❦

b

&& how while we’re watching lumon use gemma and mark as lab rats in their pursuit of an escape from monotony and pain and discomfort, we are also watching these beautiful pieces of mark and gemma’s past life together… and they are experiencing monotony and pain and discomfort. yes, there was joy and love and laughter — tentative flirtation and a warm home bathed in sun and dancing in the living room and spring flowers and soft touches and affectionate conversation over food and wine and and and…. and there was also grading papers and washing dishes and going to work and a miscarriage and drs appointments and getting shots and fighting and grieving and and and. and they were all human experiences. it was a life, lived, and shared. &&how its lumon’s pursuit of an escape from those very same, very human experiences that has doomed them both. that has severed them both from that life and from each other… but there is no escape. the pain is still there no matter what. you carry the pain with you. no matter what.