‘Partitioning’ My Thoughts on Severance (Spoiler Warning!)

Hi everyone,

I recently had a chance to binge Severance, and I have some thoughts…

The end of the semester Winter semester at university often brings with it a mix of emotions—sadness that my courses have suddenly come to an end and excitement for the chance to catch up on film, television, and literature that I have fallen behind on over the summer. One television show that has long escaped my attention, until now, has been Apple TV+’s Severance. I had formerly heard a few rumblings about the show, but, in all honesty, the premise just didn’t initially catch my interest. My thought was that this is a show that portrays the disparity of the human experience in the contexts of the workplace and their home. My assumption then was that this show was going to be relatively straightforward and uninteresting, serving as a basic critique on the difference of the human experience at work and at home. How wrong I was…

I finally relented and decided to watch Severance after it was excitedly recommended to me by several students at the end of the term. Perhaps there was something to this show after all. At the very least, it would be nice to be familiar with the show, so that I could understand the numerous contemporary references made to it in my classes. Between grading final exams and catching up on reading, I finally decided to sit down and give the show a chance.

One thing I soon discovered about Severance, after watching one episode, is that you’ll want to watch more right away (regardless of how tired you are at night)! From the6 first episode of Season 1, I was immediately hooked, as a young woman, Helly R (Britt Lower), awakes facedown upon a conference room table in an office, struggling to make sense of her surroundings and circumstance. A disembodied voice, that of Mark S (Adam Scott), forces her to answer a series of seemingly benign questions, which only further confuses matters. The whole circumstance is so odd that the viewer can’t help but be put into Helly’s shoes and suffer a similar sense of amnesiac confusion. Of course, we soon discover that Helly is suffering from the Severance procedure which she has just endured, effectively splitting her personality into two—her outie who maintains all of her memories outside of work and her innie who is only familiar with life inside of the bizarre Lumon Industries.

The show poses a number of fascinating existential questions, regarding the status of these two versions of those who have undergone severance (a partitioning of the mind into two or more selves). Do one’s work self (innie) and home self (outie) effectively become two separate persons? Or are they really just two different facets of the same soul? A lot of the show then is implicitly premised around the question of what actually makes someone a ‘person’: Are we defined solely by our physical existence? Severance seems to suggest not since it treats innies and outies as two separate persons (though stuck in the same body), especially by the end of the second season. Memory seems to contribute to the role of identity in Severance, as one distinct element of one’s outie is that they remember everything that came before in the past (childhood, education, family life, etc.), and the innies, who have do not have any of their former memories, seem to have somewhat alternate personalities.

Another element of the show that really intrigued me was the portrayal of Lumon as a sort of New Religious Movement (or colloquially, a cult). The founder, Kier Eagon, is treated as a sort of messianic figure, who is to be remembered during semi-sacred events, and emulated by staff and management alike. Iconography of Kier, as well as his successors, can also be found throughout the office buildings of Lumon, helping to establish a sense of veneration to the founder. Moreover, we also hear hymns about Kier repeated on several occasions throughout the show, including by Ms. Cobel (Patricia Arquette) in Season 1 and the marching band at the end of Season 2. Finally, Season 2 even includes preparations for an animal sacrifice to Kier, sacrifice being the most fundamental ritual associated with religion. This all has me chomping at the bit to learn more about the enigmatic Lumon in Season 3.

The other thing that really struck me was the acting. There are just so many unique and highly emotive characters in the show, backed up by very impressive acting. Particularly notable are the dual roles played by the actors who play both innies and outies. In spite of the fact that so many of the actors are essentially playing two (or more) characters, I never found it difficult to distinguish between which version of their characters were on screen. Dichen Lachman, who exhibits several personalities in Season 2, particularly had her work set out for her, and yet was able to keep several different versions of Ms. Casey/Gemma Scout distinct from one another at all times, despite having relatively short screen times associated with some of her personalities. The standout star for me, however, was Tramell Tilman who portrays Mr. (Seth) Milchick. The absolute absurdity and range of his character, especially in Season 2, was just fascinating and a treat to behold. He is one of the few main characters that, at least seemingly, has not gone through the severance procedure, and so only exhibits one personality. In spite of this, the range of this character is just fantastic. In one seen, he greets various innies to work at Lumon, such as Mark S., with a broad, yet unsettling, smile, while in the next moment he’s busting a move in the office room for the crew’s Music Dance Experience. Fast forward to the final episode, and Mr. Milchick is jump kicking the door to a basement bathroom, attempt to break it down like a madman. I also absolutely loved the range that Patricia Arquette exhibited in Season 1. Though she did not go through severance (as far as we know), she puts on a different persona in Lumon, where she is a managerial soldier, vs. in the outside world, where she appears to be a sweet and caring widow next door. By the end of Season 2, the question still remains surrounding Arquette’s character, regarding which version is representative of her truest self.

All this stated, it was a frightening spectacle to behold the insidiousness of the corporation behind the severance procedure and their treatment of the innies. I am very excited to see what Ben Stiller and the rest of the crew come up with next for Season 3. In the meantime, I will attempt to ‘reintegrate’ into my summer tasks of writing and teaching.

Till next time!

AK-M