A Moment for the Severance Title Sequences
An Intro As Interesting As The Show Itself
Severance season 2 started airing two weeks ago, and it has been the one little thing I have been looking forward to lately. As the news and the world piss me off, TV gives me solace.
When Severance first came out three years ago, I felt like no one else was watching it. My boyfriend saw stills of it on a Reddit thread and wanted to watch it. After watching three episodes, he asked me if I wanted to watch it with him. He warned me it was not my usual cup of tea, but it was kind of Matrix-y. If I give it a chance, it’s gonna blow my mind.
Boy, am I glad he did that! We started watching and it did, in fact, blow my mind. Only four episodes were out at the time, so we watched the rest of the season weekly. No one I knew was watching the show. I remember I tweeted about the show, trying to reach anyone who was watching, and Ben Stiller himself liked it!
Not only did he like it, he was the very first person to like it! I was like oh em geeee, theee Ben Stiller! The tweet got much more interaction after that (lol). Now that season 2 is out, I see a lot more discussions and fanfare, and I’m so happy to see everyone loving this show. I think it is one of the most interesting shows currently on TV.
The cast eats down, and so does the writing. I love the genre-bending, the cinematic style, all of it. I love watching them all talk about their process.
Since season 2 is still unfolding, I wanted to take a moment to discuss something a little more concrete and something others might be skipping. Another great factor of the show is its trippy intro. Last week, the second episode of season 2 dropped, so we finally got to see how the intro would differ from the intro of season 1. Let’s talk about both.
I love a good show intro, but when I think about intros, I mostly think about theme songs. I’m a big fan of a good theme song, and although there are many cool and interesting intros/title cards without theme songs, I think it’s a shame that so many shows opt out of having one. Not every show requires one; I just think they’re fun. I feel like they’re mostly associated with sitcoms, but The Sopranos had a great theme song, too. Don’t sleep on a dramatic theme!
The Severance intros remind me of the importance of the visuals, not just the tune we’re listening to, in an intro. I wouldn’t say the Severance theme song is something I’ll be singing over and over, but the overall intro (including the music) is a piece of art. It’s eerie, it’s trippy, it’s interesting, it’s abstract. It makes you go, “Whoa.”
The animation style is unsettling to me. It feels realistic yet fake at the same time. I love animation, and this one gives me creepy vibes. We see the innie and outie version of Mark, walking around in puppet-like movements, just as confused as we are. It gives me the sense of being overwhelmed and, at times, drowning.
The camera movements add to this chaotic feeling. The camera keeps showing you that what you see is not always what you think it is. The umbrella of Marks that Mark (in the red outfit) pulls really creeps me out (complimentary).
In the process of writing this, I found out that this intro won an Emmy for Outstanding Main Title Design. I didn’t know such an award existed! I’m so happy it does, good for them. It’s quite deserving.
Watching this intro week after week as the show aired, you start to see similar images in the show. The Lumon offices, Mark’s trash he’s always taking out, the Lumon parking lot, the paint sludge that Irving often sees, a needle that looks like the severance implant, the elevator, Mark’s ID badge.
What does it all mean? I think it demonstrates the battle between Mark’s two selves, but I feel like there are some more hints here that I’m probably missing.
The season 2 intro seems to offer a little more insight. It again opens with Mark in bed, but this time, he’s sitting up instead of lying down like in season 1. Perhaps a hint at his awakening to what’s going on at Lumon.
At what appears to be Lumon, he’s seen going down a flight of stairs. Maybe to the testing floor?! I hope we go down there this season. He’s discovering more and more. We again see a severance implant, more explicitly this time, and Innie Mark pops out of the head that the implant is in…is this a reintegration hint? This intro seems to play with the plot more than the previous one.
It also shows more characters instead of just Mark. The most interesting moment to me is Ms. Cobel's head that is looming over a book inside which Mark is stumbling around. Ms. Cobel is such an interesting character, and she has me yearning for answers.
What is her deal?! Does she have an actual obsession with Mark, or does all of the severance work hinge on Mark’s involvement, and she knows that? More and more, it seems to be revealed that Mark is very integral to their work at Lumon, and I’m getting more and more freaked out.
Sorry, back to just the intro…the Cobel moment definitely sticks out to me. And then, at the very end, we find Mark back on the bed, and someone (with an adult head but a baby body) is crawling by Mark’s feet. The baby of it all is especially odd. I think it might have something to do with the “rebirth” of Kier. Something is leading me to think they’re trying to bring Kier back to life…
For lack of a better word, the baby man in the intro looks like Kier but also kind of looks like Petey to me. Is it meant to be both? There is also that Helly and Ms. Casey moment in the elevator that blurs back and forth between their two faces. Maybe this baby crawling moment is meant to evoke two people as well…I don’t know…I could be trippin’.
The ending is the most disturbing when we see Innie Mark’s hands creeping out of Outie Mark’s head and getting a peep of an eyeball. This feels like a big foreshadowing of the season.
I’m sure there’s a lot to unpack here that will be revealed as we watch the show, but all this is to say, I’ve never been hooked by a show’s title sequence like this. In a minute and thirty seconds, both these intros have provoked more thoughts and feelings than any other intros I’ve watched.
I’ve never analyzed a title sequence like this. I’ve sung along, sure, but that’s about it. The intros perfectly match the nature of the show as the show itself makes me question everything and wonder what’s next and if there are larger meanings to each moment.
Details are important, and I love that the details of the title sequences were handled with time and care. Oliver Latta, Teddy Blanks, and Theodore Shapiro all created this nightmarish (complimentary) title sequence.
Are you watching Severance? Let me know what you think about the intros and any fan theories you have. I know we’re all gagged at this Helly R./Helena predicament! If you’re not watching, I obviously highly recommend it. Praise Kier, and join us!
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This was very fun to write and escape after reading upsetting news pieces. Thank you for reading! Hope you have a great week.
Cheers,
Paige Elson
Love this! Apparently Ben Stiller and everybody scouted artists on IG and that’s how they discovered the genius of https://www.instagram.com/extraweg?igsh=NTc4MTIwNjQ2YQ==