Television Tuesday: "Severance," Has a Solid First Season and Amazing Second

I previously wrote about enjoying, "Plurb1us," on the blog. People who heard I and Samii enjoyed that show told us we needed to watch another AppleTV program, "Severance." The first season was a hit, people had to wait about three years, and the second season ran early this year. We watched it all over a week or so and had a great time! I will say, however, the first season was a bit slow and meandering at times for my tastes, whereas the second season is simply superb.

"Severance," is about a company called Lumon, which invented a way to split people's personalities/identities/etc. in two. These individuals undergo Severance to be Severed. They get in an elevator and a second later step out of that same elevator with no memory of the eight or so hours they spent working in a mysterious office. Meanwhile, a who other, "Self," only has memories of existing in this office and occasionally being told random facts about their outside self/"Outie," to ensure they're content. A large chunk of the show follows Mark Scout (Adam Scott) or as his, "Innie," is known, "Mark S." We learn early in the first season how Mark lost his wife and thought spending a large part of the day not feeling miserable without her might help. Issues quickly arise when a mysterious man claiming to be his old co-worker, who also now remembers everything, kicks off a number of mysteries. 

To the show's credit, it doesn't pull a, "LOST," and raise 100 questions while answering almost none. The first season has a good deal of payoff, and the second continues that payoff beautifully, with almost any questions raised getting answered outside of a few remaining things to ponder for the upcoming third season. "Severance," has nine episodes in the first season and ten in the second, which is interesting as the debut season is generally fun, but sometimes feels so slow. I suppose the metaphorical table needs to be set in much of the first season for its amazing finale, and how season 2 is almost all gas and no brakes (excluding a strange tangent of a really short later episode that kind of just shuffles a minor character around for 30-ish minutes to fill in some backstory about Lumon).

For real, though, the second season is great because it takes much of what we got used to with, "Severance," and turns it on its head. An episode spent mostly in a bright outdoor area instead of the claustrophobic office. An episode with some flashbacks that uses film instead of digital for those scenes to give everything a warm and nostalgic feel (an ingenious technique), and I could go on, but then I'd have to outright spoil a bunch of, "Severance." Instead of me doing that, you should check the show out yourself and then join me in anxiously awaiting the third season's arrival, hopefully sometime in late 2026/early 2027 instead of in three more years!

Season 1: 3.5 out of 5 Stars.

Season 2: 5 out of 5 Stars.