Goodbye, Mrs. Selvig

Ben Stiller is a national treasure. Sure, Meet the Parents is a classic. Heavyweights and Dodgeball are both great Stiller flicks. Night at the Museum, also an amazing franchise that is a TON of fun to watch. Add in Tropic Thunder and forget about Zoolander, and I'm making a pretty good case for his body of work.

Severance is Ben Stiller's chef kiss. This show is true art. It's says a lot without saying anything. All the fake smiles, the lies, and the two faced leaders make this a case study for the work environment in today's society. We have become a society built on phony smiles and fake hellos. Our politicians are the easiest examples, but it trickles down to our bosses. We traded trusting our fellow co-workers for a paycheck.

Honestly really enjoyed it. Im still yet to see an episode worth $20M, however thats not necessarily a bad thing. This episode is more of a different perspective on the information we were given in the prior episode. Which leads to the one critique i have for this... why wouldnt they release those 2 at the same time, then let us wait a week and come back with the new story as it unfolds. It kind of feels like a write off so they can extend people's attention and using that as kind of a way of abusing the power they have over us. Thats definitely not something i think is the shows fault my any means, more of a flaw on the side of Apple. However, the episode is still great. Its still what we do want to see, i would have just liked these first 2 to be released in tandem with one another... then give us the rollout for the next week with the new story. Nonetheless, love this show.

This episode had a great cinematography and recording, perhaps it is the episode with the best artistic direction of the series, that also creates expectations about the second season, which in my case, had been somewhat "broken" with the first episode and made me imagine that the series would take a totally different path from the first season, but they caught my attention with this second episode that complements the first, makes it better and resumes the entire path of its predecessor, making it more interesting and putting, once again, the taste of curiosity in our mouths hungry to know what will happen next.

The second season and episode of severance both respectively share an increase in pace, yet are both dominated by stunning locations and set designs capturing the show's tactile and generic branding type of vintage futurism.

Unlike the first episode of season two, this episode highlights the revelations of the characters lives outside of their work-selves. The more the characters learn about their "innies" at LUMON the more they realize they're even more at odds with their involvement within the company they disappear off into. Even some employees at higher levels who remain lucid throughout their experiences have some reservations about their roles.

There are no wasted opportunities to capture beauty in each shot and the minimalistic nature of each shot reflects the sterility and lack of intuition by the audience and characters alike.

A perplexing emotional sophomore season and episode have me in a place between anxiety and curiosity which almost always with this show, requires some time after each episode to "detach" from, which I find a little ironic.

Great episode. 10/10.

I feel like the series is delving into the gnostical existential journeys of its characters. The stunning visual presentation of Mr. Milchick's motorcycle scenes doesn't need further praise - I believe his character is on the path to gaining more depth as the story progresses.

While I loved the visuals in the first episode of Season 2, I found S2E1 slightly below my expectations. However, it now seems clear that it was all about laying the groundwork for the episodes to come. Following the setup in S2E1, this episode is a true masterpiece. This is the episode that has taken a wild momentum for the new season.