Ben Stiller’s work-life balance thriller not only shocked me on first watch, but left me wondering what has gone wrong with modern-day television.
It is very rare a television show born out of the age of streaming is truly worth the attention, especially with how oversaturated the streaming market is. In recent years, I have not seen a piece of television that has the streaming original tag slapped on it that has captivated me more than “Severance.”
“Severance” is a weird show with interesting characters and a terrifying amount of tension between the protagonists and the big bad wolf that is the company they work for.
Mark S., played by Adam Scott, is the protagonist of the story, and we follow him and his workplace shenanigans as he and his coworkers stare at numbers on a retro-futuristic terminal in which Lumon, the company they work for, calls “macro data refining.”
What makes “Severance” different from any other workplace drama is that when Mark and his coworkers enter the elevator of their workplace, their minds are scrubbed of all memories of who they are when they are not at work, and they become their “innie” selves.
Not only is this concept outlandish yet very simple, it makes for some of the most tense situations I have ever seen in any piece of media as these “innies” are essentially artificial people who have no idea what is on the outside of Lumon, nor do they know what these numbers they are staring at all day are.
The setting of Lumon itself is a liminal, Lynchian office space surrounded by endless white hallways with little to no decoration and a polished color scheme that is almost suffocating. Think the back rooms mixed with an Amazon warehouse, and you have the corporate hell that is Lumon.
As the main group of refiners are stuck staring at numbers in their claustrophobic office, they are constantly being tormented by Lumon, specifically by the brilliant Mr. Milchick, portrayed by Tramell Tillman.
Milchick is not only one of the most intriguing Lumon employees, he is also my favorite character in the show as he is somewhere in the middle between an absurd, overly enthusiastic corporate boot licker and a man that has had enough and is on the brink of snapping on everyone who has pushed him this far.
At the end of season one, the show hits a peak with a cliffhanger that would have sent me into a frenzy had I watched it when it came out, as a three-year gap between the season one finale and season two premiere left many viewers upset.
This finale set up the rest of the show and is what truly made me realize “Severance” was different. A main driving force behind the show is the funding as it has the Apple TV backing, which ensures financial stability for the creators.
Severance feels like an HBO Original. It is fresh, unique and flexes its brilliant writing in a way that makes the viewer feel as if every detail matters.
I hope that moving forward, other showrunners examine the way in which “Severance” has dug its own path and more directors take more risks instead of trying to appeal to the masses.
“Severance” is a one of a kind piece of media that already holds an iconic status in this current age of tv that we are living in, and If you have not yet seen it, throw on some defiant jazz and get to it.
Caden Adkins can be contacted at adkins1659@marshall.edu
