Entertainment
2 Seasons Later, the Greatest Quote in This Stellar Apple TV Sci-Fi Still Lives Rent-Free
AppleTV may seem like Netflix’s less appealing knockoff, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. While Netflix dominates when it comes to big-budget crowd pleasers like Stranger Things, Apple offers the antidote to television fatigue. In 2022, a truly unique series hit the streamer — Severance.
Created by Dan Erickson and produced by Ben Stiller, Severance is a response to corporate culture gone amok. Erickson has always been upfront that the puzzle box mystery came about from his desire to skip through the workday at his desk job. What resulted, however, was a series far stranger and more captivating than any corporate job. Severance follows Mark S. (Adam Scott), one of four Microdata Refiners who elects to undergo the severance procedure. In a desperate attempt to cope with the grief over his dead wife, Mark severs his home memories from his work memories.
Lumon claims that the severance procedure is to protect sensitive material at the tech company, so even their employees don’t know about it. The reality is weirder and largely unexplained at this point. The series requires Severance to have specific dialogue, which makes it one of the most quotable shows on television. There is one line, however, that stands above the rest.
Ms. Cobel Delivers a Stone-Cold Line In the Premiere of ‘Severance’
It would be one thing if Dan Erickson just wrote a piece of great speculative fiction. The reality is much different than that. Severance exists in a world unlike any other. The humor, dialogue, and tone of the series are equally humorous and eerie, making it a rabid success with fans. The show establishes this in the first episode when Mark S. is promoted to team leader after the departure of his best friend, Petey.
Mark comes face-to-face with his floor manager, Ms. Cobel, played with haunting somberness by Patricia Arquette. Over the years, Cobel has delivered some harsh lines like “a handshake is available upon request” and “if you want a hug, go to Hell and find your mother.” However, her early line in Severance not only contextualizes her character, but also the entire thesis of the series. In the first episode, “Good News About Hell,” Cobel nails what Lumon is all about in one cold line.
Cobel explains that her mother is an atheist and told her that there was good news and bad news about Hell. “The good news is Hell is just the product of a morbid human imagination. The bad news is whatever humans can imagine, they can usually create.”
This quote perfectly sets up Cobel’s complex relationship with her mother and the lore being Lumon’s founder, Kier Egan. More importantly, however, it establishes the bedrock on which Severance is built. Lumon is, for all intents and purposes, Hell. The series is a social commentary on the capitalist landscape that has everyone in its grips. Workers like Mark. Helly, Irv, and Dylan are all constrained in a corporate nightmare.
Severance very purposely shows that Lumon, like many companies, only considers its workers property. Lumon severs employees’ memories, condemning them to only experience a life inside the walls of the sterile building. They can never see the sky, have a family, or read literature that isn’t corporate propaganda, like Lumon’s nine core principles. For many, that is the definition of Hell, and corporate America created it.
This dependence on capitalism has turned humans into commodities to be bought and sold. There is no clearer definition of Severance and it comes from Cobel herself. Mark and the rest of the Microdata Refiners are supposed to toil in the hellscape until they are dead or retired. The great gift of Severance is demonstrating this theme in a unique way that challenges most other stories on television.
- Release Date
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February 17, 2022
- Network
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Apple TV
- Showrunner
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Dan Erickson, Mark Friedman
- Writers
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Anna Ouyang Moench, Wei-Ning Yu
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