Severance (Season 2)
The hit Apple TV series’ second season poses many new questions, and recontextualizes several key characters.
Season one of Severance captivated viewers with its haunting atmosphere, creative directing and intriguing story of a team of office workers who have undergone the titular procedure - getting their brains divided into two different consciousnesses - one for the time they spent at work and one for when they were outside the office, being exposed to the true, more sinister nature of their employer. It ended with the main characters’ “innie” personas briefly breaking into the “outie” world and making their torments within the Lumon office known to the public, before the bridge between worlds was ultimately broken.
The second season picks up some time later in its first episode, before going back to recontextualize the time between the seasons in the second episode. This narrative choice is made to contrast the story that the Macrodata Refinement team is told in Episode 1 with the reality shown in Episode 2, and sets the tone for the story, which focuses on juxtaposing realities even more so than Season 1 did.
This is the case for both the main characters’ “innie” and “outie” worlds and even the realities of the workers and the Lumon higher-ups. Of course, these two contrasts merge in the case of Helly’s character, whose “outie”, Helena Eagan, whose introduction into the story gives it an excellent layer of nuance, especially with the ambiguity as to whether or not she is still severed. Her new, menacing out-of-office presence, emphasized by Britt Lower’s fantastic dualistic performance, adds a certain urgency to the narrative.
Helena is one of multiple intriguing new characters added in Season 2; another prominent one is the ever-unsettling new child deputy floor manager Miss Huang, played by Sarah Bock, whose mysterious, unexplained backstory and nature of her position at Lumon leaves the audience eager for answers. Several of the previously present characters have been given new framing, too: Harmony Cobel, played by Patricia Arquette, who came off as an absolute authority in the first season, struggles to accept Helena’s now superior position, as well as her own dismissal from Lumon; meanwhile, Trammell Tillman's performance as Seth Milchick, who has taken Cobel’s place as floor manager, has gained a new, sharper, even more menacing edge than it possessed in the first season, at the same time as hints of a potential inner unrest of some sort in his character begin to subtly appear. Even the main team of characters - Mark, Helly, Dylan and Irving - evolve significantly, as they move through Lumon’s network of deception and temptations which aims to keep them in line.
The writing, both in the narrative and the dialog, does not suffer any dip in quality compared to the stellar first season, with the ample use of ambiguity and mystery to build tension not feeling forced or overdone. The acting performances also remain brilliant, with, of course, Adam Scott as Mark, as well as the aforementioned Trammell Tillman as Mr. Milchick and Britt Lower as Helly/Helena, particularly standing out.
The directing and editing are also absolutely top-notch. Critics and viewers alike have been deservedly quick to applaud the stellar opening sequence of Mark running down the Lumon hallways; however, more briefly and subtly brilliant camera angles, cuts and transitions continue to appear as the season continues to develop; this development also highlights the extremely well-balanced pacing.
Overall, the second season of Severance picks up right where the first left off, keeping all of the show’s main strengths intact. The mystery and haunting atmosphere continue to be enthralling, putting a lot of weight on the remaining episodes to resolve all the points of conflict that it has set up. So far, though, it continues to be comfortably one of the best TV shows of the 2020s.
9/10