Christianity Today, ‘Severance’ Makes a Case for Suffering:
Mark Scout cannot bear the reality of his wife’s death.
When he’s alone with his thoughts, he ambles over to the fridge, cracks open a beer, and dozes off with the TV on. When he heads to the office, he sticks his phone in a locker, lets a security officer wave him down with a wand, and enters an elevator that activates a chip in his brain, cutting off his access to any memories outside his workplace’s basement.
This is the premise of Apple TV’s hit Severance, a mash-up of The Office and Lost, complete with a quirky cast, rich character development, and mysterious details that lend themselves to Reddit theories. …
Few of us would trust a corporation to insert allegedly irremovable hardware into our skulls, bifurcating our beings into “innies” (work selves) and “outies” (life selves). But many of us have experienced heartbreak so profound it tempts us to drastic measures in pursuit of relief. … “We don’t want to experience anything unpleasant,” said Dichen Lachman, the actress who plays Mark’s late wife (and Lumon’s test subject) in a recent interview. “We kind of want to get on a prescription of not having to suffer.”
The Christian life both acknowledges the inevitability of suffering and offers consolation.
“Do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God,” says the Lord through the prophet Isaiah (Isa. 41:10). “I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.” Of course, the presence of God does not mean a pain-free life—nor is pain always to be avoided. “We also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope,” writes Paul (Rom. 5:3–4).
Paul’s words emphasize just how long these excruciating seasons can endure. It’s no wonder that Christians too find escapist “fixes” appealing. I’m reminded of this quote from priest Henri Nouwen in his 1975 book Reaching Out: The Three Movements of the Spiritual Life:
Our culture has become most sophisticated in the avoidance of pain, not only our physical pain but our emotional and mental pain as well. We not only bury our dead as if they were still alive, but we also bury our pains as if they were not really there. We have become so used to this state of anesthesia, that we panic when there is nothing or nobody left to distract us. When we have no project to finish, no friend to visit, no book to read, no television to watch or no record to play, and when we are left all alone by ourselves we are brought so close to the revelation of our basic human aloneness and are so afraid of experiencing an all-pervasive sense of loneliness that we will do anything to get busy again and continue the game which makes us believe that everything is fine after all. …
[T]he path to peace … always starts with drawing closer to God, as the psalmist reminds us: “Pour out your hearts to him, for God is our refuge” (Ps. 62:8). Over and over, Scripture insists we must turn to God when we are anxious, weary, and debilitated (Phil. 4:6–7; 1 Pet. 5:7; Matt. 11:28).
It’s this kind of dependence that allows us to see deeper aspects of God’s character, as Paul famously reminds us in 2 Corinthians 12:9: “But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’” For Christians, maturing in our faith and working through our pain often look like two sides of the same coin. “I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings,” writes Paul in Philippians 3:10.
When we escape sufferings instead of participating in them, we pursue a kind of false relief—relief that neither positively forms our character nor helps us work through our underlying needs. …
Henri Nouwen offers a different vision, one that goes beyond commanding us to avoid escapism, buckle down, and heal ourselves.
“Nobody escapes being wounded. We all are wounded people, whether physically, emotionally, mentally, or spiritually,” he writes in a quote attributed to The Wounded Healer. “The main question is not ‘How can we hide our wounds?’ so we don’t have to be embarrassed, but ‘How can we put our woundedness in the service of others?’”
- Catholic World Report, St. Thomas More, Severance, and “God’s First”
- Christ and Pop Culture, Severance and the Christian’s Basic Responsibility
- Christian Research Institute, Why Are We Down Here Still Working in the Dark? (A Web TV Series Review of Severance)
- Crisis Magazine, That Hideous Severance
- The Gospel Coalition, ‘Severance’ and Pop Culture Visions of Hell
- Kyle Hatfield (Substack), Severance and the Religion of Work
- Jerusalem Post, Adam Scott’s Surprising Link to Judaism and Role in 'Severance'
- Ed Zitron (Medium), Severance and the Religion of Work
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