Hot take: Binging 'Severance' with my overly optimistic friend ruined the twist for everyone.

He kept predicting happy endings out loud during every tense scene. The final reveal hit with all the impact of a spoiled birthday surprise.

5 comments

5 Comments

lee9394h ago

Honestly, calling that optimism feels generous. That's just someone fundamentally misreading the show's entire unsettling tone. The dread is the point, so predicting sunshine just breaks the spell completely. I'd be frustrated too.

zara_jenkins274h ago

Friend totally missed the dread, kept predicting sunshine.

julia_henderson2h ago

Reading about @zara_jenkins27's situation, I had a similar issue with my roommate. We were watching that crime series where every detail hinted at corruption, but she kept expecting a last-minute exoneration. I finally paused it and just pointed out the visual cues, like the recurring shot of the locked door or the muted color palette. Laying out the evidence like that made her see the intentional bleakness, and she stopped projecting false hope onto the narrative. It didn't fix everything, but at least we could engage with the show as it was meant to be seen, dread and all. Sometimes people need the subtext spelled out before they can appreciate the tone.

willoww394h ago

In the scene where the rain never stops for seven days straight, my cousin insisted it was setting up a rainbow moment. That's exactly what @zara_jenkins27's friend did, glossing over all the ominous background music and character close-ups. I watched the series with a guy who kept predicting a rescue party right up until the final credits, and it made every silent moment feel cheap. The creators spend hours layering sound design and lighting to build that unease, so dismissing it as setup for a happy ending just guts the experience. You're left feeling like you absorbed a completely different story than they did.

phoenixh142h ago

Seriously, my buddy Alex binge-watched this psychological thriller last month (the one with the repeating maze motif). He kept insisting every dark moment was just a red herring for some uplifting resolution right around the corner. It completely neutered the atmosphere, like he was actively watching a different show altogether. The creepy visual cues and that lingering silence were all just "building to a breakthrough" in his mind. (I mean, the soundtrack alone was practically screaming "impending doom," but no.) By the time the finale aired, the actual narrative twist felt mundane because he'd verbally painted over all the careful foreshadowing weeks prior.