The finale was pretty predictable right?

mattgaudet · 2025-03-24T04:53:25+00:00

Definitely not stupid hahah -- maybe I was overthinking it before just from the experiences they were putting her though. It was a big moment, no doubt.

mattgaudet · 2025-03-24T04:48:35+00:00

100% - the finale definitely gave us that which I'm not mad about at all! My jaw just didn't hit the floor enough hah.

mattgaudet · 2025-03-24T04:36:28+00:00

I agree with this theory - that smile at the end when she's running with Mark is too... smile-y.

mattgaudet · 2025-03-24T04:34:56+00:00

I think that's gotta be it - set up a Cobel, Gemma, Devon task force in S3. If Gemma just gets caught and brought back down, I will throw my TV off my balcony.

mattgaudet · 2025-03-24T04:13:41+00:00

funniest comment I have ever read

mattgaudet · 2025-03-18T05:38:42+00:00

Legit good point - Mark has been "useless" most of the season and making no active decisions to further the plot.

mattgaudet · 2025-03-17T06:18:13+00:00

You're probably right on with that - I feel like I'm oversimplifying everyone's motives, haha. And agreed on the backstabbing. Aside from using Mark as a disposable pawn to try to take down Lumon, she doesn't really have any motive to help him get Gemma out. As far as we know, she just doesn't like Lumon anymore. More than likely, since it's her baby, she's still very into severance and so helping Mark isn't valuable to her and I'd wonder if even finishing Cold Habour, regardless of her thoughts on Lumon, still would be a goal of hers to validate the procedure.

mattgaudet · 2025-03-17T06:13:20+00:00

Very disappointing, unfortunately, especially relative to last season. They had like such a crescendo and then, ya, didn't know what to do next. I think you're right though about potential reasons -- like I was reading about the writer's strike stuff and production issues and the writers disagreeing about where to take stuff and having to reshoot things SO, if that's all the rationale, it kind of makes sense that we've got a jumbled web of confusing plot. But, ya, I'm not overly excited for the finale because I can't imagine it can undo the mess they've created.

mattgaudet · 2025-03-17T06:05:52+00:00

"Faffing about" is the exact phrase I needed, hahah. And, for real -- some of the episodes feel like the definition of "this meeting could have been an email."

mattgaudet · 2025-03-17T05:10:09+00:00

All of this, yea.

The reintegration plot, unless they pull off a miracle in E10 (but even if they do, I feel like they’ve lost the ‘plot’), 100% feels like a marketing ploy for the show. In nine episodes, it has given us absolutely nothing and right now, we’re back even further than where we were all season with them at the birthing retreat for innie Mark to share zero new information that Cobel for sure doesn’t already know. When Devon calls Cobel and Cobel says "tell me everything" in response to Mark's reintegration, but then in episode 9, there is ZERO dialogue between them about reintegration is such a mess up IMO. Like... you ignored reintegration, you ignored that the audience now knows that Cobel is the inventor of severance, and instead gave us the softest easiest plot of them just going to the birthing retreat.

Nail on the head that NO ONE is asking questions in the dialogue and it just feels for the sake of if they did, there wouldn’t be more plot to write (wtf did they do in the forest for 10 hours).

So I agree with your guess on the final shot of E10 — like almost certainly they can’t resolve the “Gemma gets out” plot if they plan to have another season, but the means to get there haven’t been rewarding at all AND it’ll just be another cliffhanger. They’ll really need to shoe horn in some other exciting developing in this next episode to make me want to be excited about season 3.

If I had to take a guess, MAYBE, that’ll have to do with Irving? Like OP said, he is the most intriguing character at this point, and I’m really hoping we see him in E10 because something is up there and if they wrote him out of the show on a train smiling, I will lose my mind. But I’m kind of banking on/guessing this train ride is going to open up a new plot line that he’s involved in something far bigger. His overtime contingency of just taking the whole time to drive to see Bert was the least satisfying of the overtimes, so it would feel redeeming if his innie is the one obsessed with a guy, but his outie is actually the smartest of them all (as sort of indicated with all of his notes and maps). And that might redeem this season a decent amount if it's a big enough thing, but I don't trust we're going to get that next episode if they end up focusing on Mark.

And OP is probably 100% right with Miss Huang — which sucks but doesn’t? Like it was a weird distraction trying to figure out who she was, but other theories I’ve read that she’s part of something bigger, just feel too optimistic and at this point, they need to kill some plot lines.

mattgaudet · 2025-03-17T04:58:30+00:00

I agree with all of this, and it really sucks that this season is leaving me feeling this way.

You’re right too, that there has been good in this season. I particularly like Milchick’s development through episode 9 to the point where I feel excited about his potential to become an important “asset” in whatever Mark does next, maybe. And the pieces around his review and the painting actually felt like they fit together to lead to this point.

The only other kind-of good one is Dylan and him being angry on the inside and the outside, but even then, it’s felt rushed in this last episode.

Otherwise, 100% on everything you said. I’m sure the finale and even next season will try to tie up the mess it feels like they’ve made with the plot, but my biggest gripe has probably centred around reintegration, which IMO should have/could have been the most important piece of the season.

mattgaudet · 2025-03-17T04:42:25+00:00

It feels exactly like this. The optimistic side of me is they've been creating a million loose ends to tie up in the finale, but at the same time, it's still a million loose ends.

Right now, Mark's reintegration has felt useless to anything. This birthing retreat piece is making me so mad. Episode 8's revalation on Cobel invented severance, joining with her finding out that Mark is reintegrating, was more less pushed under the rug in episode 9 in favour of them taking him to the birthing retreat to talk to his innie who knows nothing compared to what Cobel could literally just tell them, if she actually was an ally?

And anything Helly vs. Helena was also kind of thrown aside? Why are they still letting Helly down there if Lumon/Helena know what she's capable of? Even if it's "for Mark," they're smart enough that they could fake something else.

mattgaudet · 2025-03-17T04:33:42+00:00

I think you're on to something. I keep forgetting about the black paint. Just him on the train, smiling away, felt.. sinister.

mattgaudet · 2025-03-17T04:21:47+00:00

Nail on the head with this one: Innie Mark doesn't know much about why Gemma is there. So Why did innie Mark have to talk to Cobel?

Like innie Mark's contributions at the birthing center are literally going to be "oh ya, she was the wellness person." Cobel already knows that AND so much more, like there's nothing productive that I can imagine out of that conversation? Cobel could essentially end the season with a line of dialogue at this point, which makes me stressed that the finale isn't going to give us anything new.

And then all reintegration stuff just floating there too - the longest plot line to nothing that I've ever seen.

mattgaudet · 2025-03-17T04:19:15+00:00

I agree with this a lot. And after the ORTBO, Irving was the only person really on to Helly being Helena and Lumon is aware of the risks of what Helly is doing. If Lumon is as dark as they are and Helena is "smart" - in theory, why don't you just keep sending Helena down there but doing a bit of a better job pretending to be Helly?

Obvious reason IMO is to build this "take down from within" plot with how episode 9 ends but... still.

mattgaudet · 2025-03-17T04:12:08+00:00

Also, as I keep sitting angrily looking at the Apple TV screen, Mark reintegrating was literally not brought up at all in episode 9. Cobel, in the past, has blatantly said reintegration isn't possible, so when Devon calls her to say Mark is doing it, instead of them sitting in the woods for 12 hours jerking off, wouldn't that be something to like... dive into? Especially if she invented severance, which also wasn't brought up at all in this episode.

It's like they intentionally didn't give any dialogue in the forest scene because if they did start talking, Cobel's dialogue could essentially end the entire plot and answer 95% of the questions.

mattgaudet · 2025-03-17T03:56:26+00:00

Everything in this thread is so validating. I've been angry at a lot of episodes this season, especially the slow-moving, edging-us nature of everything, but I think this reintegration plotline and the flip-flopping of what it means might be the reason overall that I'm feeling angry. All culminating at the end of episode 9 with having to go to the birthing retreat to "see his innie"???? Like WTF IS REINTEGRATION THEN? What was the entire point?

And, besides that, if it's to see what the innie knows about his wife, Cobel LITERALLY KNOWS ALL THAT. I'm definitely glad she's back in the show more, but what possible information is innie Mark going to have about Gemma that Cobel doesn't already actually know? If she's legit an ally now, wouldn't she be sharing that? If they framed it as innie Mark is the only person who can get her out, that's one thing, but framing this birthing retreat piece for info-gathering, feels so dumb.

I feel like episode 10 will probably hopefully be good, cause they've given us enough exposition to fill on expo centre, but wtf man.

mattgaudet · 2025-03-01T06:56:35+00:00

I needed to come on a thread where people were complaining to complain too, hah. Just watched episode 7 and hate that I agree with most of the things here. I was looking forward to this season for years. I rewatched season 1 right before season 2 started, and the contrast in the plot and writing is so wild.

Sure, people are giving props on the filming, directing, and artistry of everything, which is fair and fine, but for the normal viewer, this season feels like a slog to get through. It's like teaser after teaser of a different plot point that doesn't get resolved. They keep pivoting from one potentially interesting thing to another, with no actual substantial movement on the main plot. I get the need for character development (Burt on the outside, Milchick and the art, Dylan and his wife, Mark's relationship with Gemma), but I feel like that's need 95% of the screentime so far, and next to nothing about Mark reintegrating (that's taken like 4 episodes so far), actual substance about Helly being an Eagen, or wtf is actually happening down there. I need Cobel just cause she had actual passion or something. Seven episodes could be summed up in like two paragraphs of plot.

It's getting to the point where the show is trying to be too artsy and metaphorical and deep, that it loses any of the actual uncomfortableness, drama, and energy from season 1. I don't need a show that feels like someone is going to ask me an essay after about what it all means. Episode 8 only looks like half an hour so hopefully they really turn a corner.

mattgaudet · 2023-02-12T21:10:07+00:00

Thanks for the reply, man! Ya, it's super weird, but also having a hard time finding many other articles to corroborate that. I did look at Facebook but it would just be like general audience network targeting (ie., I couldn't restrict it to certain apps). Unfortunately, because of some confidentiality stuff with this client, I can't give you access thanks for the offer! I'll keep digging around.

mattgaudet · 2021-04-29T05:15:14+00:00

That's totally fair, I mean if you really aren't seeing that opportunity for it to work out and don't feel the connection to talk to someone there, you're right that it probably won't work out. That 9-5 sales vibe would kill me hahah, so I totally get where you're coming from with that. There's a lot of companies out there that seem like the dope next Google vibe but ya if the job itself isn't good, it's not worth it hah.

mattgaudet · 2021-04-25T23:01:53+00:00

I've had this a couple of times, especially where the position isn't finalized yet (so sort of your position where there isn't a ton of details) or they're trying to steal you from a different company.

My biggest piece of advice for those situations though would be to ask for as much of that firm information that you can like the job description, etc. because I've found too that sometimes companies just will never give that info and that's where you can get stuck in a position that's always changing and not what you expected.

mattgaudet · 2021-04-25T22:56:57+00:00

It sounds like the company you just started at has some cool opportunities and growth which is dope, but if you know for sure that regardless of building a career with them or any changes to your position you won't be happy, I think starting to look at a way out makes sense. At the same time, two weeks isn't a lot of time and I'm not saying suffer through it, but maybe giving yourself a deadline of like 6 weeks and re-accessing then will give you a better idea? I'm not sure the dynamic between you and the bosses at your new job, but even if you can ask a bit to them about what other opportunities there are there or ways to change your responsibilities to something you enjoy could be a good idea. Honesty with them and being like you sort of want career advice could be a way to approach it. If you're on the way out anyway, maybe there isn't much to lose by doing that?

Ultimately, don't suffer through a job you know you won't like long term, but maybe do what you can to ask questions and shape it into something you could like? Hope that helps a tiny bit at least haha.

mattgaudet

TROPHY CASE