TV

Severance

Taking work-life balance to a new level.

Photo: Wilson Webb/Apple TV+

A disturbing rebuttal to the “work-life balance” adages heard in every office; Severance is the latest psychological thriller from AppleTV+. Set at Lumon Industries, Mark Scout (Adam Scott) leads a team of employees who have surgically divided their memories from work and real-life thanks to the severance procedure. When new employee Helly (Britt Lower) rejects her new life as an indentured office drone, the true nature of their work begins to get called into question. Their efforts to find out who they are and what it is they do from nine to five lead to a mystery full of thrilling reveals and plot twists.

Created by Dan Erickson and directed by Ben Stiller and Aoife Mcardle, Severance stars Adam Scott, Britt Lower, John Turturro, Zach Cherry, Patricia Arquette, and Christopher Walken.

  1. Episode 9 The We We Are
    Severance Season-Finale Recap: A Tale of 3 Innies The innies finally get to explore the real world in Severance’s explosive season finale.
  2. Episode 8 What’s for Dinner?
    Severance Recap: The Hour Is Yours The MDR crew plots to find out who they really are. But first, a weird waffle orgy.
  3. Episode 7 Defiant Jazz
    Severance Recap: Dance, Dance, Revolution Everyone is getting their hands dirty in the most suspenseful episode of Severance yet.
  4. Episode 6 Hide and Seek
    Severance Recap: Love in the Time of Severance Is Dylan right that love can transcend severance?
  5. Episode 5 The Grim Barbarity of Optics and Design
    Severance Recap: Inexplicable Goats The refiners explore Lumon’s bizarre depths and only find more questions.
  6. Episode 4 The You You Are
    Severance Recap: Eternal Sunshine of the Severed Mind This week’s episode sets up several potential story lines for (doomed) love in the severed world.
  7. Episode 3 In Perpetuity
    Severance Recap: Museum Madness Please fill out the official request for “TV recap interaction” before reading.
  8. Episode 2 Half Loop
    Severance Recap: Endless Toil Helly tries to make a great escape, and Mark calls in sick.
  9. Episode 1 Good News About Hell
    Severance Series-Premiere Recap: Who Are You? Apple TV+’s newest thriller is a disturbing rebuttal to the “work-life balance” adages heard in every office.
  1. Episode 2 Goodbye, Ms. Selvig
    Severance Recap: A Long Weekend Hopefully, Milchick got overtime pay for all the work he did over the weekend cleaning up Lumon’s mess.
  2. Episode 1 Hello, Ms. Cobel
    Severance Season-Premiere Recap: It’s Been a Minute The Macrodata Refinement team finally gets back to work, both to solve the mysteries of Lumon and to keep existing.
lumon is listening

Yes, It’s Keanu

 How the Severance team got the superstar to go full Rankin/Bass for Lumon’s spookiest propaganda push yet. By Roxana Hadadi
break room gossip

Why Did Helly Lie? And Other Severance Questions.

 A season premiere set entirely on the severed floor offers up some “answers,” but can we believe any of them? By Brian Grubb
clocking in

Let’s Reintegrate Into the World of Severance

 What to remember — and what we still don’t know — about what our innies, outies, and mysterious corporate entity/cult got up to last season. By Erin Qualey

More on Severance

  1. break room
    Christopher Walken Doesn’t Have the ‘Equipment’ to Stream SeveranceLumon does send him DVDs to watch the show.
    By Alejandra Gularte
  2. lumon is listening
    Yes, It’s KeanuHow the Severance team got the superstar to go full Rankin/Bass for Lumon’s spookiest propaganda push yet.
    By Roxana Hadadi
  3. incentives
    The Stories Behind Severance’s Eerie Office DesignMid-century furniture, out-of-time desktop computers, and childish “incentives” build the series’s office as haunted playground aesthetic.
    By Jackson McHenry
  4. announcements
    Watch the Best of Winter TV With UsWe’re launching subscriber-only newsletters about Severance, The White Lotus, and And Just Like That …
    By The Editors
  5. break room gossip
    Why Did Helly Lie? And Other Severance Questions.A season premiere set entirely on the severed floor offers up some “answers,” but can we believe any of them?
    By Brian Grubb
  6. clocking in
    Let’s Reintegrate Into the World of SeveranceWhat to remember — and what we still don’t know — about what our innies, outies, and mysterious corporate entity/cult got up to last season.
    By Erin Qualey
  7. tv review
    It Was Worth the WaitSeverance season two delivers answers. But its greatest pleasure is returning to this world and finding it still exists.
    By Kathryn VanArendonk
  8. 2025 preview
    68 TV Shows We Can’t Wait to See in 2025Old favorites will return, new favorites will emerge, and we will be watching all of it.
    By James Grebey, Ben Rosenstock, and Roxana Hadadi
  9. lumon+
    Severance Heads Back Into the Office for Season TwoThe new trailer welcomes us back into Lumon.
    By Rebecca Alter
  10. trailer mix
    Severance Shows Signs of LifeGet back to work.
    By Jason P. Frank
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