What do the sci-fi highlight Severance and the classic sitcom Roseanne have in common? Maybe nothing, maybe more than you think.
Last weekend, I sat down to watch the latest episode of the sci-fi highlight Severance. Season 2 had only partially managed to pull me out of my growing series frustration, which episode 7, entitled Chikhai Bardo, made me forget. The masterful blend of film and digital, the unleashed acting of Gemma actress Dichen Lachman, the emotional flashbacks – and last but not least, an incredible sequence by ex-cinematographer and debut director Jessica Lee Gagné. We’re so back!
And who do I see there? Character actress Sandra Bernhard as a ruthless Lumon nurse in the secret experiments basement. But then a strangely specific reference prop appears in the background, which has been stuck in my head ever since.
On sci-fi dystopias and sitcom blankets: What’s the deal with the Roseanne reference in Severance?
Sandra Bernhard is best known for her role as the bisexual Nancy in the US sitcom Roseanne. Even 30 years later, I recognized her immediately in Severance. When the exact crochet blanket that had been draped over the rancid couch in the Conner family for nine seasons appeared a few scenes later, my brain started racing. The reference blanket doesn’t even appear in Sandra’s scenes, but in Mark’s (Adam Scott) and Gemma’s flashback. What’s going on here? Was it intentional or a coincidence?
It’s quite possible that the Severance prop department made a little inside joke here to mark the debut of the former Roseanne co-star, but at the same time it was decided that the cozy blanket didn’t really fit into the cool Lumon scenes. And to be honest: as someone who immediately recognized the iconic sofa duvet, I understand the impulse. Not many people will pick up on it, but those who do will (proven fact!) be thrown off their game.
The blanket is surprisingly appropriate for a thematic reason, though. In English, the old-fashioned crochet construct with a so-called granny pattern is called an Afghan. If you use different fabrics (or different yarn, as in a crochet calendar) for the squares, it’s also called a memory blanket. And compartmentalized memories are ultimately the linchpin of Severance, where the focus is on the compartmentalization of consciousness.
The reference seems particularly interesting in relation to Gemma, who not only has a recreational outie-me and a working innie, but presumably several innies at the same time. Like neatly divided crochet patterns that make up an overall weave.
Blanket-Gate: The legacy of the eye-catching Granny pattern in series
Roseanne is not the only series or even classic sitcom that features such a blanket on the cozy family couch. The classic crochet pattern became so eye-catching that Slate did a story on the topic ten years ago, asking why series from Taxi to Roseanne to The Big Bang Theory and Jane the Virgin show the almost identical blanket in the living room. Is the fluffy prop something like the Wilhelm scream for prop masters? An inside joke for people in the business?
The bottom line is that the kitsch pattern, popularized in the 1970s, stands for family security for generations that grew up after that time, because it is associated with grandma and classic family ties. The blanket as a warmth-giving object, especially in warm colors, immediately conveys this feeling – and is also a practical tool for cameramen to make the image more lively and homely.
In the context of Severance, the colorful fleece blanket is in stark contrast to the cold, white Lumon look that dominates the experiment basement. Mark and Gemma’s life on film with grain contrasted with the dystopian dungeon on crisp digital shots also makes a lot of sense.
In terms of Roseanne, we can make an even more specific reference to the memory blanket theme. After all, the word could also be associated with a blanket that is placed over a memory. And how did the series end in the 90s before it was revived with The Conners? Roseanne (Roseanne Barr) reveals in the final moments of the finale that the whole series (at the latest from season 3, after she gets her writing room) was a story she made up with a different family constellation and without winning the lottery.
So is the Severance production team trying to tell us that the flashbacks with Mark and Gemma are also a fantasy? Probably not, but I wouldn’t rule it out. But that’s exactly the effect of good mystery series: they make us focus on the smallest details and over-interpret them to the extreme. It’s half the fun of formats like these.
But it would take a lot to dissuade me from my conviction that someone on the prop team knew what this was alluding to!
