Why You Should Watch 'Severance'

What you need to know about Apple's hit show

In an era where there have simply never been this many different TV shows of varying genres and from so many different platforms, it can be pretty hard to navigate the ever-so-rarer wheat from the chaff. And as competing streaming services vie for our wallets it’s become ever harder to make any sane cost-benefit analysis when it comes to which one to choose. Most streaming “content” is designed to look maximally flashy and appealing, with big-name stars and high production value created specifically with the intent of getting you to sign up for at least a month, and maybe forget to cancel while you’re at it. I personally have stopped paying for streaming services- if I do watch something from streaming it’s on a family/friend’s account or I’m at a friend’s house. If there’s a specific show on a streaming service that I don’t have access to that also isn’t available on physical media, then the question that arises is: is this show worth what I would normally pay for a movie ticket? The same risk from spending $10-15 on a movie ticket can apply to spending the $10-15 it costs for a month of most streaming services. In a similar fashion, I have a friend who makes a decision every month with his wife for what service they will use for that time, usually based on a certain show or certain movies that they want to see. There are ample ways to navigate the “cinema” apart from the “content” without spending $30-50 a month on every service.

This all being said, my highest recommendation for the time being (or perhaps, when the entire season is out in a month or so) if you are looking for your next watch is Severance on Apple TV+ (which is highly surprising considering how utterly lackluster 80% of their content is). Series creator Dan Erickson and producer/director Ben Stiller have created something truly phenomenal- a high-concept science-fiction series with quality writing that continually engages without ever feeling like “filler”. The show’s concept revolves around the procedure of “severance”, which can best be explained by the question: “what if you could separate your work self from your non-work self?” Characters in the show who are “severed” have a chip in their brain that allows them to not remember anything from their workday: their work-memories stay in the office. This in turn, creates a new self in the office that only ever remembers working at the company, Lumon Industries. This allows the company to hire people to do confidential work that they will have no memory of later, while giving people who have trauma/other issues a chance to make money and do work while they ostensibly “heal”.

The star of the show is Adam Scott as Mark Scout, a severed employee who joined Lumon after his wife died in a car accident. Mark’s morose, cynical “outside” self is contrasted almost immediately with his “inside,” work self (referred to in the show as “outies” and “innies”), who loves his job and finds meaning in the mysterious work. However, Mark begins to start asking questions about his job after the arrival of “Helly R." (Britt Lower), who immediately begins railing against her “imprisonment” and complete lack of knowledge about her outside self. Rounding out the office are Zach Cherry as Dylan, who essentially gets most of his fulfillment from figuring out how to get the most company “perks” as he possibly can, and John Turturro as Irving, who essentially treats his job as his religion, never straying from the carefully laid out guidelines of Lumon Industries.

That’s all I will say for now in terms of plot details: when I watched Season 1 back in 2022 I went in pretty much blind and was all the more grateful I did: this is not a predictable show by any stretch of the imagination and every episode introduces some new revelation or plot mechanic that makes the whole experience riveting. Stiller- who previously directed and starred in The Secret Life of Walter Mitty- once again flexes his creative chops in crafting a unique world with consistent rules, fleshed out by unique characters who can feel at times both achingly real and scarily inhuman. The contrast between the work-world and “real world” plotlines are balanced, focusing mainly on Mark’s “innie” and “outie” as they both investigate the increasing mysteries of Lumon unbeknownst to each other.

The show also, refreshingly, is pretty clean for a prestige show like this: like recent shows like Better Call Saul and The Bear there is pretty much no sex/nudity: strong language and occasional violence are a recurring element of the series though. Also like the aforementioned shows, the series strikes the perfect balance between comedy and tragedy; making for a tonal blend that pulls you fully into the lives of the characters and makes you root for them all the more. Adam Scott especially does a phenomenal job playing essentially two different characters at once that at their core feel very much like the same person: not an easy task for even the best actors.

Overall, I would highly recommend you check out Severance, the first episode is actually free to watch on Apple TV+. Expect a Season 2 review when the season is finished!