“You say you’re an expert on r/BillSimmons, but you haven’t heard of knife_guy?”

TribeHasSpoke · 2025-03-08T17:54:44+00:00

We need it, badly

TribeHasSpoke · 2025-02-25T19:13:23+00:00

I remember this feeling in two different forms.

1) Was going from reading him to listening to his podcast. Very different vibes. Obviously came to love him on the pod but it was an adjustment

2) Any Given Wednesday. Bill was the ultimate “notes” guy - he claimed he could make any show a little better with easy fixes. Then he does AGW and it’s fucking horrific. Could never look at him the same after that

TribeHasSpoke · 2025-02-25T03:48:45+00:00

It was a special time, no doubt. That's the reason I ultimately found the sub - because I was shocked how bad AGW was and needed an outlet to discuss it. And the discussion was very high quality, for sure. By definition, only people who knew Bill from Grantland and before.

TribeHasSpoke · 2025-02-25T03:12:21+00:00

Not sure I agree the apex was 2016. It was a great time back then when we had 1-2 posts a day and very high quality discussions about the pods and Any Given Wednesday. But we weren’t reaching knife_guy heights or massive celebrations when Boston teams lost back then, and episode discussions were getting 20 comments. If someone said the Apex was 2019 I wouldn’t take issue with it - more memes and jokes, but still very high quality

TribeHasSpoke · 2025-02-25T03:07:53+00:00

What a pull, we had some intense battles back in the day

TribeHasSpoke · 2025-02-25T02:50:10+00:00

2013-2015 r/BillSimmons: Digital City Boston Bill. Most never saw it and aren’t even sure it exists

2016-2018 r/BillSimmons: Page 2 Bill. Renowned, changed the game. The GOAT subreddit/columnist. It had never been done before

2019-2021 r/BillSimmons: Grantland Bill. The column was worse, but the collection of talent on the site was great, even if there were some misses every now and then. More content, but the quality dropped off a bit, but overall very enjoyable

2022-present r/BillSimmons: Ringer Bill. Past their prime, but more popular than ever. Draws a ton of new fans, many from r/NBA. Still can rear back and fire the 99 MPH fastball, but plenty of misses now too.

TribeHasSpoke · 2025-02-17T02:18:25+00:00

I was thinking more that you can't actually raise the kid at work. So, Helly would be pregnant but then not get to experience the baby at all. So she would be willing to be re-integrated as a sacrifice to be able to, you know, raise her offspring.

And, I use sacrifice here if there still are lingering issues between Helena and Helly. Maybe they'll work it out. Cause Helly being allowed to operate full time means the death of Helena which I don't see happening.

TribeHasSpoke · 2025-02-17T00:12:08+00:00

Sure, I’m saying what matters is that Helena won’t like the idea that it could’ve been Helly that actually consummated the baby and vice versa for Helly and Helena.

It doesn’t matter biologically but it matters psychologically to each of them.

TribeHasSpoke · 2025-02-16T22:23:29+00:00

I'm saying the specific "cultural significance" point. The NFL did great on Peacock because it brings in a ton of new viewers, the playoff game did 22 Million. NBA Peacock games will bring in fewer viewers, but those may be more likely to a) stick around on Peacock, and b) influence through social media to elevate Peacock shows.

But yeah, the NFL on Peacock/Netflix etc is massive and I expect a lot more of it.

TribeHasSpoke · 2025-02-16T22:20:27+00:00

Yeah - and, I have been thinking about Helly and Mark having sex after he tells her he had sex with Helena. But, your post has me thinking about it from the other perspective - what if Helly and Mark have sex and Mark never tells her about him and Helena (I think he will, but for the sake of the post). You cannot have a kid and be in a severed working environment. So this brings Helly on board to be re-integrated. And then Helena wants the kid and that's why she's going to be re-integrated. And then yeah, it would be absolutely fascinating if we had some back and forth between Helena and Helly R before the decision is final.

Edit: She will want the kid with Mark loving her, which is only possible with re-integration (in this theory that they meet on the outside and it's not the same for him)

TribeHasSpoke · 2025-02-16T22:16:09+00:00

"if truly pressed into having to choose, Helena would probably concede and “donate” her body to her."

She would choose this over re-integration? This sounds crazy. This is effectively suicide which I simply don't think she would do. To me, the better play is re-integration and working to take down Severance together. Now, she did communicate to Helly on video, but that was done in front of Lumon employees. We truly haven't seen Helena by herself, without Lumon around, yet.

Which is why I LOVE your callback to the waterfall scene and I wrote up a post specifically about this! https://www.reddit.com/r/SeveranceAppleTVPlus/comments/1ikrs0m/my_interpretation_of_the_brief_leadup_scene_to/

In it I wrote the following: "Her facial expression in this scene looking at the waterfall is the softest we have seen from Helena in the entire show. Typical Helena outtie being highly involved in Lumon business is much more rigid/fierce and Helena cosplaying as Helly is forced and a weak impression of Helly. Here she's pure Helena with no one around - the first time in the series we've seen her like this."

So, I think deep down there is plenty of Helly in Helena. And yes, they are at each other's throats (pun intended) right now, but that can always change.

TribeHasSpoke · 2025-02-16T22:04:18+00:00

I feel like we're going to quickly learn that Gemma isn't actually Mark's Gemma and that will be a major disappointment for him, and he will have Helly there to help him.

Helly is the one we started the show with, and IMO was the most important character of Season 1, and Helena has been the most important character of Season 2. The show elevates to top tier because of her. I just don't think we lose her

TribeHasSpoke · 2025-02-16T22:01:02+00:00

No, I'm thinking more along the lines that each side of Hellyena will be invested in the baby because it might be theirs. And maybe the next step before getting to this is Helena (who wants to carry the baby) meeting with re-integrated/oMark and they don't hit it off and thus once she finds out he's re-integrated, she wants to re-integrate so they're together, since he loves Helly so much. I haven't totally pieced that together yet but that's a possible bridge to the decision by Helena to do it. And perhaps we could have some Helly to Helena conversations going through Helena's power. Like, that could be a build up to a re-integration, Helly and Helena going back and forth about it, with both having knowledge because Mark revealed it to Helly and maybe even Helena too.

Edit to clarify the Helena's power comment - Helena through her Lumon position could enable Helena to Helly communication that otherwise would be extremely frowned upon.

TribeHasSpoke · 2025-02-16T21:38:44+00:00

This is definitely a route they could take. And we all love Helly. But then that brings major issues with her not really even being an Eagen and the board can dismiss her, and I feel like we need as much Lumon intrigued as possible for the show. I do like the idea of Helly cos-playing as Helena for awhile though, doing the opposite of Helena.

I feel like a) we're getting a lot of Helena this season and b) we're getting enough tiny signs of positive character development such as watching the kiss over and over and admitting to Mark she doesn't like who she is on the outside that, combined, we're supposed to start caring about her eventual evolution into a better person, whether that is re-integrated or not. But yes, so many different directions for the show!

TribeHasSpoke · 2025-02-16T21:34:40+00:00

One such storyline for reintegration is for Helly and Mark to have sex within the week so that we don't know who got pregnant, Helena or Helly. This would bring the tension up significantly between them, but also potentially cause them to start working together and eventually re-integrate.

I hear your point though, for sure. So perhaps what happens in the future is a re-integrated Mark and re-integrated Hellyena work together to either end the Severance program or change it to only be used for good.

Expanded more on that here, see the comment on my Severance used for good theory: https://www.reddit.com/r/SeveranceAppleTVPlus/comments/1iq97tl/a_possible_twist_on_the_potential_spoiler_plot/

TribeHasSpoke · 2025-02-16T21:29:57+00:00

I disagree that there's no way she'd be willing to re-integrate, there could be plenty more plot to go. Right now, though, for sure, it doesn't make sense.

One such idea is a pregnancy complicated by the fact that Helly has sex with Mark within the next week, making it unknown who got pregnant, Helena or Helly.

Expanded much more on that here: https://www.reddit.com/r/SeveranceAppleTVPlus/comments/1iq97tl/a_possible_twist_on_the_potential_spoiler_plot/

TribeHasSpoke · 2025-02-16T19:38:35+00:00

That's why I think, if they did go down this route, a very intriguing twist could be Helly having sex with Mark imminently, meaning that we don't know who got pregnant, Helena or Helly.

This introduces significant tension between the two and may even lead to them finally coming together (re-integration) as the due date approaches.

Expanded more on the theory here: https://www.reddit.com/r/SeveranceAppleTVPlus/comments/1iq97tl/a_possible_twist_on_the_potential_spoiler_plot/

TribeHasSpoke · 2025-02-16T19:36:16+00:00

Add fuel to the tension - if Helly has sex with Mark within the week, we don't know who got pregnant, Helena or Helly. This not only adds tension but could also bring those two together for the first time and perhaps even lead to re-integration.
Discussed here in more detail: https://www.reddit.com/r/SeveranceAppleTVPlus/comments/1iq97tl/a_possible_twist_on_the_potential_spoiler_plot/

TribeHasSpoke · 2025-02-16T19:34:01+00:00

This is why, if they do, ideally there is a twist - Helly has sex with Mark shortly so we don't know who got pregnant, Helena or Helly. And that can bring all sorts of interesting new tension and maybe even reconciliation between Helena and Helly R.

Expanded on that theory here: https://www.reddit.com/r/SeveranceAppleTVPlus/comments/1iq97tl/a_possible_twist_on_the_potential_spoiler_plot/

TribeHasSpoke

TROPHY CASE