Rebeck smells weird

I’m aware this post makes me look like a raving lunatic, but just give it a chance. Ricken 100% has something to do with the goats, and I believe there’s also “goat people” in his following. Note that I was updating and watching at the same time so it’s a bit jumbled. TLDR at the bottom but it’s still a long read 😬

I was just rewatching the season 1 finale at the reading for Rickens book. Mark “forgot”his book so he is told to share with Rebecca (who states she instead likes to be called “Rebeck”). After Marks innie “wakes up” at the party, Devon comes up to him and goes “Rebeck smells weird. And she keeps making chewing noises but isn’t actually chewing.” A few moments later, Rebeck and Mark meet and she says she’ll share her book with him, but specifically notes her poor eyesight and that he might notice some sores on the back of her head “from my bird”.

As some of these don’t seem to make sense to some people, I’ll note that goats “ruminate”. They regurgitate semi-digested food and continue to chew, even though it looks like they’re chewing nothing. In s2e3, one of the goat people is chewing on nothing in the first full face shot we see. The sores on the back of the head could simply be from chip insertion..or a little more creatively, where they had horns if they ever were related to or part of a goat.

The writers also found the goat “theme” important enough to include goat sculptures in multiple scenes (Rickens house, Cobel’s office, on the head of one of the “waffle party” dancers, etc). There’s a sculpture right between Rebeck and Devon in the “dinner party” scene as well. When Cobel is destroying her apartment after being fired, there’s a goat poster on the wall (along with some other odd ones that I’m still trying to figure out) under the words “humility” .

It’s worth noting that Ricken’s book has a chapter titled “wounds unhealed”. There is also a poem he wrote that mentions “no ulcers”. It’s common for goats to have skin ulcers. Also in s2e3, there’s a shot of one of the goat people and she seems to have sores on her arms.

I don’t know if anyone else has posted about this but I hadn’t seen it so wanted to share. Clearly she is one of the goat people? Was one of the goat people? Does anyone remember any backstory as to how Ricken knows her? Why would she be at his book reading?

Just thought it was an odd quick scene that means something.

Added:

When they all are called to sit for the book reading, Ricken is ringing a bell that sounds just like the ones they use on goats. Now I’m wondering if a bunch of people at the reading are connected/“goat people” and this is the best way to get their attention.

Even more added as I watch: When Ricken finishes his first chapters, Rebeck states “that was transformative, Im going to have to change my name again.

Ricken then goes in a back room for a moment, and says to mark, “i don’t know why my voice shakes like that”. If you rewatch his reading, with certain words he literally sounds like a goat.

Cobel then turns to Mark and almost covers for Ricken saying, “what a wordsmith. He seems to have something in his throat”.

Possibly, what if Ricken just worked WITH the goats like in the room where they are “matured” where the creepy guy told Mark and Helly “they’re not ready yet”. This could be why he uses the bell sound. Maybe he spent so much time alone in that room with the goats that he literally started sounding like them. This could also explain his crazy fascination with child rearing and child development. Could also explain his leaning towards everything “natural”, such as making his own sheets and even the clothes he wears. What if he was an ex-severed employee and these are aspects of his position now seeping into his outtie life. This also might be why he wrote his books-he wants people to find themselves and “grow”, just like the goats. This could also explain why there’s “goat people” at his reading-they’re naturally drawn to his writing.

I think it’s also important that all the “goat people” are especially fond of Ms. Casey and her wellness sessions. One stated that her words “meant a great deal” to him. This parallels with their draw to Ricken and his “inner awakening” books

Also, In the episode after Helly’s elevator incident where she is being watched by Ms. Casey, Mark intentionally spills his coffee on her to make her leave him and Helly alone. Ms. Casey objects by saying her journey would take “8 minutes roundtrip” and is very concerned about that short amount of time. In this finale episode when Mark states he forgot his book, Ricken immediately states that it will take him 15 minutes to get home, and also seems too focused on the time. I just thought this was an odd parallel that again makes me think Ricken has worked or been involved with Lumon. It could be another “quirk” he picked up.

This all has to be intentional.

Another update but probably not the last: Someone commented that their issue with Ricken being a “goat person” is that he’s far too intelligent (that comment is somehow gone now). Two things to say to this-if he simply worked with the goats like I mentioned above, he could still have his intelligence while picking up so many quirks. OR I truly wonder..is he actually that intelligent? The way he writes and words things is kind of a mess, but can sound intelligent because he uses big words. Kind of like the friends episode where Joey writes that letter but uses a thesaurus to change every word. His “ideas” are a little nonsensical, as are some of the phrases he uses. They sound like they could be from someone who’s literally learning to be human-exactly what his books focus on. This also pairs well with Mrs. Cobel’s “what a wordsmith” comment. She knows his history and is aware that he’s just using “big words”. Even though I still think there’s a chance he could be a goat person, now I think I’m moreso thinking that he was helping raise them, unknowingly picked up a bunch of quirks and is still focused on helping others realize who they are and what it means to be human. Someone else noted that Milkshake gets dinged for using too many “big” words, which might show they don’t want innies actually learning these words/to speak like this. Also pairs with the fact that they want Ricken to write a new version of the book specifically for innies.

One last important bit (at least to me) is that when Ricken starts his reading by ringing the bell, he states “sorry, you can’t unring the bell”. Could mean a multitude of things regarding working with the goats/being severed/being a “goat person”. Once any of that’s happened, it’s always part of you.

FYI-if you look at my other post I included the video of Ricken sounding veryyy much like a goat

TLDR but still long :/ there’s lots of little clues that have to be covered with this theory:

Ricken is somehow related to the “goat people” and I’m pretty sure Rebeck is one (whatever that means)

Rebeck smells (goats smell). Rebeck is chewing without actually chewing anything (Goats ruminate and this a well known common action). Rebeck has sores on her head from “birds” (goats horns? Similar to ones in goat people scene? Severance chip?). Rickens book has a chapter titled “wounds unhealed”). Rebeck changed her name (why? Could she have “grown up” in Lumon and needed a more human name in the real world?). Rebeck dresses like Ricken (more “granola” and natural). Ricken “baa’s” like a goat during multiple words in his reading (old habit seeping through from past exposure?). Cobel specifically mentions how he was speaking (to distract from why he was speaking that way?). She also noted that he’s quite a “wordsmith” (bringing more attention to his big words-again, like someone who is trying to sound intelligent). Someone else pointed out that Milkshake was dinged for using big words (do they not want innies to have that exposure? Could that be why Ricken needs to write a new book specifically for them?). Ricken is obsessed with child rearing, development and growth (could connect to him raising goats to be something “more” for Lumon). Ricken uses a bell sound to call everyone to sit (like you would with goats). Ricken seems intelligent based on his “big word” choices but his ideas are somewhat nonsensical (like someone who is still working on their human growth). First full shot of“goat persons” face shows him chewing on nothing in s2e3 (this kinda solidified it for me). In that same episode one of the goat peoples has sores on her arms (possibly also relegated to the “no ulcers” and “wounds unhealed” chapter). The “goat people” are especially fond of wellness sessions (parallels with love of Rickens books).There’s multiple goat heads placed throughout the show-sculptures, “costume”?, and a poster in Cobel’s house.