TV review: Severance, on AppleTV+ (debuts Feb. 18)

Adam Scott in Severance

I honestly haven't written a TV review in quite some time—I think the last review I wrote was for Servant, also on AppleTV+—because there hasn't really been any TV shows that were unique enough to warrant a review. Severance, however, debuting February 18th on AppleTV+, has been a show that I've been obsessed with over the past few weeks as I've been watching it on the AppleTV+ screener site, and I'm excited to share a review of it.

About the show:

A new workplace thriller from director and executive producer Ben Stiller, and creator Dan Erickson, starring Academy Award and Emmy Award winner Patricia Arquette, Adam Scott, Emmy Award winner John Turturro, Britt Lower, Zach Cherry, Academy Award winner Christopher Walken and more. In “Severance,” Mark Scout (Scott) leads a team at Lumon Industries, whose employees have undergone a severance procedure, which surgically divides their memories between their work and personal lives. This daring experiment in "work-life balance" is called into question as Mark finds himself at the center of an unraveling mystery that will force him to confront the true nature of his work … and of himself. 

This show was BONKERS and I loved it. Ever feel like work gets to be too much? In this case, your "innie," aka your work self, never interacts with your "outie," or your personal self. The employees' "outies" at Lumon don't even really know what they do (and after watching the series, I don't really know either—it involves lots of numbers on a computer screen), just that they work at Lumon and that they agreed to be "severed," aka have a separate personal ("outie") self and separate work ("innie") self—and the two never interact. It involves a chip in their heads and what I imagine would be a somewhat serious surgery. 

The series starts off with a new employee joining the group, Helly, who has an issue with the "work/life balance" that Lumon provides. She can't believe that she would ever agree to this, but her bosses show her a video that Outie Helly made that certifies that she wanted to undergo the transition. 

The cast here was fabulous: Adam Scott is another of the leads, with Patricia Arquette as his boss at Lumon (and there's a twist involving this that I won't go into, as it's a spoiler, but I was very fascinated by it). John Turturro, Britt Lower, Zach Cherry, and others play Scott's coworkers. Christopher Walken also has a small role. 

The only negative thing I can say about Severance is that the season finale (episode #9, as only 9 episodes were made) definitely leaves you wanting more, and sets the show up for a second season. 

I would recommend this show for anyone who likes dystopian shows, as well as mysteries; although it takes place in the "real world," the workplace "severance" is unlike anything I've ever seen before in a TV show or even in a movie. 

The first two episodes of Severance debut on AppleTV+ on February 18th, followed by new weekly installments every Friday.