Severance
Apple
I’ve been holding off writing about Severance, the deeply strange Apple Plus series, until I could see where all this was heading. But my excitement has been building week after week as the mysteries of the series deepen, and as of this week, the Severance season 1 finale has cemented it as one of the best new series I have seen in…an extremely long time. It’s easily the best show of 2022 so far, and probably quite a bit beyond that.
Severance is yet another hit from Apple Plus, a streaming service that I would argue has one of the highest ratios of great programming to total volume out there. I’d say probably 8 out of 10 Apple shows I’ve watched are really good, while that number may be more like 2 in 10 for Netflix, given its “throw everything at a wall and see what sticks” approach. Oh, and Apple managed to have the Oscar Best Picture winner on its service this yeartoo, with CODA.
As for Severance, this is a deeply weird, extremely brilliant series concocted by of all people, Ben Stiller. It is not a comedy. At least not outright, though there are some funny moments and memes that have already emerged from the series (Waffle Party, anyone?).
The story follows a company, Lumon, who uses the practice of severance on certain employees. This involves quite literally splitting your brain so that you then have a “work self” and “home self,” where neither retains memories of the other.
For the employees, this offers some benefits. At baseline, you earn money from a job that you have no memory of, so all your time awake is your own. For some, like Adam Scott’s Mark, this can also mean escaping trauma, in his case the recent death of his wife.
Severance
Apple
This creates an unsettling situation, however. If one version of you never has to deal with work, the other version of you that the severance process creates, only exists at work. It’s all they know. Their entire existence is a single floor of a building and their 4-5 coworkers and bosses. You slowly start to realize how horrifying this is over the course of the series, and yes, there is some extremely good commentary in here on the state of corporate life and how workers are treated.
Have I sold you on the series yet? If so, stop reading. Time to get into spoiler territory with the finale.
Severance was brilliant long before its finale episode this week, but without question, this was the finale that fans were hoping to see. An incredibly tense episode that for the first time, unlocked the “innies” in the outer world for the first time so they got to see their true lives. As such, this episodes was full of mindblowing reveals, such as:
Severance
Apple
Mark – Learns that Outie Mark’s wife is still alive, and exists as Miss Casey at Lumon. We learned that last week, but Mark himself learns it this week when he sees a photo of her for the first time. Last week we also learned that Miss Casey has no “outie” and is simply being kept in storage when she’s not activated. We do not know why her death was faked or why she exists in this state.
Irving – Despite being the most loyal to Lumon before all this, it appears Irving’s Outie has been deeply researching Lumon and the severed employees, concocting some sort of plan. He also appears to be ex-military, and spends his time painting the dark hallway, downward elevator to storage door that Miss Casey goes through.
Helle – We learn that Helle is actually Helena Egan, daughter of the current head of the company, and she has severed herself in order to prove a point that severance is a good thing that anyone can undergo. But with Helle taking over her body, she rages against the practice to important Lumon investors before being silenced. Now we know why Helle’s outtie would never let her quit no matter what, and it raises questions about what kind of person severance can create out of a single individual. While Mark and his innie seem similar, Helle and her outtie could not be more different. We’ll see where this goes.
A wild finale and yes, Severance season 2 has already been greenlit because Apple has the foresight to know when it has something special on its hands. Cannot wait.
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Pick up my sci-fi novels the Herokiller series and The Earthborn Trilogy.
