Ronit J

Severance Season 2 Episode 1 Synopsis:

Episode Title: Hello, Ms. Cobel

Synopsis: Mark returns to work under different circumstances. Secrets from the Outie world come to light.

Severance Season 2 Episode 1 Review:

I randomly stumbled upon Severance because I had just bought a new iPhone in 2022, which gave me a limited time free subscription for Apple TV+. In less than 2 days, I ended up bingeing the whole season, which then resulted in a near 3-year-long painful wait for the second season.

And here we are! But, after such a long wait, I couldn’t help but wonder… is Severance Season 2 good? Well, we’ve only got the first episode so far, so let’s dive in!

Back to work at the Lumon Company

Given how the last season ended, I had an insurmountable amount of hype for the first episode. The trailer did reveal to us that the cast of Severance was returning to Lumon this season. What I didn’t expect was us to dive straight back into Lumon. We open to a black screen with a haunting compilation of the season 1 finale’s harshest reveals, before cutting to a close-up of Mark S (Adam Scott) staring blankly into the camera. Cue the crackling transition SFX, and he’s back in his Innie’s world.

The opening shot has him run frantically through the sterile corridors of Lumon’s office space. A beautiful corporate equivalent of the Penrose stairs, the opening shot was quite the mood setter for the unsettling experience to follow. Mark navigates the maze-like structure until he finally reaches Ms. Casey’s empty office. From there, the first half of the episode has Mark join a brand new team of Macrodata Refining. While Mark W (Ben Balaban) shows a certain reservedness towards Mark S, Gwendolyn (Alia Shawkat) is fascinated by Mark’s outing in the Outies’ world. It doesn’t take long for Mr. Milchick (Tramell Tillman) to reveal the current state of affairs within and without Lumon. All in all, this is a very realistic corporate response to the kind of scandal the Innies have caused.

I loved the first half because of how well they kept the tensions up. They take their time to reveal Lumon’s reaction to the Innie’s mutiny, but the five-month timeskip raises more questions than they answer. Why is Mark back? What happened to the Outies? Is Lumon serious about Severance Reforms? Knowing this world, you know all the seemingly positive developments will come with caveats.

Macrodata Uprising

We’re going to get into spoiler territory here on out. So, strap in! (Although, some of these were revealed in the trailer, so not sure a spoiler warning is appropriate.)

The good thing is that the showrunners don’t spend too long leaving our main cast separated. The group reconnects halfway through the episode, which results in a much-needed sigh of relief and a sense of security. They’re immediately hauled to the Break Room, where they see an animated corporate video addressing the Macrodata Uprising, which has resulted in some very inane reforms, paying more attention to branding and less to important things like better snacks and breakroom activities.

As our group reveal to each other what they saw outside, Severance’s strengths as an atmospheric psychological thriller begin to shine brighter. The claustrophobic framing of tight shots when the characters speak their truths, the dizzying camera when they walk-and-talk in a Sorkin-inspired fashion, the clinical blandness of Lumon’s environs constantly looming over them, isolating them within visual expanses of white and characterless walls. Most of episode 1 spends time having our protagonists come to terms with their actions from the previous season. There are a lot of mysteries yet to be discovered. But for that, the Innies need to return to square one like a Sisyphean nightmare.

Continued Absurdity Reflective of the Modern Workspace

Season 2 has reportedly spent a budget of $20 million per episode. At first glance, you’d wonder why you need so much money for a show that’s spatially contained. But then, you feel the the unsettling atmosphere of this posh-on-the-outside, dystopian-on-the-inside (pun intended) setting and it begins to make sense. The way Severance uses sound, visual distortion, and negative space to enhance the feeling of dread and isolation really makes the story feel all the more visceral. The drama isn’t just what the characters are doing, but also where they are.

Given the increased acceptance of Remote Working (and Remote Classes/Workshops), I have personally witnessed a growing gap in communication and teamwork. Barring a handful of colleagues, most people I’ve worked with in the recent past have proven largely unresponsive, making it all the more difficult to collaborate with them. Severance takes that new age workspace dissonance and masterfully dramatises it with its use of space. I’d even argue enough to say that the office space of Lumon is a character itself, almost like a cosmic horror entity, or a sci-fi villain like HAL-9000.

Lastly, the visual dissonance of a professional workplace with absurd elements—blue balloons, the clearly underage Ms Huang played by Sarah Bock, and Mr. Milchick’s struggle to get corporate approval for changing his computer’s screensaver—all work in favour of realising Severance’s commentary of the modern world. On one hand, you have this powerful and advanced mega-corporation causing profoundly inhuman troubles to its employees, and on the other, you have its employees dealing with such inane problems.

Severance Season 2 Episode 1 Ending Explained

The Severance Season 2 Premiere ends with our group back to work. They’ve exchanged outside information—all except Helly (Britt Lower), who doesn’t reveal her Eagan name—and are now back in their former roles as Macrodata Refinement. But, the episode plants plenty of seeds for mysteries both old and new. Being within Lumon’s Innie workspace, the group have access to Lumon’s facilities, which would have them in the centre of all the drama to follow. While their Outies have become somewhat celebrities, the Innies’ lives are relatively unchanged. They do have awareness of the outside world, and how that affects their time inside is going to be a major driving conflict of season 2.

Season 2 starts with “Hello, Ms. Cobel”, with episode 2 being titled “Goodbye, Mrs. Selvig”, which raises a lot of questions. Patricia Arquette was noticeably missing from this episode, so I am excited to see what her character has been up to. I’ll admit, I was disappointed at the episode skipping over the five months. However, I hope that the coming episodes reveal what transpired in those months. This episode clearly shows that the world and its power dynamics have become all the more complicated. Our protagonists each have their own convoluted inner conflicts, with each having motivation to uncover more of Lumon’s secrets.

In Conclusion:

The Severance Season 2 Premiere really raises a lot of questions, and I hope that it delivers on most, if not all of them. Given all the hype, I do have a teeny bit of scepticism about whether or not Season 2 will live up to the hype. Episode 1 starts the second season on a very strong note. I hope it gets better as the episodes roll out. Because, of all the many series I’ve watched in recent years, Netflix, HBO, Prime Video… Severance was the best of the lot (just under Better Call Saul).

Depending on how this post performs, I’ll consider doing a weekly episode review, or just a full season review in the end. Stay tuned for more updates!

P.S.: I really did feel the empty space left behind by Christopher Walken in Severance. I wonder if we’ll see Burt again this season.

Also check out:

• Severance Season 2 Finale | Full Season Review

• Black Warrant | Netflix Series Review
• A Real Pain (2024) | Film Review

• Help! My Dog Is The Chosen One! by Ronit J
• Abandoned by the Gods by Ronit J

What other show/movie/book would you like me to review? Let me know in the comments below!

Until next time.