by Ryan Mercier
*SPOILER ALERT*
Sometimes a show is so good the reason for an entire website (sports) changes due to its greatness. Throw on some Defiant Jazz and enjoy this inaugural piece on TV from Struggling Actor Sports.
Remember Lost? Watching every week, wondering what will happen next. Mysteries so intriguing they infiltrated every conversation at friend and family gatherings. Game of Thrones? Appointment television and an event shared by almost everyone in the monoculture. Regardless of feelings over the finales and later choices, they each gave us a great journey. That new journey is here. Severance is here. This is the one.
Where to begin? Let’s start with the concept of separating your work life and personal life. This idea is not a new one, but drilling into someone’s brain to insert a chip to do so certainly is. Also, yes, this sci-fi mumbo jumbo is totally ridiculous but it doesn’t matter.
There are intended consequences, like Mark Scout (Adam Scott) forgetting about his deceased wife for eight hours a day. And even better, the unintended consequences. Such as Helly R. (Britt Lower) realizing her entire existence as an “Innie” is only at work for eight hours a day and attempts to kill herself. Hey, we get it. Mondays, amirite?
The core-four working crew of the Macrodata Refinement department is a wonderful group to hang with. Mark is your classic worker who keeps his head down and doesn’t ask questions (until the series goes on, of course). Irving (John Turturro) is the guy who is way too in to the job and thinks repeating the same thing every day qualifies as humor. Anyone who has worked with a Catch Phrase Guy can relate. Dylan (Zach Cherry) is a perfect braggart full of sarcasm. And Helly is the new girl correctly pointing out everything that sucks.
The show touches on so many different ridiculous aspects about the corporate American office life and never in a heavy-handed way. Dylan is so motivated by the stupid finger traps. Everyone has worked with somebody addicted to SWAG. They pass a ball around to take turns to talk. Irving is hilariously married to the employee handbook. Employees are given treats like trays of endless melon and egg bar socials as a reward for a job well done. Severance makes these incentives much more bizarre than a Starbucks gift card or pizza party but the idea behind it is clear. Waffle parties, of course, are a much different breed.
Then, there’s Milchick. Devilishly played by Trammell Tillman. Where did this guy come from? He is absolutely brilliant in this role. In the best episode of the series, Defiant Jazz, his delivery of the line, “The music dance experience is officially canceled” was the exact moment this series went from great to the next Big Thing. Tillman can give a goofy smile and also stare in a manner as if he will take you straight into Hell.
Oh yeah, Christopher Walken is on this show! CHRISTOPHER WALKEN! As Burt G. he shares the screen many times with the ever underrated Turturro. Essentially, the two go on unintentional secret dates, looking at art together. Their relationship is kind of a thing of beauty which pulls at your heart. It’s done so subtly.
As for a taste of the outside world, the character of Ricken (Michael Chernus) is just a joy. The choice to make Mark’s brother-in-law a successful but objectively awful writer is just delightful. Ricken’s group of friends are pseudo-intellectuals who we see bloviating over a dinner purposefully served with no food. It’s exactly the kind of thing a pretentious (yet kind) person would do. Also, the cover of The You You Are looks like it actually belongs from a universe where instead of Severance we got a terrible low budget movie where Ricken is the main character.
Finally, what’s weirder than a show where brains are drilled into to literally split a human’s personality into two? Ben Stiller is the director! And he does an incredible job leading six episodes.
Random tidbits:
- Credit, of course, to the creator Dan Erickson
- The mysteries and twists of the show are tremendous and could have an entire article just dedicated to that aspect
- “Innie” and “Outie?” Could we have done better here? Literally one of the few very, very, very small gripes about this show
- Total guess about the work MDR is doing with the numbers: They are working on their own chips in their head or other severed workers’ chips
Struggling Actor Sports 