It’s an interesting premise and the first season was a fun watch. But once you start getting deeper into the mystery box, important threads get hollow.
S2 spoiler
Lots of threads are just dead ending at “it’s a quirky cult”. When the evil shadowy organization aren’t taking rational steps toward a concrete goal you can’t make any reasonable deductions. For example, the entire elaborate goat department serves no purpose beyond sacrifice? Sounds like the real purpose was the writers wanting some unsettling discovery and didn’t know how to fit it in.
And disbelief gets more stretched when you think about the daily operation of the departments.
S1 spoiler
MDR is a critical department but you can’t afford more than 1 security officer on the floor? You have all these security cameras but nobody watching them? The security chief is murdered and you just don’t replace him and continue with your normal operations? You don’t even have night guards to watch the severance control panels? You demonstrably have the tech to hire any number of goons and sever them. Maybe instead of faulty security doors just have like 2 guys guarding important hallways.
FooBarrington@lemmy.world 4 days ago
spoiler
> MDR is a critical department but you can’t afford more than 1 security officer on the floor? You have all these security cameras but nobody watching them? I feel this is explained well by the hubris of Lumon - they literally think that innies aren’t people, so why go further than necessary to keep them in line? And this seemingly worked as intended, until two pieces of contraband - Graeners security card and the “idolatrous text” of The You You Are - were brought onto the floor. > You demonstrably have the tech to hire any number of goons and sever them. Maybe instead of faulty security doors just have like 2 guys guarding important hallways.
shoo@lemmy.world 3 days ago
Tap for spoiler
Faulty is the wrong word, but in the sense that they didn’t really work to keep them locked in. There was no backup plan, nobody noticed when they just walked out. Speaking of Graeners security card: they know he’s dead and that his card is gone but they don’t revoke the card access or change the locks??? I’m pretty sure Mark tested it as well, do they not have access logs or did nobody noticed that a dead guy was opening doors? It’s true that the show implicitly leans into the hubris angle, but for me that just makes them feel like bumbling idiots instead of a dangerous cult. It was clear MDR was starting to act up and ask questions but they never appropriately elevated their response or security. Milchik got fucking bit and they mostly just shrugged it off… Not that bumbling corporate incompetence isn’t also entertaining, it just feels at odds with the dark, meticulous tones they try to set with management/the board.
FooBarrington@lemmy.world 3 days ago
spoiler
> Faulty is the wrong word, but in the sense that they didn’t really work to keep them locked in. There was no backup plan, nobody noticed when they just walked out. Fair, though this is part of the same hubris angle. > Speaking of Graeners security card: they know he’s dead and that his card is gone but they don’t revoke the card access or change the locks??? I’m pretty sure Mark tested it as well, do they not have access logs or did nobody noticed that a dead guy was opening doors? They specifically said in the show that Graeners card doesn’t leave logs. Lumon had no reason to suspect that an outie would have the card and smuggle it in - it’s normal that these kinds of credentials updates take a couple of days in bigger companies (especially when the employee died, and Lumon probably didn’t immediately have access to his body to check if he still has the card). > It’s true that the show implicitly leans into the hubris angle, but for me that just makes them feel like bumbling idiots instead of a dangerous cult. It was clear MDR was starting to act up and ask questions but they never appropriately elevated their response or security. Milchik got fucking bit and they mostly just shrugged it off… Milchick had to shrug it off because he didn’t want his superiors to find out about the OTC that started it all. They did install the security doors when MDR started acting up, and they had no reason to assume they’d have workarounds for the doors. > Not that bumbling corporate incompetence isn’t also entertaining, it just feels at odds with the dark, meticulous tones they try to set with management/the board. I think this is something they’ll go further into during the next season - the chains the innies saw around them were always more theoretical than practical. Lumon adds more security measures as necessary, but they are inherently reactive (e.g. with the code detectors & the Lexington letter). The innies can break these chains by banding together and overwhelming Lumon, which is what they’re doing at the end of season 2. By the way, regarding the bumbling idiot angle - they literally fired the person that invented the Severance chip and who found a flaw in the system they developed (reintegration), partially because they want to keep the mythos alive that the CEO developed the revolutionary procedure. That feels very realistic in todays’ age.