Is Apple sci-fi show too weird?

On January 17, 2025By Littum

Can a TV show, even a high-concept sci-fi drama, take you too far?

That is the question the producers Ben Stiller and Dan Eriksen face in Season 2 of Apple’s “Severance” (streaming Fridays, ★★★ out of four), about a world where people can literally separate their work and personal minds. Returning after nearly three years for a second round, how crazy can the show get? How many mysteries can the writers introduce without solving any of the old ones? How does fictional super company Lumon Industries even make money?

The season pushes the limits of how much trippy tomfoolery we can accept. In Lumon’s stark white walls, are the possibilities really limitless? At a certain point does “Severance” just become too weird to be good?

So far it is not clear; the six episodes made available for review (of the 10-episode season) veered between glitz and gloom as they follow the lives of people in the mega-conglomerate. But some scenes will make you itch so hard you’ll want to do amateur brain surgery. The new season doesn’t quite live up to, ahem, brightness of Season 1, but it could coalesce into a stunning finale that leaves us breathless for more. Or it can stomach flop harder than a musical dance experience.

“Severance” picks up at the same moment Season 1 ended. In the stunning and heartbreaking finale, “innie” office workers Mark S. (Adam Scott), Helly R. (Britt Lower) and Irving B. (John Turturro) find a way to “wake up” in the world outside the office building, with the help of a colleague Dylan G. (Zach Cherry). Mark found out that his outie’s apparently dead wife was alive and well and working at Lumon; Helly discovered that her outie was the daughter of the company’s manager; and Irving went in search of his office crush, Burt (Christopher Walken). And disgraced Lumon manager Harmony Cobel (Patricia Arquette) may have just saved the day for the company.

In a frustrating-in-a-good-way premiere, we see what happens next from innie Mark’s perspective, a mind-numbing psychedelic rush of shifting camera angles, sensory overload and stark blue and white lights. Episode 2 picks up the story from the outies’ point of view, and it’s racing with conspiracy theories, famous guest stars and unexplained developments. There are pleasures, including a beefed-up role for Tramell Tillman as Seth Milchick, an ambitious middle manager whom Tillman plays with barely contained delirium and fury. But then there are puzzles: several unexplained goats, a freezing cold field trip and a small office worker.

Almost no questions are answered and more are asked, which can be a frustrating-in-a-bad way experience. The fourth episode, which takes place in an unusual setting, might turn off some fans who are done with self-congratulatory sci-fi tricks and just want the plot to deliver a solution to its puzzle. After the explosive opener and an equally exciting Episode 2, the pace slows and the momentum is lost, only to pick up again by Episode 6. Maybe it’s deliberately trying to mimic the ups and downs of the office sword, but probably not.

The problem with such a conceptual series is that the writers can get lost in the mythology, leaving behind the characters and less exciting plot beats. But we show up for all the futuristic corporate crimes because we care about both Marks. And when the show leans into its characters and finds ways to push them into its peculiar situations, it grabs you with force. But even with convoluted storylines, I feel compelled to see “Severance” to its end. You probably will too. Its cast is so good and the writing is, most of the time, so poignant.

The series has not separated itself from its viewers. Yet.