Ben Stiller's new Apple TV+ show is a sprawling, twisty thriller in the vein of Charlie Kaufman.
And as the storylines intersect towards the end of the season, the show appears to be setting Mark up with at least three potential love interests, which is at least two too many. His “outie” is a former professor who is grieving the death of his beloved wife; he took the Lumon gig to give at least one version of himself a slice of life without so much sorrow. To placate its increasingly agitated cadre of workers, Lumon sends them to “wellness” sessions, where a counselor-type named Ms. Casey (Dichen Lachman) encourages art therapy and coos about how great their “outie” persona is. As an “innie,” she will only know what happens within the confines of their office, with no inkling of who she is on the outside, whether she has hobbies or hopes or family who love her. Helly (Britt Lower) wakes up on a conference table, discombobulated, to the sound of her boss’s voice. Like Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, it’s about a man trying to deal with the grief of lost love by messing with his memory via experimental surgery.
"Severance," a new Apple TV+ thriller directed by Ben Stiller, imagines a near-future where you can shut off your brain during work.
Irving finds mutual attraction with the gentle Burt (Christopher Walken), a Lumon employee in another department. "Severance" is at its best and most revealing when it grapples with the more existential issues of its brainwashing technology, especially in how it affects relationships. What Mark and his co-workers – the jocular Dylan (Zach Cherry) and anxious Irving (John Turturro) – do all day isn't really important at the outset, nor would they be able to tell you.
With an all-star cast that boasts dynamite performances from Patricia Arquette, Christopher Walken, John Turturro, Britt Lower, and Adam Scott — playing not one ...
“I had to drown out the memory of Mom and Dad switching out our beds when we were kids” and “I’m sure you would make a fucking awesome niece.” He chats for a few minutes and then scoots out of there, leaving Mark with a cryptic letter in a red envelope. They liken the procedure to “trapping” the work version of Mark in the Lumon basement, which obviously frustrates him. So it’s for the love of Devon that Mark finds himself at a foodless dinner party, which may actually be the true version of hell on earth. His one saving grace is his sister, Devon (Jen Tullock), with whom he seems to have a genuine and deep connection with. Only the severed workers don’t actually have to do the dragging; it’s the “real life” counterparts that do that particular dirty work. At one point, Ms. Cobel shares with Mark some good news about hell (hey, that’s the name of this episode!), which is that it’s a construct made up by overactive human imaginations. She clocks him in the head hard with the speaker and then demands to leave. As we come to find in the “real world,” the severance process is mired in ethical, moral, and legal debate, but Mark doesn’t care about all that. Upper management is represented by Mr. Milchick (Tramell Tilman), who appears to be a faithful overseer of operations, and Ms. Cobel (Patricia Arquette), who seems to be quite the boss from hell. You see, Mark has chosen to go through a process called severance in which he has elected to have his work memories separated from those of his everyday life. As we shadow Mark for a day of work in the premier episode, it’s pretty clear that he’s in over his (severed) head.
Olympia screenwriter Dan Erickson gives us a behind-the-scenes look at his journey from Western Washington University to “Severance,” premiering Feb.
Adam Scott gives the performance of his career in “Severance” — a good thing, as Apple TV+'s nimble, riveting workplace thriller-dramedy is enough to make ...
The Freak Brothers (2021): Based on Gilbert Shelton’s cult classic 1960s comic, "The Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers," this adult animated series follows three hippie stoners who smoke a magical strain of weed in 1969 and fall into a 50-year slumber, only to wake up in the 2020s. The platform gives fans of entertainment, news and sports an easy way to discover new content that is available completely free. "From" should be catnip for fans of character-driven small-town horror — big Stephen King vibes here — but the real key to its success is its clever world-building. Find her on Twitter and Instagram at @allisonshoe. Allison is a Tomatometer-approved Top Critic on Rotten Tomatoes. "The Freak Brothers" is a Tubi Original. Rated TV-MA. One season, 8 episodes. Mark S. receives a menacing promotion (with the offer of a handshake on request) from his menacing boss Mrs. Corbel (a terrific Patricia Arquette) and her right-hand man Mr. Milchick (Tramell Tillman, great) — he’s replacing his best friend Petey (Yul Vasquez, also great) who is "no longer with the company." We may not all have coffeemakers branded with our employer’s logos waiting on us at home, but the questions "Severance" asks about how we sell and spend our time and how we’re shaped by the corporations that employ us are as relevant to the real world as they are to this fictional one. Scott ("Parks and Recreation") plays Mark Scout, a former professor whose grief drove him to accept a job on the "severed" floor at Lumon Industries, a ubiquitous, mysterious and massively powerful corporation that’s developed a technology that brings a whole new meaning to the idea of work/life balance. This one stars the criminally underrated Harold Perrineau (" William Shakespeare’s Romeo + Juliet ," "Lost") as the sheriff of a town no one can ever leave, which is unfortunately also stalked by mysterious person-devouring monsters at night. But Stiller and McArdle (as well as director of photography Jessica Lee Gagné) put in work every bit as intricate and impressive as that of their colleagues. Of all the gin joints in all the world, he had to walk into one it is literally impossible to escape from where scary things nibble meat off human ribcages. Stiller, an executive producer who directs the majority of the episodes in this excellent first season, won’t be the only one to blame.
Creator Dan Erickson and Executive Producer Ben Stiller hope there's a 'Severance' Season 2 because they have plans for it.
There’s just so much of a world to build here, and I think that we’re just now starting to see the cracks in the Lumon world and see what might be beyond in the greater world.” “There is an ending to the season that would hopefully make you want to see another season,” Stiller said. From what he’s told us about the second season, what we’ve talked about, that the ending of that season poses even more questions. And as time went on and you just thought about sort of the endless applications for something like this, I think it became clear to me that this is a world we wanted to take our time and explore.” “It is a story that I initially thought of or tossed around in my head the idea that as a movie or a limited series. Exactly where a Severance Season 2 might go could spoil the season 1 finale.