Review

Season 1

Dunno why I've again put myself in a situation where I'm watching a show that is not finished. I simply must stop. It never ever ends well. Either it gets fucking canceled or I have to wait years and goddamn years for it to be over. Sigh.

In either case, a good start to the show. I got flashes of The Good Place with regards to the general humor. Unsure if we're also gonna get some Good Place energy in terms of willfully upending its script and making it impossible to guess where it will go with (good) reveals. At the moment, a lot of the absurd things happening on the severed floor just seemed like deliberate tests to see how far you can push people to do things that make no sense. Rather than there being some actual reason or purpose behind them. My presumption is that the main purpose behind it all is testing the memory technology. But that's just my read on it thus far. And that also feels kind of obvious to me, so not sure what level we're operating on yet. What the fuck was that waffle party?

The one thing that did annoy me was the last episode of the season. I get that the innies have never been on the outside. I get it. But it did make me roll my eyes when we all went over the plan and every single one of them proceeded to totally ignore it the moment they got out and instead started investigating their outside lives. These people were real confident that the plan would last more than long enough that they could piss about doing whatever. I'm just saying, my literal only thought would be set whatever the hell is going on around you aside. Get a paper and pen and immediately put as much knowledge down as you possibly can. Not a single one of these bastards did that. I'm frankly impressed with Dylan. Think about the actual logistics of what he was doing. The idea of physically straining both of your arms outward to hold these dials in place. And the that he was able to hold that for something on the order of 20 or so minutes is wild. My arms woulda been on fire! People really dropped the ball there and I found that annoying. I could feel the artificiality of the tv show needing to express certain dramatic gestures getting a little in the way of things actually feeling correct.

If I had to list another negative, I would also say that I kind of feel like I've seen this already. I struggle to think of where we might go that would actually be unexpected. It just feels like a bit of an Office Space/Truman Show/1984 hybrid and I've seen all of those. As well as seen many things inspired by those. So there is a bit of a sense of futility even if I do like the execution thus far.

Patricia Arquette is a treasure. Highlight of the season. Also Milchick can fucking get it, god damn.

Season 2

I dunno. I heard a lot of sugar spoken about Severance prior to starting it. Enough that I went against my better judgment and started watching even though God knows how far away the end is. I don't dislike it. But the people saying it's the best show on right now...That it's worthy of being in the top of all time list. No. Not at all. It is absolutely a fun show. The humor is very much my jam. Absurd dark humor. Dry wit that doesn't stray into shitty Whedon land. But going off of what we have right now, it is not there.

We are not at a point where if it were to be cancelled right now, I would feel satisfied with what I got. There's too many unanswered questions. I also feel we've left off in a bit of a strange place. What are the innies expecting to happen? It feels like the most logical thing next is some sort of innie revolution. But do they not expect the outie's loved ones to come to Lumon demanding their family back? It just seems obviously untenable. Additionally, I feel a bit weird about the whole cultishness of Lumon and the Eagans. I question how we've even gotten to this point in the modern world and the show hasn't really given me a good answer to that even though we're now two seasons in. Which isn't to say that such an answer isn't coming. But I'm waiting and I'm just getting concerned is all.

My last negative is I feel the writing has also noticeably started to let me down in season two. Why on God's green earth did Devon feel it was a good idea to call Patricia Arquette? She nearly stole your child...I think Devon just thought she was being severely underutilized this season. That whole set of events felt like the plot was leading the writing. And it seemed strange for the big reveal of what's being worked on is Gemma being given multiple personalities. It seemed like a pretty clear extension of what's been shown to us already. If they can make one innie, it seems clear they could make multiple. I guess I'm just not sure what the endgame is here. So we can create many personalities in one person. Okay? What are you wanting to do with that? That a single scapegoat doesn't already solve. Not sure. I wish the show had gone a step farther and given us some idea of what Lumon's actually trying to do here. I feel we haven't really gotten enough to chew on. We already know these people are evil. What could they be planning that is bad enough that it will register as being noticeably worse than what we've already seen? Worldwide giving people multiple personalities? What does that get you?

Why did Mark start reintegrating so early in the season if that plotline still has not actually paid off in any meaningful way? He does this in like episode 2 or 3. We get a couple flashes of crossover memories, but that's largely it. I was really excited when we were moving that story along so early. Really felt like there was a lot of momentum with the writing. But then it just goes nowhere. What was with the weirdo doppelgangers in the outdoor retreat episode? We don't even talk about them within the episode, much less for the rest of the season. Nobody's wondering why we're seeing doppelgangers of ourselves in the distance or feels like discussing? What is with the shitty security in this place? I feel like these people are constantly wandering the halls and getting into all manner of off-limits areas over and over. It's the writing.

I dunno. It's not a bad show, but I definitely would not recommend watching it as is. Wait until the whole thing is done and then see how it goes. I would also say that I'm somewhat nervous we're going to see a Westworld situation where we've done what we can in the confines of the park and feel compelled to leave it and get bigger. But the moment we do that, the tone and everything no longer feels the same. And then it's like I'm watching a whole different show...ehhhh...I left season one feeling interested and engaged. I leave season two feeling very concerned.