”The Good News About Hell” (S1/E1)
“But there are
Richer entanglements, enthralments far
More self-destroying, leading, by degrees,
To the chief intensity: the crown of these
Is made of love and friendship, and sits high
Upon the forehead of humanity.“ — John Keats
”Your voice is different here, Worse,” Petey says when meeting outie Mark. He’s certainly a much different character than his innie version. Outie Mark is alcoholic, sarcastic, brooding, and distrustful. Cleaning the gutters, he looks out and sees Lumon in the distance. The thoughts I imagine him saying to himself are “I bet this chore is worse than anything in there,” and “I can’t wait till it’s your turn and I can tune out.”
He’s doing his best to tune out what remains of his weekend, getting his free meal at Pip’s Bar and Grille, a hilariously oversized diner that, I assume, has seen better days. He’s eating alone … and looks to be the sole customer. But his solitude is pierced by Ms. Selwig, his next door neighbor, who ropes him into another confused conversation about garbage pickup and why her bins are always in the way. Mark tries to end the conversation by saying his food has arrived, but that doesn’t work, she keeps blathering on. Then Petey sits down and tells him to get off the phone.
Having seen Petey earlier, he has thoughts about this guy, but still has no idea what to make of his “hi kids, what’s for dinner” opening line. What follows is a clever way to build some exposition briskly into the episode. We find out that they were colleagues (Petey is Mark’s best friend, Mark is Petey’s ‘very good friend’) that it’s possible to bypass the severance chip (and that he found help to do so), that Mark himself has been unhappy and asked out, that a security officer named Graner is a threat, and that nothing that happens at Lumon is what they say. And just to cap it off, he leaves him a greeting card (intended for a niece — leading Petey to remark that Mark would be a “pretty fucking awesome niece” and more narrative.
In the note, Petey muses that they used to wonder what kind of person it would take to sever and stick someone in that predicament, wondering if their outies were monsters. He rejects this. Then he gives Mark the option of knowing or not know — basically his blue pill/red pill moment — with an address on the back of the card if he wants to learn “the beginning of a very long answer.”
Mark then arrives back at his condo. He brings out his garbage and hears the annoying voice of Mrs. Selvig. Mark tries to beg out of a conversation, saying he’s tired. But Mrs. Selvig launches into a story. “You know, my mother was a Catholic. She used to say it takes the saints eight hours to bless a sleeping child. I hope you aren’t rushing the saints.” Mark promises to give them ample time that night. Mark says good night, but Mrs. Selvig has one more thing to say.
The camera turns to her, revealing that Mrs. Selvig is Ms. Cobel. She says to Mark “you’re good people.” Her phrase reminds me of Michel de Montaigne’s line, that there is much difference between us and ourselves as there is between us and other people. Selvig/Cobel is the most complex character on the show—and apparently had an atheist/Catholic mother to reinforce it.
And she’s not even severed.