Severance

John Turturro as Irving and Christopher Walken as Burt Goodman in Severance, Season 1, Episode 2, “Half Loop” (2022) (image courtesy Apple TV+).

The same propaganda that is used to inspire the workforce is used to separate them. By placing Kier, the company founder, at its visual center, the employees are convinced of a greater purpose. The map made by ex-employee Petey (Yul Vazquez) features a nod to Basquiat: a crude scribble of a crowned head bearing its teeth. This room, with its mid-century furnishings, is based on the work of architect Eero Saarinen, and its green hues, reminiscent of Edward Hopper’s “Nighthawks” (1942). Hopper’s lonely city reverberates throughout Severance, with its stark fluorescent lighting and vast negative space. This is only the beginning of the show’s aesthetic intentions, as through Severance’s art-inspired sets, we receive hints of Lumon’s great plans and subliminal manipulation of its employees. Severance, the Apple TV sci-fi thriller set to return for a second season after premiering in February, is eerily close to our working world.