Apple TV's Severance is back with its Season 2 after a wait of three years, and the premiere has proved that the sophomore season would be even more brutal and mind-bending for the audiences.
Since its inception, fans have noticed the show's surreal commentary on work culture and how it is a social commentary on the work-life balance.
Season 2 lays out further symbolism for the fans to decode. While the show's premise is designed to be fictional, the nuances are a surrealist commentary on the work culture and how big corporate organizations exploit their employees, who always oblige them in hopes of a higher pay or position.
More on Severance's social commentary on the work culture in our story.
*Disclaimer- This article is based on the author's opinion. Reader discretion is advised.*
Severance is a surrealist commentary on work culture
While the experiment itself is fictional, many fans of the show have eerily connected to the Lumon employees and how they are subtly exploited by their supervisors. A big instance is in Season 2, where Mark asks his supervisors to get his old team back.
In the Severance Season 2 premiere, when Mark returns to the MDR office, he finds that his old team is not there, and he requests his supervisors to get his old team of Helly and Irving back. But it is only after he requests three times that his request is granted, and Milchik suddenly gets his old team back.
This could have been negated if this 'three-time' pattern didn't match a similar experience with Helly in Season 1. In Severance Season 1, Helly also requests three times before she is let out of the room in which she wakes up.
Fans have noticed that this detail is similar to what is observed in call centers and customer services. In some customer services, an employee has to ask three times before speaking to a manager, which closely mimics the process shown in the show. The idea behind this is to mentally exhaust a person by making them ask for a thing repeatedly until they no longer request it, which is exactly what these companies want.
Reddit comments on Severance's commentary on work culture
In addition, some fans have also commented on the infrastructure of the Lumon building, especially the severed floor, which is built like a never-ending labyrinth with dull white walls. The long corridors and seemingly endless pathways are built to invoke a sense of dread and anxiety, which most people associate with corporations or with their workspaces.
The labyrinth-like structure is symbolic of the corporate labyrinth and how it is difficult to leave once somebody enters it.
Another subtle commentary that Severance makes is its incentives for its employees, which are useless in the real world. Like in the show, companies often gift their employees with gift cards and coupons to make them feel 'rewarded' for the extra work they put in, and this user, u/PM_ME_, agrees with it:
''Yep! Definitely what happens IRL constantly. Companies incentivize employees with high score lists, pizza parties, or vouchers for the very store they work at all the time. None of which really helps us in the real world. What’s worst is increased responsibility as incentive, without an actual pay raise. What a scam.''
Another user, u/Pinus_palustris_, points out the absurdity of the finger traps as incentives, which is symbolic of how all their innies are trapped here:
''I love how one of their rewards is the finger trap, the most literal representation of the position they're all in — trapped by and fighting against their own self.''
Another aspect the show highlights is how conflicting people feel outside and inside of their work, where they want to quit their toxic jobs at home. But the following day, they again wake up and go, and this is embodied beautifully in Helly, as pointed out by u/DramaticProgress508:
''I think it's so funny that Helly is revolting to this point while on the outside she is suppressing her feelings so much. The psychology of the fact that most people just want to go to work and get done with it. And Helly has such strong reactions to it that just don't go away. It really shows the real world. I love this show so much.''
Keep tuned to Severance Season 2 on Apple TV+ to catch on new symbolism in the upcoming episodes.
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