When "Severance" premiered in 2022, it felt like a revelation. Darkly funny, sharply stylish, and frequently inscrutable, Dan Erickson's workplace satire was unlike anything else on television.
The Apple TV+ series' second season, in the six episodes I've seen, is just as befuddling, compelling, and immersive as its predecessor. Despite the three-year gap between seasons one and two, "Severance" doesn't miss a beat, nor does it stumble as it prods at the mysteries behind Lumon Industries. It also dives deeper into the ethical and ontological questions behind Lumon's severance procedure: When the body is split between two minds, to whom does it belong?
In season one, "innie" Mark S. (Adam Scott) and his colleagues Dylan (Zach Cherry), Helly (Britt Lower), and Irving (John Turturro) temporarily busted out of their corporate prison into the real world, invading their "outie" counterparts to spread the word about what their lives were actually like at Lumon. In the process, Mark learned that his wife, Gemma, was still alive, sucked into the Lumon machine. And Helly, after fighting tooth and nail to escape her corporate prison, learned that she was one of its stewards on the outside: Helena Eagan, the daughter of Lumon's CEO.
Despite those bombshells, season two follows a similar, if more immediately unnerving, rhythm. Lumon is keen to get Mark back to work, even if it means motivating him by bringing back his fellow seditious macrodata refiners and praising their actions as a righteous uprising. The innies haven't forgotten what they saw on the outside, but despite a new quest to find Mark's wife and a marginally clearer understanding of the outside world, they're just as lost as they were before.
Without divulging any spoilers — trust me, you should be tuning in each week — I can say "Severance" is in no rush to give Mark, or any of us, answers. This is a show that rewards rewatching and keen eyes, though neither is necessary to have a good time. What makes the show still feel exceptional is that it doesn't get too bogged down in its lore.
At its core, "Severance" is a series about what it means to be, and it doesn't forget that. While the innies claw at any hint of agency, their outies grapple with the notion that their severed consciousness has desires of its own. In season one, before Mark realizes that Ms. Casey is actually his outie's wife, he tells her that they're "people, not parts of people." In season two, all parties involved put that notion to the test.
As with season one, "Severance" season two is astoundingly well designed, scored, and shot from the jump, opening with a delightfully frenetic sequence of innie Mark rushing through the empty white halls of the severed floor. While the stakes are more apparent now, the show doesn't lose its absurdist sense of humor or play, tossing in new characters like the puzzling Miss Huang (Sarah Bock), a child working alongside Mr. Milchick (Tramell Tillman). Scott's impressive performance as two facets of the same man continues to anchor the ensemble, but everyone — Lower, Turturro, Cherry, and Tillman in particular — is at the top of their game.
Ultimately, season two iterates on what made its first season so spectacular while continuing to complicate the thorny world it's created. Like its characters, it's multifaceted: You can read "Severance" as a doggedly literal commentary on the hell of capitalism, as a theory-crafting show in the tradition of "Lost," or as an ambitious character drama trying to get to the core of what it means to be human. Regardless of how you experience it, one thing is true: "Severance" is still one of the best shows on television.
"Severance" season two premieres on January 17 on Apple TV+, with new episodes dropping weekly on Fridays.
