How Severance’s cold outside world adds to his miserable mystique

Lots of to cut First season It takes place inside the Lumon Industries building, specifically the underground “cut-off” floor where the main characters work. It’s a strangely empty space, where departments are segregated from each other, to the point where office culture encourages them to fear each other. But maybe it’s just downright disgusting to cutThe outside world, which promises to get further exploration in the show Season two.

You’d think the audience would immediately relate more to this outside world. The Lumon we see is populated mostly by people who have chosen to undergo a procedure that creates a completely separate identity for them – one that never leaves the office. It also contains a strange ancient technology used to complete “mysterious and important” number crunching tasks that no one can actually explain; A room inhabited by baby goats for unknown reasons; Strange rituals meant to lift the spirits in a place that completely absorbs the soul; and the outright worship of Le Mon’s founder, Keir Egan, and his descendants.

However, there is not much relief to be found once the “insiders” turn into “outsiders” and return home at the end of the day. In addition to having to face whatever unpleasantness made them think that undergoing separation was a solid career move – for Adam Scott’s Mark, it’s a mental vacation from remembering that his wife died in a car accident a few years ago – they live in Kerr, a community town. As frustrating as it is miserable. and coldalthough we didn’t spend enough time there to know if there were any seasons other than the icy and dreary winter.

Even if there were mild summer months in Kerr, that would not dissolve the sterile feeling that permeates the city, nor alleviate the mystique of Kerr that doesn’t seem to really exist… anywhere. In Season 1, we’re told that Kerr and the nearby town of Ganz — home to Ganz University, where Mark used to teach history before Lomon — are located in “PE” state, which is clearly not a real place. Vehicle license plates bear the phrase “Remedium Hominibus,” which of course translates (“Remedy for Humanity”) It seems To be a reference to the Kerr-Egan pharmaceutical lineage.

but to cut It has a foothold in our world, as the mention of certain geographical locations (Alexa, who briefly dates Mark, is from Montana) and cultural elements (Betty and Daughter jam to Metallica; Irving paints his own dark picture by blasting Motorhead) suggests. Despite the outdated technology in the office, which meshes well with Lomon’s love of carefully designed artificial environments, the technologies outside are clearly 21st century: they have cell phones and use the Internet.

However, there is still a feeling that Kier is a place separate from what we might find familiar. It’s an overtly corporate city. The restaurants are named after members of the Egan family (“Pip’s Diner”, supposedly named after Lumon’s former CEO), and Mark’s existential terror unfolds during the nights he spends in his Lumon-subsidized tenement – a public townhouse on a street full of houses Identical public housing, with as many vacant residences as Lumon’s vacant offices.

Later in the first season, we see Irving, Mark’s co-worker, has a similar apartment, albeit in a different neighborhood (at least he has a dog; Mark only has a pair of sad goldfish). We also learn in Season 1 that Mark’s neighbor (Patricia Arquette) is actually his boss at Lumon, which of course his partner is completely unaware of; She is not cut off, but takes on a different identity to better spy on his activities. Mark may not be aware of this fact until the end of season one, but it adds a sinister layer to what is already a lonely and bleak existence.

Not everyone who lives in Kier works at Lumon. In the first season, we meet Mark’s sister Devon (Jane Tullock) and her husband, Ricken (Michael Chernus), who are about to become parents for the first time, and whose social lives mostly revolve around Ricken (the self-help author) and his boastful friends. . Through these characters, and later as we follow Mark’s confused efforts to learn more about Lomon’s inner workings, we learn that there is indeed a resistance movement against secession. We’re also attesting to the fact that non-Lumon employees have conflicting views on termination, which is just the kind of conversation to make an awkward dinner party even more awkward.

To counter this, we also learn that Lomon has powerful allies in the government, including a state senator whose glamorous wife undergoes the procedure so she can give birth and has no memory of it, leading to two strange confrontations with Devon on and off the country. The facility where they have their children.

how to cutOur geographical universe may be expanding in Season 2, and it’s yet to be seen – glimpses of what’s to come indicate that we’ll be spending more time on Outer Earths, as we emerge from the end of Season 1, where Mark and his teammates Irving and Haley R. Briefly immersed in their outside life. The Season 2 premiere, which takes place entirely inside Lumon with the Iny Mark, reminds us just how big that moment was — not just because of the realization they all come to about their other selves, but because the Inys aren’t never Otherwise exposed to the outside world.

As Season 2 begins, one of Mark’s new colleagues excitedly asks him, “How’s the sky?”; You also ask what condition they are in and what the wind looks like. His lack of answers or even enthusiasm about seeing what is essentially a complete fantasy land is frustrating. But maybe if she saw Kerr for herself, she would understand.

New episodes of to cut Arrives Fridays on Apple TV+.

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