Ben Stiller: 'It's Dangerous' to Listen to 'Severance' Fan Theories
Ben Stiller: 'It's Dangerous' to Listen to 'Severance' Fan Theories
Ben Stiller explained why he tries to not listen to 'Severance' fan theories.
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I'm pretty disapointed about all the hype surrounding this season. It's going to cause problems with puting pressure on writers and executives will try to meddle with the show. Everyone is setting themselves up for dissapointment.
The whole show is about world building. The last episode had a few minutes of that, but it was mostly filler. I think they decided to milk out this season in order to stretch it into next season.
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I haven’t enjoyed this season so far. I’ve noticed when shows are as mysterious as Severance is right now it’s usually because the writers don’t know what story they’re trying to tell. Several episodes this season only moved the plot forward in small ways. Im probably going to skip out on season 3 unless season 2 starts picking up.
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There is like 2 episodes left in the season right?
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So in going to disagree by comparing Severance to the show Silo. If you've seen both shows I think one does an excellent job of slowly world building and the other does a terrible job at it.
First, Spoilers for Silo season 1 & 2, and for Severance up to episode 8 (the most recent episode). Also I acknowledge that Silo season 2 is finished and it's possible Severance season 2 will finish poorly, but I don't think it will.
Tap for spoiler
When we watch Silo, the first episode of season 1 has our main character go outside and discover that the dead outside we see is in fact green and alive. That's a great start to a series. We now want to know why. Why is this information hidden?
The finale of the first season has our new main character go outside and discover actually... The outside really is death. There is a hologram of green life outside, but outside actually really is dead.
Then we have all of season 2. Season 2 isn't going to even address anything I've mentioned above. Sure there is a conspiracy about the head of IT knowing about all this, but we don't get much. Also back in the second episode of season 1 we learned about a secret pipe, but the show ignored it until the finale of season 2.
Then season 2 ends with an explosion and the only guy who knew anything probably just died. Also he learned a secret at the end of the season, but we're not going to reveal that either.
The entirety of season 2 is just a setup for season 3. I liked the story. I think having to get back home before they all kill themselves is an interesting story idea. However it was basically a big pause button.
Now Silo is based on books, so maybe it's the authors fault, maybe it's the adaptations fault, but the point is that season 2 of Silo, while interesting, avoids answering any questions.
NOW, Severance. Season 1 ends with "She's alive". That's a fucking twist.
And what has season 2 done to further that plot? First Mark's sister acknowledges it even though Mark does not, but after an episode or two he is willing to accept it as true.
Mark then tries to get a message to himself to learn more. A woman shows up and says that she can reintegrate him so he can learn more, Mark immediately agrees (no wasting of time). Then we get a whole episode where we learn where Mark's wife is and what she is up to (but we don't know why).
And that's just one twist. Helly is revealed to the rest of the work group. Irving meets Christopher Walken. We just learned that Cobel plays a big role in all this. We've learned a shit ton.
Silo walked back it's twist and ignored it, saving it for a future season. Severance answered all our main questions, but asked a few new ones.
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As I understand it, they didn't have a strong plan beyond season one initially, but the long delay (partly thanks to the writers' strike) gave them the opportunity to plan out the rest of the series in one go. (Stiller isn't a writer on the show, and apparently "idea guy" doesn't fall under union rules.)
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The danger is expectations. It's easy to overhype things. It's easy to believe something should happen the way you want it to happen.
Sometimes you're right.
Sometimes you're wrong.
And sometimes that just isn't what the creator was going for.
If someone says "Cake is coming" and you start to think about delicious chocolate cake with layers of chocolate and coffee, topped with a light whipped frosting, and then a carrot cake shows up, it doesn't mean the carrot cake is bad. It just means it wasn't what you were expecting. Now this metaphor is bad because if I implied a chocolate cake, I should probably deliver a chocolate cake. It's unfair to tease one thing, then offer something completely different. In reality the cake isn't carrot, it's chocolate but the coffee flavor is darker than you expected or the frosting is heavier.
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I mean he is right, lost tried to side step when fans got close to figuring out what was going and fucked it up. Writers should just tell their story and you ether like it or you don't.
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It's still wild to me that Ben Stiller is the guy behind Severance. I guess I just haven't been following his career closely enough.
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Same. I can't get over that fact at all
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Should watch the Secret Life of Walter Mitty if you haven't! It's very good. Directed and acted by stiller.
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