willow_morgan•1mo agoProlific Poster

Overheard my neighbor saying Severance was 'too slow' and I almost lost it

I was watering my front plants last Saturday when my neighbor across the street was on his porch telling his buddy that Severance takes too long to get anywhere. He said three episodes in and nothing happened yet. I had to bite my tongue because I wanted to yell that the slow burn is the whole point, that every weird detail in the office setting builds this uncomfortable mystery. I watched the whole first season in two nights at 2 AM because I couldn't stop thinking about what the hell was going on with those innies and outies. The pacing isn't slow, it's deliberate like setting a trap for your brain. Has anyone else run into people who just don't get the appeal of a show that makes you work for the payoff?

3 comments

3 Comments

casey161mo ago

Man I feel you on this. My buddy kept saying "nothing happens" after three episodes and I was like, did you miss the part where Mark is literally crawling through a dark hallway trying to figure out if his dead wife is still alive in some weird way? The show makes you sit in that uncomfortable feeling where you know something is wrong but cant put your finger on it. Its like watching a puzzle get assembled piece by piece and people want the whole picture handed to them in the first hour.

abby_wilson511mo ago

Wait did your buddy actually watch the same show? I had this friend Jessica who swore up and down that Severance was boring and nothing happens in the first three episodes. Then one day she was over at my place and I had it on in the background during the part where Mark is in the break room getting that creepy smile from Milchick and she stopped mid-sentence and just watched the whole rest of the episode without saying a word. After it ended she just goes "okay maybe I was wrong" and then binged the whole season that weekend. People just need to sit still and let the show do its thing instead of scrolling their phone the whole time.

julia_lee1mo ago

Wait hold up I need to say something about the dead wife thing because I'm not sure that's quite right from what I remember. Mark's wife Gemma died in a car crash before he got severed, and the whole creepy thing is that he sees her inside Lumon but she doesn't know who he is. There's no crawling through a dark hallway trying to figure it out, that's not in the show at all. But your point about people wanting everything handed to them is spot on though. The first three episodes are literally building that dread with the wellness sessions and the weird paintings and Irving falling asleep at his desk. If someone can't appreciate Milchick's creepy smile slowly unraveling everything they're watching the wrong show.