Plot: Mark Scout leads a team at Lumon Industries, whose employees have undergone a severance procedure, which surgically divides their memories between their work and personal lives. This daring experiment in “work-life balance” is called into question as Mark finds himself at the center of an unraveling mystery that will force him to confront the true nature of his work… and of himself. In season two, Mark and his friends learn the dire consequences of trifling with the severance barrier, leading them further down a path of woe.
REVIEW: The first season of Severance was unlike any other series at the time. Created by Dan Erickson and directed and produced by Ben Stiller, the series blended creepy and surreal urban legends with a workplace comedy for a story that defied categorization into a single genre. With a great ensemble featuring Adam Scott, Patricia Arquette, Britt Lower, John Turturro, Zach Cherry, and Christopher Walken, Severance created a whole mythology around the mysterious Lumon Industries and their process to sever a person’s professional consciousness from their personal one. With a quirky retro vibe at the office and a mystery being investigated in the outside world, Severance builds mounting tension episode by episode through the cliffhanger finale. Two years later, we get to reconnect with our favorite innies and outies as we learn more about the truth behind what Lumon is trying to do and how the actions of the team of analysts will impact what is to come. The second season of Severance does not disappoint and achieves the rare feat of improving upon the debut season.
At the end of the first season, Mark Scout (Adam Scott) and his colleagues in Macro Data Refining, including Dylan (Zach Cherry), Irving (John Turturro), and Helly (Britt Lower), disabled the severance protocol and found themselves inhabiting their outie consciousnesses. Mark learned his boss, Harmony Cobel (Patricia Arquette), knew his outie and revealed to his sister Devon (Jen Tullock) that Mark’s deceased wife (Dichen Lachman) was alive. Dylan learned he was married with children while Irving found his coworker and love interest Burt (Christopher Walken) was in a relationship. Irving also noticed he had been painting a mysterious doorway at Lumon. Helly had the most shocking revelation as she learned she was actually Helena Egan, daughter of the head of Lumon. That cliffhanger opens the second season as the fallout at Lumon results in the dissolution of the MDR team and Mark being placed with a new set of coworkers. The floor supervisor, Seth Milchik (Tramell Tillman), has also taken a more prominent leadership role under the guidance of Lumon executives. The second season deepens the divide between the innies and the outies while not losing the mystery and surreal nature that made the first season so good.
Having seen the entirety of the second season, I can confidently say that Severance is better than ever. There is a lot more going on this season, both inside the Lumon offices and in the world at large, while not once feeling like the series is trying to top the twists and reveals from season one. The uneasy balance between what Lumon tells their severed workers and what they begin to uncover is central to the mounting plot of the show’s overall narrative, but it does not mean that Mark and his friends remain quiet and obedient. There is so much that I want to say about what happens this season, but virtually everything would be a spoiler. What I can tell you is that the trailer only hints at where this series goes, and that includes off-site work meetings, new departments, including the one where Gwendoline Christie’s character works, and episodes focused on the backstory for key supporting characters that have a direct impact on the main ensemble. Some interesting cameos and additions to the cast will surprise you right from the first episode, but what makes this season of Severance feel stronger than the first is the tightly controlled plot threads that connect back to elements from the first season while laying the groundwork for the seasons to come.
Severance‘s early episodes waste no time distinguishing themselves from the first season. The characters now know they are stuck and that something nefarious is happening at Lumon. Adam Scott gets a lot more conviction playing both halves of Mark Scout, who grows in self-confidence as an innie and makes decisive choices as an outie. There is much more for Zach Cherry to dig into this season with a unique romantic subplot, while John Turturro and Christopher Walken remain the best couple to root for on television. Britt Lower gets some heavy lifting as Helly deals with who she is on the outside. At the same time, we meet new characters played by John Noble, Alia Shawkat, Merritt Wever, Robby Benson, Olafur Darri Olafsson, Bob Balaban, and Sarah Bock. The return of actors from season one, including Sydney Cole Alexander as Lumon PR rep Natalie, Michael Chernus as Mark’s brother-in-law Ricke,n and Karen Aldridge as Reghabi, built this world into something much more sinister than I expected. The idea of what Lumon is and the purpose of the severance process continues to be a MacGuffin for this series, but one that is slowly revealing itself. By the end of the second season, there is so much more known than at the end of the first, but the mystery remains intact, and we do not feel like we are being led on a meaningless journey.
Series creator Dan Erickson once again leads the writing team, having scripted four of the ten episodes alongside Mohamad El Masti, Wei-Ning Yu, Anna Ouyang Moench, Erin Wagoner, Mark Friedman, Adam Countee, and K.C. Perry. Outside of Erickson and Moench, the team comprises new writers who delve further into the complex backstory of Lumon and the Egan clan. Ben Stiller helmed five episodes this season, down one from the first year. Stiller directed the premiere and finale with Sam Donovan (The Crown, The Widow) and Uta Briesewitz (Stranger Things, Black Mirror, Westworld), each helming two episodes, and cinematographer Jessica Lee Gagne (Mrs. America, Escape at Dannemora) made her directorial debut on the remaining episode. This season continues to mine the surreal, retro look of the Lumon offices with new forays in midseason episodes that shed light on the larger world of Severance. The eerie music from composer Theodore Shapiro continues to balance the series’ themes. A new opening credit sequence teases hidden messages about the season and where the story is headed. Some episodes do not have a credit sequence for reasons that will be evident when you watch those specific chapters.
Severance was already a unique series unlike any other show on the air and has built on that with an even better second season. The cast is exceptional, and the direction, led by Ben Stiller doing the best work of his career, improves on what came before it. This is such a rich world that has deepened what the audience knows without sacrificing any quality along the way. Each episode is full of character development that makes you care deeply about what happens to each member of the MDR team and even gives reasons to care about the antagonists as well. Few shows on television rival how bizarre and brilliant Severance is, and I look forward to seeing how viewers react to what this season has in store for them. As much as the first season impacted pop culture, season two will result in many memes, quotes, and references that will make this show a hard one to top in 2025.
Severance debuts its second season on January 17th on Apple TV+.
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