by Mike Hilty, Contributing Writer
The first job I ever had was as a paperboy when I was in sixth grade. Since then, work has always been something that I’ve valued. I’ve had a very decorated work history with hits and misses for jobs. Here’s the run down currently: caddie at a local country club, stock boy at Michaels Arts and Crafts, associate at Hollwood Video, picture taker at a Six Flag theme park, movies and video game specialist at Best Buy, electronics associate at Sears, pizza maker at a local pizza place in college, front desk clerk for the fraternities and sororities at my college, team leader for a youth leadership development conference, associate at Best Buy Mobile, account manager for a technology reseller (first real job), community manager for a non-profit company, sales trainer/inside sales representatives for a food ingredient company, sales coach for a technology reseller, and business analyst for a food ingredients company.
I’ve always believed that outworking someone and hustle culture were hallmarks in my values. Although my opinions on this have changed, particularly after meeting people who don’t live in the U.S., work is still an important part of my life, but not the most important part of my life.
There was something about Severance that really struck a chord with me in terms of how we view work and corporate culture, among many other things.
Severance follows Mark (Adam Scott), a supervisor at Lumon Industries, and his team on a basement floor at their office. He and his team Dylan (Zach Cherry), Irving (John Turturro), and newcomer Helly (Britt Lower) are part of a program where work memories are split (severed) from personal memories. They’re in essence two different people — a work self (innie) and an outside self (outie). Once Helly joins the team, they all have a desire to figure out what they’re doing for Lumon and why they agreed to the procedure in the first place. Severance was created by Dan Erickson, and Ben Stiller served as a producer and director.
Right out of the gate, I did want to point out that Severance is a beautiful show. There are just a lot of great things to say about the story from a technical standpoint. It’s shot beautifully, the set pieces — particularly in the hallways of Lumon — are gorgeous, and the music is menacing. Kudos to Stiller and Aoife McArdle for directing the episodes to perfection. There were certain tracking shots in the hallways of Lumon that made me feel claustrophobic and uneasy. There are a lot of great shots outside of the Lumon building that make it seem like it’s grand in scale, but then when inside, it feels like a fortress or even a prison. I’m assuming this is part of the point, but it’s such a cool aspect that I really appreciated it in each of the episodes. There’s so much eye candy that it demands additional viewings to see if you can find any clues as to what’s going on.
The performances across the board on Severance are amazing. It’s shockingly hard to pick out which performance is the best because they’re all so good. Scott is someone I’ve followed for a long time. I loved him in Party Down and Parks and Recreation. His performance in Severance is some of the best I’ve ever seen him do. I knew he could do comedy really well, but this is a whole new level. Never would I have believed the jerk brother from Step Brothers would pull out a performance like this with such heart and gravity. Scott has a tall task as the main character, but also one of the only characters where we see both his innie and outie’s life. They’re different, and to be able to pull off both is something I hope gets him more recognition. Patricia Arquette is genuinely terrifying as Ms. Cobel, Mark’s boss at Lumon. Arquette blends both eerily calm with sadistic so well that it’s a little unsettling. Her second in command, Milchick (Tramell Tilman), is equally unsettling because he not only has to be in front of everyone more often at Lumon, but his actions also create a lot of the intrigue that cause the innies to want to learn more. Tilman’s performance mixes both happy-go-lucky with the company man who will stop at nothing to do his job. Lower’s and Cherry’s performances are also great because they both have events that happen to them that are tough to watch and they handle them with care, emotion, and levity. My sneaky season MVP might go to Turturro though. As much as I loved Scott’s performance, Turturro’s character Irving is so good. His character’s evolution during the season and where they leave him is some of Turtorro’s finest work. He’s having quite the year and I’m all for it. It wouldn’t surprise me to see some award season love for the performances.
The story is a bit of a slow burn. The first half of the season is spent learning about the ins and outs of what all the innies do at Lumon. They’re part of the macrodata refinement team, which cleans up numbers. We follow all of the innies at work, but the only outie we really get to know is Marc. We learn a lot of aspects about him and why he chose to be severed, which is something that really intrigued me. Learning why all these people choose to undergo severance is fascinating to me, and I’m looking forward to hearing more. There are only really two people we learn about why they chose to be severed and they’re wildly different reasons. The second half of the season deals with the aftermath of a few events that happen to innies. There are tragedies, struggles, and discoveries that sets up some plans to figure out what’s happened to them. The story does take its time, but it’s meticulous in how they wanted to tell it. There’s still so much to learn that to say it ends on a cliffhanger feels like an understatement. Is there a thing higher than a cliffhanger, because that’s how it felt. Maybe an edge of the world hanger?
What this show is exploring in terms of themes is very timely right now. In a country that is struggling with work/life balance due to a variety of factors, and for a country that praises hustle culture, I found the messages that Severance is saying about work and company culture very intriguing. What Lumon is asking of its employees is unethical at best, and for the severance program to even exist in this world raises a lot of questions. I want to learn more about it because the reasons for justifying such an extreme procedure in the name of work is bound to have a lot to say about the current state of work/life balance. The U.S. has a huge problem with work/life balance, and I know I struggle with it a lot because I can work from home, have a laptop, and have access to my job virtually whenever I want. Lumon’s toxic culture also says a lot about the lengths a company will go to push their employees to do their jobs. I loved the messaging of the show and what it has to say about the risks of corporate culture going too far and the lengths people will go to for a work/life balance.
Let me say this: the season finale is one of the best season finales I’ve seen maybe ever. Yes, I said the story was a little bit slow at times; HOWEVER the amount of tension and dread you feel for these characters in the finale is so amplified that I couldn’t help but be on the edge of my seat. There’s so much we learn in the finale, while also simultaneously leaving so much up in the air. I was blown away by these revelations and what they mean. Not only that, each of the main four characters from Lumon had a major reveal in the finale. I’m so excited to learn more about what’s next for them, yet so afraid for the ramifications of what they all did in the finale. I’m so glad there will be a season two. It’s well deserved.
Severance is the best TV show I’ve seen so far this year. There’s a great message and outstanding performances, it’s technically marvelous, and it tells a story that sets the stage for what will hopefully be a really great sophomore season. Apple TV+ continues to prove they’re in it to win it with their content, and this is another great addition to their already stacked portfolio. For anyone who likes heady sci-fi, a show about work culture, a show about processing grief, or a show that is beautiful to look at, Severance is for you.
Score: 10/10
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