Okay, this show is AMAZING. It’s a psychological office thriller/horror, with unexpected (but perfectly frequent) moments of humor that really just add icing to the creepy cake.

It provides such a fun mystery, less in a whodunnit kinda way and more in a what the hell is happening way that is on the just right side of tantalizing. A long time ago, I tried watching the famous Twin Peaks, which has a very similar tone and even setting (if you count small town winter and jewel tones as a setting), but I just couldn’t finish it. This may offend some folks, but I just gotta say it: Twin Peaks is downright stupid. It presents an intriguing mystery (who killed Laura Palmer, yada yada), with zero payoff after *checks notes* thirty episodes? Hell no. So why am I talking about Twin Peaks again? Because Severance did everything Twin Peaks tried to do, but made it so much better. Severance teases you along with the mystery, but strikes the perfect balance of offering clues to figure it out (especially if you’re an attentive watcher) what is going on, along with just enough unanswered questions to leave you feverish for the next episode. 

The characters inherently are almost all doubles. To differentiate between the identical twins, I’ll refer to their Innies as their name on the inside, i.e. Mark S or Helly R, and their Outies as their full name, i.e. Mark Scout and Helena Eagan. Hopefully it won’t get too confusing. 

Mark Scout is the perfect main character for this show. At first, I was not charmed by his inherent ineptitude. Sure, his Outie is an alcoholic, but that’s not the issue, and it makes sense. No, his problem is that he is incredibly, stupidly, impulsive: ripping up a photo of Gemma to impress his new girlfriend then regretting it and taping it back up; even voluntarily electing for brain surgery that clearly killed his Innie best friend on the severed floor as a last minute decision after he was stalked by Helena Eagan. (And WHAT a creepy scene by the way- we saw in that same episode how Helly R slept with Mark S in order to rewrite the time Helena Eagan slept with Mark S. Now, Helena seems back for more, but this time with Outie Mark Scout as well. Their strange flirting and her creepy mentioning of his “dead” wife set my teeth on edge, and luckily it freaked Mark Scout out, too. I just wish he hadn’t run home from that in a panic and begged the rogue doctor he had been harboring in his basement to go digging around in his skull. Ugh) He is a loose canon, a live wire, and often makes incredibly poor decisions, sober or no, Innie or Outie.

First season, I actually thought Helly R should be the protagonist- she was framed in the first episode as the one bringing change, causing action, she was the one kicking ass and taking names, or at least trying to. Mark S was just kinda standing around in season one, trying to catch up to the fire that was Helly R running her way through the Severed Floor. But now in season 2, and at the end of season 1 (BEST episode by far by the way- the finale of season 1 literally had me at the edge of my seat, and howling at the cliffhanger it left- what happened after Helly’s crazy speech, how did Mark’s family react to him reverting back to normal, what did Burt say to Ernie- whoops, I mean Irivng. Thank god season 2 was already out by then and I didn’t have to wait to see what happened next!), I realize Mark’s stumbling in the dark is actually kind of endearing. If he were any more competent, like Irving’s Outie or Helly R or his sister, the show would be a lot different.

I must say, I am a HUGE fan of Devon’s get-it-done attitude, and this was especially seen with her easy acceptance of Mark’s condition at the finale of season 1, and her leading the charge of corporate espionage with Mark Scout (at least, before his brain surgery, which he kept a secret from her for ZERO good reason other than that he’s impulsive and silly) in season 2. 

Season 2 feels pretty different from season 1, and I can see why some people wouldn’t like it, but I love it. The trippy editing, more answers only leading to more questions and mysteries, and the strange plot turns all add to the strange mid century modern psychological office horror vibe, and as someone who loved the psychedelic mutant drama that was FX’s Legion, this is right up my alley. C’mon, that OURTBO episode was insane. I thought they were gonna pull a “it was all a dream,” especially as it aired directly after Mark Scout had his first brain surgery experiment by that rogue doctor lady- and, what were her credentials again? Love that he never followed up on that. Very on brand for him. Mark S, as Harmony said, is very manipulatable. And I just love that in a male protagonist! 

Helly R/Helena/Mark/Gemma is such a convoluted web of relationships, it’s fascinating to watch unfold. I’m at the point in season 2 (episode 6) where I feel like anything could happen. At first Gemma and Mark Scout (or Mark S and Miss Casey) seemed weird- but episode 6 did a stand up job selling their relationship, especially with their de-aging haircuts and 1950s style decor in the college.

Lumen is an all powerful all knowing company, whose success with its development of severance apparently hinges a lot on Mark S completing Cold Harbor, which now seems irrevocably tied to Miss Casey completing it as well. What the hell? I gotta say, I have no theories. Last season I had a lot of wackadoodle theories, like Harmony being Mark’s mom (I really wish she had been, I still don’t get her devotion to him other than that he’s key to Cold Harbor and Lumen doesn’t want him to know about it so they made Milcheck tell him in season 2 episode 1 that Harmony had an erotic fixation with him, which was hilarious to watch.), and I figured Helena Eagan had been a plant since the first ep of season 2. Now? I have no theories. I’m stumped. But the show has proven successful so far at stringing us along, so I imagine we won’t end season 2 with no knowledge. I doubt we’ll learn about Cold Harbor, and it’ll be another cliffhanger. I just wanna confirm my theory that Lumen snatched up Mark Scout and Gemma when they were in college giving blood, because their blood was in their data banks already and they figured they might as well. Did Lumen orchestrate Gemma’s car crash, or did they simply take advantage of a useful situation? The latter seems far fetched, because the Cold Harbor plan seems SO tied to BOTH of them completing their assigned tasks. Like, why couldn’t Cold Harbor be completed by Dylan, who seems just as productive at work as Mark S, if not moreso? 

What the hell? I genuinely thought Mark S and Helly dreamed of the goats somehow, or that the company Lumen is just one giant brain and they’re all parts of it and that part was them tripping balls. Even the latter seemed more plausible than the Alice in Wonderland goat farm inside the Severed Floor. 

Stanley Parable: As someone who’s played the game (1 and 2) a while ago, seeing the balloons in season 2, and the desk work monotony, and the instruction following (or not following) “everyman” type of character that is Mark Scout, I am just giddy with excitement. This isn’t really a mystery, and I think it’s confirmed that the creator of Severance is well aware of the game, and even drew inspiration from it. Huge fan. Somehow I also get Portal vibes, but I think that’s just because the characters are being tested in white rooms by an “all powerful” yet somehow incompetent force, with pitch-perfect humor. I half expect Cave Johnson to appear out of nowhere in Severance, and hey, I would not complain. 

My Collection So Far. These make me go crazy!!! I wanted to stop the show and read up on what tumblr/reddit users had to say so badly, and watch all the YouTube essays on the show. I made myself wait until I finished season 2, which I did last night! I’ve been researching all of the theories and commentary ever since. Let me know what you think!!