Severance
released 2022
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“Severance” is an American, scifi, thriller, mystery produced by Mohamad el Masri, Gerry Robert Byrne, John Cameron, Jackie Cohn, Andrew Colville, Dan Erickson, Jill Footlick, Paul Leonardo Jr., Aoif McArdle, Katie Pruitt, Nicholas Weinstock, Mark Friedman, Chris Black and Adam Scott. It was directed by Aoif McArdle and written by … and stars Adam Scott, Zach Cherry, Britt Lower, Tramell Tillman, Jen Tullock, Dichen Lachman, Michael Chernus, John Turturro, Christopher Walken, Patricia Arquette, Marc Geller, Michael Cumpsty, Claudia Robinson, Yul Vazquez, Sydney Cole Alexander, Nikki M. James, Rachel Addington, Mark Kenneth Smaltz, Nora Dale, Michael Siberry, Annie McNamara, Grace Rex, Donald Webber Jr. and many more.

Severance IMDb webpage

“Severance” is the story of a group of strange people working in a strange workplace for a mysterious company called Lumon Industries, which could allude to the SI unit of light. To sum the story up, a group of people agree to let their employer, the biotech juggernaut Lumon Industries, erase their memories of each and every day’s work. In essence, their employer creates an alternate identity at work where neither identity has any memories of the other, only that they exist and supposedly are happy with their choice to split their lives. The lives outside their jobs are called outies and the lives at their jobs are called innies and neither one has any memories of the other like an induced multiple personality disorder.

The story begins with Helly, played by Britt Lower, waking up on a conference table in a conference room and not remembering how she got their or who she even was. She is introduced to the other members of her department but remains in a state of ignorance for most of the season. One quality she has and which is a great quality, indispensable even in a prison/ slavery environment, is that she is defiant, curious and driven to get out. Characters stuck in the prison/ slavery should always have this quality or risk losing their minds or being broken down and Helly has this quality in spades. She really is the catalyst for the group to get off their a**es and find a way out.

The main character is Mark Scout, played by Adam Scott. While freedom is the driving force for Helly I would have to think that curiosity is the driving force for Mark. He wants answers and it isn’t until he realizes that he is being lied to that he really seeks a way out. Mark is a man with a complicated private life who has suffered a great loss and so blindly throws himself into the Severance Project. (Yes, another predictable gender stereotype in the male role. Who would have guessed?)

The idea of The Severance Project deals with themes like that of mind control and when is it legal and ethical to do so and when isn’t it. The series tends to think, and rightfully so, that it is never OK and more importantly that it can never be done ethically after a time. There is no doubt that it harms the participants and leaves them vulnerable to all kinds of manipulations in all aspects of their lives and that is another problem with the program. I do see some health benefits of this technology under strict supervision. For example, victims of trauma or maybe in dealing with addiction issues in people this technology might work very well but, like I said, it would need strict supervision.

Another thing is the idea that a company, a person’s employer or government even, has control over your severed identities. That is a model that just does not work. It promotes a bad situation. In order for the Severance model to work a person would need a parent or guardian to oversee and intervene when necessary. And when is necessary? Therein lies the rub.

“Severance” is an original story that is well written, save for a few points, and characters with interesting backgrounds. So much content is just trite and this series is a departure from all that. It’s a fun watch and it will keep you glued to your seats to find out WTF is going on. The casting is excellent just about all the people working on it do an amazing job.

John Ink2Quill

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