Ryan Masserman

How do you make a villain most known for hating dogs likable? You retcon her to actually LOVE dogs, of course.

Spoilers ahead. Severance is a show that's far more concerned with appearing "mysterious and important" on the surface than it is with delivering satisfying resolutions to any presented mystery. The overwhelming majority of superficially-surreal ideas go unresolved and unaddressed and have no bearing on the greater story. What do they actually do at Lumen? How could such a company even be profitable? Why does the security team consist only of two people? Why would someone Sever a child? Why are they obsessed with spying on only Mark outside of work and not any other employees? Why does the therapist speak in a ridiculous whisper and order people to "enjoy each fact equally" during their sessions? Why does Cobert randomly break into song as a punishment? Why is the company so invested in preventing employees from leaving even if they are unproductive and disruptive? In Helly's case this makes sense, but why does she even need to be severed? Why couldn't helly just be unsevered like all the other management and get their PR photos that way? Why does reintegraring cause sickness, when all thats happening is you're remembering something you forgot? Why are the employees unable to remember the layout of the severed floor when their entire subjective existence is spent in the same small building? Why is some guy in Lumen randomly raising goats? The answer to all of these questions is "because it seems creepy" with no greater thought to how any of it would affect the world or tie into the story. Innie Helly is especially inconsistent as a character - on her first day, she's ready to quit - on her third, she's already threatening to cut off her fingers, and on her fourth she attempts suicide. But then, on her sixth, she's unreservedly smiling and dancing with Vilchik, and by episode 7 she's kissing Mark despite their complete lack of chemistry or affection for each other at any point in the show. Nothing in the show feels thought out. As a specifc example: In the final episode, Cobert is unwittingly given Mark's baby niece to hold, and they want you to think she's kidnapped her, but instead Colbert left her... strapped in a car seat in a side room? Why? If it was because she was in a hurry, she could have just left the baby with someone else. Why did she take the time to strap her into a car seat just to leave her somewhere random and hidden in the party? (Other than, of course, to try to manufacture tension for a few minutes...) The overwhelming majority of the show is essentially just filler. No new ideas are introduced or explored after the second episode, and a huge amount of unexplored territory was left on the table. Very little time is spent on how severance affects life both socially and individually, which i thought was going to be the whole point of the show. Some may try to argue that many of the answers are still yet to come in later seasons, but nothing I've seen in the first 9 hours of content leads me to believe they have any coherent plan or sense of direction for the series as a whole. The cinematography is really good, especially early. A lot of creative shots and camera work. The acting is well-done as well, with a few notable exceptions. The score, albeit limited to 6 or so repeating songs, served the series fine. However, those elements alone aren't enough to save the show. The poorly conceived story and unexplored world prevent the technical proficiency from shining as it should.

Very underrated and worth playing.