Severance: Season 1 (2022) Cre: Dan Erickson

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This Apple TV Plus original series, created by Dan Erickson, has garnered more and more attention and praise since its first season debuted in 2022. I'd been hoping to catch it sooner, but the arrival of the second season finally brought with it an opportunity to start. I deliberately didn't look up anything about the series prior to watching it, because I wanted it to be as new an experience as possible.

This first season had nine episodes, each spanning around fourty to fifty minutes in length, and each featuring some truly wonderful direction, particularly in regards to shot selection. As many will know, actor Ben Stiller had a big hand in directing this series, and honestly he deserves a lot of credit for just how well these episodes turned out. They looked phenomenal, and also featured a brilliant soundtrack - the main theme is one of the best I've heard for a television series in some time.

The narrative was like the TV equivalent of pulling on a loose thread, only to discover that the thread goes so much farther than you ever imagined. It was a superbly intricate show, built on mystery and an almost uncanny, offbeat kind of horror, which I hadn't expected at all. Some of the episodes were so suspenseful, and the pacing was immaculate throughout. A lot of the story was built around a familiar and very current notion, that everyone has something that can radicalise them, but it's what they do after that matters.

As the season progressed, I really enjoyed the character development, as well as the character relationships, of all the main people involved on-screen. The show never stopped feeding the audience story, and it felt like every scene was important to the wider plot. There were some brilliant twists, including a genuinely scintillating and fascinating finale, which provided so much in the way of stakes and story, and left the audience on a brilliantly teasing cliffhanger that had me desperate to watch the second season.

Adam Scott and Britt Lower put in a pair of tremendous performances in their two key roles. I have not always been a big fan of Scott's, but I must admit he impressed me so much in this series. The character suited him pretty much perfectly, and he performed the role as such. Lower really seemed to feed off the rebellious energy of her character, and it paid off hugely, as she stole the show, in many respects. The way she showed the development of her character was highly impressive.

John Turturro and Zach Cherry proved to be the heart and soul of the show, particularly Turturro, who was extremely wholesome. I loved Cherry's comedic timing and delivery - he was honestly hilarious, at times. Meanwhile, the pair of Patricia Arquette and Tramell Tillman provided two fascinating authority figures, particularly in the second half of the season, whilst Dichen Lachman and Christopher Walken also gave the series two very interesting supporting characters.

Overall, I thought this was a very unique and extremely well-made television series, which caught the eye with its sleek direction, whilst it slowly unfolded like a deliciously tantalising flower, keeping the audience unsure and invested all the way through. I can't emphasis enough how much I want to watch the second season, now that I've watched this debut one. This was an excellent piece of television from start to finish, and one fully deserving the mass-praise it has received.