Binging ‘Atlanta.’ Pretty good. Some of the social commentary is really sharp. The ‘Teddy Perkins’ episode is really nuts and a must watch. I do feel it’s a bit predictable how white people are always placed in an antagonistic role, whether it’s subtle white guilt or full blown racism, even though I get what Glover is going for. Not sure I can give it a grade, as some episodes I really love (especially the ones that lean into the surreal aspects of the show) and others I’m not too hot on (the “white people = bad/corny/dumb” narrative gets a bit tiresome after a while).
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I’m now three episodes into it.
It’s really, really good BUT I’ve got that nagging fear of the disappointment that so often comes with these long-term-mystery shows (Lost, Westworld, X-Files …)
Then again, other similarly toned shows like Counterpart and Travelers ended pretty well, albeit too early - and those two shows (both of which I recommend, especially Counterpart) are probably closer analogues of what Severance seems to be trying to do.
Man, you’ve really opened my eyes
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So in the past week I’ve binged Severance, including the season finale, which became available this afternoon on Apple TV+. It’s an excellent show - fantastic acting and writing, fantastic everything. I had no idea either Ben Stiller (director of many episodes) or Adam Scott (main character) could do this. For that matter, I didn’t know Christopher Walken could still do this. John Turturro, OK, he’s not a surprise, but still amazing.
Spoilers for overall opinion about the finale and its tone, without any content details:
But … I’m worried about yet another puzzle box show sucking me in. Heck of a finale, ratcheting up the tension, and up, and up, and then … wait till next year! Some new things learned, but not much, and not that much in way of resolution for this year’s story. I fear their (brilliant!) premise and the mystery they’re setting up around it can’t possibly be resolved in a satisfying way.
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Looking forward to this one. 
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I’ll be watching this tonight.
I think it’s the best thing I’ve watched in a long time.
I’m getting quite a lot of Murakami overtones. Especially Hardboiled Wonderland what with the brains divIded into two. I wonder if the creator shouldn’t disclose that as an influence. In Hardboiled Wonderland they were also using a divided brain to process data.
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God I hate my memory. I have that book, although the copy’s in Canada. I’m pretty sure I’ve read it. But zero recollection of it. “Oh, I’ll read the Wikipedia entry, that’ll spark some memories.” Nope, nada. “Isn’t that the novel with the torture scenes in Mongola?” Nope, that’s a different Murakami novel. “Wait, I’ve read two Murakami novels [at least!] and all I can remember is one scene?!”
Well, my memory for books has been like this for a long time, so at least I can be reasonably sure it’s not Alzheimer’s, unless it’s really really early onset, and without much change over the past couple of decades.
I’ve read every one.
Oh and goats. Murakami loves goats. They breed goats at Lumon.
And elevators.
I could go all day.
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I dunno, maybe I have too! Apparently my reading brain just lives in a state of eternal now and doesn’t record anything.
(Which is another reason I mostly read Kindle books now, and annotate the crap out of them, in hope of getting something to stick in my brain, or at least I’ve got a record to speed up recall.)
EDIT:
I made the mistake of looking in the Severance subreddit last night. Oh the goat theories.
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I get that with movies. Sometimes I’ll be half way through and I’ll be, ah no I’ve seen this before.
The goats are for Series 2.
You know what the best plot twist was?
The evil Arquette turning out to be not evil. Or not evil in the way we thought she was. Might be more surprises tonight.
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Mother of all cliffhangers ending. Luckily S2 is happening, or it would have been slightly disappointing. The best part of the show is ofc the innies, wonder how they are going to write them in again in a way that makes sense.
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Oh, a few.
I’m guessing there’s going to be some sort of reveal that innie-identities can be erased and rebooted (e.g. Outie-Irving’s knowledge of the elevator that Ms. Casey took), although that may seem too derivative of Westworld.
Or a Lost-style jump to another story that’s been going on in the background all this time. I’m very curious how the casting works for this -Ms. Casey looked like a minor character for a long while (I’m not sure how she appeared in the credits), but then, oops, nope, she’s really important. Are there other minor characters this season that may become leads next season?
Are there enough of us to make a new thread just for Severance?
Ms Casey is super hot.
Yes, that seems an obvious route. BUT, tough to make such a reboot interesting, ie without repeating the same story beats of S1.
Anyway on the merits of S1, can’t wait to see what they come up with.
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Finally something useful 
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You can see much, much more of her in Altered Carbon Season 1. Rarely is so little (perhaps nothing?) left to the imagination, as a matter of fact.
But I’m not sure how you can consider her hot in Severance. Her bizarre affect is well-acted and fitting for the character, but … it’s like finding a mannequin hot. Minus ten points from your score. But upon request, she can also perform a hug.
Absolutely heart-breaking character. I hope things get better for her.
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Mannequins are super hot 
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Ok, you do you. Just … do it at home, please.
Then again, if there’s ever a time for a foreigner acting oddly to NOT get on the news, this’d be the week.
I’m obsessed with Harlan Coben TV shows lately! I feel like one of those old ladies fan girling over book to TV/movie conversion.
I recently watched Queen of the South season 5 Then Last Kingdom season 5 and Outlander up to episode 6. I’ve also watched Reset a Chinese show. A Japanese show called Signal, both not too bad.