Severance Season 2 Review: Wrapping Our Heads Around Severances’ Spectacle

 Wrapping Our Heads Around Severances’ Spectacle

By Dylan Barbee

Courtesy of @AppleTV on Instagram

Released on Jan. 17th, 2025 and ended on Mar. 21st, 2025

SPOILERS AHEAD!!!

By now, you’ve likely heard of  Ben Stiller’s critically acclaimed show Severance. The mind-bending thriller has caught the attention of millions with a wave of long-form TikTok videos of fans sharing their theories about the show’s potential future plotlines, viral memes and debate produced on fan-made Reddit pages. 

Its satirical message on the corporate ladder is explored through a mysterious plot that thickens in season two with addictive twists and turns deservedly giving Apple TV their most-watched show yet. 

To sum up the plot, the show explores work-life balance as people undergo a brain procedure called “severance” to separate their work consciousness from their personal lives. This is done through the show’s main character Mark (Adam Scott), who is struggling to cope with the sudden passing of his wife, Gemma (Dichen Lachman). At work, Mark’s innie becomes close with his other severed co-workers and even finds love with one of them. 

To start, the second season of Severance successfully gives closure to the questions left unanswered in its previous season regarding whether Mark’s wife is still alive, while strategically giving the audience more questions to ponder. Throughout the new season, the innies grapple with their severed lives as they uncover Lumon’s deception on them and try to figure out the purpose of their work for the company. 

The first couple of episodes were enjoyable with engaging plots focusing on the innies coming to terms with the lives of their outies which they witnessed for a short amount of time during the season one finale. Dylan (Zach Cherry) can’t believe he has a child in the outside world, Mark seeks reintegration to completely erase his innie’s world and Helly (Britt Lower) hides her outie’s CEO status at Lumon.

In fact, Helly and her outie Helena were my favorite characters of the season as Lower successfully plays both characters whose personalities clash with one another despite being the same person. Outie Helena in episode four, “Woe’s Hallow,” is disguised as her innie Helly when she sleeps with innie Mark and almost dies at the hands of innie Irving (John Turturro), leading to his retirement. This episode serves as one of the best twists yet in the series. The events that occur in episode four have detrimental effects on the innie team’s dynamic throughout the season while putting a scope on how Helena envies her innie’s rebellious persona and love story with Mark.

While season two delves deeper into its character arcs, it feels very isolated as each character is on their own personal journey rather than being part of the tight-knit work team they once were in season one. I disliked this tone in the season and found myself at times getting upset at these characters for not being able to apologize and make amends with one another after being fragmented.  

However, I feel like this dismemberment of the show’s favorite work group made me favor other character’s storylines more. For instance, I really loved the character development of Milchick (Trammel Tillman), the severed floor manager. Through Milchick, the show tells its most important real-world messages yet, exploring how hollow DEI efforts made in corporate America impact people of color. This is shown when Milchick receives a confusing gift from Lumon and faces microaggressions throughout the season from his co-workers. It is clear that Milchick becomes unhappy at Lumon after a poor performance review despite giving the severed employees incentives to stay at the company he is starting to despise. Milchick’s story is also relevant when discussing how corporate employees fail to find fulfillment despite climbing the corporate ladder. 

One of the most memorable episodes in the season is episode 7 “Chikhai Bardo.” Directed by Jessica Lee Gagné, the episode is one of the best in the whole series when it comes to its filming, technicalities and finally giving the audience answers. “Chikhai Bardo,” rewinds back in time to tell the origin story of Mark’s love story with Gemma through film using sharp cuts and harmonious lighting. Jessica Lee Gagné did an excellent job peeling back the layers of Gemma’s character, who ultimately drove the story forward in season two with her tragic story.

Unfortunately, the show derails from Mark’s mission to find Gemma, to put a lens on the life of Harmony Cobel (Patricia Arquette), former manager of the severed floor in season one. This is one of the most pointless episodes in the whole series about my least favorite character who is personally irredeemable to me even though the episode attempted to generate audience sympathy for her rough past. Despite finding out that Cobel created the severance procedure, it's clear that Severance did not need this episode as it serves as a filler between the show’s most engaging plot and its finale.

When the show does get back to its most compelling plot of Mark and Gemma’s reunion, a love square between innie Mark, outie Mark, Helly and Gemma makes for a memorable high point of the season. As soon as we learn that there is hope for Mark and Gemma, innie Mark leaves Gemma behind and chooses to run away with innie Helly, his true love displaying how the innies value their independence over pleasing their outie selves. With so many twists and turns in Severance’s progression, it is clear why people are so compelled by this show, especially after this season’s finale ending.

Overall, Severance season two has some of the series' highest highs and character development, giving its cult following answers that cause new questions to arise. However, there are also some of the show’s lowest lows as it often gets distracted from its plot while ripping apart the show's main protagonists from one another. Despite this, I am looking forward to season three of Ben Stiller’s hit show as millions of other people are too, and can’t wait to see what’s in store. 

Rating: 8/10