It’s been a whopping three years since the end of Severance Season 1 on Apple TV+ but the highly-anticipated second season is finally here. Was it worth the wait? Read on to find out more.

For Lumon, By Lumon

Severance Season 2 doesn’t waste time and picks up directly from the end of the first season. However, there’s a bit of a time skip and the first two episodes of the new season are focused on explaining what happened. While the first episode sort of teased new characters and a new status quo, the series suddenly subverts itself and focuses back on its original core cast of characters that we already know.

What distinguishes Severance Season 2 and makes it different from the first season is that the Outies get even more screentime. Also, yeah, I’ll be using terms like Outies and Innies in this review, which wouldn’t make sense if you’ve never watched the first season. That being said, Severance is a complex show that requires attention to comprehend and I would assume anyone reading this article would have already watched Severance Season 1.

Severance Season 2 also features a creepier and more foreboding atmosphere with more overt horror elements, especially in the fourth episode (Woe’s Hollow). Speaking of the fourth episode (which I can’t spoil but can say is the highlight of the six episodes we were provided by Apple TV+), this is another instance of the series expanding beyond just the offices of the Lumon Severed floor.

As we get deeper into the mysteries and conspiracies of Lumon and the Severance process, things gradually get even darker. The characters are increasingly fleshed out and further developed in Severance Season 2. It’s also fascinating to see the lines of the Innies and Outies starting to blur together and introduce new dynamics into the narrative.

Once again, every cast member delivers brilliant performances but just like the first season, the highlights are Adam Scott as Mark Scout and John Turturro as Irving Bailiff. Certain other side characters from the first season are mostly absent in Severance Season 2, but others, such as Tramell Tillman’s Seth Milchick get more to do as he practically replaces what was previously the role of Patricia Arquette’s Harmony Cobel.

Office Horror

The best part of Severance remains its central mystery and conspiracy, as well as the high-concept sci-fi themes and subject matter (overbearing corporate bureaucracy, etc.), being explored in the series. My first impression of watching Severance Season 1 for the first time was that it felt like a Black Mirror episode concept being expanded into a full series but it eventually became so much more with layers upon layers with each new episode.

Some TV series can quickly lose steam and fall apart after their first season, cursed to drag the same mystery for too long without giving satisfying answers from time to time (an example is the recent ongoing MGM+ series FROM or arguably even the classic Lost), but Severance 2 is still very much a compelling watch in its second season, retaining all the thrills of Season 1.

FINAL SCORE: 80/100

We received screeners from Apple TV+ Malaysia. Severance Season 2 is slated to premiere on Apple TV+ on 17 January 2025.