TV

Severance

Taking work-life balance to a new level.

Photo: Wilson Webb/Apple TV+

A disturbing rebuttal to the “work-life balance” adages heard in every office; Severance is the latest psychological thriller from AppleTV+. Set at Lumon Industries, Mark Scout (Adam Scott) leads a team of employees who have surgically divided their memories from work and real-life thanks to the severance procedure. When new employee Helly (Britt Lower) rejects her new life as an indentured office drone, the true nature of their work begins to get called into question. Their efforts to find out who they are and what it is they do from nine to five lead to a mystery full of thrilling reveals and plot twists.

Created by Dan Erickson and directed by Ben Stiller and Aoife Mcardle, Severance stars Adam Scott, Britt Lower, John Turturro, Zach Cherry, Patricia Arquette, and Christopher Walken.

  1. Episode 9 The We We Are
    Severance Season-Finale Recap: A Tale of 3 Innies The innies finally get to explore the real world in Severance’s explosive season finale.
  2. Episode 8 What’s for Dinner?
    Severance Recap: The Hour Is Yours The MDR crew plots to find out who they really are. But first, a weird waffle orgy.
  3. Episode 7 Defiant Jazz
    Severance Recap: Dance, Dance, Revolution Everyone is getting their hands dirty in the most suspenseful episode of Severance yet.
  4. Episode 6 Hide and Seek
    Severance Recap: Love in the Time of Severance Is Dylan right that love can transcend severance?
  5. Episode 5 The Grim Barbarity of Optics and Design
    Severance Recap: Inexplicable Goats The refiners explore Lumon’s bizarre depths and only find more questions.
  6. Episode 4 The You You Are
    Severance Recap: Eternal Sunshine of the Severed Mind This week’s episode sets up several potential story lines for (doomed) love in the severed world.
  7. Episode 3 In Perpetuity
    Severance Recap: Museum Madness Please fill out the official request for “TV recap interaction” before reading.
  8. Episode 2 Half Loop
    Severance Recap: Endless Toil Helly tries to make a great escape, and Mark calls in sick.
  9. Episode 1 Good News About Hell
    Severance Series-Premiere Recap: Who Are You? Apple TV+’s newest thriller is a disturbing rebuttal to the “work-life balance” adages heard in every office.

More on Severance

  1. backstories
    Behind the Scenes of Severance’s ‘Very Creepy’ Office Dance PartyStrobe lighting, soldier-marching, and a blood-splotched cashmere sweater: How “Defiant Jazz” captured the chill inherent in corporate-mandated joy.
    By Roxana Hadadi
  2. chat room
    Adam Scott Prefers Baby Goats to Lil’ SebastianThe Severance lead on his love of The Twilight Zone, the mysteries of Lumon, and the generosity of Bono.
    By Jen Chaney
  3. tv review
    Prepare to Give Yourself Over to SeveranceApple TV+’s immersive, Philip K. Dick–esque mystery-thriller is one of the best new series of 2022.
    By Roxana Hadadi
  4. coronavirus
    Severance​ Predicted the Slow-Burn Performance of Our PandemicLike Ling Ma’s protagonist, we haven’t been shot out of a cannon and into a new world. We’re watching it unfold like a digitally broadcast picaresque.
    By Hillary Kelly
  5. the industry
    Patricia Arquette Lining Up Her Next Golden Globe With Apple Thriller SeveranceBen Stiller is set to direct the series, based on Dan Erickson’s 2016 Bloodlist-topping script.
    By Halle Kiefer
  6. class is in session
    Welcome to Vulture’s First Spoiler Book Club: Severance by Ling Ma“This whole book was my favorite ‘Why I Left New York’ essay of all time.”
    By BORIS KACHKA

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