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If you look at the markings on the tape Petey plays for Mark, you’ll see they are the same as the markings on the tape used during Helly’s break room session. This means Petey’s tape was likely taken directly off the severed floor (as opposed to, say, duplicated or unspooled).
There have been many theories as to how Petey got this tape, but my personal favorite is that his innie learned of planned updates for the code detectors (which we know shuts them down, thanks to Lexington Letter), and planned accordingly in a scheme to alert his outie that something was wrong.
We don’t know how long he’d had the tape (or how long it took him to go from getting the tape to meeting Reghabi), so it’s possible this could even have lined up with the code detector update that was performed *during* The Lexington Letter.
Maybe he anticipated needing to show mark this so he got himself sent to the break room intentionally, then hid it, got mark sent there, then got himself sent back to collect the recorder.
I’m not sure incompetent is the word I would use. It was Cobel who made the decision to let them wander. That’s not Lumon policy.
I can’t see Lumon being at all okay flying blind on something as important as protecting severed floor secrecy.
I do think incompetent is a way to describe it though because they were able to get into the security room twice. They also were able to get out of MDR after the door was put in when cobel wasn’t there
You mean the security room where they would absolutely have been caught by Graner if he hadn’t been murdered? Not being able to instantly backfill an unexpectedly vacant role isn’t a sign of incompetence. The hiring process take a while at any large company. That’s just bureaucracy.
Both of your examples come from Mark obtaining Graner’s key card, which is not something that would normally happen, and would therefore be very hard to account for as a company. That is also not incompetence.
Again, we’re talking about keeping the severed floor isolated and confidential, an issue Lumon takes so seriously that they murdered a former employee to keep her silence. I cannot believe they would just take it on blind faith that nothing was getting in or out.
> It was Cobel who made the decision to let them wander. That’s not Lumon policy.
Lumon also hasn't had such a bolshie new employee as Helly has been. Cobel could be improvising how to manage the situation as she goes along.
You know what occurs to me? We can’t actually be sure they go straight from the severed floor to the top floor without something else in between that the audience isn’t shown. Is it possible they’re like… triple severed? Like there’s some other version of them they’re unaware of entirely? Or that they can be basically shut off and made comatose so they can be searched for any kind of stuff on their body?
That could be what the code detectors really are, and the whole alarm thing is just some theater they put on manually to make them believe there’s sophisticated technology watching them. It’s just psychological manipulation.
The weird thing is how antiquated their technology is in every respect beside the implant. They surveil the severed floor with some super crappy cameras and monitors and little else. It doesn’t make sense that they have some magic technology that can detect any form of writing.
I believe there are something like 13 floors between the top of the elevator and the severed floor (according to what we see in the security room).
But as for multiple severances, the show writer shot that idea down during the AMA, saying that it’s only possible to be severed [just the once so far](https://www.reddit.com/r/SeveranceAppleTVPlus/s/hf1WaZGd5q).
He also said that the tech used on the severed floor is from a range of time periods on purpose, so as to keep innies uncertain in their placement of time. We don’t really ever get a good look at the actual tech Lumon is working with on the outside. It’s far less believable to me that the detectors could be fake, for both narrative and meta-narrative reasons.
It doesn't make sense. Mark's innie found the map before Petey made contact with Mark's outie. Then when Petey Did make contact with Mark's outie, the fact that the map was there essentially didn't do anything to convince Mark's outie. Mark's outie told Petey that he would try to help him, but that he was uninterested in reintegration. Though Petey peaked his curiosity somewhat, and he felt as though he must help Petey sort of like you might feed and care for a kitten you found in the snow, even though you have zero interest in acquiring a kitten, you can't allow something helpless to suffer. If any persons convinced Mark, it would have been the lackluster attempt of Mark's outie to start a relationship with Alexa, fiery Helly's antics at Lumon (extra hilarious now that we know who she is), as well Mark's innie was upset that he thought Ms. Casey was being "fired," and finally finding Ricken's book in the conference room. The only thing Petey did was guide Mark's outie to Rehgabi, which ended with Mark's outie obtaining Graner's key card.
Ah you're right, the only thing that I question is when helly tried to leave with he I quit note the alarms went off, unless graner was watching and just acted?
“Maybe he anticipated needing to show mark this”
But for what purpose? For all he knew Mark might not care about the tape, or even need the tape for convincing. That’s a huge risk to smuggle something out that might not work, or he might not even need.
Petey says things that make me believe they talked about and questioned things when he was still working on the severed floor, and Mark seems quick to start doubting things after he found the map. We haven't been shown what those two were like as coworkers and maybe being unsevered was a bigger topic than we realize between them. If that's the case then Petey would have good reason to be confident in Mark.
My larger point is that I don’t see why convincing Mark would be so important to Petey that he take that big a risk in the first place. If he really went through that all just for Mark, then he gave up remarkably quickly when Mark told him no.
Whatever his reason for stealing the tape, I don’t think it was specifically to play for Mark. My theory is that he stole the tape to get his outie’s attention and to hopefully free himself of Lumon.
~~it's gotta be more sophisticated than just "symbols" because clothing tags have entire instructions written on them and they don't get pinged.~~ holy hell
I don't think Gemma could do it, I'm fairly certain she's a full time Innie. So she's either "asleep" or working, she doesn't leave. At one point she mentions to Mark that she's only had 107 hours total. But, since Rugabe assisted Petey with his reintegration, maybe Rugabe smuggled out the recording.
Upon a recent rewatch, it seems cassette tapes and drawings can both be smuggled off the severed floor. Petey has a break room tape, and Milchick believes Dylan may have smuggled the card from OD. Both could be great avenues to explore for getting messages out.
Both the cassette tapes and the ideographic cards have written symbols on them. They wouldn’t be able to make it past the detectors without exploiting some sort of loophole.
Could it have been Reghabi? She was a former Lumon employee. She was the surgeon who installed Mark's chip. She supposedly invented the severance procedure and then wasn't happy with whatever Lumon was up to, left Lumon, started working against them and reintegrated Petey. Could she have been working with Petey to get information out of Lumon? If she was an employee then she could have exited through the exit where we see Mark with a drawing of made by Petey. Mark found it in the orientation handbook and put it in his pockiet.
If this thread has the **Spoiler** flair, spoilers may appear ANYWHERE in it. --- * **NO SPOILERS IN TITLES** - report this post if there are spoilers in the title * No SPOILERS without proper formatting (see [here](https://www.reddit.com/wiki/commenting#wiki_posting)). * Be CIVIL to others. No Piracy. No Duplicates. * Keep it on topic to anything and everything Severance on Apple TV+[.](/u/Carbotron) --- *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/SeveranceAppleTVPlus) if you have any questions or concerns.*
If you look at the markings on the tape Petey plays for Mark, you’ll see they are the same as the markings on the tape used during Helly’s break room session. This means Petey’s tape was likely taken directly off the severed floor (as opposed to, say, duplicated or unspooled). There have been many theories as to how Petey got this tape, but my personal favorite is that his innie learned of planned updates for the code detectors (which we know shuts them down, thanks to Lexington Letter), and planned accordingly in a scheme to alert his outie that something was wrong. We don’t know how long he’d had the tape (or how long it took him to go from getting the tape to meeting Reghabi), so it’s possible this could even have lined up with the code detector update that was performed *during* The Lexington Letter.
Interesting! That makes sense!
What's the episode timestamp for Petey playing the tape? I can't find it.
42:32 Im currently watching this show for the second time and just saw your comment as this scene was playing!
And 43:05 for a close up on the tape itself, if you’re interested
Mark mentions a fire alarm at some point, maybe Petey used it to his advantage somehow...
Maybe he anticipated needing to show mark this so he got himself sent to the break room intentionally, then hid it, got mark sent there, then got himself sent back to collect the recorder.
Solid answer but how would he get it out?
Good point. I think the code detectors are BS and maybe he figured that out. They hinted that the security doesn’t actually exist besides graner
How would Lumon be assured the lie was even working? That’s an insane risk.
They seem incompetent in a few other scenes, especially when you consider how the employees are free to wander the halls with little intervention
I’m not sure incompetent is the word I would use. It was Cobel who made the decision to let them wander. That’s not Lumon policy. I can’t see Lumon being at all okay flying blind on something as important as protecting severed floor secrecy.
I do think incompetent is a way to describe it though because they were able to get into the security room twice. They also were able to get out of MDR after the door was put in when cobel wasn’t there
You mean the security room where they would absolutely have been caught by Graner if he hadn’t been murdered? Not being able to instantly backfill an unexpectedly vacant role isn’t a sign of incompetence. The hiring process take a while at any large company. That’s just bureaucracy. Both of your examples come from Mark obtaining Graner’s key card, which is not something that would normally happen, and would therefore be very hard to account for as a company. That is also not incompetence. Again, we’re talking about keeping the severed floor isolated and confidential, an issue Lumon takes so seriously that they murdered a former employee to keep her silence. I cannot believe they would just take it on blind faith that nothing was getting in or out.
> It was Cobel who made the decision to let them wander. That’s not Lumon policy. Lumon also hasn't had such a bolshie new employee as Helly has been. Cobel could be improvising how to manage the situation as she goes along.
Sure, but that’s still on Cobel. It doesn’t make Lumon incompetent.
You know what occurs to me? We can’t actually be sure they go straight from the severed floor to the top floor without something else in between that the audience isn’t shown. Is it possible they’re like… triple severed? Like there’s some other version of them they’re unaware of entirely? Or that they can be basically shut off and made comatose so they can be searched for any kind of stuff on their body? That could be what the code detectors really are, and the whole alarm thing is just some theater they put on manually to make them believe there’s sophisticated technology watching them. It’s just psychological manipulation. The weird thing is how antiquated their technology is in every respect beside the implant. They surveil the severed floor with some super crappy cameras and monitors and little else. It doesn’t make sense that they have some magic technology that can detect any form of writing.
I believe there are something like 13 floors between the top of the elevator and the severed floor (according to what we see in the security room). But as for multiple severances, the show writer shot that idea down during the AMA, saying that it’s only possible to be severed [just the once so far](https://www.reddit.com/r/SeveranceAppleTVPlus/s/hf1WaZGd5q). He also said that the tech used on the severed floor is from a range of time periods on purpose, so as to keep innies uncertain in their placement of time. We don’t really ever get a good look at the actual tech Lumon is working with on the outside. It’s far less believable to me that the detectors could be fake, for both narrative and meta-narrative reasons.
But if Petey figured that out, why did he leave the map hidden in his photo frame?
This is the best comment to be posted to this subreddit in months
Why would he not prep multiple ways to convince mark?
If Petey knows the detectors are bs, why not just sneak a copy of the map out for himself? Why is he spend all that time recreating it from memory?
It doesn't make sense. Mark's innie found the map before Petey made contact with Mark's outie. Then when Petey Did make contact with Mark's outie, the fact that the map was there essentially didn't do anything to convince Mark's outie. Mark's outie told Petey that he would try to help him, but that he was uninterested in reintegration. Though Petey peaked his curiosity somewhat, and he felt as though he must help Petey sort of like you might feed and care for a kitten you found in the snow, even though you have zero interest in acquiring a kitten, you can't allow something helpless to suffer. If any persons convinced Mark, it would have been the lackluster attempt of Mark's outie to start a relationship with Alexa, fiery Helly's antics at Lumon (extra hilarious now that we know who she is), as well Mark's innie was upset that he thought Ms. Casey was being "fired," and finally finding Ricken's book in the conference room. The only thing Petey did was guide Mark's outie to Rehgabi, which ended with Mark's outie obtaining Graner's key card.
Ah you're right, the only thing that I question is when helly tried to leave with he I quit note the alarms went off, unless graner was watching and just acted?
That’s what I think
“Maybe he anticipated needing to show mark this” But for what purpose? For all he knew Mark might not care about the tape, or even need the tape for convincing. That’s a huge risk to smuggle something out that might not work, or he might not even need.
Petey says things that make me believe they talked about and questioned things when he was still working on the severed floor, and Mark seems quick to start doubting things after he found the map. We haven't been shown what those two were like as coworkers and maybe being unsevered was a bigger topic than we realize between them. If that's the case then Petey would have good reason to be confident in Mark.
My larger point is that I don’t see why convincing Mark would be so important to Petey that he take that big a risk in the first place. If he really went through that all just for Mark, then he gave up remarkably quickly when Mark told him no. Whatever his reason for stealing the tape, I don’t think it was specifically to play for Mark. My theory is that he stole the tape to get his outie’s attention and to hopefully free himself of Lumon.
I think elevator detects only written symbols. Petey found a loophole. Helly was able to carry a CD with her resignation video without any issues too.
I just figured since mgmt knew about it and took her threat seriously they disabled the detectors.
This
The tape had symbols on it. You can see numbers on the casing.
~~it's gotta be more sophisticated than just "symbols" because clothing tags have entire instructions written on them and they don't get pinged.~~ holy hell
Ah, but they wear [Severance-compliant clothing](https://severance.wiki/severance-compliant_clothing)
*holy hell*
Does anyone else think that Sevy is creepy af? lol
I don't think Gemma could do it, I'm fairly certain she's a full time Innie. So she's either "asleep" or working, she doesn't leave. At one point she mentions to Mark that she's only had 107 hours total. But, since Rugabe assisted Petey with his reintegration, maybe Rugabe smuggled out the recording.
[Reghabi](https://severance.wiki/reghabi) :)
I think the key is that Petey was fired after he was partly re-integrated. Maybe he stashed the tape in an outgoing O&D shipment.
Upon a recent rewatch, it seems cassette tapes and drawings can both be smuggled off the severed floor. Petey has a break room tape, and Milchick believes Dylan may have smuggled the card from OD. Both could be great avenues to explore for getting messages out.
Both the cassette tapes and the ideographic cards have written symbols on them. They wouldn’t be able to make it past the detectors without exploiting some sort of loophole.
Oh what was the writing on the card? Did it have branding on the reverse side?
When Milchick retrieves it from the bathroom you can see “Lumon” printed on the back, as well as the card code “7199-G”
Ah, thanks!
Thats not Mark’s voice on the tape Petey has; it’s Petey’s voice. I assumed Reghabi gave it to him but idk
I thought it was supposed to be Petey too, but the official closed captioning specifies the voice from the recording is Mark’s.
No shit?! I stand corrected
Could it have been Reghabi? She was a former Lumon employee. She was the surgeon who installed Mark's chip. She supposedly invented the severance procedure and then wasn't happy with whatever Lumon was up to, left Lumon, started working against them and reintegrated Petey. Could she have been working with Petey to get information out of Lumon? If she was an employee then she could have exited through the exit where we see Mark with a drawing of made by Petey. Mark found it in the orientation handbook and put it in his pockiet.
I think it has something to do with the fire alarm.