‘Severance’ Season 2 may already be the best show of the year: Review

Three years is an absurd amount of time to wait for a new season of television. This is triply true when the TV show in question Severance paya series whose nearly flawless first season left us with the coolest, most edgy cliffhanger yet.

We waited three years to find out what would happen after Innie’s daring excursion into the outside world. What will Mark (Adam Scott) do now that he knows his Auty’s supposedly deceased wife Gemma (Dichen Lachman) is actually alive and trapped? Light? How will Hallie (Britt Lower) react to becoming Egan? And what new hell will Lumon unleash on Mark, Halley, Irving (John Turturro) and Dylan (Zach Cherry) as punishment for their escape?

But as the years passed, as my excitement for a second season mingled with worry about being disappointed, another question crept into my mind: could Severance payAfter such an outstanding first season, will you really make the magic happen again?

Now we finally have an answer. And this is an absolute, unequivocal and enthusiastic “yes”.

Somehow, Severance pay manages to outdo itself in its second issue, expanding on its unique sci-fi premise and always, Always keeps us on our toes. Expect the unexpected this season, starting with Lumon’s reaction to the Macrodata Refinement workers’ uprising.

Severance pay The second season picks up where the first ended.

Because Innies perceive time differently, Mark returns to the Cut Off Floor just seconds after telling his Outie’s sister Devon (Jen Tulloch) that Gemma is alive. Once there, you might think that Lumon will deal with him and the other MDR Indians for their escape. However, Mark soon discovers that this is very far from the truth.

As he learns from the ever-smiling Mr. Milchick (Tramell Tillman), Innie’s stories of their treatment have resonated with the outside world, causing Lumon to reflect on her shameful practices and enact “severance reform.” Now Mark, Halley, Irving and Dylan can work without fear of insults. Glory to Kir!

Of course, Lumon doesn’t have the best track record of telling the truth, so it’s best to take their claims of reform with a grain of salt. (After all, this is the same company that, for some reason, keeps Mark’s not-yet-dead wife in the basement!) And yet, Milchick spends most of the season two premiere trying to convince Mark and company. otherwise. For completing work tasks you can get new privileges, new snacks in vending machines and valid a relaxation room devoid of psychological torture. It’s just one of many new, clever production design details: Motivational posters even celebrate the Innies and their accomplishments, including a “Hold On” poster featuring Dylan hanging from the “Unexpected Overtime” switches from the Season 1 finale.

However, these are just superficial changes designed to make the Innies feel like they’ve accomplished something, but don’t actually give them what they desperately want: agency in their own lives. They have no idea what is really happening in the outside world after they escape. They simply have to trust whatever information Lumon sees fit to share with them.

To score this house, Severance pay The first two episodes are cleverly split between the worlds of Innie and Outie, with the first episode focusing on Innies and the second focusing on Outie. It’s a reminder of the biggest obstacle the Innies face: the communication barrier between them and their Outies. Severance pay Season two demonstrates the dramatic irony that this barrier creates. For example, both Inny and Outy Mark are trying to understand why Gemma is still alive and what Lumon is doing to her, but they are unable to share their shared goals or knowledge with each other. The result is delightfully infuriating, especially Severance pay The vast world building of the second season.

Severance pay The second season gets bigger and weirder and delivers great results.

From the cult fervor surrounding Kier Egan to all things Waffle Party, there’s no denying that Severance pay The first season was ready to get weird. The second season continues this tradition by building on Lumon’s supernatural abilities. Sometimes this uncannyness manifests itself in small details, such as the image of a square television set perched on top of a snowy cliff. Elsewhere, it inspires entire sets, such as a room on the Severed Floor full of hills where goats can graze. (Looks like the kids from Season 1 are all grown up!) Each episode opens up new possibilities for production designer Jeremy Hindle, costume designer Sarah Edwards and the directors of photography. Jessica Lee GagneSusie Lavelle and David Lanzenberg to bring new textures and depth to Lumon’s hellish office landscape.

This is just the beginning Severance payThe series is growing this season as creator and showrunner Dan Erickson expands the scope of the series. Not only will we gain a better understanding of Lumon’s impact on the world at large, but we’ll also get a deeper look into the inner workings of Lumon.

So many Severance pay The second season focuses on how Lumon reacts to the crisis caused by Innie’s escape. At the center of it all is Helena Egan, forced to come up with creative solutions to force Innie into submission. We also get more personal time with creepy board representative Natalie (Sydney Cole Alexander) and newcomer in the form of menacing enforcer Mr. Drummond (Ólafur Darri Ólafsson). Someone somewhere). As they ponder Inny’s fate in the sterile boardrooms high above the Cutoff Floor, it’s impossible to forget how little power Inny really has. The new severance packages may calm things down for now, but they are just a Band-Aid created by a company that refuses to suffer any consequences for its evil. (Lumon may be fictional, but it’s moments like these that make him seem all too real.)

Elsewhere, Mr. Milchick does his best to fit into a challenging new role and further prove himself according to Lumont’s principles, while Ms. Kobel (Patricia Arquette) struggles to figure out who she is without Lumona. Their stories of how much Lumon influenced their adult lives contrast nicely with newcomer Miss Huang (Sarah Bock), Milchik’s teenage assistant. Already a master of the empty managerial tone, Ms. Huang brings an even more unsettling atmosphere to the Cutoff Floor while raising questions about why on earth the child ended up in Lumon.

And, of course, there are our beloved MDR employees. Mark and Helly embark on a journey to save Gemma from the unknown horrors of Lumon, but Dylan and Irving grow further and further from their goal. Irving is still grieving the loss of Innie Burt (Christopher Walken), as well as the fact that Outy Burt is married. In the meantime, Dylan hopes knowing about his Auty’s family will help support him as he continues to work. These stories resonate with their autistic lives, which we see in detail for the first time. Unfortunately, Dylan and Irving’s storylines sometimes get lost among Gemma’s broader quest, leaving us less time to explore the dynamics of the MDR quartet we came to love in season one. But there’s still a lot to love here, like the way these plots continue to be fleshed out. Severance payworld, and how Turturro and Cherry will be able to take us into more detail about the adventures of Irving and Dylan.

It’s hard to deal with all these storylines, but Severance pay juggles them almost effortlessly. It even takes full episodes to experiment with something new, like Innie’s Lumon-sanctioned trip to the outside world. These elements are proof that Severance pay continues to strive to evolve, taking its unique blend of sci-fi drama and dark workplace comedy to new heights. With this comes further questions about the ethics of severance pay (spoiler alert: there are none), existential crises surrounding the horrors of being stuck in an endless loop of work, and enough tension to make you want a soothing wellness session with Ms. Casey.

Severance pay copes with all of this, but still manages to answer some of our the most pressing questions from the first season. That it does this while maintaining a strong and grounded focus on its characters’ desire to connect is a remarkable achievement in a season full of them. The show may give us everything from surreal workplace dance parties to precious baby goats, but at the end of the day, we’re watching a man try to reunite with his wife. We watch as Irving pines for Bert and Dylan searches for scraps of information about a family he may never know. We see workers fighting for recognition as people rather than for free labor. It is personal, universal and absolutely amazing. Yes, three years is a long time to wait. Severance pay Season two, but I’ll happily wait three more to get a third season that will leave me so shocked and satisfied. (I just hope I don’t have to!)

Severance pay The second season premieres January 17 on Apple TV+, with a new episode released every week.