You Outposters rock! What rocks even more is when you want to send in a review, because it saves us from doing it. I kid, I kid, the contributions from you guys are great. This time around, The Orange Bat has sent us a review of Severance.
Severance Review
I wasn’t going to watch season 2 of Severance, Apple TV’s hit show that debuted in 2022. Like many other movie and TV productions, season 2 was delayed due to the Hollywood strikes, so I had really forgotten much about the first season. Why give time to a show about which I hardly remembered?
Around the middle of season 2’s airing, I saw some positive reviews from people I never thought would ever like this show. A couple were even saying that season 2 was the best thing on TV and is a must-watch. And so the inner debate began: did I really want to get wrapped up in yet another season of TV, probably to be disappointed as is usual?
About Season 1
I decided that I needed to re-watch season 1 of Severance before attempting season 2. If you haven’t seen season one, here’s a relatively spoiler-free rundown to give you an idea of what the show is about:
Season 1 introduced us to Lumon, a company with a technology called “Severance”. Severance is the process of having a chip implanted into a person’s brain, which essentially creates an entirely new personality that can be turned on and off at the company’s will. This allows regular folks to work on highly classified information that they can reveal in the world outside of work.
The designation of the worker side of the severed person is an “innie”, a personality that exists only within the walls of Lumon and not anywhere else (mostly). The regular person who continues to live their life is called an “outie”, and they continue to live without knowing anything about the inner workings of the company. When an “outie” arrives at Lumon, they enter an elevator to the basement, where their “innie” comes to life and puts in a full day’s work.
Meet Mark
The main character is Mark Scout/Mark S., played by Adam Scott (Innies have no last name, only an initial). He works in Lumon’s Macrodata Refinement department, a strange, undefined job which involves searching through large fields of numbers on a computer screen in order to find the groups of numbers that “stand out”. These groups of numbers invoke a feeling, some giving a feeling of dread, others evoke different feelings. The innies have no idea what the purpose of their work is or what the ultimate goal of this seemingly meaningless task is. They do it because that’s what they’re there to do.
If this all sounds a little strange, it is. Season 1 is ultimately a satire on corporate culture and the people who feel trapped within it. Anyone who has worked as a faceless employee at a large company will understand how Lumon works. The innies are literally different people at work than the outies – very literally. Like many modern corporate jobs, they perform work that makes no sense, their office is cold and has no windows, and this all leads to a feeling that they’re trapped in their work. I’m sure that sounds more than a little familiar to a few of you reading this review.
Perks of Working
The best aspect of the corporate satire, however, is the “perks” that the workers are offered for doing well. Since the “innies” are truly ignorant of the world outside of Lumon, they have no concept of what a proper and meaningful perk is. They earn odd and meaningless perks such as finger traps, dance experiences, and, the ultimate perk, a waffle party. It’s this weird and wonderful aspect of Severance that make it a truly funny show, if a little creepy.
Mark S. has 3 other officemates: Dylan G. (Zach Cherry), Irving B. (John Turturro), and Helly R. (Britt Lower), all with their own odd personality and way of viewing their work and their company. Included in the cast are managers Miss Cobel (Patricia Arquette) and her assistant Mr. Milchik (Tramell Tillman). The managers are great and often steal the show with Tramell being especially fun to watch as he performs odd little dances or tries to pep up the troops.
The first season’s story revolves around the innies and the outies trying to understand what exactly it is that Lumon does, and what the point of Macrodata Refinement is. When Helly R. is brought in to replace Mark’s friend Petey, shenanigans ensue as our cast of characters begin to roam the stark, bright white illuminated hallways, visiting other departments to unwrap the mysteries of severed employees. It ends with the innies getting a taste of the real world and a season-ending cliffhanger that strains credibility, but fits in with the ludicrousness of what came before.
In general, season 1 of Severance was interesting, but I could have easily abandoned the show and completely missed season 2.
On To Season 2
I’m very glad I watched season 2, because I loved it.
Season 2 is A little different from season 1. It deemphasizes the crazy shenanigans of the severed employees in favor of more character development amongst the innies and outies. These clueless office workers face challenges and difficulties that are a direct result of the happenings at the end of season 1. Dylan has to contend with the fact that his outie has a family, making the Lumon perks seem meaningless in comparison.
Irving, feeling betrayed, can no longer follow the Lumon path. Helly has to deal with the fact that her outie may be the villain of her and her friends’ story. Mark is on a mission to save a loved one revealed at the end of season 1. Even Miss Cobel and Mr. Milchick are fleshed out more and are given intriguing and dramatic twists.
Each episode in season 2 grows on what came before, ramping up the tension with each episode. We watch the now-familiar innie characters deal with things they never even considered, including love, as they try to reconcile their work with the complications presented at the end of the previous season. The outie characters also get more screen time as we learn a little about why they chose to be severed and what each outie gets from working for Lumon.
Classic Look and Feel
Along with the terrific story being told, the look and feel of the show is perhaps some of the best you’ll see on TV or movies today. Thought is given to the cinematography, lighting, and sets. The office uses old technologies, giving it a strange 1950s-60s feel, with a touch of 2001: A Space Odyssey thrown in.
Lumon is portrayed as a company revolving around a cult, and all the great filmmaking adds to the weird and creepy vibes that the company gives off. The music choices are fantastic, as is the soundtrack in general. This is top-notch drama, which is rare for Hollywood in 2025.
The acting is also superb. You feel for the characters and their individual plights. It helps when you have John Turturro doing his usual fantastic work, as well as Christopher Walkin actually acting rather than being the butt of a joke. But the standout actors to me are Patricia Arquette as Miss Cobel and Tramell Tillman as Mr. Milchick. Arquette is doing the best work of her career, putting her all into portraying the slightly insane and quite manic Harmony Cobel.
In season 2 of Severance we get to know Cobel’s background, how she came to be raised under Lumon’s odd religious philosophy, and we find out that she may be the key to learning the truth behind Lumon. Tillman, also, gets a great side-story discovering that Milchick may not be accepted in Lumon the way he believed.
The Ending
The ending of Severance is one of the best I’ve seen on TV in a long time, and perhaps in my top five great season endings. It’s imaginative, thoughtful, and even has a little unexpected action. The writers came up with a fantastic climax in which Mark S. (Adam Scott) is forced to make a difficult choice between what is right and what he wants.
Everything was well thought out, down to the flashing red lighting as Mark finds himself running through Lumon’s halls trying to escape. I have no idea how they will resolve season 2’s ending, but I can’t wait to find out.
While I wholeheartedly recommend this show, I also understand that it won’t be for everyone. Ben Stiller is an executive producer, also directing many of the episodes. If you’ve ever watched The Ben Stiller show from the ‘90s you’ll recognize his fingerprints are all over Severance. When it’s funny, it’s more about the strangeness of the situation than any actual jokes.
But if you can get through the first season, accept that the second season has a slightly different tone and feel, and you let the great writing and filmmaking carry you away, then season 2 could be a real treat in a bleak Hollywood landscape.
