SEVERANCE: Season 2 Roundup
a look at some of our favourite shots [and meanings, and feelings] across the season
Severance Season 2 has sparked incredible conversations about everything from building giant rigs in the middle of national forests, to the fun of practically shooting surrealist transitions.
As the season finale looms, here are some of our favourite shots, and what they [may] mean.
Crossfade
This "Trojan's Horse" crossfade between two scenes — which share no characters and happen in quite different locations — temporarily makes it look as though Mark is facing off with Natalie.
Which in a way, as Mark pushes back against Lumon, he is.
Reflecting Character Interiority
Also in “Trojan’s Horse,” these two shots come moments apart.
The first demonstrates how Helly and Helena are split (and Mark doesn't know who is who), while the second shows how Mark's attempts to put his two selves together is messing with his brain, quite literally.
Together they reflect a lot about Mark / Helly / Helena’s fracturing relationships to each other and themselves, even as they’re constantly physically proximate.
Meanwhile this powerful 2.06 "Attila" sequence of Milchick sorting paperwork opens with a glass jar of paper clips 'dividing' him vertically and horizontally.
This may / not suggest Milchick is 'officially' severed, but certainly shows how torn he is as he attempts to suppress feelings brought out by his performance review.
Split Diopter
This split diopter shot from “Attila” accomplishes so many things:
shows us Mark's bloody nose (and twitching eyes) and Helly's nervous fingers all at once
reminds us Helly’s hands were on his face when his nose started bleeding, which likely also reminds us why they were touching
'connects' the two of them across the room, where a different technique (eg. edit or rack focus) would remind us how far apart they are
As Space Cowboy on bluesky noted on our post: This is why I love this shot. You can see she’s worried about him by just a finger curl, and the blood definitely connects them on an intimate level.
Cold Open
We did a deep dive into creative reasons and practicalities of shooting all eight angles of the 2.03 “Who Is Alive?” opening scene.
Lighting Change
2.08 “Sweet Vitriol” has a beautiful 'live light change' time lapse shot which shows Harmony Cobel mourning as day turns to night.
We talk more in-depth about the shooting practicalities, along with a similar shot from Sarah Polley’s Take This Waltz, over here.
In Closing
Everything about the watermelon-as-Irv-carving was equally hilarious and horrifying
but this shot of Dylan staring at it post-feast, with the ‘brain’ neatly partitioned, is an absolutely perfect payoff.