Lower takes on an even more layered role, playing the role of Helly/Helena, who has a very complicated double life, with perfect sensitivity. Turturro has never played a better role or given a more powerful performance, suggesting an underlying passion in the seemingly indifferent Irv. He remains in love with Bart, a former Lemon employee played by Christopher Walken. Bart reads Walken’s lines with joy and purity. No one’s dinner invitation that starts with “I have ham” sounds the same. Trammell Tillman returns as Lumon’s boss, Mr. Milczyk, and his smile is more menacing than ever. Ben Stiller directs with visual flair, contrasting the dark, snowy outside world with Lemont’s claustrophobic, blinding maze of white hallways.
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Most of the differences are still unclear. Among other things, we learn more about Dylan’s family and discover that it is possible to find a secret place to have sex inside LeMond’s office. Guest actors come and go, including Gwendoline Christie, Merritt Wever, Bob Balaban, and Alia Shawkat.
Apple TV+ only sent out 6 out of 10 episodes to critics, so I couldn’t say much about the final part of the season even if I wanted to. But by the halfway point, the story takes a turn involving a chip in an employee’s brain, and while the stakes rise, the storyline isn’t as compelling as it should be, at least not yet. Too much science fiction can disrupt the show’s perfect balance.
And the cult-like aspect of Lumon, where everyone treats 19th-century founder Keir Egan like a prophet and whose company brochure is seen as a religious, Biblical document, has never been so strong. It hasn’t received much attention for a long time. The fact that employees always refer to Mr. Milczyk as “Mr. Milczyk” in a condescending manner, like an elementary school student addressing a teacher, is just the beginning. No matter what happens in the final episode, there’s plenty to savor, including the perfect disdain in Innie Mark’s voice when she says, “Praise Keir.”
★★★★☆
The first two episodes of Severance Season 2 will be released on Apple TV+ on January 17th, with new episodes released weekly.
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