Gun-Free Entertainment #1: Severance

The question is always...would you?

This is the first of what I hope will be a lengthy series of spoiler-free recommendations, reviews, and suggestions for entertainment that don’t include guns in any way. While there are many films, television shows, and books that I like and which include guns, my conscience is weighing on me. Given the unique problem the U.S. has with gun violence and mass shootings, I wanted to start a community-built resource, filled with guest posts, that could recommend entertainment options for people who might be saying, “You know, I could do without guns, missing/dead women, and almost-retired assassins for tonight.” Besides, what’s more boring and lazier in terms of writing than someone gunning down a bunch of nameless characters who are all dressed the same? And again, subscriptions here remain free, so, here we go…

The Major Players

The television show Severance, which premiered in 2022, changed the way I thought about television and narrative possibility. I have evangelized to the masses, “Severance is the best show I’ve ever seen.” I would refine that claim a bit, because what I mean to say is that Severance is the most thought-provoking show I’ve seen, and in the best way—it forces you to reflect on difficult questions and issues directly related to your own life and possibilities.

The main plot, which you immediately learn, is “severance” is a medical process allowing people to divide their consciousness into two parts: mainly the workplace “you” and the homelife “you.” But here’s the delicious rub: these two identities have no knowledge or memory of each other. When characters cross the boundary into the workplace, the chip in their head activates the severance procedure and the “work you” takes over. Since the majority of Severance unfolds in the workplace, this means the characters know absolutely nothing about their outside lives—if they are married, have children, what their real names are, etc. Essentially, all they know and that exists is in their workplace. The characters leave for the day, but the “work you’s” next conscious moment is simply walking back into the office. The workday on an endless loop. Sounds terrible, right?

But hold on! Conversely, the characters, when viewed in the outside world, remember nothing about work other than the name of the company they work for. They don’t know their specific roles, who they work with, and they never return home with thoughts of work, the things remaining to be done, and imagined work-related arguments spinning through their head, keeping them up at night. Sounds heavenly, doesn’t it?

Of course, the answer to how severance sounds relies on your feelings about your workplace. Would you opt to have any knowledge of work absent from your mind when you were at home, focusing entirely on your family or other pursuits or hobbies? Or do you need your work identity present in the home (yes, I know many people work from home) in a way that such knowledge brings you satisfaction?

I have thought about this a lot. Without getting too detailed and boring, I worked an intensely pressure-heavy job in higher education for six years, worked 80+ hour weeks, and it just about killed me, literally, until I had to step away. Also, work had become an increasingly unpleasant place—since I was in a middle-management leadership position, it became impossible to please people (which I wanted to do), the nature of my relationship with people I had called friends changed, any decision was met with anger and contradiction, and I was also totally on an island. I had zero mentorship and no one was interested in my goals for myself, my future, or if I wanted to advance and expand my skills. No one cared, and that often happens in a large organization. The hours plus the environment meant work invaded my homelife (it was essentially a 24-hour-a-day job), and it became impossible to turn my brain off.

Why am I telling you this? Severance, at that time, asked me (as it will at some point every viewer), given the opportunity to undergo this procedure, would you do it? Admittedly, this is not the popular answer, but my response was a hearty, Yes! Where do I sign up? But of course, like all quality artworks, the show immediately complicated my answer. What if one of the work identities, called the “innies,” hated their existence and wanted out? How would the dominant, outside identity, known as “outies,” respond? How would they even know? The show also smartly intersects severance with other issues, like tremendous grief or trauma and the ability to, for at least a good portion of the day, be completely free of it. Is that a good thing? If not, why? There is also a very minor plot element (so this is not a spoiler) where a woman experiences her pregnancy and giving birth in a severed state, not remembering any of the discomfort or pain.

I am not saying any of these decisions are right or wrong, but the show will absolutely get your mind spinning on the plot points and you will reflect and ask yourself questions. If you watch the show with someone else, you will have meaningful conversations about consciousness, memory, what is worth remembering of your life experience and what isn’t, or does all experience matter in the form of an ever-increasing sum.

Finally, the show is a legit thriller. You will, I guarantee, by the last episode be on the “OH MY GOD!” edge of your seat. (And this is directed by, of all people, Ben Stiller!) The show does not require guns to create threat or tension—the writers are smarter than that. The threat of “discovery” or “knowledge” is the engine that drives the show. What if the two halves of someone’s mind re-establish contact? Management, who are brilliantly cast with Patricia Arquette leading the way, will do anything possible to prevent such unification from happening.

One last point, and why I highly recommend this for people who care about writing and craft: this is the first work where this amazingly good idea is pulled off—nearly every major character in the show is actually two characters! There is the work self and the home self—talk about a writing tightrope in having to develop each character twice, but there also is a wonderful economy in this. We don’t get to know all the character’s dual selves, but the upcoming second season will surely rectify some of that.

Severance is on Apple TV. It’s completely worth it, even if you watch and then cancel your subscription. Or, hypothetically, someone like you could do the free trial in a severed state and cancel when finished. (A Severance-adjacent show is Homecoming, which is the best role I’ve ever seen Julia Roberts in since The Pelican Brief.)

So, if you’ve already seen Severance, watch it again! (I’ve watched it three times.) If you haven’t, I promise you not only entertainment, but engagement with a real work of art—you will be challenged, a bit “slant,” and will experience something similar to the four uses of literature detailed by Rita Felski in her book of the same name: recognition, enchantment, knowledge, and shock. And the show will stick with you, as “severance” as both a reference and a word have filtered down into our everyday lexicon.

If you would like to write a piece for Gun-Free Entertainment, just reach out to me at chuck.rybak@gmail.com or simply let me know in the comments. All genres welcome! For example, a piece about a video or board game would be great.