Apple TV+ series Severance puts a creepy spin on work-life balance struggle

Ben Stiller directs a cast that includes Christopher Walken, Adam Scott and John Turturro in drama about employees surgically altered to have work-life balance

All working for a mysterious company, they agree to have a microchip implanted in their brains to separate their work memories from who they are on the outside

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Adam Scott stars as Mark S, an employee of Lumon Industries who knows nothing of his life outside the office, in Apple TV+‘s Severance. Photo: Apple TV+/TNS

Published: 4:15am, 19 Feb 2022

Achieving a healthy work-life balance probably has never been more challenging, with smartphones and other avenues of communication making it easier than ever for a family member to contact you during work hours or for you to get sucked into work emails at night while you’re trying to enjoy some couch time.

What if you could separate work hours from personal time? Truly, truly separate them? That’s the question posed by Severance, an intriguing, high-concept mystery-drama series now streaming on Apple TV+.

The brainchild of newcomer Dan Erickson, the series involves a group of people who undergo a controversial surgical operation – the titular Severance procedure – that, via an implanted microchip, splits each character’s home self from a work counterpart.

The “innie” will have no recollection or understanding of his or her counterpart’s home life, and the “outie” similarly will be unaware of anything that happens at the office.

Britt Lower in a still from Severance. Photo: Apple TV+

“It’s been a bizarre journey ’cause for me, in writing a script about how much I hate work, I ended up getting a job I loved,” says Erickson.