Severance: Review (Take this Job and Shove It!)
REVIEW: “SEVERANCE”
Severance reminds me of a once-promising courtship you realize is going nowhere. After a few dates too many, you finally start planning how to break it off.
Like most matchmaking pursuits, all the basics of a solid relationship seemed firmly in place. The series was attractive. Interesting. Original. It even offered something on a much deeper level. However, one awkward scene at a time, confused by one exchange after another I realized an undeniable fact — she’s bat shit crazy! That’s it. I’m outta’ here.
Sorry, Severance —– it’s not you. It’s me. We’re done.
This was the most frustrating new television series I’ve watched in quite a long time. That’s because there’s so much that’s fascinating about it, aside from the seemingly unfixable mess of several twisted plots lacking any assemblance of a intelligible story. One second, we’re watching the four leads sitting at their computers juggling numbers. The next, we’re inside a room filled with baby goats. Then, it’s snowing outside and a couple of guys meet at a bar and order a beer. Uhhh, ummm, oookay.
Severance debuted in 2022 during the post-fallout of COVID and mass shutdowns that shuttered our way of life and obliterated traditional ways we looked at jobs and the workplace. Touted as a brutal takedown of impersonal corporate culture (which is true), many people do hate their jobs. I believe the series has now completed Season 2. My critique here is clearly an outlier.
“Americans are quitting in droves. Companies paying poverty wages are having a hard time finding and retaining workers. Highly paid digital workers don’t want to return to the office. The pandemic stripped the padding that made white-collar jobs bearable — lunches with coworkers, Starbucks runs, breaks in fresh air — leaving only the rotten core of actual work behind. Setting aside generalities, consider your own work. Does it suck? Is it exhausting? Is it meaningful? Or does it detract from the parts of your life that bring meaning? Do you have a good job, or is it only good compared to the worse jobs you could be forced into? Enter Severance, a show on Apple TV+ starring Adam Scott as Mark. Mark has voluntarily undergone a procedure known as severance, which means he has chosen not to remember what happens during his workday. It’s an intoxicating premise. If you were paid handsomely to do it, why wouldn’t you?” (credit Hunter K. Taylor)
Clearly, lots of very talented people were paid handsomely to be a part of this matrix of utter incomprehension. And accordingly, let me give credit where it’s due. I wouldn’t normally comment on set design, but the frightening mega corporation, a fictional monstrosity known as Lumon Industries (which looks eerily similar to the Apple corporate headquarters) conveys a frightening workplace-dystopia which given the direction we’re going maybe inescapable. Many episodes were directed by Ben Stiller, which certainly inspires added some curiosity. Then, there’s the outstanding cast, with Adam Scott, John Turturro, Christopher Walken, and Patricia Arquette–which only raises the bar on everyone’s expectations.
As I said, I gave it six episodes. That’s six hours of mental and emotional investment. I wanted to like, even love this show. It has everything going for it except for the most important element of any thriller — which is a thrill. Nonetheless, Severance has a 96 rating on Rotten Tomatoes and a 93 percent favorable rating on IMDB. Those are impressive numbers, which is why I gave this series much longer to play out before pulling the plug.
But yeah — it’s me. Increasingly, I found myself bored. Disinterested. Filled with resignation.
So, I clocked out. I’m now out of the building, locked out for good.
Dear Severance. Hey, Lumon Industries. Take this job and shove it.
