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Everything Is...
- Grace Stevens
- Apr 3
- 5 min read
Romantic. By this point in the semester, I usually have my all blog post topics picked out. I literally changed my plans just so I can talk about this show. At the same time, it has been forever since I've talked about TV, so this works out. I needed to talk about this show. It's so important. I don't care that the only reason I discovered it is because of the hype. I've been absolutely obsessed. It still feels like such a me-coded show. And that show is... Severance. I'll give a brief overview, and I 100% reccommend watching it, but I will later be giving spoliers for seasons 1 and 2. I'll give another warning when we get to the specific paragraphs. Also, the title and cover image are inspired by an edit from channel Frame By Frame on YouTube that used the "Everything is Romantic" remix.
To start, I finished Seasons 1 and 2 of this show in a week, and I only watched it for four days out of the seven. Sure, it's only 19 episodes in total, but it's been forever since I binged a show. I'm hooked. I needed to finish it, so I could move on with my life and do other things/be productive. It was partially a good idea to watch it over break since I had time, but I should have expected it would take over my life. I should have deen what I usually do, which is indefinitely push it off, but part of me wanted to catch it while there's still hype.
The concept is that this world has a procedure called "severance." You can separate your consciousness so that a different version of you goes to work, and you don't remember anything from work when you leave. Basically, it's "work and life balance" taken to the extreme. It creates a lot of ethical concerns. Is the "in" version, or innie, its own person? Is it fair that the outie forces this version of themselves into the world so that all they know is work? The main character Mark Scout works at Lumon Industries, which puts numerous restrictions on his innie. We follow innie and outie Mark while they lead different lives and even disagree with each at some points. Another interesting character, Helly, has a rocky relationship with her outie. I feel bad for being super vague but covering everything would be impossible. All of this is to say that this interesting concept carries the show, but the plot is good by exploring it to its fullest.
My favorite things about Severance are its techincal aspects. The cinematography is stunning. There are so many shots where I audibly commented on how good it looked or how effective it was. It's just a beautiful-looking show. Since the setting is an office complex, it's well-lit and bright, making everyone easy to see. One of the first sequencees in the first episode is possibly the most iconic, as it's just Mark walking down the maze of hallways to get to his desk at Lumon on the Severed Floor. It really gives you time to consider how crazy this place looks. Why are there so many hallways? What's behind all the unmarked doors? It's so eery. In addition, I love the setting of the Severed Floor. I kept joking that it's the Backrooms because I love liminal horror, and while this isn't horror, it's just really unsettling with its pristine white walls, cramped desks, and lack of life.
Something this show does well is building tension and its finales, which means it's spoiler time (only for these next two paratgraphs, though). Season 1's finale was so stressful despite it being pretty low stakes compared to other shows: the innies get to communicate with the outside world. It's a testament to the characters because we care so much about them succeeding. I prefer Season 1 because I really like how it sets up the concept while it was really just the characters exploring the office with some fun details like a goat room and a house in one of the rooms, which gave me even more Backrooms vibes. Either way, Season 2 was definitely more gutsy and experimental. I think it's hard to carry momentum between seasons, but Season 2 stepped up. I think I would like it better if it didn't drop some plotlines from the Season 1 finale and didn't focus primarily on romance. That said, Season 2 is even stronger with its tension and building towards the finale. Everything rides on Episode 10, and it's so satisfying when everything about "Cold Harbor" comes together. While it's basically a rescue mission, it gives so many satisfying answers and is conclusive while still being a cliffhanger. While the finales are the highlights of the seasons, the rest of the episodes are still amazing on their own.
I want to breifly talk about the characters. There's the main group of workers in MDR with Mark, Helly, Dylan, and Irv, employees in different departments like Ms. Casey and Burt, and those higher up at Lumon like Cobel and Milchick. My favorite character at the start was Petey. I love the trope of "mysterious guy who is special becuase they know too much and/or are wanted for some reason," so I thought he was awesome. He just kind of hid out in Mark's basement while on the run from Lumon and then suffered complications from "reintegration" and then died. RIP to my fav I guess. Anyway, my new favorite was Irving because his entire character arc is that his innie follows the rules of Lumon devotedly but then falls in love with Burt from O&D. He changes his entire philosophy, and I love that for him. Going into Season 2, though, I got bad vibes, and figured out that yep, they're killing him off. He gets fired from Lumon, and his innie gets erased. I was sad because I feel like everyone in MDR got to be happy at some point except for Irving since he loses Burt and then dies. I just love how Burt canonically got fired for their "erotic work affair" when the offense was... holding hands.
Okay, no more spoilers! I don't know who my new favorite character is now. I like Gemma because she fits the "mysterious guy who is special becuase they know too much and/or are wanted for some reason" archetype, but we don't get to see too much of her (except for Season 2 Episodes 7 and 10, which are so good omg you don't understand). Anyway, I can't forget about my icon Mr. Milchick. He's menacing and polite but never gets to the point of being cartoonish or over the top. He's an antagonist but so lovable and bumbling that you can't hate him. He has so much depth surrounding him. Why is he so devoted to Lumon? Is he just a hard worker, or is there a deeper motivation. He's one of the most fascinating characters in my opinion.
I could go on and on, but I just love quirky shows where I have no clue what is happening. It's a big conspiracy theory type-show, but I don't care too much for the theories, honestly because the show gives a lot more questions than answers. For shows like this or Lost (which I also love), it's hard to resolve mysteries in a way that feels satisfying compared to all the possibilites and fan theories. All I know is that this critiques toxic work/corporate culture and has fun characters and setups and old days and liminal horror and memorable lines like "our work is mysterious and important" and insane props like a watermelon head, where it's just so fun and silly. All this to say, I love Severance. I'll be ready in three years when Season 3's out.
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