Severance is one of the most popular shows right now with the airing of its second season, and has become the most-watched Apple Original show ever. Yet its messaging, themes and production stand at stark odds with today's political and media climates.
Severance follows the protagonist Mark (Adam Scott), along with a breath-taking ensemble cast including industry heavyweight John Turturro, during their time working for the enigmatic Lumon Industries. They work on the severed floor of the company, meaning they enter work in the morning and leave with absolutely no memory of their time inside the company. Their work selves (innies) and original selves (outies) are completely severed from the other, with each having no knowledge or memory of how the other spends their time.
The show is a clear commentary on the rise and perils of corporate industry giants and the dangerous monopolies they have been allowed to accumulate, which allow them undue control and influence over our lives. Given all of that, it’s ironic that this show is made by Apple – arguably the biggest company in the world.
The show’s core concept of dividing one’s own consciousness and sending half of ourselves to do what we wish to avoid – in Mark’s case, he is driven by a desperate desire to outrun the grief of losing his wife – is utilised by creator Dan Erickson as a philosophical exploration of human nature. The show looks at nature over nurture (the question “does love transcend severance?” echoes throughout the show), personal autonomy and how this interacts with capitalism, and even the formation of religion. On top of this, the show is overtly pro-worker.
A procedure in which workers are completely cut off from the outside world is used to show how willingly companies will exploit their workers, and how modern workplace culture essentially tries to indoctrinate wage-earning employees. Workplace handbooks on the severed floor become religious scriptures, with workers encouraged to “praise Kier” – the company's long-dead founder – and given arbitrary dance parties to break up the endless monotony of their limited existences. They lack windows and any comprehension of what the sky may look like, given no choice in their elusive work.
Mark S and Helly R are investigating Lumon in Severance season two
(Credit: Apple TV+)
Whilst this of course is extreme and exists within the specific sci-fi world of Severance, one cannot help but think of CEOs like Elon Musk, who tried to purge Twitter of all employees who would not fanatically follow him and his hair-brained plans for the company. He once sent an email to Twitter employees telling them that “we will need to be extremely hardcore” and “this will mean working long hours at high intensity”. More and more company leaders are requiring this almost religious zealotry from their workers with an abandonment of any life outside their work, much like the kind enforced within the fictional world of Lumon.
The show encourages us to see the severed Lumon employees as whole and autonomous people. We see that they love, they learn, and that they suffer under the oppressive workplace regime of Lumon.
A prime example of this is the forbidden love between Irving B and Burt (who works in a neighbouring department to Irving), which is a tender and innocent romance restrained by the company handbook, which instructs that there should be no higher love than that of Kier and the company. This makes the dehumanisation and mistreatment of the innies – who higher-ups within the company claim are not real people and thus their exploitation is acceptable – all the more outrageous to the audience. However, it strikes me that this exploitation is also stunningly prevalent in the real world.
The show is also an unapologetic testament to the arts. In the face of a slew of unoriginal shows that simply seek to appeal to as many people as possible, with Netflix now designing shows to be watched in the background and easily trackable for those that do so, Severance showcases the highest levels of craftsmanship, skill and originality in all areas. The acting is superb, with each actor having to play two entirely different people and make it seamless and believable; Adam Scott’s shifts between Mark’s innie and outie are absolutely mesmerising. No detail is spared and the cinematography is outrageously original and distinctly Severance, with hidden meanings and symbolism lurking throughout – inspiring fleets of podcasts and online commentary. This is not a show that can be watched in the background, nor is it designed to be.
Authority figure Mr Milchick in Severance season two
(Credit: Apple TV+)
Looking at today's political and media climate, it is almost shocking that this show ever got made – and more unbelievable still that it has reached the dizzying heights it has.
There’s a compelling case for calling it anti-capitalist and, at the very least, it holds Marxist ideas in relation to workers, and how employees must sacrifice their autonomy and thus humanity in order to make a wage and survive. And yet, in America, Trump, a billionaire, has been elected and political commentators argue an American oligarchy is now forming – helmed by the likes of Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos. This is completely antithetical to the values embodied by Severance. And yet, people are loving it, with the discourse nowhere near centred on it being too socialist or politically controversial.
This contradiction is as confusing and loaded as “the work is mysterious and important” within the world of Severance. What it says about America's perilous political landscape, and the direction we may all be headed in, is anyone's guess.
Severance is streaming now on Apple TV+, with new episodes airing weekly.
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