Look, I know what you’re thinking after reading that headline: this guy can’t be serious. He surely exists on a steady diet of Marvel movies and Grey’s Anatomy, has the attention span of a housefly, or is deliberately baiting readers with a controversial opinion to incite chaos in the comments section. But before you send me to the Break Room, please allow me to explain my reasoning.
Like you, I think Severance is the best Apple TV+ show to date and quite possibly the best show on TV, period, since 2019’s Chernobyl. It’s certainly the most original show I’ve ever seen, and I’m grateful for its refusal to spoon-feed its audience answers and the puzzle-like viewing experience it encourages – make sure to go back and read our episodic retrospectives, starting with (depending on where you’re up to) our biggest theories for Severance season 2 episode 1.
Ben Stiller’s workplace thriller is disturbing, hilarious, mysterious, and wholly unique in today’s TV landscape – heck, Tramell Tillman has been nominated for an Emmy! – but I don’t think those accolades should exempt its second season from criticism (even if our Severance season 2 review gives it four and a half stars). As Milchick’s performance review demonstrates, there’s always room for improvement – even for those at the top of the tree.
Warning: Spoilers for Severance season 2 ahead.
My issue lies in the pacing of the last few episodes, which have felt like fillers rather than the explosive plot advancers we’ve come to expect from approaching-end-of-season episodes in similarly lauded shows (in almost every season of Game of Thrones, for instance, episodes 8 and 9 were the most compelling entries).
When the credits rolled on ‘Sweet Vitriol’ (episode 8) and ‘The After Hours’ (episode 9) in Severance season 2, I couldn’t help feeling frustrated by their relative lack of revelations.
Yes, we now know Cobel invented the severance procedure, Dylan has resigned, and Irving has gone… somewhere, but after the emotional excitement of episode 7, ‘Chikhai Bardo’ – which focused on Gemma’s relationship with Mark and her (we think) current predicament below the severed floor – these plot points felt weightless by comparison.
There’s so much symbolism in this show (which is great!), but occasionally that symbolism feels like it’s being prioritized over storytelling. I saw an X post recently that read, “Episode 1×09 and 2×09 both ending on the line ‘She’s alive.’”, which seemingly praised the cyclicality of the show’s writing, but that rather nicely sums up my whole issue with Severance season 2’s more recent entries.
We’re not all that much further to the truth than we were 10 episodes ago, when that pitch-perfect cliffhanger ending closed out season 1. If I were Mark, I’d have lost my head by now.
Episode 1×09 and 2×09 both ending on the line “She’s alive.” #Severance pic.twitter.com/ydIwVqEioEMarch 14, 2025
And speaking of Mark losing heads, he started the reintegration process with Asal Reghabi in ‘Who’s Is Alive?’ episode 3 of Severance season 2, but how much more do we know about that process, or how much it’s taken hold, by the end of episode 9? Imposter Helena was caught in episode 4, but the consequences of that discovery have been minimal so far. And where is Gwendoline Christie’s goat lady?!
Severance is drip-feeding us pieces of the puzzle in the hope that we’re still engaged by its sure-to-be-greenlit third season, and I’m hoping – praying – that its season 2 finale bucks the trend of delivering more questions than answers.
Don’t get me wrong, the central conceit is still interesting, and the show’s last two episodes haven’t ruined what is an otherwise strong season of TV, but episode 10, ‘Cold Harbor’, needs to give me some concrete answers to take into the inevitably long wait for new installments (indeed, Gemma herself, Dichen Lachman, recently told TechRadar that she doesn’t know when filming on season 3 will begin, which doesn’t bold well for its ETA).
As I write this, I’m minded to think of my review of Jordan Peele’s Nope, which I described as “wholly original, totally bizarre, and undeniably entertaining […] Peele’s movies encourage questions and promote interrogation – that’s all part of their fun. But Nope’s symbolism is so varied and unrelenting that the experience as a whole is particularly difficult to digest”.
I don’t feel quite so strongly about Severance season 2 – again, it’s the best show on TV right now – but ‘particularly difficult to digest” is, I think, an apt description for the series’ story so far. I don’t know about you, but I’m ready for a great big dose of exposition in this week’s season finale.
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axel.metz@futurenet.com (Axel Metz)
