By Joy L
Just under half hour to midnight, I gain consciousness. I am seated in a study room (indicated by the bookshelf, reading nook and table before me), facing an open laptop. My gaze falls on the screen amidst the dimly lit arrangement; a Zoom waiting room. Right, the Overtime Contingency Protocol.
The domestic setup was not entirely foreign. The activation is common for interviews with international talents residing a different time zone. In other words, outside business hours. I often either find myself in what I assume is the living room (indicated by the couch and obvious television), or this study. Before I could turn to get a glimpse at the rest of the house, Britt Lower appears in the virtual window.
Her auburn cropped bangs revealing distinct brows are consistent with Helena/Helly’s defining look on Apple TV+'s Severance, making the perceptible divide between actress and character(s) less pronounced. More so, as she speaks, I observe that not only accent but cadence barely contradict.
“We’re so delighted by how the audience has received the show,” Lower addresses the recent instalment, “It gave us the confidence that this strange little office created has wheels. The whole team is excited to keep expanding this world and dig into each element of this giant puzzle. So many people put thought and sweat into every prop, line of dialogue; each so well-considered.”
The new season comes a good two years after the first. We were just beginning to comprehend the workings of the uncannily familiar employment that is Lumon Industries; acquainting with its odd rules and jargon that parallel the eccentricities of corporate culture. Along with its employees on the cusp of uncovering who they are on the outside, we were all brusquely strung high on a cliffhanger.
The keen hunger for answers reflects in their latest foray. Though not immediately, without revealing too much. There are eventful changes and baby goat included side quests, so the path there isn’t straightforward.
“For me these are really humans on a really human journey of self-discovery and search for meaning,” the actress explains, “The plot point and [fan] theories are super fascinating, but what I'm drawn to is that human experience of what do they want, and what are they doing to get what they want.”
Screenwriter Dan Erickson has previously mentioned his favourite conspiracy being that Lumon was slowly turning its staff into baby goats. Lower, on the other hand, is not privy to any reddit threads, nor relents to guesses of her own. It was a crucial choice to keep herself in the dark within capacity; to be on the same page and investigative state of mind in the journey that the audience was following.
Like the last, shooting season two was not chronological. “It’s a 5D chess problem when we're shooting out of order. All departments cooperate to figure out continuity; it’s an extremely collaborative team where everybody's ideas matter,” she attests. And like last season, the self-described visual learner keeps a self-drawn graphic novel to track her characters’ emotional arc in the non-linear production.
The sequel further pushes the tension at play between Helly R and Helena Eagan. “I’m hesitant to name specific scenes,” Lower chuckles nervously, “but in season two you’ll come to understand why Helena is the way she is. We didn't have as much context of what's going on for her on the outside before. They are both trapped in the same company but in different ways.”
“All characters—innies and outies—are grappling with parts of themselves. The competing forces continue to evolve, and there's a real reckoning with identity on both sides. It’s nature vs nurture. Helena has a lot of conditioning of how to be in the world, while Helly has this raw, unmediated, almost teenage angst that couldn’t care less what people think about her.”
“But these are the same person with a shared subconscious. The body stores their trauma and joy, so they inevitably start to have an effect on each other,” she says after deliberating, “They have a lot to learn from each other.”
By Joy Ling
Just minutes past midnight, I realise I’m looking at my desktop wallpaper. All apps are closed and the recording on my phone has stopped. The duration reads 29:21. Great, well within limit. I hit the transcribe button and glance outside the room. The house remains dark and still.
See, the study is where I situate myself for the Overtime Contingency Protocol if the interview occurs past evening. It’s the furthest room in the house, preventing the work call from disturbing my family. And to save everyone the awkwardness; vice versa. Daytime however, oversaturates with sunlight and I shift to the wider den since no one else is at home.
There is a peculiar line to toe when profession bleeds out of office parameter. Anyone else reminiscing the glorious time we were merging two things that shouldn’t coexist that way? Just me? It’s probably why the show resonated with viewers when it premiered during the pandemic. It was when we were reckoning with our relationships to our occupations. Reevaluating the meaning we attach to it, and the sense of identity we acquire from it.
In the playback, Britt Lower points out the added meta layer being an actor on Severance. “There’s almost like a Droste effect where Britt goes to work: I go into my trailer and I put on Helena's outfit and assume a new name and identity, as she goes to work under a new name and identity,” she muses before a quick laugh, “The difference being that I enjoy my job for sure.”
Another tangible effect of the process is déjà vu, courtesy of those darn hallways. “We filmed so many scenes in them, there are corners where I’m like, ‘Oh yeah. I remember filming a scene here …like three years ago’,” she recalls wryly.
Fun fact you’re probably dying to know like I was: The set is a stage comprising tons of modular partitions that rearrange for the day according to the scene. Doesn’t help that to get to said set, actors have to navigate somewhat similar-looking hallways. “There’s a kind of recursive quality being in our studio because you’re walking down these hallways to more hallways,” she smirks at the memory. “The maze changes so we do get lost on our way often.”
Other design elements are effectively immersive; the fluorescent lights, golf-green carpets and those stifling, soul-killing windowless rooms. Time is amorphous within the space, but the work-family dynamic between cast and crew is something Lower appreciates.
“You lean on your coworkers to find levity, and we’re fairly easy to entertain. We make up childish games that help us stay awake. Adam [Scott] is often flicking a paper clip at me. We have a healthy balance of seriousness and silliness, and all genuinely enjoy each other’s company between takes.”
The physicality her role encompasses is also what the former high school basketball point guard relishes. Whether it’s sprinting through hallways or smashing glass with a fire extinguisher, playing Helly lets her actively maneuver the strait-laced walls of Lumon.
Yes, Lower has never held a corporate job. Her closest comparison? High school speech team where office attire is default. “There's something about pantyhose and pumps that is super inspiring to Helly’s urge to escape,” she divulges as the thought occurs.
“She wakes up and she's been dressed by someone else. It’s this thing that’s been put on her; this stereotype of feminine office wear. She has no cultural understanding of why she’s wearing it, and couldn’t care less. She goes about as if she’s on a basketball court, not in heels and pantyhose.”
While most innies are generally reticent versions of their outies in the real world, I notice that Lower’s characters interestingly embody the opposite. To her, each of the series’ four horsemen, if you will, represent typical kindergarten classroom archetypes: Teacher’s pet, rule follower, class clown, and rebel.
It may surprise some which archetype she actually relates to most. “I come from a long line of farmers and teachers. I think I've always loved teachers—they’re kind of our first authority figures outside of our parents, right?” she raises with a smile, “Naturally, I didn't necessarily question authority growing up because I like teachers. What Helly has taught me is that there is a time and place to question authority, especially when that authority is infringing upon your humanity and free will.”
“I would say on the whole I like to be a good citizen, but playing Helly over the past four years has given me more strength to advocate for myself where in moments prior, I would never have.”
Severance Season 2 airs 17 January on Apple TV+.
