Severance isn't just good television, it's a revelation. In an era where prestige TV often mistakes slow pacing for depth, this Apple TV+ series delivers something genuinely profound: a high-concept thriller that's as intellectually rigorous as it is viscerally gripping.
The premise hooks you immediately. Employees at the mysterious Lumon Industries undergo a procedure that separates their work memories from their personal lives. Your work self has no idea who you are outside the office, and vice versa. What starts as an intriguing workplace dystopia evolves into something far more unsettling. A meditation on identity, consciousness, and the soul-crushing nature of modern corporate culture.
Dan Erickson's writing is extraordinary. Every line of dialogue feels purposeful, every scene meticulously crafted. The script trusts its audience completely, refusing to spoon-feed explanations or rush reveals. It builds its world through detail and implication, creating a sense of unease that burrows under your skin. The questions it raises about autonomy, memory, and what makes us 'us' linger long after each episode ends.
Ben Stiller's direction deserves every accolade. The visual language he establishes is haunting and precise. Those endless white corridors, the retro-futuristic office design, the oppressive fluorescent lighting. Every frame feels deliberate. He creates an atmosphere of sterile menace that makes even mundane office tasks feel ominous. The pacing is impeccable, knowing exactly when to let scenes breathe and when to ratchet up tension.
Adam Scott gives a career-best performance playing Mark Scout and his 'innie' counterpart. The subtlety with which he differentiates these two versions of the same person is remarkable. Different posture, different speech patterns, different energy entirely. You always know which Mark you're watching without it ever feeling like caricature. It's masterful work that deserves far more recognition than it's received.
But the entire ensemble elevates the material. Patricia Arquette brings a chilling banality to her corporate overseer, making pleasantries sound like threats.
Christopher Walken delivers one of his most nuanced performances in years. Restrained, vulnerable, deeply human. Britt Lower, Zach Cherry, and John Turturro each create fully realized characters who feel like actual people, not plot devices. Tramell Tillman's Milchick is terrifyingly affable, a middle manager who embodies corporate evil with a smile.
What truly sets Severance apart is its commitment to its own strange logic. The show never winks at the camera or apologizes for its weirdness. The bizarre corporate rituals, the retro technology, the unsettling cheerfulness of it all. It's played completely straight, which makes it all the more disturbing. This is a world with its own internal rules, and the show respects them absolutely.
The production design deserves special mention. Every detail of Lumon Industries feels both familiar and alien. The break room interrogations, the Wellness Sessions, the bizarre corporate perks. Its recognisable office culture pushed just far enough into the absurd to become nightmarish. The show understands that true dystopia doesn't need laser guns and flying cars; fluorescent lights and middle management will do just fine.
Theodore Shapiro's score is another highlight, unsettling, atmospheric, perfectly calibrated to amplify the show's mounting dread without overwhelming the visuals. It knows when to surge and when to pull back, when to be melodic and when to be abrasive.
This is patient storytelling at its finest. Some episodes end on devastating cliffhangers, others on quiet moments of human connection. The show earns every revelation, every emotional beat. When it does deliver those big moments they land with genuine force because the groundwork has been so carefully laid.
Severance is what happens when a bold creative vision meets a production willing to support it completely. It's weird, unsettling, thought-provoking, and unlike anything else on television right now. If you have any appreciation for intelligent sci-fi, psychological thrillers, or just exceptionally well-crafted television, this is essential viewing.
