I just rewatched Severance and I really enjoyed it!

Severance tells the story of a universe where new controversial technology produced by a company known as 'Lumon Technologies' allows those willing to undergo a procedure known as 'Severance'. This procedure is seemingly designed to separate life inside of work from life outside of work and forms the crux of the shows' mystery throughout the season. If a person is to undergo this procedure then they are effectively split mentally into a 'outie' outside of work and an 'innie' when in work. This creates a lot of really interesting dynamics throughout the season as the mystery of Lumon and the true meaning behind 'Severance' unfolds. Available to watch on Apple TV+, Severance has been a massive hit since it's release with the show receiving 14 nominations at the Emmys in 2022, winning 2. I watched the show at the time and it's remained comfortably one of my favourite shows since. With Season 2 finally confirmed to be around the corner in January next year, I felt like it was the perfect time to rewatch to see if the show is still great (spoiler: it is).

The first season is 9 episodes long with each episode being between 45 minutes to an hour and overall does a really good job throughout of slowly revealing the mysteries of the universe as those who are severed slowly try to piece together mysteries on both sides. As an audience member, you learn plot points as the characters learn the plot points too and that for me is often the sign of a really written TV show, especially when it focuses so heavily on mysteries needing to be solved. It's clear off the bat that no one in the universe really knows who or what Lumon does and the show is incredibly smart in only clueing you in when it decides you need to know something more as a viewer.

The story predominantly follows Mark S (played by Parks and Recreation's Adam Scott) who is already severed at the start of the show as both his innie and outie try to solve what Lumon is doing without their counterpart aware of what their other half is up too. Mark S is shown to be part of the Macrodata Recruitment Division of Lumon alongside Dylan G (played by Zach Cherry), and Irving B (played by John Tuturro) with Helly R (played by Britt Lower) who joins their team in the first episode. I have to say I think Adam Scott is unbelievable in the lead role regularly using the most nuanced of body languages to differentiate between his outie and innie. It must be incredibly difficult portraying two characters who are effectively the same person and the whole Macrodata Recruitment Division team do a really good job of nailing this task, although we only briefly see Dylan, Irving and Helly on the outside over the course of the season.

The show offers a really good commentary about how people view work/life balance and the lengths people would be willing to go to achieve it. As I've rewatched the show, I've thought about whether I would be willing to undertake the procedure and whilst I don't think I would, the show at least initially raises some fair arguments about why people would take the procedure. For example, Mark S is shown to have done it so save himself the pain of mourning his recently deceased wife.

One of the many many things I enjoy about this show is that it probably has one of the strongest production designs I've seen on a TV Show. For whatever reason that Lumon is designed how it is (it's unclear throughout S1), it is shown to be incredibly stylised within the workplace with the design representing a blended corporate look from the 1960s all the way through to the 1980s with the mix of styles designed to be slightly disorienting for both the viewer and the workers inside. On top of this, the choice of soundtrack works really well throughout to add to the eerie disorientating feel at key moments of the show. The show is also incredibly well directed throughout with Ben Stiller (yes that Ben Stiller) and Aoife McArdle doing a great job of keeping the show grounded in it's lore as the story unfolds.

Although the mysteries do begin to add up for the viewer towards the end of Season 1, there are still a lot of questions that need answers heading into Season 2. Whilst I won't dive into them here at risk of spoiling S1 for anyone who reads this and might feel compelled to watch, I am definitely really interested to see where the show heads and can highly recommend the show for anyone whose interested in psychological thrillers.

Overall, I think this is one of the most interesting plots of a show that's come out in recent years and the standard of Season 1 is so high that I am not shocked S2 took a few years to sort out. For context in how critics found it, it's currently standing at around 97% on Rotten Tomatoes with a lot of reviewers at the time giving it at 5 out of 5 which I agree with as you can see below...

Click here for Season 1 Trailer

5 out of 5.

Courtesy of Atsushi Nishjima for Apple TV via Everett Collection