S2E10: Cold Harbor (with Ólafur Darri Ólafsson, Britt Lower, and Zach Cherry)

ID Tech, the first and most trusted tech camp, is where kids ages 7 to 17 find their people.

The coding and creating people. The fire-breathing, shell-spinning BattleBots people.
The just-as-happy building games as they are playing them people. At 75 prestigious college campuses all across the country, ID Tech features over 50 epic courses like BattleBots, AI and machine learning, game design, and more.
Visit IDtech.com and use code IDtech to save $150 on a week that's guaranteed to be a highlight of summer. Hey, Adam.
Yeah? Is your experience at work a bit dysfunctional lately? I don't know. I think it's...
It's... Okay, I'll take that as a yes.
Your team could undergo a highly controversial surgical procedure that would mercifully sever any and all memories of that work experience from your home lives. Or you could try Confluence by Atlassian.
Oh my god, well if it's a choice between those two things, I think I would 100% choose Confluence by Atlassian. Confluence is the connected workspace where teams can collaborate and create like never before, where teams have easy access to the relevant pages and resources their projects call for while discovering important contexts they didn't even know they needed.
A space where AI streamlines the things that normally eat up their time, letting teams generate, organize, and deliver work faster. In fact, with Confluence, teams can see a 5.2% average boost in productivity in one year.
So that would equal out, like if we're playing with like, let's just say 100%, 5.2 of those percentage points. Yeah.
That's the improvement. I mean, I'm not great at math, but that sounds very close.
Well, I'm doing the math in my head right now as we speak, and I think that's great. So why not keep your team unsevered? In Confluence, the connected workspace where teams can do it all.
Set knowledge free with Confluence. Learn more at Atlassian.com slash Confluence.
That's A-T-L-A-S-S-I-A-N dot com slash C-O-N-F-L-U-E-N-C-E. How's it going, Ben? It's going good, Adam.
We have a voicemail call that we want to play for everybody. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Let's get to that. Hi, this is Kelly, and I am really needing to know by the finale if there's going to be a season three.
And if there isn't a season three, I will find a doctor to perform the severance process on myself. So please do whatever it takes to quote Dylan.
I don't give three dry fucks how long it takes to make this still happen, but please make it happen for season three. We need it.
Thank you. Okay.
Well, first of all, I don't want anyone calling a doctor for brain surgery on our behalf. Yeah.
Or self-severing, which is just not a good idea.

Not a terrible idea.

Now, the reason we're kind of sounding a little rougher here

is this is a last minute call we're making to each other.

Right, Ben?

Yeah, it's very exciting.

The news just came through, Adam.

Just now.

Yeah, through the coconut telegraph that is Apple.

Yeah, we each got what's called a coconut telegram, which is like new technology. Yeah, it's the latest Apple product.
But here's the deal. Nobody has to give any dry fucks because we are officially renewed for season three and picked up.
That's right. Yeah.
We just wanted to put that at the top of the podcast now and then go to our regularly scheduled programming. But this is, we felt important enough to start out the episode with and get the news out there.
And I couldn't be more excited. Yeah, me neither.
And I think everyone can just rest easy that we'll have a new season to you at some point before 2037. Yeah, or 2039.
Something like that. Okay, I don't want to make any promises.
2042. Okay.
Guaranteed before 2042. How about that? Good.
Okay. Back to the show.
Hey, I'm Ben Stiller. I'm Adam Scott.
And this is the Severance Podcast with Ben and Adam, where we break down every episode of Severance. That's right.
And today is a momentous day. It's the season finale.
I can't believe it's here. I know.
Not the penultimate episode, but the ultimate episode. That's right.
Which is like penultimate. It's just you get rid of the penna.
So today we're going to talk about the season two finale, Cold Harbor. It was written by Dan Erickson and directed by Ben Stiller.
Yes, we've got a jam-packed episode for you. First, we're going to be joined by my friend, the incredible Dari Olofsson, who plays Mr.
Drummond. Now, should we break down the term jam-packed or should we just keep going? All right.
What's your issue with jam-packed? Then we're going to unpack everything from the finale with our friends Britt Lauer, who plays Helly, and Zach Cherry, who plays Dylan. Yeah.
And then after that, of course, we're going to hear Zach Cherry's predictions about what's going to happen next season on Severance. So this is going to be a bigger swing that he's going to take.
But we're going to be live with him this time. So that's a whole other spin on it.
Yeah. We can call him on his bullshit is what we can do you know he gets away with that sort of charming fuzzy lovable warm guy you want to hug but then he just kind of goes off on these crazy tangents that you know i feel like he's playing a little bit of a game yeah where he's like playing the kind of like silly kind of like i don't know i've got silly good it's a little bit like a ploy they would do on the traders, right? Yes, it is.
It's exactly like he's like Tom. Oh, I was going to say Carolyn.
Okay, he's okay. Sure.
He's like Carolyn on the traders. Oh, Tom, though.
Tom. Interesting.
Yeah. Sandoval.
Right. Sandoval.
He always thought he knew exactly what was going on. He had the whole thing game.
Yeah. Well, Zach Cherry, you should go on the next season of Traders US.
I would love to see. I want to see Zach.
I want to see him at the round table there. He would be the ultimate traitor.
He really would. I feel like he would last till the end because no one would think he's a traitor.
Yeah. Warm and fuzzy, likable guy, but he's really, he's murdering people.

Speaking of murdering people, this is your big spoiler warning.

We're going to talk about everything from season two, episode 10 on this episode.

So please go watch it before you listen to this.

We're thrilled now to welcome our first guest today, the brilliant Dari Olofsson,

technically named Olafar Dari Olofsson, if you're going for his full name, who plays Mr. Drummond.
Dari Olofsson technically named Olafar Dari Olofsson if you're going for his full name who plays Mr. Drummond Dari welcome welcome to our podcast thank you guys thank you Dari thank you for being here this is a thrill it is a pleasure Dari you and I have been friends for a while do you remember the first time we met I do I remember I remember it really well.
Can you remind me what happened?

Because I remember seeing your audition.

I saw Dari's audition tape for a role in The Secret Life of Walter Mitty.

We were doing, we were casting out of Iceland, and I was really blown away.

And then I'm trying to remember the first time that we met in person.

I had a callback.

And what I remember most is that you kept saying to me like, no, just go for it, because we had a fight. Oh, right.
Like, attack me kind of thing? There's stuff that reminds me of that that also brings back memories from the final episode of our show. Yeah, we'll talk about that for sure.
Yeah, we'll talk about that. But, yes, that was the first time.
And I remember I was like, okay, so you kept asking me to sort of just do more. And that was fun.
It was also terrifying. And you didn't want to break me, right? You didn't want to hurt me.
I'm a big guy. Yeah, but I'm kind of strong for a little guy, right? You are very strong.
Don't get me wrong. It was also just i mean to be honest i don't think we've ever discussed this but i've been such a fan of your work and it felt kind of unreal and i just didn't want to be known as the guy who got a call back that broke ben stiller's nose that would have helped actually i've been waiting for someone to break my nose my whole career.
We had so much fun working together. You played this drunken helicopter pilot.
So funny in that movie. We became friends and our families became friends and stayed in touch over the years.
And do you want to talk a little bit just about your background as an actor and where you come out of? Yeah, I mean, I was born in the US. I was born in Connecticut, but my parents are Icelandic.

And when I was four, I moved back to Iceland. I grew up there, went to drama school there.
And honestly, when I graduated, which is something like 27 years ago, if I would have told anyone that I would at some point work in a Hollywood film, people would have laughed me out of the room because that's just the the world was different. There were no self tapes.
You kind of had to live in LA or New York for anyone to know you existed. And that was good because as an actor, I really needed, I needed experience before I got any kind of real responsibility.
And there are no, there used to be no agents in Iceland. So you also had to kind of had to know who was going to, you know, who got a grant from the film fund to go shoot a film.
And then you would reach out to them and say, hey, I don't mind auditioning. So I feel in many ways, I kind of lucked out.
Sort of had to take care of myself and figure out what was important and what kind of makes you happy. Because certainly it isn't fame.
I don't think that's the greatest part of what we do. I think for me, it was always to kind of try and get into a position where I could choose what I wanted to do, kind of choose the people I wanted to work with and maybe have at least some opinion on what parts I might get.
But like when I met you, I'd done one film in the U.S., a small part in a film called Contraband with Mark Wahlberg, which was a great experience. But honestly, after that, I kind of went home and I was like, OK, that was my one Hollywood experience.
But that certainly changed. Yeah.
And then you've gone on to work with so many great directors. I mean, would you say you're the biggest star in Iceland? You know what? It's really funny because there's only like 350,000 of us.
But I think I can honestly say that there are probably around 10 actors that consistently work outside of Iceland. So I'm more than happy to share a top 10 with those people.
Yeah. It's crazy to think that there's 10 actors out of 350,000 people.
That's kind of a crazy ratio. There's a very small amount of people in Iceland.
There is something in the water in Iceland. I mean, honestly, I think a part of it is that Iceland is or has been a fairly sort of, there's not a lot of status between people.
So people interact with each other very easily. You know, Björk, who's probably the most famous Icelandic person of all time.
No, the correct pronunciation is Björk. Yeah, sorry.
How did you pronounce it? Björk. Okay, I guess.
I don't think I could do that if I wanted to. Björk the singer, she's like world famous, but if you're in Iceland, you're more than likely to meet her at a local store really well yes when we shot in iceland for secret life we had our wrap party in iceland she was not part of the movie but everybody was like are we ever going to see bjork and she came to the wrap party no way yeah and then like a whole bunch of people ended up going to her house afterwards it was very exciting yeah i remember being so bummed that i didn't have anything to do in iceland in that movie yeah yeah we i wanted to go so bad we had an adventure there but dari what was your we know each other but like what was your connection with severance before you came on the show had you watched it were you aware of it i had watched it and you know i had really crazy last year where i got to be part of two series that i absolutely loved one of them is called somebody somewhere incredible yeah yeah and and i had watched the two seasons of that and just absolutely and me and bridget are good friends and i just loved her series and getting to be a part of that was just amazing but But then also Severance, which I absolutely loved.
It reminded me, honestly, of Twin Peaks. Do you remember when that came out that everyone was trying to figure out what's going on in the series? And I really loved that series when I watched it back in the day.
But it had the same kind of vibe of you just kind of didn't know what was going on. And I think in many ways, Severance reminds me of that.
Yeah, it's interesting to me always, like what people connect with and what questions they're asking. And I mean, you as a character in the show, it's interesting on my end, because we're always looking at ways that security and oversight work at Lumen.
And it's always connected somehow with the ideology of the company too. And so we felt in season two, after Grainer was gone, there would be somebody who is in the hierarchy who, you know, kind of oversees things.
And how do you see Mr. Drummond? Because he kind of oversees a lot of sort of the bureaucratic stuff that's going on at the company you know dealing with milchick and and helena too as a conduit to jane but then he's also kind of as we see in the last episode the guy is also kind of an enforcer also first i want to say like can i tell you when i first came to set yeah the first time i came to set i wasn't shooting but i came to the hallways and it is the funniest like i had the biggest fanboy moment standing in a hallway and just going like oh my god i'm in the hallway just it kind of blew my mind i loved it so much we have a lot of hallways yeah there's plenty of them they're pretty amazing and adam has explored them We have seen that.
I remember meeting Adam when he had been running around. You were quite sort of sweaty.
Was I? I think we were probably shooting the opening shot of 201, probably one of those days. But yeah, I think Drummond is a sellout.
He's one of these people that just absolutely does not question the company. And I kind of like the fact that it's hard to place him.
I think we kind of get to see the real him in the final episode when he sort of just takes the mask off and we see sort of the monster that exists behind that mask. The disdain he has for Annie's.
Absolutely. And the disdain he has even for Milchik, all the, you know, kind of everyone around him, except for Helena, you know, he, he respects her.
He respects her father, of course, but he respects her and kind of looks at her like he wants to take care of her. And I think he feels sorry for her, you know? Yeah.
It's interesting because Drummond is in a foreboding, intimidating person. First of all, it's interesting because you're such a gentle, kind person, just such the polar opposite of Drummond, but he's scary.
And part of that is your voice and kind of this booming, deep voice. And when you talk as Drummond, everybody listens, like it kind of takes over whatever room you're in.
How did you develop what Drummond would sound like? Was that something you guys talked out together? Yeah, we had a conversation about that. I kind of also loved that there's at least two scenes where he hardly says a word, which I think is also amazing.
I absolutely loved shooting that scene in the boardroom where he's just kind of in the scene, but not. Yeah, that's so interesting because of the body language where you're sort of there sitting while the conversation between Helena and Cobell is happening.
And it's just so clear that you're like, you have to be there and that you're sort of taking in everything that's going on yet silently. And I feel like that was a great way, I think, to start to introduce this character and not have to really explain who you were.
Because I think, you know, people kind of figured that out. But you also kind of have these great moments of humor in the show too, in the performance review with Milchik, just, you know, the question of like, do you want to fill out the lunch menu? It's like a very dry sense of humor, I think.
And then also you with Maurer later in episode seven, when you say, why are you wearing that stupid sweater? Yeah. And working with Robbie was, that was so lovely.
There was such a nice, such a nice thing. Yeah.
Both of you have really distinctive voices and are able to do a lot, I think, with very little too in terms of your presence and the choices that you make. I want to give some credit.
I remember we were shooting the performance review, and my instinct was that he was harder on him, Milchik because i remember you you came in and we had this conversation of softening up the performance and i when i watched it i was like okay it was exactly the right way to take it and i think it makes it much more weirder like to be told off that you put the paper clip wrong way it's just so it's just so insane yeah you're you're right i mean you also have the ability to kind of like very subtly shift your intonation or attitude and it could become very intimidating there's a lot of stuff in the show where i i just felt i i needed that guidance you know very often you can show up and you can come and do work, but when you're doing something as specific as Severance, I can honestly, when I've watched the episode, I'm so happy to have, of course, what you need, which is your director and, you know, showrunners and writers and everyone around you. But it's kind of amazing that because you're just one tiny cog in this this ongoing saga and it's just really

important that all the pieces are there together all right now's a good time for us to take a

quick break but when we come back we'll be talking all about the season finale Lowe's is the destination for Ego outdoor power equipment this spring. We'll see you save.
Selection varies by location while supplies last. Some people follow the rules, but where's the fun in that? I'm Soraya, and this is Rule Breakers, the podcast where we celebrate the rebels, the misfits, and the ones who make their own way.
Every week, I sit down with the biggest rule breakers in sports, entertainment, and beyond to talk about the wildest moments, toughest lessons, and why breaking the rules might just be the key to success. Follow and listen to Rule Breakers with Soraya, an Odyssey podcast available now for free on the Odyssey app and wherever you get your podcasts.
If Lumen was using our partner, ZipRecruiter, to help hire for various roles, they would love how ZipRecruiter allows them to search resumes quickly via keywords like goat wrangler, talk to qualified refiners the very next day, and enhance their job posts with selling points like amazing work-life balance. If you're a business owner who needs to hire, ZipRecruiter has all these tools and features and more.
And they're designed to make hiring faster and easier. See for yourself when you try ZipRecruiter for free at ziprecruiter.com slash severance.
ZipRecruiter excels at speed. Its smart technology starts showing your job to qualified candidates immediately.
And if you've got your eye on an exceptional candidate, you can use ZipRecruiter's invite to apply message to personally reach out to them. Plus, ZipRecruiter is the hiring site employers prefer the most based on G2.
See how much faster and easier hiring can be

with ZipRecruiter. Four out of five employers who post on ZipRecruiter get a quality candidate

within the first day. It's better than a waffle party.
Just go to ZipRecruiter.com

slash severance right now to try it for free. That's ZipRecruiter.com slash S-E-V-E-R-A-N-C-E.

Dari, we should talk about the finale and everything because you're really front and center in the finale. You know, you're kind of there just waiting for Mark to finish Cold Harbor.
And once Cold Harbor is done, you and Lorne meet up,

and she has little Emile with her.

Is that how she pronounced it?

Emile?

Emile the goat.

Yeah.

Beautiful goat. Should we listen to that scene really quick?

Yeah.

Has it verve?

It does.

Wiles. It does.
Wild.

The most of its flock.

This beast will be entombed with a cherished woman, whose spirit it must guide to Kier's

door. Is it up to the task so what was it like working with this uh little baby goat wow those goats were cute that was one of my first questions to ben was like what's up with the baby goats but at the same time don't tell me give you an answer well the answer is you're gonna try to kill one it was so cute and also working with gwendoline was so much fun yeah gwendoline's the best right that scene you guys did such a great job with yeah i was gonna say like wow that dialogue is really light and you know naturalistic yeah but you really did such a great job with that scene because it was an important thing to pull off that, okay, there's this ritual that happens.
And I remember when we shot that scene, I didn't really say anything to you other than we started to block it and you kind of went into the space with Gwendolyn and you both sort of just kind of adopted these movements and the way that you stood behind the altar and the way that you went to the gun and just the ceremonial nature of it and sort of the flourishes you had. I love when you, you know, we came up with this idea that there's like a secret door in the hallway.
And when you pushed open that door, it was such a great just motion of it with the music and then the wind that kind of like flew across your face from opening the door i think i told you this it reminded me of those old maxell commercials when i think that was the like a cassette uh commercial first sound where a guy would sit in the chair and like the speakers would blast wind at him so cool but uh you guys were so great with that and then we had really the other big scene obviously is this fight between you and mark that we'd never done a fight on the show we wanted to go for that and just the way you guys figured out how to get into that because it really had to kind of escalate and throughout the series we've never ever shown any physical kind of intimidation with innies we've never right it's. It's all been sort of mental.
Yeah. And we felt like at a certain point, if one of the, you know, Lumen employees actually was physical with Mark, that would be a huge, even just, you know, how do you begin that? And it started out by you just kind of pushing them up against the wall.
And then that one punch right in the nose. Yeah.
Which you guys sold so well. To me, as a viewer, it's shocking to see like, oh, wow, he's punching him because we've never seen anything like that.
I remember you wanted it to be quick and brutal, but start small and then escalate. And it was a brutal couple of days.
What do you think, Dari? They were. I did my last shot, you know, you know falling out of the elevator yeah and that's after that my back which is like someone had to help me stand up right but I loved it I don't do many fight scenes but that fight scene is epic I have to say though Adam again I'm sorry when I turned around and threw you into the wall that That was my fault.
That was 100% my fault because we're talking about when Dari grabs me and slams me up against the wall and we had worked it out over and over again and practiced it over and over again. And part of my responsibility was while he's swinging me for one of my arms to come up and block my body so I could get slammed into the wall at full speed, but it would guard my head and the rest of my body from the wall.
And my arm just got like caught behind me or something and I didn't get it up in time. So I hit it with my head and I believe that's the shot that's used in the show, right? It definitely is.
Yeah, I remember, you know, first of all, everyone was like, oh my God, Adam, you know, I felt really bad. And then when everyone knew that you were okay, I remember looking at bed and bed was like, oh, we got that.
Yeah. Really happy.
I was happy, I have to say. And I was glad you were okay.
were okay but it looked incredible yeah totally worth being concussed also i just have to credit dean neistat our stunt coordinator yeah and my friend phil nielsen came in to help with that fight who i worked with as our stunt coordinator and second unit director on tropic thunder go back that far with him and Escape at Dynamore.

And he's just so much fun.

Phil's awesome.

He's one of my favorite people.

And you guys all worked really hard on that scene,

rehearsing it.

And the stunt people who were in there too,

and Gwendolyn, it's really, you know,

I really believe when you're choking him out

at the end there, Adam,

it looks like you're really,

like you did something to really make it look like you were about to oh my god your eyes you know yeah that's an uncomfortable thing i just did that the other day again to choke an actor yeah and you know usually we were always like yeah no just go for it and i thought we had a no choke clause in your contract where you couldn't choke any other actors except on Severance. Shit.
I'll have them cut it out. It's probably there.
What was it? Do you think it was like three days of the fight scene? Because you're right. It is epic because there's our fight.
And then Gwendolyn comes in and it's a whole nother little mini fight scene that starts. Gwendolyn was incredible.
She really sold it. Oh, my God.
I mean, you guys both sold it and no but gwendoline knows exactly what she's doing like exactly she yeah she was she's such a professional totally yeah and then and then the two of you had to uh get in that elevator together and and do the bloodiest scene ever in severance yeah it was a bloodbath in there it was pretty wild i mean i feel very honored to you know finally when you see blood you do see blood yeah it was a ton of blood it was a lot that was one of the places where i'm like okay we're going places we haven't gone on this show before but it also felt like you, you know what, this is kind of exciting and right for this episode. You know, episodes have different feelings to them and different themes to them.
And, you know, going back to season one where we had that one moment of violence with Grainer, it felt like this was sort of building on that. I think it's very unexpected.
It feels to me when that gun goes off and you guys really, again, just did a great job with that and it was it was fun to shoot when we were doing the actual gun going off and the blood coming out we did it three or four times maybe but i remember one of the times it was like a hose shooting me directly in the face with blood it was insane and that's obviously not the one in the in the show but i would love i never looked at the dailies from that i would love to see that because it was nuts how much blood it was a little too much pressure it reminded me of the um dan acroyd doing julia child getting totally saturnite live back in the day it's like oh lord i've done it now now i've done it or like a monty python you know yeah holy grail i remember judy chin our makeup designer yeah and those guys coming over and just like what are we gonna do yeah there's nothing we can do and then adam you're like blood soaked for the rest of the episode yeah that's right i mean Every morning I had to come in and put on these crusty blood clothes. Yeah.
But it was fun. Yeah.
I also think that it's seeing a level of violence. And like you said, the true colors of Drummond there underneath that we really haven't seen ever at Lumen.
Because everything is sort of intimated. But this raw, ugly violence that is at the heart of it, that is now, you know, now that we have seen and has been exposed.
And I think it's sort of like, to me, the end of the episode kind of goes towards that tonally, even in the last image. And, you know, we're in a place we haven't been in terms of that.
Yeah. Yeah.
Yeah. I'm really excited to see what happens next season.
So are we. Yeah, man.
I'm excited too. And I love you.
Love working with you. I'm so glad you've been a part of the show.
And thanks for coming on the podcast. Just right back at you.
Yeah. Thanks, Dari.
Thank you. I'll see you soon, guys.
It's time for us to break down the finale, but we couldn't do it alone. Britt Lauer, who plays Helly, and Zach Cherry, who plays Dylan, are on the podcast.
Britt, Zach, thank you for being here, and hello. Hello.
Hello. Adam, you don't seem that happy about breaking down the finale.
You know, I think I'm just a little wary of having zach on the show to be honest that's fair yeah yeah because i feel like he's gonna make some of his sort of like innocent funny kind of like hey i'm just a guy with crazy ideas comments i'm just a lovable guy and i'm gonna encourage listeners to reach out to ben and adam about dental hygiene that's right listeners if you haven't had a chance yet make sure to reach out to ben and adam and let them know how your teeth are doing oh thank you you know zach and i have just been recording our podcast just prior to this all morning so all of our good bits are gonna be tied up i got my energy out what podcast are you

guys recording what are you talking about zach do you want to tell them we had a podcast we were

recording throughout the production of season one and two yep it's uh it doesn't it's yet to be

titled but you haven't titled it and we haven't released an episode the working title it's called

soup and smoothies yeah contractually we have it so that nobody else from Severance can have a podcast. Oh, too bad.
Severance, that mentions Severance. You could call it like the podcast of Soup and Smoothies with Zach and Britt and not talk about Severance.
You don't talk about Severance though, right? You just talk about other stuff uh we kind of we mostly say the word severance

recap each episode of severance okay and we play a ton of clips from your show it's mostly just your show and then we kind of talk before and after you recap our podcast primarily we break down the food that is eaten on severance and the types of food that people who work on severance like to eat.

So it's like soup and smoothies

and eggs and

melons and eggs and melons that's right so you guys we're gonna go through the finale what was it like for you guys watching the finale because zach i know that you don't really watch the show until it's out on on the air and brit i'm not sure what you know what your interpretation and feeling of like watching the last episode i want to know brit when do you watch show how do you watch it i like to imagine when we're filming it that that's the show that the camera that's in my eyeballs is the show so it's pov yeah it's just purely pov um no i think i watched them all when we were in Brazil doing Comic-Con. Right.
In like one sitting, at least like the second half of the show. In Portuguese? No.
No, when we were in Brazil. Brit only watches the show in Portuguese.
Although I am really curious about the voice actors who play Heli and Dylan and Mark in the other countries. I'm so curious as to how they sound me too we need to have a meetup yeah i haven't heard it dubbed into other languages pretty easy you just i think you just select whatever language you want and you can watch it in any of those languages and find out how they sound really oh my gosh he's so sorry wow so what language do you like to watch it in, Adam? I primarily like watching it in Mandarin.

Mandarin?

Yeah.

Cool.

And do you approve of the actor who does your voice?

Well, I do the Mandarin.

Oh.

Yeah.

But I think all the actors.

I've watched the entire season in every single language, and they're all great.

That's great.

So you know all the languages?

Yep.

Well, yeah. I'm fluent in all languages.
Yeah. Who's the Irish actor who does you? Oh, yeah, they do it in all dialects too, which is cool.
So, okay. So Zach, are you being diplomatic? Oh, no, I was just letting Britt answer.
No, I loved watching it. It was really exciting to see everything it was really

fun seeing how it all kind of like came together i also the band i ran into one of the guys

from the band at annette's game and he was like yo like i can't wait until until that comes out

and then um he was he was with a bunch of kids he was like in charge of a kids band that was

performing at halftime yeah and then as i walked away he was like we're gonna fuck mr milchick

Thank you. till that comes out and then um he was he was with a bunch of kids he was like in charge of a kids band that was performing at halftime yeah and then as i walked away he was like we're gonna fuck mr milchick up so i was excited to see them again and just like yeah it was great it was it was awesome they did an amazing job oh they're so good together yeah that was like the greatest week of our lives, just being surrounded by a marching band.

I can't think of anything better.

There's nothing more exciting and enervating than hearing like a drum corps and a marching band. I love it so much.
Actually, that's one thing when you go see the Nets where they have that drum corps that comes out and that drum line. They're so good.
I wish the Knicks had something like that because those guys are amazing. I also, the first watched it it was really fun seeing tramell do his thing with the uh animatronic um here that that was like that i was so fun that brought such joy to me yeah that was so so bad all of that the song the we should start just going through the episode let's go go through the episode.
Alright, we start at the beginning.

We're down in MDR. We pick up where the last episode left off with Jay Megan

visiting Helly. So let's listen to that.

What a funny speech you gave

at the party.

I almost cross with you after. I threw a tin of candies.
God, you're fucking weird. What was it like for you shooting that, Britt? Because I remember that day very well.
And you and Michael Sibaree, who plays J Jane, just did such a great job with that scene because the dialogue, when you listen to it and look at it, it's almost like he's in a Shakespearean play and you're like in a sitcom. You know what I mean? Like he's like saying these things and you're just like throwing back these comebacks at him, but yet you guys make it work tonally.
Yeah, he's so incredible. He's so chilling.
It's like the hair stands up on the back of your neck when he starts speaking. And I remember I said to you, Ben, I was like, Ben, when he walks in, I need a weapon.
And it hadn't been written into the scene, but I was like, I just think Helly needs to, like, she just wants to fight him immediately. There's something about him that she's like, she just has a physical response.
That that became a really important part of the scene and i think it really helped sort of orient us as like for me it's such a big deal that james coming into mdr you know anytime a new character comes into a space they haven't been in it just felt very weird so like you it's almost like especially him too coming into mdr this is a huge he's walking in. Zach, it kind of reminded me of like when you picked up the stapler when Bert came into MDR in the first season.
Yeah, because we're so used to only having us and Milchick and Miss Wong down there. And seeing him on there as a viewer was very unsettling.
Seeing him like in that space. Yeah.
It oh. Yeah.
It's just this dynamic between Heli and Jane that started in the last episode of season one. Then since then, he has seen that you were not Helena when he talked to him in the bathroom.
And he seems very interested in you. All these things you do, like when you tell him he's going to burn in hell, it just makes him love you more, which more which is just so scary and weird yeah and heli doesn't have to pretend to be helena in this scene so she doesn't have to hold back i now with my daughter i'll sometimes just text her i do not love my daughter oh no text me back thanks a lot you know what i should try that i mean it's pretty heavy for him to say that about Helena.

Yeah.

And it also, I think it's pretty, it kind of is educational for the audience to understand, right?

What you're dealing with there and what we saw in episode nine.

Well, I think it's probably, I think it's probably the first time that Heli has any sense of empathy for Helena.

You know, I think it's maybe the first insight she has into the fact that Helena's life is pretty isolated and trapped and tortured. I love that line, you sound like a great dad.
It's so funny, but it's so true. Jesus, what a number he did on this person.
And Heli's really getting a peek into. You also find out that he sired others in the dark, Yeah, yeah,'s a pretty scary person yeah i like him that he treats the best like we don't know how he treats any other children yeah yeah or if he even knows them so outside of lumen what we pick up with at the beginning of the episode is that mark and devon and cobell are at the birthing cabin right and they sort of

lay out this plan for mark to go down to the testing floor and to save gemma it's a lot that we have to kind of set up there in a quick amount of time and adam you have to then go into this scene with yourself yeah

hey uh i'm this scene with yourself. Yeah.
Hey, I'm, well, I guess you know who I am. I think you've spoken with Devin and Mrs.
Silver, Miss Goebel. So you, you know what it is that we're asking.

But the first thing I need to say to you is that I am so sorry.

You know, I created you as a prisoner and as an escape.

A woman told me you'd be happy, that in ease or content, and because I took their word for it, you've been living a nightmare for two years. Yeah, I remember this just being like, okay, how are we going to do this? And we shot for a few days.
But I remember at the beginning when we kind of got on that set, which is beautiful, by the way. Jeremy really outdid himself with that cabin set with that fireplace and everything.
It's really cool. Once we started kind of going through it and being like, okay, this is the Innie, this is the Audi, and this is where we'll be mapping out physically where we're going.
The scene itself started shifting a bit. Yeah, we had to rehearse it a lot.
It was one of those scenes that we were in the writing, we're looking at like, what is the core of this scene? And so there was a lot of work on the scene as you would rehearse it with yourself. And it was, you know, usually you sit in there and rehearse with another actor.
Adam had to rehearse this thing with himself and it's a long scene. And then we'd be questioning like, well, you know, what would Audimark say to any Mark when he says this? And what's Audimark's attitude? And, you know, all of the progression of the scene.
And then we had to sort of figure out what the blocking would be for it. And then we had to kind of lock it in on Friday because we were going to start shooting it on Monday.
And it was our first shooting that we were doing post the strike. I remember that.
So it had been a long time and you had to commit all this to memory. But also we had to lock it in because once we shot one side of it, we couldn't start adjusting the dialogue anymore because it was locking in the other side.
Right. You couldn't improvise anything because you couldn't respond to it yourself.
Then you had to record video messages to yourself on both sides that you could then listen to when you're playing either Audi mark or any mark. And it was, I use the term mind numbing because just for you, it must've been incredibly hard.
And for us just trying to keep track of all like the angles and how we were going to put it together. But when Jeff and I put it together in the editing room, I just remember every time I would watch it, I just would get pulled into the discussion that was going on, which I thought was a good sign that I was just getting pulled into your, you know, your dialogue.
Right. And also you and Jess, I remember it was interesting kind of watching you guys map it out and figure out how to make it because, you know, it person kind of having this conversation with themselves it could get boring but you guys like keeping it visually interesting with all the moves you make and all the stuff with the camera and everything it's really fun to watch how you guys keep that ball in the air visually yeah i feel like that's one of those scenes where the can't you should sort of like like you shouldn't be thinking about the camera or like you're seeing because what you're doing is so interesting.
And you just want to kind of keep it very clear who's talking to who. So we just made very simple choices like Anymark is going to be looking from right to left.
And Outimark will be looking from left to right the whole time. Right.
And Outimark is outside. Anymark is by the fire.
adding marks outside, any any marks inside and then we knew that we'd have the video message itself to sometimes cut to but just keeping it simple like that for screen direction and then figuring out when you wanted to stand up and actually and i always thought it was interesting that your instinct as mark would be to stand up when you get upset as audi mark but then any Mark gets upset at hearing what Audi Mark says and he stands up. And so you kind of both stand up at the same time and it kind of matches that action.
And that was important to figure out, I think for you, like what felt like what was the right build to get to that end moment, the moment when Audi Mark sort of gives away how desperate he is for any Mark to help him and you start to feel that Audi Mark in some way is trying to get any Mark to do what he wants no matter what any Mark really wants. Oh, hey, uh, Miss Cooble told me you like someone down there? Helena Egan, right? Any names, Helene? Honestly, I love that you had that experience.
So now you can imagine what you and Helene have, but multiply thousands of days of joy and arguments and passion. Then you can see why I have to get my wife back.
I have to have her back. That moment when you say, Hey, I heard you fell in love with, I think her name's Helene, which kind of reminds me Brit of that moment in the episode six scene when you're at the Chinese restaurant.
Yeah. I was thinking about that same thing when I was rewatching it the other night.
I was like, oh, that's a that's a little echo there. No one can get Mark's wife or girlfriend's name correctly.
Like, what is going on? Those scenes were also so fun as a viewer and as someone who wasn't there for those scenes, both the scene in the Chinese restaurant and this one because it was like the first time these sets of characters got to talk to each other so that was so exciting to finally see like your innie and your outie communicate somewhat directly like there was still the video camera in between but that was like so satisfying to get to see you have that conversation yeah and I want to talk a little bit about when dylan starts to communicate with his audi too because yeah that happens later in the episode but before we get to that there's the scene after you finish talking to yourself that then cobell has to explain to you what's going on she says the numbers are your wife and she basically breaks down what's going on as much as we've ever known.

What do you see every day when you look at them?

What? I mean, we feel things.

What do you feel?

Different things. Sometimes sadness.
Woe. Frolic.
Maleness. Dread.
So you're saying the... clusters are a lot of information happening in this birthing cabin yeah and i think dan and beau and mark they did a really good job of taking all of this really information heavy stuff and kind of embedding it in character and making it important that they say these things to each other.
So it just doesn't feel like endless exposition. Yeah.
What was it like for you guys? Like Zach, I'm curious, like someone who famously doesn't like to watch the show until the end, or I don't know if we know if you read the scripts or not. Do we know? We don i know i read them for him it reads them to me okay do you have the scripts right to you so for you as a viewer what are you taking into there because we were thinking about how much information is dispersed and what is the sort of the core information what's the least amount of information what do we want the audience to kind of like think about but then also you don't want to give them too much there too yeah i mean i think a lot of it is confirmation of stuff that you've sort of been right feeling and like getting hints of like getting confirmed by cobell that oh the numbers are your wife they're related directly to her i think that's something that this season you kind of have started to feel pretty sure of So it was this fun moment of like yes okay that is what's going on and like now let's kind of find out what happens now that the characters know that right yeah i felt like i was excited to kind of see any and outing marks intelligence and how they are just a little bit different like there's they're both're both hyper intelligent, but they think about things slightly differently.
And you're able to really see those subtle differences when they're like, really up against each other. And I thought it was really interesting the way that Audi Mark makes all these assumptions about the any that then any Mark is able to kind of defend himself and refute.
Yeah, I think that what ends up being the straw that breaks Camel's back is this outie mark not having the self-awareness to know how condescending he's being towards this person, not realizing that he's pushing it a little too far and treating this person like they're a little kid or less intelligent that they are i did one i have one question when that happens and he goes into the elevator at that point for you zach and brit were you like where are you feeling your allegiances as viewers are you rooting for audi mark or any mark at that point yeah i mean i think that scene does a great job of balancing out their separate but parallel you're rooting for any mark is that what you're rooting for any mark to get to helly right well i guess any marks sort of stating the thesis for all of the innies in this episode really he's kind of saying like why does your your need like why does it eclipse my need yeah

exactly like dylan is is going through the same experience with his audi like why does his audi

have more of a say than he does same with as we'll get to in the sort of end of the episode like

heli's thesis statement to the band members as well it kind of like that's the through line

yeah all right this is a perfect moment to take a quick break. We'll be back right after this.
The MDR team continues to search for answers as they try to piece together memories from the overtime contingency. But luckily, you don't have to take a mind-erasing elevator to work every day.
So your workplace productivity can be much simpler with Confluence by Atlassian. Confluence is the connected workspace where teams can collaborate and create like never before, where teams have easy access to the relevant pages and resources their projects call for while discovering important contexts they didn't even know they needed.
A space where AI streamlines the things that normally eat up their time, letting teams generate, organize, and deliver work faster. In fact, with Confluence, teams can see a 5.2% average boost in productivity in one year.
So goodbye severed workplace alienation. Hello teamwork with Confluence.
Set knowledge free with Confluence.

Learn more at Atlassian.com

slash Confluence. That's

A-T-L-A-S-S-I-A-N

dot com slash C-O-N

F-L-U-E-N-C-E.

Um,

I think I just won my taxes.

Yeah? I just switched to H&R Block

in about one minute. All I had to do was drag

and drop Blasher's return into H&R Block

I'm not sure what you're doing. um i think i just won my taxes yeah i just switched to h&r block in about one minute all i had to do was drag and drop last year's return into h&r block and bam my information is automatically there so i don't have to go digging around for all my old papers to switch nope sounds like we just leveled up our tax game switching to h&r block is easy just drag and drop your last return.
It's better with Block. Some men move through life.
Others push forward. The commuter collection from Rhone is built for the latter.
Men who never settle, never stop, and expect more from every moment. It starts with a legacy.
Rhone's original commuter fabric. Italian-made, hallway stretch, impossibly lightweight, breathable and versatile.
And now, the best gets better, the Commuter Pro. A refined fit, enhanced structure, and tailored upgrades, like an expanded waistband and silicone gripper, keeping you sharp and comfortable.
From first light to last call, wrinkle-resistant and odor-fighting, and engineered to perform like activewear, yet refined for life's biggest moments, because life doesn't slow down, and neither do you. Your day doesn't slow down, and neither should your wardrobe.
Built by those who demand more, the Commuter Collection is performance apparel fit for your every ambition. Get 20% off at roan.com slash severance with code severance.
That's R-H-O-N-E dot com slash severance with code severance at checkout. So getting Zach to the Dylan storyline, I mean, you basically come back wondering what happened, right?

Because you put in your resignation request and feeling so heartsick

and not wanting to be around

without being able to be with Gretchen.

And then Milchik shows you this response

you got from your Audi.

He writes you this note.

Dear Innie,

I've read your request

and organized my response into three points. Point one, fuck you.
Gretchen is my wife and my beloved, and your actions with her were deeply fucking indecorous. Point two, I get it.
She's perfect. And given our shared physiology, it tracks that you'd agree.
Here's the thing. I've never been an impressive person.
So when Gretch told me that you're like this self-assured badass, I don't know. It stung.
So I guess point three is I hope someday she sees in me what she sees in you. How was that for you, that experience of playing that scene and Dylan sort of finally connecting, at least in some way, with his Audi? Yeah, it was interesting.
And I think Dylan's innie and outie, they actually have kind of a shared set of goals that they figure out as the season goes on, which is like being the best version of themselves. And they see things in each other that they kind of want to have, you know? Like the innie sees stuff in the innie he wants, and the innie sees stuff in the innie that he wants.
And I think for them, luckily, there isn't this – their love triangle is with the same person. So there isn't as much of a kind of like tension of like who are we going to choose because they both love Gretchen so they're kind of able to reach this understanding of like hey you know I kind of need you down there because I can't really do what you do and also you have reminded Gretchen of these things that I used to be and so maybe I can kind of rediscover that a a little bit.
And then, you know, the innie also reaches this conclusion of like, there is part of me that is helping out there. And so even if I can't directly be a part of this relationship with Gretchen, I can kind of like contribute in the ways that I have been.
And also I can kind of maybe help this outie get back a little bit of his groove, I guess. And I do think it was interesting also for me over the course of the season, they became a little more alike.
Like the Innie moved a little towards the Audi and the Audi moved a little towards the Innie. And this is kind of that final moment where they kind of both realized that.
I feel like that coming together of the Innie and the Audi is something that's very unique to Dylan in this season of the show. And I feel like for me, it was really interesting to see explored not having to have this huge delineation between an innie and an outie.
And obviously, the realization for any Dylan that he's not, you know, this big famous person on the outside or his life isn't better than his life is on the inside. And the that he ends up having for his Audi through this shared love of his wife.
I also love that we have the one moment in the show where Dylan takes off his glasses. Yeah.
I don't know if you've done that on Fallout or not, but I'm just wondering, have you taken the glasses off in other shows? Not a ton, honestly. Yes.
Not a ton. Yes.
Yeah, that might be a first. That might be a first in terms of actually taking them off.
I've done like one job where I didn't wear them at all. Really? Yeah.
Oh. You didn't have glasses at all, is that what you're saying? Yeah, I didn't wear glasses at all, but I didn't take them off in a scene.
So yeah, you're right. Well, that was pretty exciting.
Zach,

I have a question for you. Yeah.
Zach, was that your handwriting in the letter? Yeah,

that was my handwriting. I think that's one of my favorite parts about it.
It just, I can feel

like your character in your handwriting. Yeah.
Did you do that on purpose?

It was sort of just my handwriting. It wasn't a major character choice for the handwriting, but I think the way we shot it, there were some times where you were actually seeing me write it.
So they just had me kind of do it over and over. But it was nice to have that there.
And now, you know, my sort of elementary school teachers, if they're watching, they can kind of see that I've made no progress. And that I still have the same style that I had when I first learned the craft.
I really love that when we're hearing you read the letter, we're seeing images from your Audi's life, too. Yeah.
It's like a love letter, really. It's like a love letter to yourself.
It's so beautiful. Yeah, to yourself.
So then you guys, Mark and Helly, they get to MDR, and it's all like scary green lighting and the Keurigan statue.

And basically you're going to complete the file and Helly is going to watch.

And you guys, I mean, you have these final scenes together as Mark is headed towards completing the file of not knowing what's going to happen.

Except that you know that, you know, you have to do something.

But if you get her out,

maybe that will take down Lumen, like his sister said. And maybe you could do this combining thing.
Well, yeah, but he could be a total liar. What if he's not? Please, y you'll have a chance at living yeah but i want to live with you you know there's so much beneath what's going on between the two of you there and i think think you guys did a beautiful job with that scene.
How was that shooting that for you guys? I remember it being just a really kind of emotional day. Firstly, the lights were low and were very rarely in the dark in MDR.
So it already created this mood of, you know, like there was sort of an ending coming. And I think we'd been working on the show for like four or five years.
And in this room that we've had so many scenes, so many memories in, I remember at one point, Ben, you came to give me a note. It was like in a very quiet part of the scene and your eyes were welling up.
And it choked me up to see. I was getting choked up watching what you guys were doing because it was very emotional yeah and then it had this like knock-on effect like i couldn't like i couldn't stop crying and just looking across just that environment and feeling this was essentially like a bi scene it was it was really emotional yeah really emotional and you guys you scene of Zach, of you in the room reading the letter, and then the two of you having this sort of final conversation, it was really, and you guys were just doing such good work.
I mean, like you said, there was a lot of history there already built into it, but we're finally at this moment of shooting this scene. Yeah, I remember just being, you know, it's so sad that these two have to do this, like there's really no other choice.
And I remember I'm looking at the computer screen, finally looking over at you, Brit, and you were just a wreck when I finally looked over at you. And it was so sad.
And I felt like we were just really connected connected and it was towards the end of shooting and so we were all just really in it we were just in the show and it was our whole lives

we were just there all the time all of us and so this really meant a lot this moment was a it was

a big moment we have to fucking say goodbye and it was super sad I think it was like time traveling

for the next episode. And so this really meant a lot.
This moment was a, it was a big moment. We have to fucking say goodbye.
And it was super sad. I think it was like time traveling for me.
It was like traveling back in time and forward in time at the same time, like imagining the first scene we ever shot in MDR and then time traveling and imagining the last scene that we'll ever shoot in MDR, whenever that may be. And then, you know, it's like, oh my gosh, I'm 16 and now I'm my age and now I'm 70.
And, you know, just feeling that kind of timelessness that was like baked into the writing. That's actually the timeline I've had working on the show from 16 to 70.
To 70? And then basically the lights go down, you finish the file and the smoke comes out of the vents and mdr the serious alan parsons project song plays revel now in the fruit of your labors and hail your earthbound steward, very own floor manager just i also i did want to say when tramell runs out of the room after leaving the letter with dylan that's one of the funniest moments of the show for me. He just sprints out of there.
That made me laugh really hard. I think he only did it one take.
It was the first take that we used because the camera doesn't even know that he's going to do that. He just runs out.
It's so good. It's really funny.
Because he's late and he's got a lot to do on this day and he's got to get ready for the celebration. He has to change and yeah, he's got a lot of money.
He's got to change into his marching band. And he's got a lot to do on this day.
And he's got to get ready for the celebration. He has to change.

And yeah, he's got a lot of money.

He's got to change into his band, marching band.

And he's excited.

He finally got rid of Miss Wong.

Like this place is his.

And he gets to do the thing.

Except he is feeling, I mean, look, it is post the drumming scene in 209.

And he's definitely feeling a lot of conflicting feelings towards the company, I think.

And that's why the comedy act with the Cure statue doesn't really go probably as planned. It's an honor to receive your barbs, Mr.
Egan. The legacy you've left behind is truly and irrefutably larger than life.
You mean my company? No no i mean this wax statue that's five inches taller than you actually were thank you for that feedback ben you got to be the animatronic right does everyone Does everyone know that? Well, I got to, yeah, Doug Coleman, our special effects supervisor, made a remote control for that animatron. And I love animatrons.
I grew up, like, I go visit Disneyland, Hall of Presidents. Anything with an animatron makes me happy.
And he had the remote control that controlled the arms and the neck, the turns so i would do the remote control but then we had mark geller who is keir egan on set reading with tramell so he was doing the line so he could get the timing and and tramell just played that scene with so there's just so much going on underneath oh one of my favorite things to watch because we watched him do it many many times him losing his patience a little bit with the animatronic doll and it poking fun at him was not landing particularly well with milchik him trying to cover that up and just continue on it's so specific and so it was also fun shooting your reactions to it just watching you guys have to kind of assimilate and kind of take in this weird reality after that. Which was really hard to act because it was actually super funny and interesting.
And we had to pretend it was terrifying. How many times have you had to do that reaction in the show of like, what the fuck is going on? And then, you know, he has to cart off the statue because it's not over because the final celebration moment is going to be the marching band choreography and merriment.
And this was probably the most daunting idea for us to like put, you know, 100 marching band people in MDR. And just like, what would that even feel like? What would that reality be? In a way, it's sort of like, you know, like in Citizen Kane, there was like a whole marching a whole marching band scene and like i've been a huge i'm a fan of that movie drumline that nick cannon movie yeah yeah i could watch that all day i just love it that was a really exciting idea and then we put together this marching band it's so good but we had to really figure this thing out i mean it was crazy shooting it and tramell once again can do anything busting out the moves his moves and he's such a an instinctual actor it was so interesting for me to watch him work with the choreographer and then for him to like he just sort of owned these moves but also him having that baton and him having that to work with was really fun yeah and then you guys had to sort of be intimidated by this marching band too but the marching band was it like five days they were working with us there they were there a while they were incredible incredible we had to figure out what the choreography was of course how to shoot it like try to figure out how to make it feel claustrophobic and all that but But I do remember we had to basically build an MDR set on another stage that had no ceiling so that we could put the camera way up high to get the overhead when they put up the cards that say mark 100% that nobody sees.
And then the hallways, those narrow hallways and you shooting them marching down the hallways. Yeah, that was experimenting.
Like how many tubas can we fit in the hallway or how many? Right. For me also, like one of my favorite moments, two moments in that scene at the end are you, Britt, when you have to get up on the desk and really basically start to rally the troops, almost literally.
Yeah. This desk used to have four seats our friend irving is gone and they want our whole department gone if he gets out we're dead they're gonna turn us off like machines you've seen them do it.

I know you've lost friends too.

And you could be next.

You could be next.

They give us half a life and think we won't fight for it.

Right, Milchik? Your speech is so good. It's so good.
And that moment when the lights go off and the alarm turns on, and that moment where, Helly, you know that the plan has gone through and that he's reached her. Right, I think, you know, the way that speech is written is that she's remembering Irving as she's standing on the desk.
She's like, our friend is gone. And, you know, in the process of that, I think she kind of discovers this argument, which is like, they're giving us half a life.
Why shouldn't we fight for it? Yeah. Well, you do, you bring it back to friendship because Irving, you're bringing up Irving and Dylan after reading that letter is sort of motivated, right? To come back.
And it's like the group kind of comes back together there and you have that heroic moment of pushing the vending machine in front of the door. I loved that when he came in and saved the day.
Dylan's like Han Solo. Yeah.
That's what I've been modeling the character after the entire show is han solo so it was nice to finally get that moment but i do think you know this season dylan kind of is isolated and he has neglected his connections with the mdr folks and then he reads that letter and he kind of decides well i'm gonna be here so if i'm gonna be here let me get back to my friends and like be in them. Yeah.
Can I ask you guys what you thought this whole revelation of what Cold Harbor is, what they're doing to Gemma down there and that scene where she has to go in and try to dissemble the crib. How did that resonate with you? To me, it felt like they've been testing out this process of severance and then they put this moment in front

of her that is tied to like one of the most emotional and like hard moments of her life and so this is kind of the final test of will even a memory and emotion that strong break through i'm your husband okay Your name is Gemma Scout We've been married for four years No And we were We had a life together Don't speak to man. He's here to hurt you.
And if you come with me right now, we can get it back. It was just so satisfying to see Gemma escape this hell that she's been in for two years.
To see her be on the other side of that door, that was so satisfying. Yeah.
And the moment when she, as Gemma, first sees Mark as Mark- Totally. Was also incredibly satisfying.
So beautiful. Especially after watching episode seven and seeing kind of what she had gone through and that level of isolation, but she still always was thinking of Mark.
So that moment where Gemma and Audi Mark

got to briefly kind of see each other in that floor was very, very satisfying. And then we get the end where any Mark dashes Audi Mark's dreams and his plan.
And probably a lot of the audience's desire too, I think. How did you guys feel about that? I think seeing the way Deachan as Gemma reacted to it was so impactful in terms of the confusion and the hurt.
Because she's not aware of all this additional context. She's just like, what is happening? Why is my- That's my husband.
Yeah, that's my husband. Why is he not coming out here with me? So that really drove it through in a way that I didn't necessarily expect to feel that much about that moment because I knew it was coming.
But seeing the way she was reacting really did make that powerful. Yeah.
I mean, I think Helly is also for the first time experiencing how Gemma feels about Mark. She gets to see that firsthand.
And there's kind of a last moment where she lingers as Mark is pulling her away. And I think it's this moment of understanding and connection with Gemma that I think is really important.
Interesting. Because I feel like you could interpret that look in different ways too.
The last look to Gemma. I mean, it's a complex moment.
There's kind of this reckoning with one another, like a connection across the hallway. Yeah, for for sure and then you guys running down that hallway at the end we had this one hallway set up where brit and adam had to kind of run with the camera running in front of them for this final shot and we were shooting it in super slow motion so you're running obviously regular speed and you had to kind of go through the i mean do you want to talk about like what the range of emotions you went through in that shot? Yeah, you really wanted us to, I remember we did it a few times, and you wanted us to cycle through a bunch of different like feelings as we were running.
Well, there's the literal fact that Helly knows, which is like, maybe we have this whole band on our side. Maybe we have all of these people who can help us.

And then, again, I think Heli is really carrying the heartbreak that she just saw on Gemma's face. And I'm sure any Mark is, too.
Even though they're kind of like these wild horses running through the hallways, there's still this, like, oh, what we've just done has an effect. Yeah.
And then it's just the question of where you're going sort of like yeah that's the i kind of felt like it was just so exciting to be with heli and to just be running but then i felt like during the run is where kind of occurs to them or to mark like i'm not sure exactly where to go and what the hell we're gonna to do, which is a really fun place to end the season. Ben, how did you come upon that song, the song that you used for the month? Yeah, it's Windmills of Your Mind performed by Mel Torme.
So good. It was on my episode 210 end song playlist of just ideas for songs that we could play.
Because we knew that that was what the image we wanted it to be at the end. You know, from the beginning was this freeze frame that I had in my head like, oh, yeah, let's do this freeze frame.
It's like weirdly romantic, but scary moment. And then we're going to like do kind of a 70s freeze frame ending or even 60s freeze frame.
you know, like so many movies used to do that in a really interesting way where you're just like, wow, you're just stuck in this moment. And like, what's going to happen? Yeah.
In the scene when I'm like at the door and Heli appears and kind of going back and forth, that was always the end point for the season. Right.
From long ago. It was always.
It was always. That was always...
We knew we were headed there. But I remember also, and this is interesting to think about now, the thought at one point was to end the season before the choice is made.
That's right. Early on, we thought about maybe we'll have you in the middle of the hallway there looking at Gemma, looking at Heli, and that would be the end.
But it really felt clear to me and I think to Dan and you as we started to talk about it, that we didn't want to end on another cliffhanger like that. It would feel like we're trying to beat the first season.
Yeah, that was the goal of this episode for me was to try to do something totally different than last season's finale, because that was something that people specifically keyed in on. I feel like that episode is so much a result of the writing of the first season and all the threads that are coming together there, because it's a pretty simple episode in terms of what goes on.
And this one, I felt like we wanted to make it more of like its own thing in terms of like what the ride was. So that was something we were intentionally trying to do.
I mean, I really miss making the show. I can't wait till we get to go back to it.
Me too. I miss seeing you guys every day.
And it's so fun making the show. Yeah.
Yeah, totally. Now we're going to go to the end of the episode event that we've all been talking about, which is Zach Cherry's favorite segment of the episode where he predicts what will happen next on Severance.
Zach, you haven't really gotten anything right at all this season. So I'm hoping that you...
That's sort of open to interpretation. And now you have to predict what happens next season on Severance.
Yeah. We'll probably have to cut it because it's going to be so spot on.
Let's listen to it. Let's hear what the great Nostradamus, Zach Stradamus, has to say.
Hi, Adam. Hi, Ben.
Wow. The season finale.
That was another humdinger. Thanks for teaching me that word, Ben.
You know, I just wanted to make sure I check in with you, Ben and Adam. I realize I've been so caught up in my own thing of predicting what happens next I haven't been asking you what's happening with you so if you guys want to take a second to just sort of share how you're feeling about anything you want you can go ahead and do that.
Okay that's enough time. Alright now let's talk about next season on Severance.
Next season on Severance. So our characters, they've put themselves into another pickle.
You know, they're in open rebellion. There's a marching band hanging out with them.
Any Mark and Helly are running down the halls. Who knows what's going to happen next? Well, obviously I do.
And this time I mean it. Mark and Heli are running down that hallway and they are never going to stop.
They're just going to keep running and running and running. And they're going to really show what humanity is capable of and set new records for the marathon, the mile and the ultra marathon.
And, you know, runners are a really dedicated community. They're not going to just let that slide.
They're going to find out about this. And the running community is going to come to the innies aid and get them out of there so that their champions and their heroes can do what they were meant to do, which is run free.
So that's right. Next season on Severance, we're going to mostly be focused on the ultra marathon and marathon running community.
And I know that sounds strange, but when you see it, it's going to make total sense. Adam, I just wanted to say a few weeks ago, I said that the first movie I ever saw was Meet the Parents starring Ben Stiller.
And that's not true. The first movie I ever saw was Meet the Parents starring Ben Stiller

and that's not true. The first movie

I ever saw was

Tork starring Adam Scott

and I saw it when I was

19 years old.

Alright, sorry everyone

and talk to you next season.

Oh wow. You didn't see a movie till you were

19? Yeah, but that was the

first one I saw and it made me love movies. Cinema., Torque, is that like an action movie or something? It's a motorcycle movie with me and Ice Cube and many others.
Your IMDB list, it just keeps giving and giving. It's crazy how many things you've been in.
Star Trek, Veep. And Torque is another stop on the road, my friend.
Are you a motorcycle racer? No, I'm the FBI agent McPherson. McPherson.
Yeah, McPherson. I complain about the coffee and stuff.
So basically, season three is Severance Running Free. That's the subtitle.
Just us running the entire season is what you're saying. I imagine so.
I love that. It sounds terrible.
When we pick up season three, you have a long beard and mustache. That's right.
And a baseball cap and you're just running. And so does Helly.
Yeah, I want a beard too, please. Britt, you'll get a beard.
Okay, good. Do you have any predictions for season three? Everyone gets haircuts.
Oh, yeah. That's a good idea.
Wait, you know what i really want to see actually this is true well i do want to see the haircuts that is true but i also want to see all of us play instruments i want to see ben play the drums i'm gonna bring my trumpet because i used to march in the marching band tramell plays like something he plays like the saxophone or something yeah all right zach what do you play recorder i play the recorder no you I don't. I did.
Adam plays like something. He plays like the saxophone or something.
Yeah. All right.
Zach, what do you play? Recorder. I play the recorder.
No, you don't. I did.
Adam plays the flute. Adam, you play the flute? I wish I played the flute.
Oh, my God. It is weird we don't have like a jam band type of thing after all these years.
It's weird that we don't have that. Yeah, you assume after- It's weird that we don't have a band, you guys.
A certain number of years, you eventually arrive at that. Doesn't that always happen on TV series?

Hey, we have one hotline call we want to play before we let you guys go. Oh, sure.
That's pretty interesting. So let's play it.
Hey, this is Alan. I was told to call this number, talk about dental hygiene.
And I mean, look, obviously we all know dental hygiene is like super crazy important. but like what I don't understand

is why is it

that there's nothing I can do to remove plaque from my teeth? I mean, I think, look, I do all the stuff, right? I do all the stuff I'm supposed to do. I brush my teeth.
I floss. I do all that jazz.
And then every time I go to the dentist, there's just more plaque on my teeth. And it's like, look, I don't expect to sit here at home and like chisel away at it but i mean there's gotta be something i can do a pill or a uh like some gum i don't know i mean look all right that's all thanks to you zach thank you alan that was awesome wow first of all i'd say dental hygiene is connected to mental hygiene so start there right wow that's so right you have to have the right outlook first.
What's your attitude towards plaque and your relationship with your own plaque? And what is it that's binding you to your own plaque that you can't let it go? I think he said at one point, plaque and all that jazz, which I appreciate. He must have had the wrong number of this guy.
We should put Zach's phone number at the end of this podcast. We should put Zach's phone number at dental offices.
Totally. Yeah, everyone, the listening community, if you are at your dentist's office, please write down my phone number and just put it in the waiting room and I'd love to hear from anyone.
All right. That is it for this episode.
The season may be over, but the Severance Podcast with Ben and Adam will be back next week for a bonus episode. That's right.
To unpack all of season two with some very special guests. Very exciting.
You guys are special guests. That's right.
Thanks for having us. You guys are awesome.
Well, listen in on soup and smoothies next time. Soup and smoothies.
And Zach, maybe next season read the scripts or not? We can talk about that. Okay, cool.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller and Adam Scott is a presentation of Odyssey, Pineapple Street Studios, Red Hour Productions, and Great Scott Productions. If you like the show, be sure to rate and review this podcast on Apple Podcasts, the Odyssey app, or your other

podcast platform of choice. Our executive producers are Barry Finkel, Henry Malofsky,

Gabrielle Lewis, Jenner Weiss-Berman, and Leah Reese Dennis. This show is produced by Zandra

Ellen, Ben Goldberg, and Naomi Scott. This episode was mixed and mastered by Chris Basil.

We had additional engineering from Javi Krustas and Davey Sumner.

Show clips are courtesy of Fifth Season. Music by Theodore Shapiro.
Special thanks to the team at Odyssey, Maura Curran, Eric Donnelly, Michael LeVay, Melissa Wester, Matt Casey, Kate Rose, Kurt Courtney, and Hilary Shuff. And the team at Red Hour, John Lesher, Carolina Pesikov,

John Pablo Antonetti,

Martin Balderutin,

Ashwin Ramesh,

Maria Noto,

John Baker,

and Oliver Acker.

And at Great Scott,

Kevin Cotter,

Josh Martin,

and Christy Smith

at Rise Management.

We had additional production help

from Kristen Torres

and Melissa Slaughter.

I'm Ben Stiller.

And I'm Adam Scott.

Thanks, everybody.

Thanks, you guys.

Bye.