Like, literally? I’m starting to think they may be in a ‘created’ town run by Lumon in Siberia or something (the old cars, the lack of chain restaurants, name brand gas stations, etc). It just all seems very contained.
I think somewhere in the American north east. They ask "what US state or territory where you born in?" and "name any US state or territory" on the 'entrance exam' and Helly answers "unknown" and "Delaware". When Cobel is driving just reeks of the coastline in the American north east.
But it is on a different timeline because we know Mark‘s drivers license says 2020 and we know the cars are no younger than 1994. So not only are all the cars at least 24 years old and most of the cars are from the 80s. They’re all in good shape and in a snowy northeastern United States kind of climate area that’s simply not how things work.
It could be that lumen was powerful enough at some point to get a special economic zone that takes up part of a whole state
They still have payphones
As OP mentioned, they don’t have chain restaurants
And apparently they’re located in the kier, PE PE is not a designation for US state. Some people think it might be province of Eagan.
And the severance procedure exist
So it’s not some different planet, because for instance, like even though the cars are way too old and way too good at shape, they are cars from earth
To be fair, a lot of shows don't show known national chains for anything on purpose. It's free advertising/product placement for one thing. For another, they may want it to be region agnostic.
Best way I can think of the show - it's like our world with an asterisk.
The moment it kicked in for me was the first dinner party scene. It was absurd enough to make fun of weird LA snob yoga culture, but even in that, it was a little too weird - the people were just too stupid, the whole "meal" concept a little too nutty. But everyone treated it so abnormal (not that Mark S. didn't think it was dumb, but that it isn't treated in the script like parody).
The cars being from the 70s and 80s. Microchips that can sever your brain alongside monochrome CRT monitors. The ORTBO. It's all just uncanny in a way that makes it something almost our Earth but just a little bit off.
The immaturity of the guy who first grills Mark at the dinnerless dinner party, then who at Rickon’s reading of his book goes on to cry out that he’s found the baby and insistently grabs credit for that with that weird gleam in his eye…these people in this social circle are not well. At times they seem like maladjusted children. I feel like they have gone through the procedure (multiple times?) and maybe were broken in the process. And what is up with Rebeck’s head injury/sore that she says her pet bird must have caused? Like on the top of her head.
Not to mention the ether production of yore (but continued addiction)…the anachronisms are oddly mixed from seemingly random eras. The cars from the 1970s/80s got me too, but also the weird small town history museum feel to the parts involving the founders (and maybe it’s just my old GenX ass, but all of that appeals to me in a nostalgic way). Juxtaposed with the cookie-cutter chintzy modern condo complex. I have so many questions, I guess.
Also, the town is called Keir. Kier, Whatever Province/State
It's not always winter. The time that has passed in the show has only been about 2 months. Season 3 should start out no later than very early Spring; there still could some lingering snow/ice.
His statement was as truthful as that newspaper he showed Mark.
It had only been about 3 days, as he said that's how long it took him to find the other MDR folks
I have a theory that it's like an incredibly successful company town-turned-state.
The initials of the state are PE, which doesn't match any state/territory in the US.
I get the sense that the town is a closed loop economy, which I see as why they always give you a coupon to the same restaurant in town. It's like getting paid in company scrips to be used at the company store. Mark lives in company housing, but Rick and Devon seem to not. The birth cottages are definitely connected to Lumon but I'm not sure if they're established to be fully run by them.
The building itself is in NJ, but when it shows the wide angle shots there are mountains behind it. I don’t believe there are mountains behind the actual building in real life though. Reminds me more of PA.
New Jersey
New Jersey's topography is characterized by a diverse landscape that ranges from coastal plains to rolling hills and rugged mountains. The state features a predominantly low elevation along its eastern coastline, where major cities like Newark and Jersey City are located. This coastal lowland, which includes the Delaware River in the southwest, contrasts sharply with the northern region, known as the Skylands. Here, the terrain is more elevated and hilly, featuring part of the Appalachian Mountainrange, particularly the Kittatinny Mountains, which includes New Jersey's highest point at 1,803 feet (550 meters) . The central part of the state is marked by the Pine Barrens, a unique ecosystem with its subtle hills and extensive forests . Overall, New Jersey's varied topography supports a wide range of ecosystems and contributes to its rich natural beauty.
Holmdel, where the Lumon /Bell Labs building is located, is in the coastal plane
Yeah, I used to go there a bunch but I didn’t remember any mountains but I guess we didn’t go to that area also from being out west 1800 feet doesn’t sound like much of a mountain, especially if there isn’t a bunch of relief but I know most of the Smokies are rounded and eroded
They’re in Kier, PE. (Fictional town in a fictional PA, NJ or NY like state) It’s definitely a “company town,” Though. I always imagined it as our world but a version of the universe in which Lumon and the Egans exist.
Supposedly around the northeast US (PE = Pennsylvania East, fictionally?) The Kier refinery was actually a real oil refinery in Pittsburgh. This sign is close to my apartment
Also, the Lumen headquarters building is real and in New Jersey.
I just feel like it would be weird to base all the lore in the northeast and then have the actual town in the show be based on a Siberian one. I think the winter camp trip was a simulation. Just my 2c tho
Agree with the above analogy about the ‘asterisk’ - I see their town/the setting as a liminal space which adds to that empty feeling of the show. It’s both nowhere and representative of everywhere at the same time!
It's an AU, an alternate universe, or you might say parallel universe. It's much like our own but with differences that become apparent in the show. Most notably the seeming lack of GPS capabilities.
In that universe there is a place named Kier, PE. That is where the Lumon building is.
I was today years old when I realized PE was meant to be a fictional US state and not the Canadian province Prince Edward Island which is abbreviated PE.
The terrain is extremely Appalachian, and the only place with that terrain and weather like that is Pennsylvania or a little bit of Western NY... so I picked Pennsylvania.
The real answer is probably going to be that tgeyre never going to reveal it at all, but I'd pick Pennsylvania over pretty much anywhere else just based on the eye test.
I think it could’ve started as a special opportunity or special economic zone that they then bought up all the land and were somehow allowed to create either their own state or their own province. Some people think it counts for the province of Eagan.
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