In yet another creative promo for its hit workplace thriller series Severance, Apple TV+ dropped a new video Wednesday that masquerades as a Lumon Industries management training video.
“Lumon Industries is proud to present the Lumon Management Program — otherwise known by its breviloquent moniker of LUMP,” Apple TV+ wrote on X, announcing the video. “Today’s practicum: Integrating New Team Members.”
Mr. Milchik and Miss Huang appear in Lumon Industries management training video in new Severance promo
The new video follows a string of recent Apple TV+ marketing efforts for the popular, and apparently profitable, Severance. They include a workplace popup in New York City’s Grand Central Station and a video entitled “Lumon Is Listening.” The latter promotes the Severance brain surgery as a work-life balance solution.
If you’re not watching the show — and you really should be, because it’s one of the best shows on Apple TV+ (or anywhere, for that matter) — the Severance procedure separates an “innie” employee’s work awareness and memory from their outside life as an “outie.” Understandably, innies feel trapped and even enslaved, leading to season one’s climactic but temporary escape.
And, like all things Severance, the new video is entertainingly weird. In it, Lumon Industries’ severed floor manager Mr. Milchik (played by Tramell Tillman) introduces his deputy manager, the inexplicably young Miss Huang (Sarah Block). He calls her “our fellow in training.” She made her first appearance on Severance in season two’s first episode, assisting Milchik in managing the Macrodata Refinement team.
Wait, how many branches does Lumon have?
“Greet the viewer, Miss Huang,” he curtly orders, putting his false smile on hold for a moment.
“Hello,” she says to the camera.
Milchick also refers to his post as Lumon Industries branch 501, which may be a clue about how far-flung Lumon and its Severance procedure are in the world.
“If you’re watching this, you’ve recently made Severance a part of your workplace. As un-severed management, we’re entrusted with interpersonal nourishment,” Milchick says, as the video shows workers standing around with snacks and beverages.
Then Huang takes over.
“To this end, we employ rigorous orientation protocols. Here are the 127 steps to maximizing glee and enforcing a productive workplace,” she says over a shot of fat compliance manuals. But then the screen fritzes and goes black, showing a “redacted” notice, before she returns midsentence.
After the cut, Huang talks about securing workforce camaraderie with a “jovial round of ball game,” a protocol we saw in last week’s episode. Mark S. and his new team awkwardly attempted to get acquainted under Huang’s supervision, rolling the ball to each other. Ball in hand, the employees introduced themselves and described something positive they took from the meeting.
“Make sure the ball is well-inflated and that the players achieve mutual fondness by the end,” Huang instructs on the video.
Watch the management training promo video for Severance
‘The mouth which is busy smiling cannot bite’
Taking the ball, Milchik says “consider augmenting the game with jokes, but mind professional boundaries, as crossing these may necessitate toxic work environments.” Here an oil painting showing a workplace revolt or some other sort of violent struggle is showing, possibly depicting cannibalism.
“Well, there you have it,” he adds, wrapping up. “Remember, managers, growth takes time, but happy workers bloom more quickly.” Here there’s an awkward edit in the video, as if something was hastily removed. Milchik ends, “To quote Lumon’s founder –” and here a female voice, probably Huang’s, comes in over an oil painting of Lumon Industries founder Kier Eagan gazing over mountaintops — “the mouth which is busy smiling cannot bite.”
Watch Severance on Apple TV+
To help catch up on Severance, read our five-star recap of season two’s first episode: ‘It’s been a minute’ since we felt that Severance vertigo. Then you can catch the second episode Friday (or possibly Thursday night after 6 p.m. Pacific, when Apple TV+ often makes new episodes available).
Apple TV+ is available by subscription for $9.99 with a seven-day free trial. You can also get it via any tier of the Apple One subscription bundle. Customers who buy a new iPhone, iPad, Apple TV, Mac or iPod touch can enjoy three months of Apple TV+ for free.
After launching in November 2019, “Apple TV+ became the first all-original streaming service to launch around the world, and has premiered more original hits and received more award recognitions faster than any other streaming service. To date, Apple Original films, documentaries and series have been honored with 471 wins and 2,090 award nominations and counting,” the service said.
Apple TV+ is home to more than 200 exclusive movies and TV shows (including breakout soccer comedy Ted Lasso). The service also offers documentaries, dramas, comedies, kids shows and more.
David Snow, an expert on Apple hardware and software, writes on a variety of technological and cultural topics for Cult of Mac. They include Apple news, technology buying guides, and features about computer setups and Apple TV shows and movies.
With 30 years of experience covering technology and other subjects, he has written and edited for numerous print and online publications, including CMP Media, TechTV.com, CNET, Wired News, Red Herring magazine, Law.com, The National Law Journal and Law Technology News magazine. Among other roles, he served as executive editor of the Law.com network of websites and editorial director, technology, for ALM Media.
Snow graduated with a B.A. from Syracuse University with majors in magazine journalism and psychology. While there, he worked as a reporter for The Daily Orange newspaper and associate editor of Equal Time magazine.
Founder of the blog At the Waterline, he can be reached on X (formerly Twitter) via @atthewaterline and on Mastodon via @dsnow.
