Apple TV is best known for hosting Ted Lasso, but the streaming service’s series Severance, by Dan Erickson, is one of the most relevant sci-fi concepts in recent memory. 

The plot of Severance revolves around this simple concept: What if people could separate their personal lives from their work lives? In this series, the separation, or severance, is so complete that the memories of the “home version” of the person are inaccessible to that person’s “work version” and vice versa.

In the first season, viewers met protagonist Mark Stout. While grieving for his late wife, Mark decided to undergo the severance procedure. It split his work life and personal life in two, creating an entirely new version of himself that only exists in the workplace – his “innie” – while his regular self who exists outside it, as an  “outie.”

Years later, Season 2 has finally arrived. It picks up following the masterful ending of the first, showing how the Lumen company has responded to the claims coworker Helly R. made on TV. This new season brings back the original crew, despite an initial fake-out of new coworkers at the beginning of the season.

Now that “innie” Mark is aware his wife is alive, he returns to work with a mission, desperate to find and free her from the company’s clutches. After he defiantly protests his friend’s replacements, the heroes return to the depths of the mysterious cult-like corporation.

Another major plot point in this season is the fate of Harmony Cobel, who, despite being fired in the last season, still fought to protect Lumen in the finale. Cobel has seemingly been replaced as the head of the severed floor, that position now being fulfilled by the passive-aggressive Mr. Milchik. 

Viewers may be surprised to learn that many episodes of this series are directed by Ben Stiller, best known by teens for his role in Zoolander. Stiller’s work in this masterpiece of modern television legitimizes his dramatic work.