Living to work: 'Severance' slams the world as we know it

AppleTV+ sci-fi drama debates the social role of labor
Imagine waking up, leaving for work, arriving at the company and returning home. This is an ordinary day for the employees of Lumon Industries, a large fictional corporation and the main setting of the 'Severance' (2022) series. During the eight hours of work, none of them remember what they did at work and only come to their senses when it's time to go home.
Lumon employees undergo implantation of a device in the brain that allows the company to create a new personality for them from the moment they enter the elevator and reach the floor where they work. This new being, called “innie” does not know where it comes from and what life outside the office is like. That way, he can focus on his exclusively productive existence with the certainty that his “outtie” self is in control of his life outside the corporate cubicles.
The technological advance that allows for this decoupling is called a severance, a creation of Lumon Industries. Initially, the concept may seem like a great deal to the employees, who receive their salaries without being aware of the effort they've put in, and to the company, which gains dedicated and focused employees.
The protagonists are the members of Lumon's Macro-Data Refinement team: Mark (Adam Scott, from 'Big Little Lies'), the new leader and best friend of the old leader, Dylan (Zach Cherry, from 'You'), a playful employee and focused on results, and Irving (John Turturro, from 'The Batman'), extremely methodical and uptight. Everything that seemed perfect, internally, falls apart with the arrival of the new employee, Helly (Britt Lower, from 'Man Seeking Woman').
Upon awakening to existence within a sterile environment, with bright lights, neutral tones, cold machines and bureaucratic tasks with only apparent meaningless numbers, Helly does not accept the decision of her “outie” version and starts a rampant saga to escape the Lumon Industries. Her questioning and nonconformist attitude takes her to extremes, but it also awakens a new side in each of her co-workers.
In parallel with the story of the “innies”, we are introduced to the drama of the “outie” Mark and the version of our world where the severance process became something possible and accepted by society. A former university professor, he chose his new job as a refiner on the promise of, at least during working hours, forgetting a traumatic experience: the early loss of the wife he loved.
One of the central figures in controlling Lumon's employees is Ms. Cobel (Patricia Arquette, from 'Boyhood'), manager of the unit where the Macro-Data Refinement team is located. Arquette's portrayal of a dual role exposes the company's culture, which indoctrinates "innies" as if founder Eagan were a messiah, the company's rules are its sacred book, and the act of working a true cult. The “outies” remain ignorant, not knowing that they are monitored and controlled even outside the corporate environment.
Suspenseful with one foot in an ironic comedy and a science fiction basis to make everything believable, 'Severance' recalls, in the climate and social criticism, other recent series, such as 'Homecoming' by Prime Video, 'Black Mirror' by Netflix and 'Westworld' by HBO. Part of the world questions the breakup process and the interests of Lumon Industries. Another part lives a politically correct life, like Mark's brother-in-law, who serves as a source of humor for his excessive concern with impractical concepts.
The sets, the props, the lighting, the soundtrack and the camera set are used to cause the same feeling of claustrophobia that the protagonists unconsciously face. The direction of Ben Stiller, who is also an executive producer, manages to draw a critical reflection on fundamentalism of all kinds, meritocracy, the role of work in society and the exploitation of the proletariat.
With only 9 episodes, 'Severance' is one of those stories that make the mind work very hard and the audience, in addition to looking forward to the next episode, will try to create their own theories for each twist in the series narrative. Available to subscribers of the AppleTV+ streaming service, it has already been renewed for a second season and is a great choice for those who want to break away from reality for a few hours.