Severance
Britt Lower’s dynamite performance as Helly in Severance is just one of a thousand reasons why you need to watch this show. Image courtesy of Apple TV+
What would you do if you woke up disoriented, laying on top of a table in an empty conference room? Your head is groggy as you scan the room and take in your unfamiliar surroundings. All you can hear is a voice intermittently asking the same question from a singular speaker.
“Who are you?”
Work-life balance can be quite challenging to achieve. From stressful jobs that create worries that we can’t turn off while we’re off the clock, to personal problems that consume us while we’re at work. Sometimes it feels like it would be nice to completely separate our personal life from our professional ones.
Introducing severance: the definitive solution to separating our personal and professional lives. The catch? You will need to implant a microchip in your brain that will sever one-half of your memories from the other. While at work, that’s all you will know. Your address, family, hobbies, childhood memories, and anything associated with the world outside of your office are all concerns for your “outie” aka the you that lives in the real world. And what do you do for a living? Who are your coworkers? Your outie will never know. That information is strictly for your “innie” aka the you that steps foot into your office. And your physical body? It inhabits both worlds on an almost daily basis. It carries the stress and consequences of your decisions, even when you don’t know what you did to cause the sensations that you are physically feeling.
Seem trippy and confusing? That’s because it is! If you are looking for a highly bingeable sci-fi mystery that will answer fewer questions than it asks, then Severance needs to be added to your watchlist ASAP. There are so many aspects of this show that work incredibly well. The concept is complex and leaves room for both exploration and analysis by the viewer. Rich with symbolism and social commentary, Severance is littered with data to unpack. This is juxtaposed with the seemingly mundane setting. A generic American town full of middle-class people is the focal point of an ethical debate; do humans work to live or live to work?
Adam Scott and Britt Lower have palpable chemistry. Are they Severance’s “Jim and Pam”? Image courtesy of Apple TV+
The relatively small cast each carries their weight. The severed employees are played by Adam Scott, Zach Cherry, Britt Lower, and John Turturro. The four macrodata analysts interact with their limited corporate environment and their small department in a way that is simultaneously familiar and completely foreign. Most of us have had an office job at some point in our lives and we are used to the generic water cooler banter with our random coworkers. But what do you talk about if you can’t ask about weekend plans and the weather? It’s genius to place so much unknown in an environment that audiences can relate to so seamlessly.
The severed employees are played by John Turturro, Zach Cherry, Britt Lower, and Adam Scott, and their supervisor is played by Tramell Tillman. Image courtesy of Apple TV+
Continuity is established in both the inner and outer world through geometrically satisfying shots that are as stunning as they are off-putting. In the outer world, the audience is often left feeling small with wide, sweeping shots of perfectly snowplowed roads and the eerily empty parking lot of Lumen Industries, the company that is pioneering severance. There are so many twists and turns that take place in the inner and outer lives of the severed employees. This season sets the stage for a much larger story to take place in future seasons and I cannot overstate how excited I am to see where the story goes.
What’s your favorite episode of Severance and why is it Defiant Jazz? Image courtesy of Apple TV+
