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| Images courtesy AppleTV |
The satire of The Office was sometimes too much for people to watch because the show’s awkward and ridiculous situations were all too real. They were watching their actual lives on a screen and having to suffer through that all over again. Severance could be even more unwatchable for anyone who has ever been gaslit, verbally abused by superiors, or questioned having a life outside of their job.
The characters in Severance literally wonder what their lives are like outside of the office due to a chip implanted in their brain after accepting a job at Lumon Industries. These employees, played with relatable nuance thanks by Adam Scott, Britt Lower, Zach Cherry, and John Turturro, work on the severed floor of this company where the chip separates their memories of work life from their outside lives. This creates a dual personhood in that who these people are at work has no connection to the person they are outside. Their memories of work are inaccessible to their outside selves, nicknamed ‘Outties’.
If there’s anything that’s missing in this season of Severance, it’s a joke about employee’s work/life balance. But, given the set up, there’s no need, since all work, and memories of work, are literally left in the office. The Outties have no idea what their ‘Innies’ are like when they exist in the office, and vice versa. This show uses this sci-fi set-up to satirize corporate attempts at humanity, explore what different kinds of people can exist within and without a workplace, and create a masterful series about a nightmarish workplace dystopia.
Ben Stiller, who has developed his directing chops over the years, directed six of the nine episodes. It’s easy to remember him directing the Zoolander movies, Tropic Thunder, or even The Secret Life of Walter Mitty; but it’s easy to forget about him directing Reality Bites, The Cable Guy, and the Showtime limited series from 2018, Escape from Dannemora. This show won nine Emmys and also starred Patricia Arquette as a prison employee who aids two inmates in an escape.
Arquette teams up with Stiller again in Severance as section chief Harmony Cobel, a boss so icy that Tilda Swinton could take notes. In a few scenes where an employee receives recognition for completed work or for receiving a promotion, Cobel recites a congratulatory script that ends with, “A handshake is available upon request.” When Adam Scott’s character hears this after being promoted, he replies in the affirmative. Cobel extends her hand in the most fake, inhuman way, making the gesture a perfect illustration of the office’s attempt to be more human and less creepy.
Impeccable art direction makes the offices and hallways of the severed floor simultaneously beautiful and nightmarish with a minimalism that can achieve both of those adjectives. The literal artwork in the building plays a central role in later episodes when it’s used to reveal more about Lumen Industries, its founder, and the religious fervor/dedication expected of its employees.
The four main characters each represent a typical sort of employee at any office, and the interchanges between them are all too relatable for any office worker: being chided by an co-worker for not following all procedures; having to listen to the office gossip and conspiracy theorist; having to be patient with a misanthropic rebel; and, perhaps, being the ‘I just work here’ peacemaker.
Their past and budding relationships morph and flow through the episodes as you learn some backstory or are given a scene with that office worker’s Outtie. Other characters remain mysterious when you don’t get any backstory or glimpse of their Outtie counterpart. Every reveal about Lumon Industries, the main characters, and the dark places having separate consciousnesses can lead to adds to the ominous tone and suspense of the series. The show becomes a Rubik’s cube that you actually want to solve.
Each episode of the series is deliberately paced to add more characterization, more unease when the reality of the Innies’ work experience is revealed, and more tension as the characters start to break out of their inhuman work identities. The show goes to some dark and weird places, but it does so in such an engaging and well thought out way that it could easily earn Stiller and crew a few more Emmys.
All episodes are currently streaming on Apple +, and the show was renewed for a second season.
Eric Beach
