In Severance, Office Perks Couldn't Be More Sinister

It sorta reminds me of the series "Electric Dreams" on Amazon Prime. Select stories from Philip K. Dick! Great stuff!

The hubris of Amazon airing the "Autofac" episode though, holy crap. I mean if ANYONE on this planet is the likely source of some "Autofac"-styled nightmare its Amazon. Makes me throw up a little in my mouth.

It's being financed by Apple. Ben Stiller and Dan Erickson are still the artists creating the show.

Capital has the ability to subsume all critiques into itself. Even those who would critique capital end up reinforcing it instead.

All artistic mediums are plagued in some way. For film and TV, this is the incredible cost of production, which necessitates the involvement of large corporations.

Yes, it is all a meaningless cycle - companies worth hundreds of billions of dollars want to keep making more and more engaging content and make you spend as much time on them as possible and keep using their services forever. At the same time, people who have busy careers and soul-sucking tech jobs at companies cannot or do not simply afford to spend so much time on these things.

If you're one of those - make your call. I decided to not touch any of these TV shows and fall into the web of content until I retire from the tech industry, which I assume will start in my 50's.

I don't see your point. The work at Apple is mysterious and important.

> How many people are de facto severed by their 9-to-5 soulless tech job, come home and binge watch a TV show

...everyone I know who works at Apple is incredibly proud of and satisfied with the work they do. (They're also richly remunerated.)

Meh. If you work at Apple (likely as a software engineer given the audience), then you're likely in the top 1% of earners. That means you have more optionality than almost anyone else finance wise. If you're not able to make the changes you need to live a fulfilling life, that's a you problem. And by that, I mean that you have agency, you just need to act upon it and stop being scared.

And voiced by Keanu Reeves

I wish we still had cubicles!

I am glad I am not the only one. I feel they are making it as "mysterious" and plodding as possible to pad out the narrative. I am guessing the writers do not really have any idea what direction to take the show. Been burned by too many shows that promise some big reveal to all the mysteries described, but then never deliver. I suspect this will happen with this show as well.

I have exactly the opposite. I found it very difficult to get through the first half of season 1, but actually after that I found it more and more interesting.

I loved season one. I'm struggling with this season. [Minor mid-season spoiler ahead] Since they entered the goat room I just feel like I don't want to continue. Ever since Lost finished I have become extremely skeptical of shows that raise more questions than they answer, especially when they are really, really weird questions.

The other awful thought is that millions if not billions of people would look at Macrodata Refinement and think, "That beats the hell out of my current working environment." And in many ways they would be right.

It certainly hits home, but it's wonderfully done and worth the watch.

Then start binging Silo, as it similarly terrifying and engaging (and book 2 of the series explores a Severance like theme).

The season 1 finale is one of the best episodes of TV in a while.

As an Aussie, it terrifies me that it could be anywhere close to what working in America could be like. But having heard stories like the Walmart "smile" failure in Germany, I can only assume it's not too far off.

it's outrageously good, I couldn't recommend it more highly

I’ll take a swing at it. It seems like your read on the show currently is that it’s a dilbert / office space style take down of the banality of office culture, which there are some little references to certainly but is not the point of the show.

The real central themes are about how much of who we are is innate and how much is our accumulation of experiences (nature vs nurture). This intersects in interesting ways with explorations of authoritarianism, corporate power, religion, trauma, coping mechanisms, and scientific ethics.

All of this is wrapped up in a mysterious setting and presented through fantastic acting, directing and production design. I look forward to it every week in a way I haven’t since the first couple seasons of LOST.

If Stanley Kubrick made a television series, he'd make Severance. For some people that makes it a must-watch, for others, not so much.

> The concept seems tedious and heavyhanded and the article slots right into my confirmation bias — I haven't seen dull meaningfulness like "the finger trap represents how work is a trap and how wellness perks are a trap because you like them but they're from work" since high school AP lit.

You’re free to read, or not read, the show as much as you want. It’s still decent read as just a sci-fi thriller.

What you're missing is the people inside this environment are essentially prisoners and childlike versions of their outer selves, with no memories or experiences of an actual life outside of it.

For them these perks hold more meaning than you might expect as their life is completely devoid of any real meaning or purpose, although only one particular character actually relishes in them.

I initially held off from watching the show as the concept sounded ludicrous and stifling. But it is wildly original and thought provoking, as well the cinematography and sound design is outstanding. Every little detail is like a carefully crafted puzzle piece that eventually fits together into the larger, expanding narrative, with little in the way of cruft.

IMO, the central idea of the show -- that being Severed represents you in two different ways -- its a lie. There's something else going on there. I think I've figured it out, but I'm not gonna post potential spoilers!

I think the thing you're missing is that the dull meaningfulness -- also a lie. The entire thing isn't what it seems. THAT is my hook! (Yes, I could be wrong, that OK, its just entertainment) :)

its one of the few shows raising the bar while nearly everything else seems to be intended to churn out "content"

its legitimately artistic and the last episode especially so. it was the first thing directed by the show's cinematographer and is roundly celebrated by professional critics

its incredible looking satire with quality writing

The show has an excellent sci-fi mystery at the core of it that keeps me going. It feels thoroughly designed in a way many television mysteries don’t, especially long running ones.

The #relatable office antics angle is certainly important towards the sci-fi mystery being told, but it’s definitely oversold IMO. Almost as if the main thing people liked about Twin Peaks were the romance subplots.

What takes me out of the show is that the premise collapses after a moment of critical thinking: US citizens cannot sign away basic civil rights in a contract. If you signed a contract wherein you agreed to stay in a location for a certain number of hours no matter what was done to you, that contract would not be enforceable.

And what possible justification could a company have for blocking any communication between an innie and an outie, even if no confidential information was involved? The only justification would have to be “because we want to be free to abuse your innie, duh!”