Severance Recommendation: Might I Tempt You With Old Man Yaoi?

If you’re looking for a story that digs deep down into your brain and won’t let go, you should definitely watch Severance. 

If the title got you to open this article, it did its job. There’s Old Man Yaoi here. But I do have to admit off the bat that Severance is not primarily a romance. It’s a soft science fiction, mystery box, dark absurdist comedy, workplace thriller/horror show that analyzes the essence of human emotions. This includes romantic elements. I can’t say I feel too bad using the particular pairing in the title to pull you in, though, because it’s still a moving one and left me thinking about it a lot afterwards.

But I’m getting ahead of myself. Let’s start with the literal elevator pitch and then go forward from there.

What is Severance?

As mentioned, Severance is a blend of many genres, but it’s primarily a complex mystery box show that centers around a group of people who undergo a ‘severance’ procedure. This procedure essentially splits their work-life from the rest of their memories. Once they descend the elevator to work (yes, the Severance Floor is underground) they forget everything about who they are in the outside world, and when they go back up, they forget everything they do in the office.

Their office selves (“Innies”) don’t even know their real last names. They don’t know if they’re married or have kids. They don’t know what state they were born in or the color of their mother’s eyes. They’ve never experienced the above ground world or seen the sky.

The puzzle box elements of the show are fairly detailed, often being compared to Lost in their complexity. Now please don’t let the mention of Lost scare you off from this. I know a huge chunk of the fandom was disappointed with how it turned out, but the adventure was incredibly fun when it was in motion.

Mystery box shows have stuck the landing in the years since, such as Fringe, so the there’s too reason to see this as a positive comparison. I would say this show has shown a lot of promise for answering a lot of the mysteries they’ve introduced so far, so that bodes well for the overall story. As of this writing there are eleven episodes and we’ve already had three massive, mind blowing reveals that they could have dragged on for many years, but they chose not to do so. 

The setting is unnerving.

This recommendation is generally spoiler-free (except that two men fall in love with each other, which I very intentionally chose to use to pull in all you Old Man Yaoi Fans), but I do need to give you at least a light rundown on the type of puzzle this puzzle box consists of. Please bear with me as I give you a broad overview.

The company that severed these employees, ‘Lumon,’ seems to be part multi-national conglomerate and part cult. The work, as one character puts it, is “mysterious and important.” An ongoing gag, which is introduced in the first episode, is the seemingly endless, bland, confusing maze of hallways, which are usually completely empty and silent. The Innies don’t know how many people work on the Severed Floor, nor how many other departments there are. They aren’t even allowed to make maps in an attempt to figure this stuff out, either. 

The technology in the outside world seems incongruent.  Characters have smart phones, but seem to drive cars from the ’70s and ’80s. It doesn’t even appear to take place in a real state, either. The initials for the state the characters live in is PE, though the zip code and environment seem to indicate it takes place in the northeast somewhere. Most of the shooting locations were around New York City so presumably this “PE” is somewhere in that general area. 

All these details about the outside world make things feel ever so slightly off, but whether these details are part of the puzzle or just details that make up parts of an unsettling atmosphere, we can’t yet say for sure. Speculating every week with friends on the internet is what’s so fun about it, though. And besides, I don’t know about you, but I could definitely use an in depth, time consuming hobby to distract from real world woes right now.

The heart of the show is the characters.

Yes, friends, we’re getting close to be explaining how this ties back into the Old Man Yaoi I tempted you with in the beginning, but not quite. Stick with me a bit longer. We’re almost there.

The severed characters each have an “Innie,” who works at the office, and an “Outie” who lives in the outside world. We get to know Outie Mark Scout, also known as Innie Mark S (played by Adam Scott), on both sides of the elevator fairly well. Innie Mark S is unexpectedly promoted to the head of the department when the current department chief, his best friend Petey, is suddenly no longer with the company.

Mark S almost immediately has to train a new hire, Helly R. We’re largely introduced to the concept of severance through Helly. We’re also introduced to terror that one would feel when you realize you can never actually leave work. As soon as the elevator closes, it’s opening for you again and another work day is about to begin. Worse yet, communication with your Outie is tightly controlled, and you are given very little information about what’s going on above ground. It’s suffocating and horrifying. 

Helly and Mark work in Macro Data Refinement, a four person department situated in a tightly packed set of cubicles in the middle of a room with an unpleasant and off-putting green carpet. Another member of MDR is Dylan G, who is a competitive refiner with a quick wit. He’s driven by the (hilariously lackluster) reward system, but you can’t exactly call him serious. Much of the comedic relief comes from him, and you’ll quickly grow to love him. 

And then you have Irving B, the oldest of the group, and seemingly most devoted the the religious overtones of the Lumon company. He can recite quotes from the original founder by heart and does so frequently and fervently. He’s a stickler for the rules and fully buys in on the fanatical ethos of Lumon Industries.

The departments aren’t supposed to intermingle, but Irving does inadvertently meet a man named Burt from Optics and Design (played by Christopher Walken), and, well, congratulations, you’ve made it to Old Man Yaoi. And the one bit of the plot I’m willing the somewhat spoil for you in an attempt to entice you to give this show a try. They bond over their shared love of the paintings depicting the life and history of Lumon founder Keir Eagan.

The romance is rather tragic, however. These two people only exist here on the Severed Floor. They don’t know who they are in the outside world. They don’t know if they have relationships or families up there. They can never go on a typical date. They can never get married to one another. All they have are shared moments in hidden rooms away from the prying eyes of their corporate overlords.  It’s a pretty heavy analysis of human relationships, honestly.

And Burt and Irving aren’t the only ones we explore these heavy themes through, either. But I did promise to keep this recommendation generally spoiler free, so I won’t be getting too deeply into the others here. But there’s a lot to explore both between the Innies in their Innie world, and in the Outies above ground. And there are non-Severed employees of Lumon with their own interesting and mysterious motivations, too.

Basically, what does it mean to be a human? How much of our identity is wrapped up in our memories? Are we are more authentic selves when we’re free of the weight of society, or are those experiences what shape us into complete human beings? There’s some pretty cutting critique on the mundanity of the corporate world and how little workers are valued by mega corps, which straddle the line between comedy and horror.

I know the world is incredibly bleak right now, and pitching a psychological soft sci-fi office horror show as an escape might not make a lot of sense, but somehow it works. I’d much rather be discussing color theory with some nerds on Reddit than stressing out about world news that’s beyond my control. Perhaps you will, too.

So give Severance a shot if you could use a break. And maybe I’ll make a follow up post with some theories about what the heck might be going on here!

Author: Angel Wilson

Angel is the admin of The Geekiary and a geek culture commentator. They earned a BA in Film & Digital Media from UC Santa Cruz. They have contributed to various podcasts and webcasts including An Englishman in San Diego, Free to Be Radio, and Genre TV for All. They identify as queer.

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