Sometimes I struggle to think of topics to write about on my blog, and as anyone reading might see, the topics are all over the place. In order to continue that tradition, but to keep it in the same kind of theme I’ve been rolling with lately: Liminality.
I wrote about the Backrooms and how ominously cool it is, or at least some of it. It makes me think of what it might be like to escape to a world disconnected from our own. It also makes me think of The Stanley Parable, a really great indie title that came out over ten years ago in the golden age of gaming that has far, far passed us by (another topic, another time).
Both of these things share a common theme, and they also share a little bit of inspiration that was poured into the Apple TV show, Severance (I think this requires an Apple TV+ subscription, but I’m not even sure, I’ve just always been subscribed to the media group of Apple apps).
Now, there are obviously many other things that the writer had in mind when this show was written, but I wanted to take to this post not even to really talk about the links in ideas in the two aforementioned forms of entertainment (even though that alone is really cool). But more-so that I’m really surprised this show won awards, and is a major success!
And that the final episode of season one is a really, really mean cliffhanger. Usually I hate cliffhangers. Especially with shows going on multi-year breaks lately (if you punched me in the face and told me I couldn’t react for 3 years I’d just be more mad).
I thought Fallout was pretty good as I binged my way through it, but this is something else.
It’s not superheroes, it’s not sensationalized: It’s just people working in an office with their brains disconnected from the outside world. Two parts of your brain with different experiences and memories, and they bleed together without you even knowing it. And your office is an endless sprawl of featureless hallways. It sounds like work, and it sounds like liminal hell.
I think the want to have your freedom and your free time and nothing else is something a lot of people can relate to, though. And that’s what’s appealing about this show. Imagine if you could just drive to work, flip a switch, and then suddenly you’re driving home! Woohoo! Of course, there are … issues, with putting your brain through that kind of trauma, I would imagine.
Back to my main point, if this were a movie, I don’t think I’d believe you if you told me that it came out of Hollywood. Or that it was partially directed by ZOOLANDER (see: The Wiki).
And yet, it was, and it is.
I can’t wait for season two.
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