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PaperclipPerfector  14d ago (text post)   2461 thread views

Friday Fun Thread for February 7, 2025

Be advised: this thread is not for serious in-depth discussion of weighty topics (we have a link for that), this thread is not for anything Culture War related. This thread is for Fun. You got jokes? Share 'em. You got silly questions? Ask 'em.

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Time for another tv recommendation: Severance. In my opinion it's the first show in a while that quality-wise stands among the other greats of the "golden age of television"; or at least it has done so far. It has an interesting combination of dark comedy, satire, character work, and philosophical introspection with a heaping dose of mystery. If you're unaware what the show is about or have heard nothing about it, here's a teaser; I wouldn't seek out more for fear of spoilers.

It was a long, long gap between seasons 1 and 2 (the former aired near the end of 2022, the latter is airing now). But it's the first sort of "appointment viewing" for me and my friends in a while, and we've decided to get together as a group every other week or so and watch the new episodes. It's nice to experience these things with other people and it's the kind of show that very much benefits from group discussion/reflection.

Watched a few episodes, and I am not sure whether I am going to continue - it's way too creepy for me. I'm pretty immune to displays of physical horrors, but psychological torture kinda gets to me, and I am unable to derive any enjoyment from observing other humans suffering. It may all be redeemed by the well crafted mystery and satisfying (or properly and insightfully unsatisfying) ending, but it's too early for the latter and so far I can't make any sense of the former.

I watched S1 a while ago, and I just couldn't understand the hype. The basic premise and mystery seemed interesting enough, but they didn't really explore enough to carry an entire show. The cast of characters could've carried it, but they just didn't, and I found myself just not caring about them, especially involving that romantic subplot with Christopher Walken's character. The strongest part was probably with that woman early on in the season exploring the premise as sort of the audience-surrogate rookie entering the job for the first time, but even that felt stronger on shock value than actually playing with the premise interestingly. In the end, I think I wished that S1 had been the first third of a season, setting up things for actual story that used the premise in a fun way.

Severance is an extremely valuable tool for teaching people about the work life balance and what that truly means. The severance technology is a metaphor for the corporate attempt to split the work/life balance while the show demonstrates that even if they had a machine that could do it it still wouldn’t work. Reintegration and combining the two is the way. It helped my not-the-sharpest-knife-in-the-drawer dad snap out of his miserable work experience.

Just from this alone, you would probably enjoy what they're doing in S2 far more. Most of S1 is setup, whereas S2 dives into far more of the lingering questions that were set up in previous episodes (and in doing so creates more questions than before). The pacing feels much faster in this one, significantly so, and several things have already happened within the first couple episodes of the season that I only expected to happen in the season finale.

I won't say they never string the audience along with plot points, but there's certainly a lot more moving parts in this season than in the deliberately slow pacing of the previous one.

I won't say they never string the audience along with plot points, but there's certainly a lot more moving parts in this season than in the deliberately slow pacing of the previous one.

I liked season 1, but then I've stayed with From like an abused partner. That show is the worst mystery box Lost writer's nightmare I've ever watched. Nothing ever happens.

I'm looking forward to season 2 of Severance though. I watched the first episode and thought they replaced most of the main cast until the end haha.

Is your plan to refrain from watching on the weekly episode release dates and wait for the whole thing to release before consuming it? Because I actually think that might be a good idea (if you're confident about not stumbling upon spoilers). One of my biggest gripes about this show is the way Apple TV has decided to release it - I find Severance hugely benefits from being able to build momentum through a couple of episodes, and watching episodically is a good bit more disjointed than having an experience where one episode dovetails into the next. I watched S1 in one go and prefer that experience, as opposed to S2 which I'm watching as the episodes are being released.

Honestly, I would probably have DNF'd the first season if I had been forced to consume it episodically. This season, in contrast with the previous, seems like it's trying to mess with your head every episode - the weekly instalments feel much more idea-rich and complete narratively, and I still feel slightly frustrated with having to wait through a week-long break every single time.

If I'm honest I'll probably watch haphazardly. I've already saved up a couple of episodes due to other entertainment priorities.

I do feel your pain with showrunners doing BS cliffhangers. Except for a few series that benefit from digestion and watercoolers, I think binging at your own pace is the superior watching strategy.

Not that'll deliberately wait until seasons end for a weekly release I'm hooked on..

I don't think you can judge shows like that until they're done. Mystery box shows have a tendency to devolve into utter shit.

IIRC, there is a properly drafted plot from start to end, or so I've heard. This isn't a Lost scenario where the writers basically write themselves into corners they can't satisfactorily resolve.

That being said, the quality of the show is going to heavily depend on how they handle the overarching mystery.

We'll see.

After the last disaster (GoT), my policy is to not start TV shows that haven't ended yet.

Of course the problem is the creative team knows to say they have a plan even if they don't. There's been a long history of people assuring the public they have a plan for their films/tv/book series and then... not.

The Cylons were created by man.

They evolved.

They rebelled.

There are many copies.

And they have a plan.

(They have no plan)

This is a fantastic recommendation, and I do want to offer a counter-opinion to the negative reviews of Season 2 below; personally, I'm still enjoying it, about as much as I did Season 1 at this point. I don't really think they could've continued to showcase the daily lives of the severed workers without killing much of the momentum they built up in Season 1, and there's not too much they could've shown in the lives of the severed employees which they already didn't cover. Episode 4's execution was impeccable, despite building up to a reveal that was largely predictable, the way the episode proceeded was deeply uncomfortable. It felt like a horror movie.

One of the bigger gripes I do have with the season so far is that I think the hard narrative cut between Episode 3 and Episode 4 was weird, but the quality of the episodes have been great in my opinion.

I've just watched episodes 3 and 4 last night. I don't think season 2 has been as strong, but I'm still enjoying it and it's generating lots of discussion.

One of the bigger gripes I do have with the season so far is that I think the hard narrative cut between Episode 3 and Episode 4 was weird, but the quality of the episodes have been great in my opinion.

A friend of mine thinks there might be some period of time chronologically between the end of episode 3 and episode 4 that will be filled in with future episodes. He might be right, this has been a narrative trick the show has used previously. Because it is very jarring.

Man, for some reason I cannot get into Season 2. It reminds me of Westworld where season 1 is good but then the show becomes so full of itself it tortures every facial expression and line of dialogue to try to exude some sort of gravitas.

I'm still liking season 2 a lot, but it feels like a significant step down from season 1. I think the first season did a better job balancing the every day life of the severed workers against unfolding the plot mystery, whereas season 2 is a lot more focused on the mystery. Plus I find all the scenes with the bosses boring because the show won't reveal to us what their true motives/goals are, so it's always this cryptic emotionless stare-down with no context, and it gets old fast.

Yeah the writing has been a little less coherent, the satirical/comedic elements a little less tight. It's been a step down but not a massive one.

My biggest fear though was that they would just spool this out forever but the show seems to be quite forthright in charging through the plot.

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