“Work is just work…right?”

For those uninitiated, here’s the simplest way to describe the nuanced brilliance that is the Emmy-nominated Apple+ Series Severance:

Severance is Office Space meets 2001: A Space Odyssey meets…The Shining.

It’s clearly a risky concept, hence why it probably took creator Dan Erickson and executive producer/director Ben Stiller years to receive a green light, but in hindsight it’s obviously a gamble that is paying off judging by the 14 Emmy nominations for its first season. If Severance continues to consistently be this engaging, riveting, and mind-bending with its original story & crisp writing, its on-point performances - and most importantly its crawl-into-your-brain-and-live-there-while-you-sleep tone - upon the series’ completion Severance will be in the same conversation as Breaking Bad. Yeah, I said it. (Bookmark it.)

This, however, is where my Severance review both begins and ends. Because anyone who’s already seen the show knows how mind-blowing it is.

I’m not here to write about how brilliant Severance is.

I’m here to write about how terrifying Severance is.

And I’m not talking about terrifying like jump scares, hallucinations, and bizarro dance sequences set to “defiant jazz.“ I’m talking terrifying like Severance belongs in the documentary category instead of psychological thriller.

Many have already written about how Severance is one possible version of a dystopian workplace future.

I’m here to argue that Severance is not only a dystopian portrait of our future…in many ways we’re already there.

Because if we don't do something about the rampant epidemic of workplace burnout in our post-pandemic, severance is going to become our new version of "quiet quitting."

 

First Things First…What Is ‘Severance?’

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