There is nothing more frustrating than hearing your co-workers talk about a TV show you’ve never seen — especially when that show contains shocking twists that are ripe for spoilers. And, if you’re anything like me, you might refuse to watch a popular series on principle just because everyone says that you should. Heck, it took me forever to start watchingWhite Lotusfor this exact reason — although I’m glad I did, becauseThe White Lotusseason 3 has some seriously huge WTF moments.
I have to admit, that’s also how I felt at first about the Apple TV+ series,Severance.When the TV show’s first season aired in 2022, everyone was talking about it, and it almost got to the point that I was sick of hearing about it. When I did finally give in and check it out, I regretted that I had waited so long. Luckily, I was able to watch along during season 2, and was happy to join in the watercooler discussions while theorizing about season 3.
Severance Is The Perfect Show About Work Culture
The Workplace Thriller Makes Most Jobs Seem Like A Paradise
It’s as irrefutable as death and taxes: we need money to live, and we need to work to get money. While some people are privileged enough to have nailed their dream occupation, much of the American population has to get by on a 9 to 5. To that end,Severancenot onlydoes a fantastic job of portraying the monotony of working in an office, but keeps viewers enthralled with its unique premise and head-scratching twists and turns.
The idea that a person can keep their work life and personal life completely severed from one another is, at first glance, incredibly appealing.
Let’s face it,many of us already have something like whatSeveranceportrays: a work personality and a home personality.We often keep them separate in order to face the day and its challenges. Thinking about personal problems at work tends to halt productivity, and obsessing over work troubles at home only leads to more stress and conflict. We compartmentalize in order to function in our day-to-day, though we are not always successful.
That’s what makesSeveranceso intriguing: the idea that a person can keep their work life and personal life completely severed from one another is, at first glance, incredibly appealing. That is, until the “innies” begin to wonder what the world is like on the outside. Once they start to discover the machinations that Lumon Industries put in place to keep its employees under their control, being kept in the dark suddenly doesn’t seem like such an attractive prospect.
The Many Twists In Severance Is What Gets Everyone Talking
Image via Apple TV+
Like the hugetwists that were revealed in the explosive finale ofWhite Lotus,Severancehas become the show that everyone is talking about. Rife with intrigue, mystery, and dark humor,Severanceis perfect fodder for watercooler chat. Each episode that airs is sure to be the talk of the office the next day, with everyone discussing what happened in the latest chapter.
Season 2 ofSeverancewas especially enthralling, as it gave us a deeper look at the inner workings of Lumon, while also creating more questions. What is the Cold Harbor file, and why is it so important that Mark finish it? What is inside the Exports Hall? What the heck is up with Miss Huan?While some of these questions were answered, others are still unknown, providing a great opportunity for co-workers to share their theories.
Though one of the main themes ofSeveranceisabout corporate corruption, it’s the show’s unpredictability thathas kept viewers hooked. Without it, the series would be a depressing, miserable mess about a group of people trapped in a dystopian nightmare. True, there are elements of that, but the balance of an ever-evolving enigma that slowly unfolds as the series goes on is what keeps us wanting more — and keeps us eager to chat about it with other fans.
What The Creatives Of Severance Say About The Show
Writer Dan Erickson And Director Ben Stiller Have An Excellent Grasp On Work Culture
To makeSeveranceboth relatable and engaging, the creatives behind the show had to understand the major aspects of big corporate and work culture. Series creator and head writerDan Erickson once related toThe Seattle Timesthat the idea forSeverancecame about thanks to his own experiences in the workplace. I think that almost everyone has gone through something similar and can empathize with Erickson here.
“I had a series of office jobs when I first moved to Los Angeles. At one of them, I found myself wishing that I could jump ahead to the end of the day. I wanted to disassociate for the next eight hours. I thought, ‘That’s a messed up thing to wish for. We should want more time, not less.’”
Yet another thingSeverancedoes is explore the idea of how our jobs tend to define us as people. In season 1, Burt Goodman (Christopher Walken) retires from Lumon, resulting in his innie no longer existing. In an interview withIndieWire, director Ben Stiller summed up the symbolism of innie Burt’s predicament.
“He’s also at a point in his life where he’s committed. How do you reconcile all the hours and time you put into a job, whether you’re doing something that’s nefarious or not? What part of your identity is what you have done for the company? And if the company is doing things that are bad, how do you justify that? But it’s really more like: ‘Who am I if my identity is not linked to what I do?’”
Stiller hits the nail on the head here, perfectly explaining why this moment in the series is so tragic. Innie Burt leaving the company isn’t just a bittersweet farewell for Irving (who is in love with him) or his co-workers. It’s literally the death of the character. This subplot explores what many people feel when they are forced into retirement after dedicating themselves to years of work for a company, only to be heartlessly tossed aside.
Severance Fans On Reddit Have Their Own Ideas On What Will Happen Next
The end ofSeveranceseason 2answered some big questions, while still leaving us with many more. In the final episode, “Cold Harbor,” Helly and Mark S. succeeded in rescuing Gemma from the testing floor and getting her to the exit, but instead of joining her, Mark chose to stay with Helly. The final sequence has them running hand-in-hand through the halls, illuminated by red light as alarms go off, then ending on a freeze frame — a scene eerily reminiscent of another famous ending from the classic film,The Graduate.
The biggest question left after the season 2 finale iswhat is going to happen with innie Mark and Helly. In one discussion onReddit, user ScienceDidIt believes thatthese two will make an attempt to replace their outie selves. It would make sense, as Helly and Mark could possibly have more opportunities as their outies to try and uncover Lumon’s inner workings. This could also set up a gripping conflict between them and Gemma, outie Mark’s wife. Of course, they’ll have to figure out how to escape the building first.
In the same discussion, Redditors surmised thatGemma will have a much bigger part to play in season 3.Now that she is on the outside, outie Gemma is likely going to awaken and discover how her death was faked. There’s also Dylan, whose fate is uncertain for both his innie and his outie, after innie Dylan struck up a romance with outie Dylan’s wife, resulting in outie Dylan wanting to quit. And naturally, manySeverancefans are eager to learn more about Irving’s outie, who was last seen taking a train out of town after delivering a heartbreaking final line.
With so many threads that still need tying up, it’s going to be a long year of wondering what season 3 ofSeverancehas in store for the heroes. Hopefully, it will only be a year, rather than the three we had to wait between seasons 1 and 2. In the meantime, feel free to share your own theories!
