The characters in “Severance” — at least the “innie” versions of them — don’t experience time like the rest of us. Innies only exist on an underground floor in the headquarters of Lumon Industries, a company that splits the consciousnesses of some employees into work and non-work selves. While their “outies” can socialize, sleep and lead fulfilling lives, for the innies the world begins and ends with the office elevator. Once the doors open, it’s like they never left.

This strange feeling is also the feeling of watching the second season of “Severance”. It took nearly three years for the Apple TV+ hit to produce a sequel, making it one of the longest gaps between chapters of a recurring series. (Though “Squid Game” and “Stranger Things” are taking similar hiatuses, “Severance” is by no means alone.) As the delay dragged on, compounded by Hollywood’s one-two punch, fans’ excitement only grew. Season 1 ended with a double revelation: Lumon’s “wellness consultant” Miss Casey (Dichen Lachtman) was actually Gemma, the supposedly dead wife of protagonist Mark S. (Adam Scott), who had separated to ease the pain of his loss; and Mark’s work love, Helly R. (Britt Lower), was the innie of Helena Eagan, heiress to the dynasty that has controlled Lumon since its founding in 1865. That’s quite a cliffhanger to end on and quite a stretch for the series’ captivating atmosphere to stop captivating the audience. Let’s not even talk about these viewers’ ability to remember the mysterious plot or possible clues.

But once the telltale chime sounds and Mark enters the instantly iconic neon-lit hall, these concerns quickly disappear. Despite the countless Reddit threads laying out theories and searching for breadcrumbs, Severance has always been an atmospheric experience. The world created by creator Dan Erickson and executive producer Ben Stiller, who directs half of the new season, is the product of an act of pure imagination. (Erickson developed the eponymous concept despite wishing he could just leave the drudgery of his day job behind.) Whatever the answers are to the central questions of “Severance,” such as what Mark and Helly’s work on “macrodata refinement ” at all, she I will not adhere to basic rules of logic or reason. “Severance” lives or dies not by an airtight, detailed story, but by maintaining an eerie sense of unreality. Season 2 accomplishes this indispensable prerequisite with deceptive ease. Real-time viewers’ patience was strained; Future binge-watchers will hardly notice a rash.

Critics were shown all 10 episodes of season two in advance, but we’re forbidden from revealing much of what happens in them. The spoiler list approaches “Mad Men” levels of obfuscation. For example, I can’t even say how much time passed between the innies’ infiltration of the real world, which gave them a glimpse into the lives of their outies, and their return to their natural habitat. (Their boss, Tramell Tillman’s incredibly polite Mr. Milchick, tells Mark that it’s been five months, but the information asymmetry between disconnected and non-separated is all too easy to exploit.) I can promise that there has been real progress in clearing up Lumon’s true intentions exist. and that “Severance” neither treads water nor suggests that there is no real master plan. We hear a lot about, and eventually learn about, an initiative called “Cold Harbor,” which apparently requires Mark and Gemma to participate together.

However, these developments are focused heavily on the home stretch of the season. Until then, Season 2 is more about the mood and builds on the powerful images and emotions of the first season. “Severance” is also interested in the ethics of two souls – when it comes to innies have Souls, a theme that emerges! – Sharing a body as stated in the explanation behind it. Helly, the most instinctively skeptical and rebellious in the MDR department, is hostile towards her outie; Her colleague Dylan (Zach Cherry), who now knows that his outie is married and has children, feels more jealous. Lower, a breakthrough in a cast otherwise stacked with established stars, does an even more excellent job conveying Helly’s discomfort with the fact that her love interest has another woman in his life that he may feel committed to, even if he is can’t remember being with her.

This time the cast just has more to offer, and everyone from Bob Balaban to Alia Shawkat to Gwendoline Christie is on board – or rather, on the Music Dance Experience. Most disturbing of all, the newest manager on the segregated floor, Miss Huang (Sarah Bock), is literally a child; When asked why, she replies, “Because I was born.” The new faces are welcome, but it’s the main characters who gain depth. Initially, only Scott had the chance to deliver two different, sustained performances. This time we see more of Helena Eagan at the peak of her malevolent powers and the outie version of Irving (John Turturro) dealing with the aftermath of an unfortunate affair (between his innie and Christopher Walken’s once separated, now retired (Burt) he can’t remember.

Such grounded emotions provide a pleasantly disorienting contrast to the increasingly outlandish world of Lumon, a quasi-cult based on religious adherence to the teachings of founder Kier Eagan. (In one of the many hints that “Severance” is set in a slightly different reality, Lumon’s headquarters are in “Kier, PE.” Whatever “PE” means, it’s not a state we know of.) Erickson, Stiller and production The designer Jeremy Hindle has a knack for building productions that are based on the sinister, infantilizing control methods of companies, but appear more indirect and mysterious than mere satire. Training videos, offsite meetings, and performance reviews are the latest tropes reflected in Lumon’s funhouse mirror. The same goes for broader concepts like tokenization and the whitewashing of attempted revolutions into sanitized propaganda.

As long as “Severance” can deliver these bits of sublime strangeness, it’s easy to suspend your disbelief and thirst for concrete information. Whatever goal “Severance” is aiming for, the journey dramatizes the arbitrary rules and compartmentalization of modern work better than anything else on the air. Also, the most pressing matter is addressed: After watching season 2, I finally understand what the goats are about.

The first episode of “Severance” season 2 will premiere on Apple TV+ on January 17 at 12pm PT, with remaining episodes streaming weekly on Fridays.