
If the words
“innies” and “outies” mean more to you than the unpredictable anatomical structure of the human belly button, then you’ve been among the millions mesmerized by the first
season of “Severance.” That season also boasted one of the most impressive finales in streaming history.
Those who
got obsessively invested in the visually stunning, twisted, futuristic yet oddly vintage sci-fi thriller had to wait three long years, until about two weeks ago, for the second season to start.
I have it on good authority that the return of the series gave some otherwise depressed people new life.
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The complicated concept of the dystopian drama, streaming on AppleTV+, is that a group of employees at Lumon Industries, a murky, cult-like
corporation housed in a space-age office building (actually the former Bell Labs in New Jersey), have undergone "severance." That means they’ve gotten a brain implant that results in
becoming two distinct selves. The procedure blocks their work life from their home life so thoroughly that while roaming the gleaming white maze-like hallways of Lumon’s
“severance floor," the innies, as they’re called, have zero awareness of their lives on the outside, while at home, the outies have been stripped of any knowledge of their everyday work
experiences.
The star of the show is actor Adam Scott, who plays Mark S. (I love the way they use a last initial, the way they do in
preschool.) He’s the team leader for the “Macrodata Refinement” team, who, after a visit from a disappeared fellow refiner, starts having an existential crisis about Lumon’s
shadowy activities.
Created by Dan Erickson and largely directed by Ben Stiller, “Severance” is as visually
transporting as the sci-fi world it builds -- and it feels right for our dystopian times.
But in the midst of all the off-key details,
perhaps it’s an inside joke that while the show streams on AppleTV+, the actors work at seriously ugly, clunky, Soviet-style 1980’s desktop computers.
By the time the first season was released, it was two years into COVID, with office life as we’d known it ceasing. Perhaps by then some
viewers had lost the muscle memory of that work-life split -- of having to commute and commit to spending most of their daylight hours penned up in an office.
Now, however, just as various corporate overlords are demanding that employees return to the office for the old five-day work week, it’s a
fitting time for "Severance"'s comeback.
There was a promotional and ad aspect to the return as well.
Despite not being known for its
exhaustive marketing budgets for previous shows, which largely operated on fan-generated buzz, this time Apple managed to pull off one of the best immersive experiences of all time.

On Jan. 14, a giant
clear glass box, like an office tank, was placed in in New York City’s Grand Central Station. Inside, Adam Scott and the rest of his team set about recreating their workday, never breaking
character. They sat at their usual bulky stations, inputting, talking, fooling and walking around. At one point, Mark S. diligent boss that he is, swept the carpet.
This highly unnatural environment was at once familiar and eerie, like the TV show. Except this time it was both a glassed-in living art installation and a science
experiment.
The stunt drew a massive crowd, with proud papa Ben Stiller spotted in the mob taking photos. It immediately became the object of a social media explosion that, according to
Forbes magazine, “sent the Internet into a meltdown.”
A perfect portal, it’s sure to live on, not only online but by winning metal at this year’s awards
shows.
Ad-wise, Philip’s Norelco and Apple TV+ also launched a knowing co-branded promotion, that will run on channels like
Insta, You Tube, Reddit, and Snapchat.
A voiceover from the character Milchick (actor Tramell Tillman) welcomes Lumon employees back to the office, with the focus on grooming in line
with the Lumon “handbook.”
Of course, Norelco already had a relationship with “facial hair enthusiast and brand ambassador” Adam Scott. He’s featured in the
ad along with the gang of costars who appeared with him in the box: Tillman, Zach Cherry (“Dylan”) Britt Lower (Helly) and John Turturro (Irving)
As for the landing page, it only
features the men, under the headline “Smooth. Sharp. Office Ready.” Each of the male characters is given a thumbnail portrait and a different grooming instrument. Mark S is
given a “face shaver” so that he can experience “ultimate closeness and comfort,” something that the highly agitated character is far from achieving.
Still, everything
depends on what happens this season, with all of its inevitable ups and downs -- not to mention innies and outies.