Our hero is Mark (Adam Scott),a perkily upbeat middle manager who leads a small team of data processors at Lumon Industries who have all – according to their own video testimonies – voluntarily undergone the severance procedure pioneered by the company. None of them really understands the work they do,but each of them has their own reason for undergoing severance. In Mark’s case,it’s a way of keeping his grief over the death of his wife at bay,for eight hours a day at least.
The newest recruit is Helly (Britt Lower),and she’s a disrupter,her “innie” self (the worker) refusing to accept that her “outie” would have chosen this path for her. She wants out,but the process is irreversible. Or so supervisor Milchick (Tramell Tillman) and manager Peggy (Patricia Arquette) would have them believe. But is there truth to the rumours of reintegration – and if it’s possible,is it actually what anyone wants?
Although Ben Stiller is lead director and executive producer,Severance (which was created by Dan Erickson) isn’t exactly a comedy. Occasional moments of surreal humour aside,this is a dystopian workplace horror,a welcome addition to an emerging genre that includesLapsis,Sorry to Bother You,Devs andLiving With Yourself (with echoes ofEternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind).
It’s a nightmare vision of late capitalism,in which techno-corporates inveigle their way into the most private of spaces – the brain,the body,the soul,memory,desire – in order to extract maximum productivity. They pay lip service to words like choice,care and compassion but really their only concern is profit.
According to the thinking of founder Kier Eagan – his every thought captured in three volumes of the Compliance Handbook – the Lumon employee will find the greatest realisation of his or herself through utter devotion to the company and its goals.