Apple’s Sci-Fi Thriller Excels Where Westworld Failed

Westworld got off to a promising start on HBO, but it quickly fell off a cliff. The first season was one of the most intriguing and exciting debut seasons of the 21st century. But as it went into season 2 and beyond, the lore got overcomplicated, and the narrative became aimless. What was once hailed as a sci-fi masterpiece ended up being canceled after four seasons and eventually removed from HBO Max entirely.

When it first premiered, Westworld was being hyped up as HBO’s next tentpole blockbuster show; a sci-fi alternative to their medieval fantasy phenomenon Game of Thrones. Based on the Michael Crichton movie of the same name, it has a juicy high-concept premise: a futuristic theme park where the ultra-rich can live out their wildest Wild West fantasies with robot cowboys.

Creators Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy, who would go on to have much more mainstream success with Fallout on Amazon Prime, used that high-concept sci-fi western premise as a springboard to explore the ethics and philosophy of artificial intelligence. It ended up being a bit too lofty for the average TV viewer, so audiences gradually tuned out, and the show died a death.

In order to replicate the success of Game of Thrones, you have to keep the focus on the human beings at the heart of the story. The lofty themes and ambitious ideas should be gravy on top of a solid story about human characters that viewers want to keep following. Westworld ultimately failed at that, but Severance is pulling it off.

2 Seasons In, Severance Is Still Going Strong

The first season of Severance was a cultural phenomenon. It struck a nerve with modern audiences by taking the pressing issue of a healthy work-life balance to its satirical extreme. Severance takes place in a dystopian world where a creepy, monolithic corporation named Lumon Industries has offered its employees the chance to “sever” their consciousness between their work life and their home life.

When Mark Scout is out in the world, living his life, he doesn’t have to worry about what he’s got going on at work, because he’s blissfully unaware. But when he’s in the office, he knows nothing of life outside his fluorescent-lit desk and his small handful of colleagues. It’s an ingenious premise that puts a sci-fi spin on a typical workplace comedy, and touches on burnout in the modern working world.

Much like Westworld, the first season of Severance set up a bunch of chilling mysteries to get audiences hooked. There’s the mystery of Mark’s wife’s death, the mystery of the animals lurking around the office, and the mystery of exactly what kind of business Lumon is in. When the show went into its highly anticipated second season three years later, it was Apple’s to mess up.

But Severance season 2 ended up being a satisfying follow-up to season 1. It doesn’t have the surprise factor that made season 1 such a phenomenon, but it did an admirable job of answering some of the questions posed by season 1. This is usually the part where these mystery-box shows fall apart, but Severance is standing its ground.

Severance Has Maintained Its Focus On Human Relationships

What doomed Westworld was that its big, philosophical ideas took over the humanity at the heart of the series, which alienated whatever viewers were left. Severance has made the wise decision to keep its focus on the human beings in the ensemble. Even when we’re given a major payoff, it’s framed through the dramatic ways it impacts the characters’ lives.

In Severance’s season 2 finale, the ongoing storylines come to a head as Mark and Gemma make a break for it. The episode works because it focuses on the emotional core of Mark being torn between Gemma and Helly.