SPOILERS!
If you haven’t yet seen Severance (Apple TV+) I urge you to watch! The acting, directing, and story are fantastic. Since there are SPOILERS AHEAD, I invite you to watch Season 1 and the first episode of season 2 before reading this.
Archetypal TV – Thoughts on Severance Season 1 and S2Ep1
Severance’s “high-concept” is compelling. In a future world, workers can undergo an operation to split their memories so that they have a workplace Self (an Innie) and an outside-of-work Self (their Outie). An Innie and Outie are separated by an elevator transition so they have no memories or even knowledge of each other’s lives.
This sci-fi, dystopian drama has hit a nerve in the culture. Passionate fans post many hypotheses of what the show means and where it is going. Some make lists of tiny continuity errors as proof of their theories. (How many times does one need to watch a scene to notice that the pencil in the next cut now sits one inch closer to the computer?)
Severance resonates because of its inherent commentary on the anguish and frustrations of the modern workplace. Could it also enthrall us because of archetypal, depth-psychology themes?
The split between Innies and Outies reminds me of the split between my conscious and unconscious Selves. My conscious ego (pronouns I/me/mine) is mostly unaware of what happens in my unconscious life (pronouns unknown). Dreams might give me a clue, in the same way that Innies might notice that they have red eyes when they come to work. They can only wonder if they are sleep deprived, or perhaps they were crying? But the Innies in Severance mostly don’t notice these clues (in the same way that I’m unable or unwilling to remember or decipher my dreams).
Like a fairy tale, the Innies start season one under the spell of Lumon, the company that controls their lives. Then, as the Innies slowly and painfully gain consciousness of their situation, they decide to bring this new consciousness back into their Hell, in order to learn more, especially to learn the truth about Lumon, i.e. who they serve. They are each tethered to a work they do not understand and a strange life into which they were born. Sound familiar?
What moves me about the end of season 1 and the first episode of season 2 (premiered last night) is that the four main characters undertake a heroic journey (another archetypal theme) to discover what they don’t know. They agree to stay in their (often) hellish workplace in order to learn the truth about their lives and to help each other.
This heroic willingness to suffer in order to learn and gain wholeness moves me. It is the archetypal journey I must take day after day. If I am to grow into my own wholeness as an individual, I need to explore my unseen, unconscious Self. I need to offer that Self love and compassion, in the same way that these four Innies offer themselves compassion, even when their own Outies refuse to offer it to them.
We do live a kind of severed life. Like the characters in the series, my inner and outer parts see their counterparts with fascination, disappointment and (as in Helly’s case) shame.
As season two continues, I hope my nascent theory about the show holds up. We’ll see.
Here are some other fan theories on Severance.
Favorite Severance Quotes —
Burt Says Goodbye -“I Am Certain You Will Remain With Me In Spirit, In Some Deep And Yet Completely Unaccessible Corner Of My Mind.”
Mark: “Our Job Is To Taste Free Air. Your So-Called Boss May Own The Clock That Taunts You From The Wall, But, My Friends, The Hour Is Yours.
For more on film and fairytales, see some of our scrappy films here!