How ‘Severance’ is putting ‘Lost’ and ‘Westworld’ to shame

nypost.com:

lost in the hallways of Lumon. “Severance” on Apple TV+ premieres its second season on Jan. 17 — marking the return of the latest buzzy “mystery box” show to captivate the public.

A mystery-box show isn’t a straightforward murder mystery, but rather presents a wide-ranging series of enigmas that make the audience and characters alike ask, “What’s happening?” Past shows in this subgenre include “Lost” and “Westworld.”But after starting strong, those shows ended up collapsing under the weight of unanswered questions and convoluted twists.

It’s still early days for “Severance,” but so far, the Emmy-winning drama is succeeding where those shows flubbed. Allen Stare, 60, who hosts “Severed: The Ultimate ‘Severance’ Podcast,” told The Post that the danger with a mystery-box show is the audience pondering, “OK, you’re wowing me now — but can you continue to wow me two seasons from now?”“That is always the thing that you’re going to be up against,” Stare said.He cited NBC’s “Heroes” as another popular show in this subgenre that had a great first season.“And when they came back for Season 2, it was so obvious they had no idea where to go with it,” he said.

The first season of “Severance” — which stars Adam Scott, Patricia Arquette, Britt Lower and John Turturro — set up the premise that “severed” employees at the sinister biotech company Lumon have a chip in their head that severs their work self from their greater identity.