always comes up is the work is mysterious and important because
[00:42:16] they do talk amongst themselves like what the fuck is this shit for um dylan thinks that it's water world
[00:42:24] yeah it's it's it's like he thinks you're controlling like a remote submarine and the numbers represent
[00:42:30] seals and you don't want to attack eels eels oh eels oh i see there's dangerous eels so they want to go to rapture
[00:42:38] but the submarine might get attacked by eels so they are using their vibes when the numbers to tell where
[00:42:44] eels are so that the drone submarine can shoot at the eel oh and also the way they they sort these numbers
[00:42:51] is vibe based by which i mean like heli is like okay how do i do this stupid computer game and uh
[00:42:58] they explain it's like okay so if you find numbers that make you feel uneasy or uncomfortable though
[00:43:05] yeah you got it those are it yeah those are those go in folder number one and she's like what do you
[00:43:10] mean the numbers are scary and they're like you just you you'll get it like you just you'll just get it
[00:43:15] it's like what do you mean i'll get it it's like it's hard to explain you'll just know
[00:43:18] and then like later guys i'm feeling scared and they all are like oh and they all crowd around
[00:43:26] her computer and each are like one by one it's like yep that's scary that's scary like do it heli
[00:43:31] and like she starts like drawing a little uh border around the scary section and they're all just like
[00:43:37] yep yep and like she goes like one off like to get like one extra one and they're like oh
[00:43:42] it's real it's real it's not a fluke it's so fucking fun and like that's again that's
[00:43:48] another fucking weird thing is that like it's so easy to think and i think i thought this right at
[00:43:53] the beginning that the work is nothing that like they are not actually refining data it's not nothing
[00:44:00] they're doing is meaningful it's just you know the company is is satan they want to make an army of
[00:44:06] people who are a hundred percent bought into the company as their cult it is their god it is their
[00:44:14] country it is their mother and father and the job is just something they do to torture them but like
[00:44:21] as you say like if they don't do enough like when they are too busy like futzing around to do their
[00:44:27] macro data like cobell and mr milchick are like legitimately panicking like like this is like oh no like we're
[00:44:37] gonna get in so much fucking trouble so let's talk about the inciting incident which is uh there used
[00:44:43] to be pd who worked on the severed floor because there's only four of them so if heli got hired
[00:44:47] someone had to leave so pd left he used to be the head of the department and he was mark's best friend
[00:44:53] it's very sad because we've said countless times that mark looks like shit uh but in the flashbacks
[00:45:01] with pd when he's joking around there's so much joy in his face he's got a real butt in there man
[00:45:08] of course it's like his not real self and uh but but he he does like him so the inciting incident is
[00:45:16] mark in real life sees a haggard freak approach him and he's like mark i'm pd i'm from work i had
[00:45:26] experimental surgery to put my two halves back together again but it's making me fucking puke
[00:45:32] and die because it didn't work right help me please yeah uh and then mark's like oh boy uh and
[00:45:42] then he just lets him hang out in his unfinished basement for a bit uh so pd is basically dying a lot
[00:45:48] how they show the effects of this reintegration sickness which causes him to uh basically have
[00:45:57] his brain experience both cells at the same time so he will be sitting downstairs but then like
[00:46:03] across the room the computers from work and the people from work are there so like his mind is like
[00:46:09] fucked and merged into one location also is bleeding mark will say something that reminds him of something
[00:46:16] that he said at work before and then suddenly he's there like living to see and like that's how one
[00:46:22] of the ways that we see the good old days is because like motherfucker is just like living it
[00:46:27] and then he just he wakes up in a different place because he was like walking around and talking while
[00:46:32] that episode was occurring and now he's back he's like fuck and he bleeds uh so he gives him a map he's
[00:46:40] like mark i made a map you need to map the fucking severed floor his map looks like shit but everyone's
[00:46:45] maps look like shit it's so funny that the map is terrible so this is another lost thing lost did
[00:46:51] this thing in whatever season where there was like a black light map written on this big wall and like
[00:46:58] when they turned the black light on and the ink started glowing everyone was like what the fuck oh my
[00:47:02] god there's a map this is uh and like the the big thing was everyone freeze framed that image and
[00:47:08] tried to like reverse engineer with what all these little pieces of data meant on this map and that
[00:47:16] was the intent in and lost they did put all that hidden easter egg shit in there in severance pd's map
[00:47:23] is like a like a baby did that it's useless but i mean it's like it's something it makes when severed mark
[00:47:32] finds the map he's it's plants the seed of like pd was doing pd wasn't just sitting and taking it maybe
[00:47:40] i shouldn't just sit and sit and take it heli doesn't really want to sit and take it either
[00:47:43] i'm trying to tell her to sit and take it but maybe that's wrong irving is mr uh follow the rules sit
[00:47:50] and take it although he has his uh sort of transformative moment where he says you know like
[00:47:57] now i want to burn this place down so uh they are to their knowledge like the only department like it's
[00:48:04] just like the four computer people yeah but there uh there is actually another department called optics
[00:48:11] and design which as far as i can tell their job is to put paintings in the hallway yeah they make paint
[00:48:18] they are the one who makes so those aesthetics that we praised they are making that like they make
[00:48:23] the hall they make the paintings they make the signs uh they like that we see at one point they're 3d
[00:48:29] printing stuff uh so maybe they made the computers uh and the head of this department is christopher
[00:48:37] walken holy shit folks it's insane how he's like a real guy like christopher walken you think is like a
[00:48:44] meme man but like he's real and he's so good in this he's very he's very funny so the dynamic there is
[00:48:52] uh that's christopher walken's character is named bert uh irving falls for bert we got classic uh old
[00:49:03] gay guy love um yeah because they they bond over like there is this horrific painting outside of like
[00:49:10] the wellness room where keir egan the the you know founder is in like his 1800s clothes and he is
[00:49:17] whipping four demons with a big nine-tailed whip and there's like the fires of hell behind him
[00:49:24] and bert comes up seeing irving looking rapturously at this painting he's like do you like the painting
[00:49:31] it's like oh yes i love it it's like yes it's so calming uh so the dynamic here why the the romance
[00:49:41] is forbidden beyond just typical hr rules is uh both departments are under the impression that
[00:49:49] the other department in the past led a coup and killed their department yeah that's the reason they're
[00:49:57] so far apart and don't know where the other one is is because like there used to be a big war
[00:50:02] um and like they actually like mr milchick accidentally scare quotes shows irving a painting of the optics
[00:50:11] and design people like killing and eating macro data refined ritual dagger knives uh and he's like oh my
[00:50:19] god i'm so sorry you weren't supposed to see that and then of course like when irving gets over his
[00:50:25] fear and it's like i need to see bert because i love that old gay man um like dylan believes the
[00:50:30] the stories yeah he's like going as like his bodyguard and dylan's like look they say they
[00:50:36] don't know anything about it but they have the same fucking painting right here and but like
[00:50:39] in that painting it's reversed and it's the macro data refinement people eating them with knives and
[00:50:44] bird is like you know we're we're learning to trust you but i should let you know that there is a rumor
[00:50:52] about you guys we all know it no one believes it but we all know it so what's the rumor they say you
[00:50:58] have pouches like kangaroos yes you keep a larva in there if you get too close to you the larva will
[00:51:07] come out and bite you uh yes so what happens is uh bird is old which means his outside self is old
[00:51:19] uh so he his outside self is done working he's retiring which in practical terms means uh
[00:51:28] inside bert is deleted yeah he's this is his execution day because like irving is like really
[00:51:35] struggling with falling in love because one you know the word of kira says thou shalt not fraternize
[00:51:40] with thine co-worker romantically but and also i think it's just like you know because this is a guy
[00:51:45] he's been working there longer than anyone so he's he's consciousness is probably like four years old
[00:51:52] so he's he's like never had a sexual relationship or sexual feelings so it's like new to him and he's
[00:51:59] scared and he's like he's not ready he's taking it slow like when bert put his hand on his hand he
[00:52:05] had to run away basically yeah yeah and like christopher walk is like i'm sorry i i thought i read something
[00:52:12] into it and he's like no no it was it was okay i just and so like they're taking it slow they're not
[00:52:16] kissing they're not because he's too uptight it's very sweet it's so sweet but then it he goes to
[00:52:24] visit him and he sees that there's a bert is getting killed party and he will never get to feel the love
[00:52:31] he feels uh get in its full bloom and uh there's a hilarious message a hilarious video message from
[00:52:40] outside bert and i think this is what i mean by like every person is their own slave master to their
[00:52:47] work self here uh so it's a message on a uh substitute teacher tv that gets wheeled in um and it's you know
[00:52:56] the outside christopher walken and he's just like hey everybody uh this is uh bert's last day uh i know
[00:53:04] you made him very happy at least i think so obviously i can't uh experience those memories uh but
[00:53:11] i get a vague sense maybe that like he enjoys uh his time here although i guess i really would know so
[00:53:17] anyway see you later it's so fucking funny he's just like i mean like what can i say when i come out
[00:53:25] of that elevator i don't feel bad um yeah probably because of you guys right but then again it could
[00:53:32] be for any number of reasons it's so fucking funny uh and obviously so this radicalizes irving so that's
[00:53:39] what gets him all in and another thing that's radicalizing all of them and this is the funniest
[00:53:44] gag in the whole show is that mark's so he said he's very close with his sister and his sister's having a
[00:53:49] baby so she is married to a dopey man oh i love this so fucking silly uh he is a blowhard pseudo
[00:54:00] intellectual dope but kind he's kind though that he like blowhard to me i think of like
[00:54:08] mlm marketing type guy it's like this is this guy is sincere in his dumbness
[00:54:13] and his sweetness yeah he has no he has nothing but kindness in his soul but he is a moron um
[00:54:23] and he writes a book a self-help book that it's one of his he's written many of them and and when he
[00:54:33] and mark interact you get the sense that he knows that mark thinks of him as his intellectual lesser
[00:54:40] uh for example when they're in the birthing cabin he's like mark help me hang the kelp around the
[00:54:47] birthing room and mark is just like uh the kelp what's that for and he's just like do you do you
[00:54:55] really want me to explain like he knows that he's gonna hate the answer uh and so which is also
[00:55:01] endearing but he gives him a copy an advanced copy of his book he leaves it on mark's doorstep
[00:55:05] and miss cobell being a neighbor who is fucking spying on mark 24 7 her entire life is i must control
[00:55:12] mark uh steals the book so that she can make sure there's not any hidden messages she's trying to
[00:55:17] subliminally get to work mark and uh she has both herself and mr milchik reading it down in the work uh
[00:55:25] hell prison and through some fucking contrivance mark gets his hands on it and he reads this book
[00:55:34] which is this is this gave me when i saw this i was like it gave me a revelation because we've talked
[00:55:41] about business books are so stupid they're so fucking vague don't bullshit the client like
[00:55:47] fucking yeah dude were you gonna like the who what who is this for do a good job in the world of business
[00:55:54] not bad yeah exactly like what this is so baby who is this for this is who it's for it plays perfectly
[00:56:02] in this context it's so because this is the freeing text yes this is like this is the fucking manifesto
[00:56:11] that like opens their eyes and there's an incredible montage where he is to me this is legit like i think
[00:56:19] every like season has like this was like the the piece that made it all worth it and the whole show is good
[00:56:26] but take us away but this montage was when i was like i'm watching something special
[00:56:31] he's reading the book every line is a bomb bombshell opening his eyes to the possibilities of what it
[00:56:39] means to be a person and as he's reading the the text is going by on the screen we see like close-ups
[00:56:44] of the you know the paper pages with the printed words ken burns effect on the book yeah yes and we
[00:56:50] hear uh the voice of the brother-in-law reading these lines with such conviction and they're so fucking
[00:56:57] the one that i know by heart is like a soldier should not fight for his own freedom but the
[00:57:06] freedom of the soldier standing beside him in this way the war will be more inspiring for both of them
[00:57:16] it's just like that now like imagine that again and again and again dramatically like
[00:57:20] layered over like mark reading it's wonderful just like we described this brother-in-law character
[00:57:28] it's dopey but it's well-meaning so like these are not like these lines are clearly the writer's room
[00:57:36] being like guys we've done a lot of work making a very intricate plot and pacing it to be really
[00:57:42] tense and suspenseful let's spend today writing the dumbest lines woo party day uh and it
[00:57:50] really is just like one after another dumb dumb dumb but because they all have a sort of vague
[00:57:56] message of like it's good to be nice and you should be proud of yourself it's like it's wonderful because
[00:58:05] this book would only be meaningful to someone whose consciousness just turned on as a full adult
[00:58:13] like so fucking good it's great it's good i love that oh fuck this is not relevant to anything but i
[00:58:20] could be just another incredible bit of world building is the wellness sessions that they get
[00:58:28] every once in a while when they're a little tense or sometimes as a reward they get to go
[00:58:33] this is another one where just heard them like like literally like uh just the woman who runs the
[00:58:41] wellness sessions just shoot the other person it would be so much less stressful so you go into
[00:58:50] the wellness room and there is a woman who looks like a statue uh and she makes you sit in a chair
[00:59:00] and she says i will read you a number of facts about your audi which is what they call the version of
[00:59:06] themselves on the outside yeah any is the work one audi is outside yeah please try to enjoy all of the
[00:59:13] facts equally and she will then list a number of facts like your audi is kind your audi is a friend
[00:59:22] to animals and every time like there's one where he's like your audi is skilled at kissing
[00:59:30] and love making and irving who's getting the wellness is like oh no and she's like please try to enjoy all of
[00:59:36] them equally do not show preference to any one fact yeah he loses 10 points right yeah yeah if you lose all
[00:59:42] your points you don't get to hear any more facts
[00:59:47] the room is uh honestly it kicks ass it's like this crazy therapy room with like a whole ass tree in there
[00:59:54] in there there is a point later on where miss casey is able to speak candidly that's the wellness
[01:00:04] coordinator the woman who looks like a statue she's able to speak candidly instead of in the very
[01:00:09] structured wellness session type of way uh and she drops an incredible bomb which is just like uh this
[01:00:16] consciousness has been alive for 107 hours and the four hours i spent in the office with you guys were
[01:00:23] the best of my life and it's just like oh fuck it's like the majority of my existence has been
[01:00:30] half hour wellness sessions with you and it's like oh oh no oh no there's other shit with her but we're
[01:00:39] not gonna get into that uh fuck dude can we talk about enter sandman do we can we talk about this
[01:00:45] yeah yeah yeah we gotta talk about enter sandman so here's the thing uh pd pd who is mark's friend who
[01:00:52] underwent the brain fixing surgery who ultimately dies as a result he does be died he dies uh and
[01:01:00] you know funerals are so like there'll be home movies and stuff being played and things like that and one
[01:01:06] of the movies being played at the funeral is him with his teenage daughter uh and they're both playing
[01:01:12] like guitar uh and they're singing the the metallica song uh enter the sandman and both of us tom and i
[01:01:23] watched this and just thought this is such a fucking stupid song it's the dumbest it's it's insane how bad
[01:01:32] the lyrics are i if you didn't know about the song and you were just given a printout of the lyrics
[01:01:42] you'd be like a baby wrote this a baby that hates snaps it's about like i think like i think i should
[01:01:50] be able to go to bed at 8 30 it's too scary to go to bed at 7 um it's it is fucking because like
[01:01:58] they're singing they're doing they're playing on acoustic guitars yeah and it's like father and
[01:02:02] daughter like fun jam session hey so they're like smiling and laughing like these lyrics you you're
[01:02:08] used to hearing like this i'm angry metal man and like you hear like there's literally a line
[01:02:16] uh where heavy thoughts tonight and they aren't of snow white yeah man i didn't think they would be
[01:02:24] i don't i don't really think about snow white very much at all but the fact that you need to bring that
[01:02:29] up makes me think that you're three and you watch snow white on the fucking disney vhs every day
[01:02:36] because you're a kid like what is this take my hand time to meet the night night man
[01:02:45] uh every time i bring up severance to joe i start off by saying mr sam and bring me a dream
[01:02:50] he said mr sam and bring me a teen make him the most racist that's ever been seen that for the
[01:02:56] record that was a post that happened when do you remember when those private school high school kids
[01:03:05] were like mocking the uh oh yes yes yeah okay so that's where i saw the post but yes mr sandman bring
[01:03:13] me a teen make him more racist than i've ever seen make him a gamer who plays apex legends with a big
[01:03:23] goon cave for his day long edging that's got anyone the worst
[01:03:31] goon cave is not acceptable to be said or read if i had a cult workplace that would definitely be in the
[01:03:39] handbook you don't say that shit um it's so okay so we've got a lot into this show it's funny it's
[01:03:48] got a lot of good stuff going on and it's got great performances oh can i talk about dylan for a second
[01:03:54] yeah talk some more about dylan dylan's he's he's a rich vein he's very funny he's a it's a wonderfully
[01:04:00] acted character what i wanted to say uh uh so the actor zach cherry this is the second thing i've seen
[01:04:09] the first thing i'd seen him in is uh american bake-off where he hosted with ellie kemper
[01:04:17] and i came away from that being like i don't really think this guy's that good and i it was wrong
[01:04:21] i was so fucking wrong i'm so wrong but the issue of course is that like bake-off is the sin
[01:04:28] like they don't let you do a joke really the only joke they let you tell is like i think paul hollywood
[01:04:35] is sexually powerful and a dangerous man whenever there's a joke about how they're scared of him it's
[01:04:42] like he's 5'4 he's got jeans from coals i would fucking put that guy in a boston crab he would not
[01:04:49] know it hit him but uh yes so i mean ellie kemper is obviously a very delightful person and like even
[01:04:57] there it was like fine but not like amazing so when i saw him first at the computer i was like
[01:05:04] oh i don't know this is gonna go i was so wrong he's so good he's so fucking funny uh the island
[01:05:10] of britain owes him an apology yes there's a bit where they earn a musical dance experience
[01:05:18] by finishing their uh their files on time and prior to that they get the egg bar and
[01:05:27] hellie which is it's literally a cart with just like deviled eggs on it and uh the lights are insane
[01:05:32] because they're getting ready for the dance experience so it's like flashing red there's a
[01:05:37] line where hellie motes i can't believe it these eggs are actually really good and the zach cherry's
[01:05:45] delivery on yeah the egg bar is coveted as fuck is it's perfect it's like i've seen this guy
[01:05:53] like he is he is the perk fiend like i i just love it uh and the waffle party can we say the waffle
[01:06:01] party yes yeah so at the very beginning he mentions the waffle party is like the perk you get if you
[01:06:06] were the refiner of the quarter it's like the best perk well and so we're we think that's gonna be a
[01:06:12] party where y'all eat waffles it's not joe what is it so uh he gets it uh he stays after work to do
[01:06:21] the waffle party because when you when you win it you get to stay and what it is is you enter a room
[01:06:27] and then in that room there's like a house like how the unabomber shack is in that fbi uh container
[01:06:35] the house is a total replica of keir egan the founder of the company his childhood home and then you
[01:06:42] uh there's like it's dark it's very dark in there and there's a table with waffles and then you eat
[01:06:49] the waffles and then uh after you've cleared your plate you see that under the syrup the plate says
[01:06:57] go to the bed and there's a giant like paper mache uh mask head of the founder right that's who it is
[01:07:07] yeah and you put the mask head on and throughout the season you've heard about like the scripture
[01:07:12] that he wrote in the handbook and one of them one of the things is that there are four tempers
[01:07:17] that you must tame i forget what they are but it's like like laziness whoa you have four pillars of
[01:07:24] misery in you and your personality is based on your ratio and there are nine values that you're
[01:07:29] supposed to uphold and so you go and you put on this helmet this helmet this mask of the founder
[01:07:36] you see in the bed that there is a nine-tailed whip that on the end of all of them has the nine
[01:07:42] values and then uh four sex dancers with hideous masks that represent the four tempers come in and
[01:07:52] do a sex dance for you it's just the show has been so sexless yeah because how could how could there
[01:08:01] be any yeah exactly i mean like it's very clear what it is it's like these people are not gonna
[01:08:07] fuck they don't get to fuck because they're homunculuses but like they might eventually awaken
[01:08:13] sexual desire and that might make them bad at working so we need to let them fuck but in a way
[01:08:19] that makes them love the company more and it's the waffle party it's fucked so okay ah do we want to get
[01:08:28] to like we've been going full spoilers we want to just do finale stuff no i think we should leave
[01:08:32] i think i think we i think we we said enough to like get a juice without touching on the the really
[01:08:40] cool shit i want to talk about the finale in a non-spoilered way then because i think that the
[01:08:45] season finale of severance is like a masterpiece it's like one of the best episodes of any show
[01:08:52] every second feels like a year it's so tense you cannot look away lids are being torn off mystery
[01:09:01] boxes left and right and you look in and you go oh my god um it's it's like to the point where if
[01:09:09] there weren't a season two and there will be uh if there weren't a season two or if season two sucks
[01:09:14] the way they ended one is a triumph enough that it's they did it like it was worth it it was it was an
[01:09:20] achievement another fun fact that i forgot to bring up is that the reason they got christopher
[01:09:27] walken cast in the show is they had john torturro and they're like we need to cast this guy bert and
[01:09:34] he's like oh you know who would be great for bert is chris walken he's my he's my good friend in real
[01:09:40] life we have chemistry already cast him if he knows it's coming from me he'll say yes for sure and he did
[01:09:46] and i gotta say it's so funny to get cast in a show and be like hey so you're gonna be gay with
[01:09:52] some dude and you're like can i smooch my bud like call my homie mr director i can't help but notice
[01:09:58] you're looking for someone for me to smooch yeah the other thing about the production is that uh it was
[01:10:05] cursed because it started with covid and then the writer's strike for later and it was just plagued with
[01:10:13] problems it's it's it's a really a miracle show um because i i did a lot like anything that i get
[01:10:20] like really into i have to do the reading and i want to like look up interviews and behind the scenes stuff
[01:10:25] information so the creator the head writer showrunner creator dan erickson uh so you know we've talked
[01:10:33] about how like writing is impossible to make money on and it's the big failure thing it's like what you do
[01:10:37] if you want to fail and suck is just be a writer uh he is like the one guy who it all worked out for
[01:10:45] so like he doesn't have like a huge list of credits like he's done some small things but he's a very
[01:10:52] small resume uh and he just wrote the pilot for severance as like a you know like here's the script
[01:10:59] and it was like one of those ones where it's like oh it's really good but it's unproduced like oh it's
[01:11:03] those those like oh don't you wish these got picked up scripts and it sort of had a reputation
[01:11:08] and uh fucking ben stiller found it he read it and was like uh this is now my life's work like i will
[01:11:16] kill myself and move heaven and earth to make severance he was just gonna direct the pilot
[01:11:22] but he ended up directing most of the season ben stiller i'm talking about zoolander
[01:11:29] one of the best directing directors yeah just like he's just incredible uh like it like there's so
[01:11:35] many things that are so fucking baby simple like um the effect in the elevator for you know outside
[01:11:44] person turning off and inside person turning on is it's that fucking shit where you pull the camera
[01:11:51] back and zoom the lens in at the same time so it doesn't look like anything's moving but just like
[01:11:57] the the fucking field of view changes so like the the shape of everyone's head is just kind of
[01:12:03] morphing in a weird uncanny way that perfect way to communicate that like yeah because it's awesome
[01:12:08] because it's like it's not like they're doing anything like it's not you know from seeing cameras
[01:12:14] before that like they're not actually changing head shape but also you know from seeing cameras before
[01:12:22] that generally you want to hide that transition and so you're just like this is a little weird
[01:12:28] so fucking good but yeah it took took forever to produce because covid happened and then they're
[01:12:34] like season two it's not gonna fucking happen again writers and actors strike it took forever
[01:12:38] to produce as a result the budget for both seasons is like crazy too high so who knows if we're gonna get
[01:12:45] season three sure hope so but again another thing about the finale that i'm not gonna spoil i'm gonna
[01:12:50] you know what i'm gonna do i'm gonna make a parallel with andor andor did this with andy circus's guest
[01:12:59] character where you have a boot licker who entire his entire time on screen he's saying i'm a boot
[01:13:05] licker i believe in this and i will not do i will not say a thing that you like because i believe in
[01:13:12] licking boot and i will lick boot forever and something bad happens and they're like you know
[01:13:18] come on man you gotta not lick boot and he's like i will lick boot this changes nothing i will lick
[01:13:23] boot something bad happens you gotta stop licking boot no i will lick boot i will lick boot forever
[01:13:27] and then at the end when something bad happens and he's just like i will die to end the boot
[01:13:38] licking forever and you're just like yes yes oh my god joe joe again i don't say anything spoiler
[01:13:47] but when you found out who the second guy was for all of our guys did you go nutty all the reveals
[01:13:55] are fucking cool and i don't know the thing i liked about them without giving anything specific
[01:14:03] is that they establish that everyone's in e and outy has some shared motivation that of course now
[01:14:12] they can't really communicate directly but it's you as the the viewer are aware of it yeah it it's
[01:14:19] interesting both because like you get the treat of like the mystery is revealed but the reveal means
[01:14:25] that like the context even if nothing really changes my knowing this changes the context so
[01:14:34] profoundly that like it's never gonna be the same because like if there's just like a normal scene
[01:14:42] next season i'm gonna watch that normal scene now knowing who these people are what they do on the
[01:14:52] outside and like what does that suggest and like this is why i think you know i said like oh even a
[01:15:00] season two is bad it'll still be a great like a masterpiece single season show like i think season
[01:15:06] two is gonna fucking whip huge ass because just like so much has been set up with so much potential it
[01:15:16] feels like we're just seeing you know boulders on the top of the mountain getting tipped down the
[01:15:21] slope like they're just starting to roll and like unless something like really bad happens to the
[01:15:29] writing staff i don't see this i i don't see this potential possible to to go bad like even if they
[01:15:35] squander it ben stiller can't die like that's basically it he can't uh and his delightful
[01:15:43] producer money must stay holy shit i'm really joe i haven't said this to you out loud because it kind
[01:15:50] of goes without saying but i'm gonna say it now uh thank you for watching severance uh i know that
[01:15:58] you were not capable of it due to before the the hell job which is very apropos um but like i've been
[01:16:08] begging you to do this for ages and like because i knew i knew it is that chance like it is that good
[01:16:15] you were correct to recommend it uh nine years ago uh but it's just fucking good i mean i would have
[01:16:23] never had access to it without you telling me about it because i apple tv that's not real it's fake dude
[01:16:31] that's like where the fucking morning show starring reese witherspoon is that's not like actual shows
[01:16:37] that are good just if i want anyone listening if you listen to anime sickos it means that at least a
[01:16:44] little bit you like uh when people grapple with the sort of existential nightmare horror of modern
[01:16:53] labor cog this is such a cog show this is a hundred percent cog it literally is like a suspense horror
[01:17:00] thriller what if you could alienate your labor to the point that you made a slave of yourself
[01:17:08] that you didn't even know was doing a job that's pretty much uh obviously i would do that in a
[01:17:17] heartbeat that sounds great yeah i mean that's why they all decided in the first place like the guy at
[01:17:23] work isn't me and like the reason this isn't you learned this right away like the reason mark gets
[01:17:31] severed is because he his wife died and he just he he just wants eight less hours in the day
[01:17:36] remembering that his wife had died and it's just like that's totally understandable like i completely
[01:17:43] buy that that would drive you to do that but just like and that's what's so fucking hellish about it
[01:17:49] is that it is also like this is also believable aside from obviously the fake sci-fi technology but just
[01:17:56] like this behavior do you really think google wouldn't be doing this if they could do you really
[01:18:03] think they would it's just on top of being like a really slick well-written well-plotted sci-fi thriller
[01:18:11] show it's it's got themes folks a message what did we say if we got severanced uh what would happen
[01:18:20] it's it would fall to my head like the chip would just kind of fall out and then for you they would
[01:18:26] put it in backwards so you have two work cells yeah i go to work i go to work both times uh
[01:18:36] anyway that's all the time we have from anime sickos we're going to do a sketch right now
[01:18:39] remember the sketch in the beginning it's part two
[01:18:52] hey sharks thanks for the second try i know we kind of blew it that first time
[01:18:57] i still think the old bay has legs but um i did understand what your producers told us so we got
[01:19:04] it this time like this is gonna be good all right so what's your idea so do you think it's weird
[01:19:11] that goten is born somewhat stronger than gohan uh because like when gohan is born his power level is
[01:19:21] like what like a thousand tops when he's like coming out of that pod uh-huh but like goten can become
[01:19:26] super saiyan immediately trunks as well um so like based on that we can assume then that like
[01:19:35] saiyan comes scales and power right like if you you would want a nut after you train that's not a
[01:19:42] business why do you keep saying that thank you for listening to anime sickos i've been tom a sicko you
[01:19:52] can follow me on twitter at tom harrison 19 joe is also a sicko you can follow him on twitter
[01:19:57] at sharia uncle you can follow anime sickos on twitter at anime sickos or email us at anime sickos
[01:20:04] gmail.com please leave us a review or something i don't know tell a friend anyway until next time bye
[01:20:11] so