Spoilers below, for seasons one and two:
Severance is one of the most original, complex, and engaging shows I have ever watched. That is a bold statement, so let me back up.
The dystopian show surrounds the idea that certain people have their minds and memories separated between their work and home lives. Adam Scott plays the “severed” Mark Scout, whose job is the “mysterious” and “important,” yet monotonous and despairing task of sorting numbers into buckets for the company Lumon. The office atmosphere is sharp and bright, sterile in a way that’s uncomfortable and clinical.
It all stands in rigid contrast to the dark and depressing outside world, where the “outie” Mark Scout lives. The state of his mental health is established by a permanent winter, dark color grading, and shots of Mark at night, usually from a distance. Through this difference, the two worlds are unique and fitting, reflecting their respective versions of Mark.
Severance is very deliberate in its usage of color, where specific choices can indicate certain ideas that the creators want to convey. In the office, there is a lot of use of both blue and green. The green carpeting of Macrodata Refinement is supposed to represent life and youth, though it is also portraying Lumon’s condescending views of the naive innies.
According to production designer Jeremy Hindle, this is a purposefully calming design, because “green is the most common color to your eye. It makes you feel calm,” Hindle said. “Some of the colors, the theories were kind of who they are as characters and what they needed to survive. I think green is something you need to survive.”
Though the color choices are some of my favorite parts of the show, it’s the story that truly engages me and makes me want to continue watching. The ways they feed the viewer information and treat the viewer are unique and what I think makes this an excellent show.
The show takes the viewer seriously, and doesn’t provide them with a lot of information, only just enough to make them understand the basics of what’s going on at any given time. Yes, as a show that centers around a company that’s mysterious, the show withholds information from the viewer. But, you do not know at the beginning just how much you don’t know.
The depth of this show is unmatched and the Lumon rabbit hole runs deep. The audience only has fragments and small little pieces that help lead them through these occasionally confusing moments that are incredibly compelling for reasons unknown until later. This unknown is purposeful and carefully controlled. You understand that there is something big going on through hints and nods at larger ideas but you don’t know exactly what. What does Lumon want? Why is Lumon doing this? These unclear motives are what I think drove me to keep watching.
Having an antagonist that you don’t understand can be very compelling, and I think Severance does a wonderful job at controlling the plot in such a way that you’re always searching for more. Severance leaves you grasping in the dark for any scraps of information that you can get your hands on, waiting for that moment when you might just understand a bit more of the conspiracy at hand.
