After the credits began to roll during the final episode of Severance, I couldn’t help but feel like kicking myself for not watching this series sooner. All year I’ve heard nothing but great things from both critics and friends alike. It’s not that I didn’t want to buy into the hype because I was more than willing to give it a chance, but something just kept me from watching it. Whatever it was that held me back thankfully left and I finally sat down and watched through the entire season. I was more than impressed. 2022 was a great year for television and Severance is proof of that.
Have you ever clocked into work and questioned why you were even working there? That became a routine occurrence for me this year while I was still working at my previous job. Why am I here? Is my hard work even amounting to anything? Those are the questions that constantly ran through my head during every shift, which are similarly the same kind of questions the main characters ask. Needless to say, I found Severance to be very relatable, because I had gone through an existential crisis of my own this year. I think that’s part of the beauty of this show–it’s just as much relatable as it’s cerebral.
Perhaps the most surprising element of this show was Ben Stiller’s excellent direction. That’s not a knock on his previous work, because he’s directed some of the most beloved comedy films, but his expertise is fully on display in Severance. There’s a subtle effect that happens when the characters go down the elevator to signify that they’re tuning out their outside self. Their faces morph as the camera lens slowly changes. It’s such a unique and effective way of visual storytelling that honestly left me in awe. Stiller pushed the boundaries of television by making the series look just as good as big budget feature films.
If there’s one thing you should know about me, it’s that I love a good mystery. Many of my favorite films, television series, and literature bask in mystery. Severance perfectly whets the appetite by having the story progress through a mystery. Writer and showrunner, Dan Erickson wrote the story from the perspective of the lead characters. As they find out information, the audience finds out the information with them. This makes the big reveals and plot twists even more satisfying. In classic TV fashion, the season ends with a massive cliffhanger to make the wait for season 2 all the more unbearable. Severance is one of the best original shows in recent years and I can’t recommend it enough. Check out my previous review here.