When mystery box plot, it was a series that felt firmly of its time in its exploration of labor and workplace misery while having the vibe of a delicious throwback thanks to its mid-century modern look and the timeless quality of its central conceit.

It's difficult to overstate how good season 1 is, which makes the fact that its follow-up season is nearly as perfect all the more astonishing. The first season layered every unsettling question with equally absurd details, a tightly wound piece of television that combined acerbic humor with dense mystery. Severance season 2 is all about unraveling as the inner and outer selves of Mark, Helly, Irving, and Dylan collide.

Severance Season 2 Gets More Personal While Widening Its Scope

At the end of Severance season 1, the Macrodata Refinement (MDR) team had activated Lumon's Overtime Contingency, meaning Mark, Helly, and Irving's innies were now interacting with the outside world, while Dylan stayed behind to give them as much time as possible. Helly is revealed to be Helena Eagan, the future CEO of Lumon, and Mark tells his sister that his dead wife Gemma is actually alive but is unable to give any context before he and his outie switch places again.

One of Severance's strengths has always been its pacing. It doles out answers while raising more questions in a way that is satisfying — a very difficult balance to achieve. Perhaps this is because its central antagonistic structure is a corporation that intentionally hides things from those it employs (this is what pretty much every corporation does, but Lumon is perhaps a bit more terrifying).

Season 2 pulls off this balancing act once again, zooming out while retaining a laser focus on characters and themes that have a deep emotional core despite the show's chilly exterior. Severance pulls the curtain back on Lumon as it begins to reveal the heart of its story — Gemma, Mark, and Helly, a twisted love triangle that only escalates in season 2.

Severance is one of the best shows on television right now...

As Mark continues to question his role in Lumon and the ethics surrounding the severance procedure, the show also follows Helly, Dylan, and Irving outside Lumon, revealing why they each chose to work on the severed floor and what it would mean to leave Lumon, either by reg or reintegrating. Regardless of whether anyone resigns or reintegrates, though, the outside world will find ways to seep into the severed floor.

Mark uses the severance procedure to escape from his grief, but that grief is now something that his innie is forced to explore, too. The show already began touching on variations of this idea after Dylan's innie met his son when the Overtime Contingency was first introduced, but the impact of the MDR department's jaunt in the season finale has a much more expansive impact.

The series grapples with questions of autonomy in often horrifying ways, asking what happens when an innie develops a different ideological perspective from their outie. It felt all but inevitable that the idea of control would have to be broached at some point, a war in the mind for ownership over the body, but how Severance explores this is both gut-wrenching and thrilling.

If this all sounds like I'm being a bit too vague, it's because I am. Critics have been asked not to reveal anything about the new season, a particularly strict mandate that prevents me from discussing major plot points, but I wouldn't want to spoil them anyway. It's a testament to the show's story that any reveal could spoil various threads of this season, which should be discovered the way its creators intended.

It all culminates in a stunning finale that is somehow on par with the first season's gasp-worthy ending. Severance is one of the best shows on television right now, and it continues to prove that in its second season, which raises the bar in every single way.

Severance season 2 premieres on Apple TV+ on Friday, January 17. New episodes are released every week through March 21.