The premise is an Alphabet/Apple-like company, Lumen, not merely asking for a non-disclosure contract of their employees, but requiring them to have brain-surgery, installing mind-controlling hardware. Making the employee not remember anything from work after leaving the companys premises at end of day, but picking up again upon return next morning. A Severance. (A riff on Elon Musks projected Neuralink).
The Severance-procedure splits your conciousness into two completely separate identities; two minds inhabiting the same body in turn. The regular old you, as the «outer-person» outside the workplace; and the newly created you, the «inner-person» knowing only the workplace. The «inner-person» retains all inherent and learned traits, but somehow no identity-related or inter-personal memories. How? Sci......fantasy fiction. Fair enough.
From the very beginning one wonders about the ethics of someone willing to have this done to themselves and sign away all control and responsibility for any and every actions their other self may perform for the duration of every work-day. Such a person must be either be extremely irresponsible or an absolute monster to allow themselves possibly (probably) becoming an unknowing, unwitting tool for nefarious activities. The show however is not very interested in this most ovious question, as it rather spends several episodes framing stylish minimalistic exteriors, endlessly looping the same people walking down the same white corridors and doing meaningless tasks at terminals while being repeatedly bullied by management; all being amazingly slow on the uptake as everything is to be very mysterious. It takes six episodes to get around to questioning the morality of the «outer-person» not caring how the «inner-person» might fare. But not one of the Severed, even after years seems to care if they are possibly being used as tools for the vilest depravity, crimes against humanity or whatever else necessitating total memory loss after clocking out. This omission is so glaring, as to poison any satirical nuance the show may try to offer on work-place politics. Every Severed employee sheepishly accepts being locked up against their will and treated like children, performing task they find unintelligible year on end without question, seemingly without any need for more human contact than platonic relationships with a handful of collegues.
Dilbert by Scott Adams did a much better an more poignant job of exposing office politics, in an entertaining way. Without the boring pretentions.
Not sure I will follow this into a second season, as this show is just too shallow and meandering.
This first season might have worked better if tightened a bit, by about 8 episodes, as it has just enough meat on the bone for an episode of a show like Twilight Zone or Black Mirror.
The Severance-procedure splits your conciousness into two completely separate identities; two minds inhabiting the same body in turn. The regular old you, as the «outer-person» outside the workplace; and the newly created you, the «inner-person» knowing only the workplace. The «inner-person» retains all inherent and learned traits, but somehow no identity-related or inter-personal memories. How? Sci......fantasy fiction. Fair enough.
From the very beginning one wonders about the ethics of someone willing to have this done to themselves and sign away all control and responsibility for any and every actions their other self may perform for the duration of every work-day. Such a person must be either be extremely irresponsible or an absolute monster to allow themselves possibly (probably) becoming an unknowing, unwitting tool for nefarious activities. The show however is not very interested in this most ovious question, as it rather spends several episodes framing stylish minimalistic exteriors, endlessly looping the same people walking down the same white corridors and doing meaningless tasks at terminals while being repeatedly bullied by management; all being amazingly slow on the uptake as everything is to be very mysterious. It takes six episodes to get around to questioning the morality of the «outer-person» not caring how the «inner-person» might fare. But not one of the Severed, even after years seems to care if they are possibly being used as tools for the vilest depravity, crimes against humanity or whatever else necessitating total memory loss after clocking out. This omission is so glaring, as to poison any satirical nuance the show may try to offer on work-place politics. Every Severed employee sheepishly accepts being locked up against their will and treated like children, performing task they find unintelligible year on end without question, seemingly without any need for more human contact than platonic relationships with a handful of collegues.
Dilbert by Scott Adams did a much better an more poignant job of exposing office politics, in an entertaining way. Without the boring pretentions.
Not sure I will follow this into a second season, as this show is just too shallow and meandering.
This first season might have worked better if tightened a bit, by about 8 episodes, as it has just enough meat on the bone for an episode of a show like Twilight Zone or Black Mirror.