‘Severance’ review: Corporate hell meets dystopian sci-fi in thrilling workplace drama

Directed by Ben Stiller and Aoife McArdle, this Adam Scott-starrer on Apple TV+ is an unforgettable tale about the power that memory holds

In the age of technological industrialisation, what makes humans superior to machines? Technology has certainly surpassed us to the extent of rendering some jobs fully automated. Then, is it a difference in intelligence? No, AI, of course, wins that round. Well, according to Apple TV+’s latest show, Severance, it is our memories that save us from a robotic existence. 

Memories about our family, friends and partners. Memories that trigger emotions, that bring us joy and drown us in grief. All these memories are forbidden at Lumon’s “severed floor”, where Mark Scout (Adam Scott) works. A nebulous corporation, Lumon serves as the towering place of employment in the town of Kier (named after the founder of Lumon). 

Employees who work at the severed floor have to undergo “severance,” a medical procedure that involves planting a chip in your brain following which access to memories becomes “spatially dictated”. Simply put, Mark Scout at work can’t recollect anything from his personal life; after he clocks out at 5.00 p.m., he won’t be able to recall the specificities of what he does for a living.

In severing the memories, the consciousness also divides itself. The self that exists at the workplace and the one that exists outside of it (known as “innies” and “outies” in the show) lead two separate lives. The innies indulge in workplace banter, solve problems together and gossip about the boss. Outside, they fail to recognise each other.

Think of it as the coveted work/life balance aided by a memory blackout. 

Directed by Ben Stiller and Aoife McArdle, Severance avoids pinning down a time period in which the story takes place. Characters walk around in modern clothing, and surely technology has progressed enough to accommodate remotely-controlled brain implants. At Lumon’s headquarters however, the bulky computers, flip phones and the 80s workplace aesthetics reach out to confuse us, and the “Macrodata Refinement” team that Mark heads.

Comprising an overtly-devoted Irving B. (John Turturro) who prides himself on knowing “all nine core Lumon principles” and Dylan G. (Zach Cherry), the team is a compact one.