8 episodes in, the show severance from apple tv plus has become something I look forward to watching every week. It is a good show which I'll go on and say right off the bat. But, it is not one of those average Netflix "ready to binge" shows. It is much more profound and makes you ask some questions about the nature of the society we live in and the track it has taken.
The show is set in a workplace that looks like it's from the 2000s. Bulky CRT monitors, a bit of dull workplace decoration and all that. We see a guy called Mark cry and quickly dry his eyes up in his car before entering this big office campus. The general tone all around seems blemish, and you'd think it to be due to the constant snowing outside.
Mark walks through the gate towards the reception and his locker with his shoulder down. He changes his existing keycards with one residing in the locker. After the guard sitting in front of the lift signs him off, he enters it, and off he goes towards a floor in the building called severed. In the lift, a close shot of his face tells us that something is bothering him and making him sad. But as he nears his floor, his expression changes, his pupil dilates and right in front of our eyes, he turns into a completely different man, with a smile much more confident, a stance much straight, and his walk, it tells us something has changed.
As the story progresses, this idiosyncratic world unfolds in front of our eyes. Mark's co-workers and he himself talks using such jargon, which is not understandable at first as all of it sounds, well, odd! We see a red-haired girl wearing an office outfit lying face down on top of a conference table. She wakes up disoriented when someone over the intercom asks her questions that make no sense. And the first thing she asks in return is, "am I livestock?" followed by "did you grow me for food?"
It's not before the day ends and after Mark exits the office, the premise can be pieced together. He works on a "severed" floor of a company called Lumon Biotech. His work is so confidential that when he is given a position, he undergoes this surgery which literally cuts his work memories from his actual self. Means, his work self doesn't know who he is outside the office, and his other self doesn't retain even a single memory from his office life either. Pretty kafkaesque, eh! His mind is bifurcated into two personalities who don't know anything about each other. His employers are very secretive about his work as not even a piece of paper is allowed to be taken to the outside world.
Mark's department is called Microdata Refinery. While sitting in front of the monitors, they sort through data, more precisely, numbers that resemble video games from the 80s. And in between work, Mark and his co-workers are treated with meaningless prizes such as group photos. Morale boosting games and waffle parties don't seem like a party as there are only 5 of them. 3 of Mark's co-workers and a nefarious looking guy, Milchnik, with an ever elongating eerie smile.
The show's director Ben Stiller, mostly known for Night at the Museum and Tropic Thunder, has managed to do a wonderful job with the show, delivering the dark humors and dollhouse vibe right where it would affect viewers the most. A bit inwards the third episode, the newly recruited red-haired girl is unable to adjust to such a work environment and tries to quit. She even asks her office heads to talk with her alter, severed personality on the outside. But her counterpart refuses. At one point, she becomes so depressed that she tries to commit suicide on the lift at the end of an office hour, when they usually go home. Usually, as the lift goes down, the innie and outie switch, and she wants her outi to find herself hanging for dear life. This is presented in such a way that it actually made me question the nature of our society. How the corporate culture is designed most of the time counter-intuitively, and even at times feels entrapping.
The first season has not dropped entirely yet. But I'd recommend watching it as is.
*Images above are taken directly from the show.
