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Comment by refulgentis | Hacker News Reader

I'd love to be talked into this show.

The concept seems tedious and heavyhanded and the article slots right into my confirmation bias — I haven't seen dull meaningfulness like "the finger trap represents how work is a trap and how wellness perks are a trap because you like them but they're from work" since high school AP lit.

I'm sure I'm missing something.

Maybe I get indignant about it because I don't come from much, I didn't understand this strain of thinking when I was at Google, and I saw it predominantly in people who had lived a whole life where a fridge full of drinks of your choosing was a choice, not a gift.

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I’ll take a swing at it. It seems like your read on the show currently is that it’s a dilbert / office space style take down of the banality of office culture, which there are some little references to certainly but is not the point of the show.

The real central themes are about how much of who we are is innate and how much is our accumulation of experiences (nature vs nurture). This intersects in interesting ways with explorations of authoritarianism, corporate power, religion, trauma, coping mechanisms, and scientific ethics.

All of this is wrapped up in a mysterious setting and presented through fantastic acting, directing and production design. I look forward to it every week in a way I haven’t since the first couple seasons of LOST.

Sold, by LOST (inter alia; this comment really sold me) :)

Thanks to you and others, really enjoyed the comments

Biggest thing I was missing was 'remember: work bad :<' is a reading / theme, not the message or the theme. I especially missed there was a scifi angle.

If Stanley Kubrick made a television series, he'd make Severance. For some people that makes it a must-watch, for others, not so much.

yes, exactly. some people like "weird" and thus probably would like almost anything by kubrick. (i am that person.) but no matter what, my wonderful spouse does not like "weird" tv or movies, and thus does not and will never like kubrick movies (or severance). she's ride-or-die for the hallmark channel, though.

> The concept seems tedious and heavyhanded and the article slots right into my confirmation bias — I haven't seen dull meaningfulness like "the finger trap represents how work is a trap and how wellness perks are a trap because you like them but they're from work" since high school AP lit.

You’re free to read, or not read, the show as much as you want. It’s still decent read as just a sci-fi thriller.

its one of the few shows raising the bar while nearly everything else seems to be intended to churn out "content"

its legitimately artistic and the last episode especially so. it was the first thing directed by the show's cinematographer and is roundly celebrated by professional critics

its incredible looking satire with quality writing

What you're missing is the people inside this environment are essentially prisoners and childlike versions of their outer selves, with no memories or experiences of an actual life outside of it.

For them these perks hold more meaning than you might expect as their life is completely devoid of any real meaning or purpose, although only one particular character actually relishes in them.

I initially held off from watching the show as the concept sounded ludicrous and stifling. But it is wildly original and thought provoking, as well the cinematography and sound design is outstanding. Every little detail is like a carefully crafted puzzle piece that eventually fits together into the larger, expanding narrative, with little in the way of cruft.

The childlikeness of the "innies" and general presentation of the "inside" is one of the things that broke my suspension of disbelief, because what useful work can they do in that state and environment, even if you only assume a pretense of usefulness? In addition, hardly any sensible work is being shown (IIRC).

At this point in the story they're finally connecting what the work is and why they may be uniquely qualified to do it.

I can't really give any useful clues to what that is aside from saying it's a bit of an experiment within an experiment.

What takes me out of the show is that the premise collapses after a moment of critical thinking: US citizens cannot sign away basic civil rights in a contract. If you signed a contract wherein you agreed to stay in a location for a certain number of hours no matter what was done to you, that contract would not be enforceable.

And what possible justification could a company have for blocking any communication between an innie and an outie, even if no confidential information was involved? The only justification would have to be “because we want to be free to abuse your innie, duh!”

I think the premise is that you're happier and work better because you're free of other trauma in your life. i.e. those who agree to severance have something to escape from.

Do you enjoy … any fiction? Sheesh

IMO, the central idea of the show -- that being Severed represents you in two different ways -- its a lie. There's something else going on there. I think I've figured it out, but I'm not gonna post potential spoilers!

I think the thing you're missing is that the dull meaningfulness -- also a lie. The entire thing isn't what it seems. THAT is my hook! (Yes, I could be wrong, that OK, its just entertainment) :)

The show has an excellent sci-fi mystery at the core of it that keeps me going. It feels thoroughly designed in a way many television mysteries don’t, especially long running ones.

The #relatable office antics angle is certainly important towards the sci-fi mystery being told, but it’s definitely oversold IMO. Almost as if the main thing people liked about Twin Peaks were the romance subplots.

Ahhhh I see, tyty

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