Severance (2022-): Season 1

Severance, an AppleTV+ series based on balancing and separating private life and work-life through a chip implanted in the skull of the workers. That changes completely when a new employee joins the workforce of Micro Data Refiner on Lumos and someone else has quit just before the series start. A lot of events intervene between each other, and the pilot for the first viewing may feel overwhelming and confusing. It’s a lot to process even during the pilot.

With nine episodes, a lot of these conflicts grow. Nothing is what it seems. It’s first after a few episodes the whole concept feels natural and watchable. The main director is Ben Stiller who takes a big leap in combining both drama and off-key comedy in his role as a TV director. Everything Stiller does in the series is not perfect but it’s a keen move from the actor-director who stabilizes his new role as well. Adam Scott plays Mark Scout, a husband who lost his wife years ago and did the procedure in the hope to forget her and better handling the grief. He’s a stable lead and doesn’t overplay it as many leads often do.

Then we’ve John Turturro, Zach Cherry, Britt Lower and Tramell Tillman, Dichen Lachman at the office while Jen Tullock, Michael Chernus play Scout’s family. Chernus is the hideous brother-in-law and Jen is Devon, Mark’s sister. Tramell is the freakingly scary happy Milchick who delivers a rock-solid performance among a superb cast. The odd combination between comedy and drama and the mystery makes it up for an entertaining watch. The strong case isn’t the writing, it’s rather weak compared to the unsettling performance from the leading cast. Patricia Arquette as Harmony Cobel is horrifying great, a villain that shows no sympathy in regard for her allies.

A lot of plot points are easy to foresee beforehand and another twist is easy to predict. The strong are the performance from the cast and the unravelling direction from Ben Stiller. The editing helps to tell the story as well and the cinematography is flawless as well. But the writing would be needed to be a revision again.

However, the plot is intriguing, funny and entertaining with a solid plot twist at the end of the episode enough to keep you on the edge and keep on watching. With the season finale ending, just like Succession, the story continues in a second season.