Severance

Season 1

Year of release : 2022

Run time : 40m-57m, 9 episodes

Genre : Sci Fi / Psychological Thriller / Tv Series / Mini Series

Cast : Adam Scott, Patricia Arquette, John Turturro, Christopher Walken

Director : Ben Stiller

The series open with Helly, who wakes up on a table, not knowing how she got there, and who she is. She is asked these weird questions, which only make her panic. Surprisingly, she answered all of them correctly, receiving a perfect score.

We then see Mark, crying in his car, and walking inside the building where he works. People there seem to have no emotions, as they are pretty much expressionless, and he finds out his best friend, Petey, is not coming back to work with them.

Due to the procedure they all went through,to work there (they have a chip implanted deep in their brain which makes them forget who they are), they don't know what happened to him, if he's sick or died.

Petey is replaced with Helly, at the office, and Mark is promoted to having Petey's job.

Whenever they step inside the elevator, they forget their outside life, and only remember their life inside the company building. They can't leave until after 5 o'clock PM, as the elevator won't take them downstairs, and security shows up. And they can't ever leave together, only one after the other.

They know that there are people who live the whole time underground. The building even has a museum dedicated to the CEOs of the company,and even a normal size replica of one of the CEOs' houses! My guess is, it's his real house.

Mark and his colleagues don't even know exactly what are they doing, as they pretty much look at numbers all day, putting them in boxes, based on if they look scary or not. We do see from what is happening to Helly, that whatever they put in their heads messes with their perception of reality.

And,they all believe that they save lives!

Mark seems pretty happy at work, and in real life he leads a pretty boring, uneventful life.

Helly, although her normal self really wanted to work there, keeps on asking to be allowed to leave, as she doesn't like not knowing who she is and what's going on around her.

Petey contacts Mark, telling him he managed to bypass the implant, being reintegrated, and remembers things. Problem is, reality blends in with the past, the repressed,if you will, memories, from working inside.

Mark is neighbors with his boss, without him knowing it, as she is this pretty annoying old lady , and we then find out it's all an act, as she probably wants to see if he remembers anything. She also goes through his belongings, reading what he reads or receives, looking for hidden messages. So, the employees, are also monitored on the outside.

When Irving becomes friends with Burt, an employee from another department, Optics and Design, that they heard bad things about (they were told that department eats people), they find out things are not as they think, and each department was told lies about the other,seemingly to stay away from each other.

Helly was t0rtured to say 1017 times the same lines, in order to show remorse for how she behaves. Her "outie" self doesn't seem to understand her wishes, filming herself telling her she's not a real person, so she tries to k1ll herself.

Irv finds the book Mark's brother in law wrote and left as a gift by his door, that his boss stole and gave their supervisor to read. They all start reading it secretly. Apparently he wrote a pretty good book about fighting against the system.

All the employees know the "Eagan and Kier rules" by heart, quoting them as if quoting the Bible (it seems to be written like the Bible). They all give the vibe they are in a cult or a communist dystopia.

Irv sees things every once in a while (probably due to the chip), this black goo taking over everything, and one day after an episode, he finds upsetting prints in the office, of people from his department and the Optics and Design Department fighting each other, 3ating each other!

Ms. Cobel was indoctrinated at the Myrtle & Eagan School for Girls, and now she literally praises at their altar.

Mark's sister meets the woman she befriended at the place they both gave birth, just that, the woman doesn't remember her, and seems,well, a b1tch. Doing her research, she finds out she is the wife of a politician who wants to legalize Severance .

Unknowingly, Mark brings his boss, Ms Cobel into his sister's life.

Mark and his colleagues dare fraternizing with the Optics and Design Department, so Burt is fired, being staged as a retiring. This turns Irv, who was one of their biggest believers, into a hater.

Outside Mark meets the doctor who implanted the chip into the Lumon employees' heads, who worked with his former best friend, Petey.

Dylan G. steals a picture card from the Optics and Design Department, and Milchick visits him at his home, to find out where it is. This is how he finds out he has a son! This also turns Dylan, who was about following the rules at the office, against the system!

When he snaps at Milchick, and tells his colleagues about it, Helly tells them they can attempt to turn off the devices themselves, to see who they are outside.

Due to them visiting other departments, which is forbidden, the office installs a door which can only be opened with a card by their superiors.

Luckily, outside Mark was caught by their security guard while talking to the doctor who went rogue, and she gave him his card which opens every door of the office.

Ms Cobel wants to meet the board, but they seem to be like God in movies about it, never to be seen, not even to be heard, they speak through others. Everything is like a dystopian nightmare.

Outside Irv seems to lead a lonely life, and keeps on painting the same long,narrow hallway, with an elevator at the end with an arrow going down.

Mark's wife turns out to be alive, inside Lumon, as psychiatrist Ms. Casey, and he doesn't feel anything for her, although he took the job to stop the pain of losing her, and outside Mark still loves her, 2 years later!

Mark and his colleagues reach their department quota, and to celebrate, they pick Dylan, as the one to be rewarded. Dylan has to infiltrate their offices while they believe him to be partying, and turn the chips off, so they can see their outside lives.

I personally enjoyed the movie. I liked the winter atmosphere, outside it's always snowing, looking like a fairy tale, or raining. Sometimes the naked trees reminded me of the silence before the "storm" in Resident Evil.

We mostly get to see outside Mark and his sister. We see he is trying to put his life back together after losing his wife, and also not knowing what to do with the new information he has on Lumon, as to him this was an escape from losing his beloved wife.

The corporation they work for seems to have their tentacles in everything, be very powerful, to have started since the 1800's, but we still don't know what they are doing, except for "saving lives".

The building offices seem to be immense, especially underground, with large museums and houses of the CEOs, looking like a sort of cult, or at least instilling their employees the cult mentality.

 

The characters keep on saying the "innie" and the "outie" are two different people, that the "innie" is not even a person, they have no rights, but they are the same person, the "innie" is still them, memory erased! It's them Tabula Rasa,that's why they have a completely different mind set!Because they don't know who they are! This seems like a sort of brainwashing or modern slavery!

Their superiors treat them like children, punishing them when they consider they did something wrong, to put them in their place. They offer them "tokens" which are like treats one gives their kids, to keep them compliant.

Whenever I watch such movies, I don't understand why would anyone come up with such an idea, and why would anyone do this to themselves! The politician's wife did it because she didn't want to go through giving birth! This is ridiculous!

I liked how the daughter of Kier Eagan was the one who fought against the system (and not just that, but she was the one who hated it most, and turned the others against it), unknowingly, when she went inside to prove people Severance was a good thing!

One thing I didn't like was the fact we still don't know what they are doing all day, when they stare at numbers which scare them! And it seems the Optics and Design Department have no idea what they are doing either!

The acting was great from everyone involved, they all have to go through all the emotions, and it just flows! I particularly liked Patricia Arquette, for the cool,collected way, she was acting, and Tramell Tillman who's face expressions are almost like a Stepford Wife's . Adam Scott has a scene at the beginning of the first episode in which he cries, and even his hands are shaking, he was great!

I liked the visual effects, the blending of reality with the world inside the biotechnology corporation.

I also liked the directing, the angles from which the movie was shot, and the intro credits.

The soundtrack was fine, except for some Jazzy songs I didn't like.

Rating : Worth a watch !

Season 2

Year of release : 2025

Run time : 37m-1h15m, 10 episodes

Cast : Adam Scott, John Turturro, Patricia Arquette, Christopher Walken

5 months later after the events in the first season, Mark finds himself back at the office, and Milchick replaced Ms Cobel. Milchick's assistant is a child.

Mark is unhappy his old team was replaced, and asks to work with them again. In the end, he gets his wish, after he storms into Milchick's office, asking the board to bring them back.

Outside Mark doesn't believe his wife is still alive, no matter how much his sister is telling him what he said while in the "inside" Mark mode.

Lumon still wants him,as they want him to finish the Cold Harbor file, while he wants to quit.

Lumon fired all the other employees who's innies awoke, including Dylan.

Ms Cobel wants to run the Severed floor, but Lumon refuses, so she parts ways with them.

Helena Eagan is trying to undo the damage done by her innie's confession, and studies her, in order to go back in without being severed.

Lumon keeps their word and brings outie Dylan's wife to visit him.

Lumon is interested in Mark's brother in law's writing, wanting him to write a book for the innies, so he writes opposite to what he previously wrote.

Hearing from the former doctor of Lumon that his wife is alive, Mark is willing to go through the reintegration process.

Lumon decides to take their innie employees on a road trip of sorts, as they put them in the middle of nowhere (in the middle of what seems to be a very cold winter! ), in a forest, letting them find their way to some place important to one of the founding families. I didn't like this episode (episode 4,I believe), I thought it was a filler one.

Irv suspects Helly is not who she says she is. He is fired after he tried to drown Helly when he realized she was an outie the whole time. Dylan wants a funeral party for Irv.

Helena seems to really like Mark.

Episode 7 is dedicated to Mark and his wife. She is apparently a Lumon lab rat. They are subjecting her to MK Ultra tests, giving her multiple personalities through the chip in her head. They t0rture her to see if she remembers anything.

They didn't seem as happy as he said they were, in, I think ,the first season.

We also find out what the card Dylan stole, was.

 

Episode 8 is dedicated to Ms Cobel, and although she was my favorite in the first season, I didn't like the episode, it was my least favorite of the season, it bored me.

She is going back to her childhood town, to get the notebook with her ideas,that she hid away, which Jame Eagan stole, convincing her it would be better if people thought he conceived them. It's about the chip.

The ones working for the company are brainwashed. They talk about Kier as if he is God. They are definitely in a cult.

Episode 9 gets back to normal. Dylan is jealous of himself, and doesn't understand his severed personality is still himself. It's his body, his clothes, it's him without the memories! Because his wife doesn't come see him anymore, his innie quits his job.

Burt and Irv befriend in "real life", and Irv finds out Burt is one of the company "goons".

Mark's sister called Ms Cobel, as he passed out from the reintegration. He is expected at work, as they want him to finish the "Cold Harbor" file. If he does, his wife dies.

They don't tell us what they are doing to her, and why, they just make her dress up, walking her into rooms, where the same guy who seems to like her, t0rtures her in some way or another.

Mark goes back and forth with his innie, at this birthing caban, his sister was at, where she saw the politician's wife. Innie Mark doesn't want to be reintegrated, as he wants to be with Helena, and doesn't want to "die". He finally agrees to help.

Ms Cobel tells him what to do, once he completed the "Cold Harbor" file, which is supposed to be the 25th personality he gave his wife in that t0rturing center!

 

The series were entertaining, but because of the 2 episodes I didn't like, which to me felt like filler ones, I feel I didn't like the second season as much as I liked the first one.

We get to see one of the Eagan CEOs, but we don't know what they want, what are they about, and what are they doing. They seem to have towns and companies all around the world with brainwashed employees, who grew up at their schools, like Milchick's latest assistant, who seems 10 years old.

Helena seems to hate her father.

Although very rich, they eat boiled eggs without bread.

I don't get the hype for these series, as at the end of the 2nd season, we still don't know much about the characters, and about the company! I feel the characters aren't fleshed out, probably because they are so many! And the thing with them saying the innie and the outies are 2 different people, annoyed me!

I also don't understand how could someone install a chip deep in their brain, to let others control them, because this is about control, the ones controlling the chip could turn the ones with the chip in their head, into their slaves! I don't understand people who don't like having control over themselves! Over their own mind and body! This was insane!

 

Because the series were shot in winter, it feels it's set in a Northern country, as it's 5 months later, and it's still, freezing winter!

I think Keanu Reeves lent his voice for the clip the company is playing to show they care for their employees, in the first episode. The clip was still infantilizing, as it's an animation, and the owners have superpowers, flying and such. They did this in the 1st season too, when Helly reached her office's quota.

I liked the visual effects.

The soundtrack was fine, I just didn't like some of the Jazzy songs they chose.

The movie received positive reviews, and received many Emmy nominations.

in 2025, Severance became AppleTv+ most watched series.

The series are an Apple original production, and can be found on the platform. It's 7 days free on AppleTv+, AppleTv+ Amazon Channel.

Rating : Worth a watch !