Ben Stiller’s Apple TV+ series ‘Severance’ is thought-provoking and unnerving

The new Apple TV+ drama series “Severance,” from director and executive producer Ben Stiller (“DodgeBall: A True Underdog Story,” “Tropic Thunder,” “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty”), and creator Dan Erickson, which will launch globally on Apple TV+ with the first two episodes on February 18, 2022, followed by new weekly installments, each Friday during its nine-episode season.
“Severance” premieres globally February 18th on Apple TV+.
In “Severance,” Mark Scout (Adam Scott) leads a team at Lumon Industries, whose employees have undergone a severance procedure, which surgically divides their memories between their work and personal lives. This daring experiment in ‘work-life balance’ is called into question as Mark finds himself at the center of an unraveling mystery that will force him to confront the true nature of his work … and of himself.
Patrick Ryan for USA Today:

“Severance” is reminiscent of other twisty sci-fi series including Amazon’s “Homecoming” and Netflix’s “Black Mirror,” both of which feature ordinary people mixed up in shadowy corporate conspiracies, and examine the human cost of technological advancement.
Stiller, who’s best known for acting in comedies such as “Zoolander,” also emerges as one of the more visually exciting directors working on television, creating a stylishly bleak corporate hellscape awash in greens and blues. Erica Freed Marker’s trippy editing and Theodore Shapiro’s haunting score contribute to the show’s increasingly uneasy mood, as Mark’s professional and personal memories begin to overlap.
“Severance” is at its best and most revealing when it grapples with the more existential issues of its brainwashing technology, especially in how it affects relationships.
“Severance” examines the gray areas of work-life balance, showing how those lines can blur when you sell your soul in service of a company’s bottom line. But it also asks viewers to consider whether it’s possible to be a whole person when you live two separate lives.

MacDailyNews Take: We get a bit of a “Wayward Pines” vibe from this one (which is a good thing).
Here’s the official “Severance” trailer:

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