Spoilers Severance (Apple TV)

[jian]

We’ve had Apple TV (it came free for a month with theatre tickets and we’ve decided to continue with it) for a while and so far there have been some very good Apple Original series such as Ted Lasso and The Afterparty.

Severance is a different beast from those two, altogether less amusing and very thoughtful. The idea is that in the near future, a rather cult-like corporation called Lumon works out how to surgically sever your work persona from your non-work persona. You get the surgery and go to work for Lumon and on your first day, you find you have no memories of your work day - as far as you’re concerned you exit the building an instant after you entered, but eight hours have passed. Meanwhile, a new version of you (“innie”) has been created who’s essentially newborn into work - you know your name and that you were severed but know nothing about your outer self (“outie”) or the outside world and every day you work, and when you leave work you re-enter it an instant later to start the next day.

If you think that sounds like hell, yeah, well, that’s sort of the point. There is no work-life balance because work you and life you are two different people. You’re basically imprisoning and enslaving your innie so that you get paid. It’s great for the company because they get to mould and condition (and punish) their employees however they like and of course confidential corporate information stays that way, it’s ideal if you deal in secrets.

We’re four episodes in and so far there’s suggestions that Lumon would like to propagate the process to, well, everywhere, and that severance is somehow reflective of the company founder’s bizarre and messianic views about life and work. The effects it has on the employees (and who would sign up for such a bizarre process in the first place?) is slowly explored, mostly via Mark, one of the main protagonists - he signed up after his wife was killed in an accident and I think it’s implied that he couldn’t hold down another job because of his grief and depression.

Anyway, has anyone else seen it? What do you think? I see there’s a second season due out next year.

 

[Snarf Zagyg]

Severance is SO GOOD.

Don't ask about it, because someone will spoil the next few episodes.

Enjoy the discovery, and look forward to S2 with the rest of us.

 

[jian]

OK, I’ll just post our theories so far for the record:

- Helly’s outie is a member of the Lumon family, a chief cultist, doing this to show how harmless and beneficial the process is.

- Mark is being watched partly because of Petey but partly because there’s something iffy about the way he was recruited - maybe his wife isn’t dead and is a Lumon cultist?

- The severance process is, as suggested above, a messianic crusade for the Lumon cult - they think everyone should be severed not because it’s convenient for employers but because that’s what Kier Eagan thought everyone should be like.

I’m quite impressed with how the show is and isn’t about capitalism - it’s not about capitalism as in max profits or numbers go up, it’s about capitalism as in the enslavement of the entire human race for their own good, by creating a newborn whom you then enslave and you don’t then think about (and towards whom you have zero empathy) so you can eat and live and buy stuff. Everyone gets what they want apart from the innies, who are the children of Omelas. It’s kind of amazing (and horrific).

 

[Snarf Zagyg]

OK, I’ll just post our theories so far for the record:

- Helly’s outie is a member of the Lumon family, a chief cultist, doing this to show how harmless and beneficial the process is.

- Mark is being watched partly because of Petey but partly because there’s something iffy about the way he was recruited - maybe his wife isn’t dead and is a Lumon cultist?

- The severance process is, as suggested above, a messianic crusade for the Lumon cult - they think everyone should be severed not because it’s convenient for employers but because that’s what Kier Eagan thought everyone should be like.

I’m quite impressed with how the show is and isn’t about capitalism - it’s not about capitalism as in max profits or numbers go up, it’s about a capitalism as in the enslavement of the entire human race for their own good, by creating a newborn whom you then enslave and you don’t then think about (and towards whom you have zero empathy) so you can eat and live and buy stuff. Everyone gets what they want apart from the innies, who are the children of Omelas. It’s kind of amazing (and horrific).

Come back and check your theories when you finish the season.

And yes, it is definitely about captialism, in the largest sense.

 

[Lidgar]

I won’t give anything away, but season 2 can’t come soon enough. Have a disturbing fun ride!

 

[Rabulias]

It is a good show. When I watched it, I thought it was a 10-episode one-and-done show. When I got to the end of episode 9, things were really set up for a banger of a finale, so I was eager to fire up the next episode. I yelled some very NSFW phrases when I discovered my error. Though I was glad there will be a season two.

 

[jian]

So, that thing with Helly just happened. That was pretty powerful. I really feel for Helly on her first day back - clearly her outie really hates her.

Interesting they put warnings about that but not about, you know, head drilling.

 

[GreyLord]

One problem with this is that, yeah, you may not have to deal with the drudgery of some jobs, but your life would seem so much shorter. Imagine, you work 8 hours a day (does it include your commute?) and then you commute and hour. You stay awake for 4 hours and then get ready for bed and sleep and do your wake up stuff and go to work. You eventually will wonder why your life seems so short or there is no time to think. You may not think you'll miss that 8 hours, but I think you would. It may be work, but even at work you have thoughts, experiences, and other things.

 

[jian]

One problem with this is that, yeah, you may not have to deal with the drudgery of some jobs, but your life would seem so much shorter. Imagine, you work 8 hours a day (does it include your commute?) and then you commute and hour. You stay awake for 4 hours and then get ready for bed and sleep and do your wake up stuff and go to work. You eventually will wonder why your life seems so short or there is no time to think. You may not think you'll miss that 8 hours, but I think you would. It may be work, but even at work you have thoughts, experiences, and other things.

Yes, you basically lose 8 hours from your day (not the commute). You get up, drive to work, get in the elevator, and then you’re in the elevator coming back up and you drive home.

Mark, our bereaved protagonist, says that it helps him but I think it might also be unhelpful - you don’t have the distractions of work to take your mind off issues outside. I guess it helps him in the sense that he doesn’t have to pretend to be OK for people at work for 8 hours and of course he gets paid.

Some people might find it refreshing to never have to think about work but yes, your day would seem a heck of a lot shorter.

 

[jian]

One thing I’ve noticed is that the three unsevered Lumon employees whose job it is to monitor and manage the severed - Cobel, Graner, and Milchick - are interesting studies in ordinary oppressors and jailers. Their job is to discipline and control children, basically, because that’s what the severed are like - Mark is the good kid, Dylan is the territorial grumpy one, Irving is the sensitive one, Helly is the unhappy rebel who really doesn’t want to be there.

The jailers are basically in turn different versions of ordinary Nazis (or similar people whose job it is to oppress and hurt others, like Stasi officers). Cobel is the parental one who tells herself she’s doing it for their own good. Milchick is the one who’s happy to put the boot in and is just glad it’s not happening to him. Graner is the brutal one who’s actually in it to hurt people.