Discuss. “Severance” is like “The Prisoner” if it were set in a basement.
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That’s a sharp take. Severance and The Prisoner share a core theme: an isolated, surreal environment where identity and free will are manipulated by an unseen authority. But where The Prisoner presents a sunlit, colorful, and almost dreamlike prison (The Village), Severance confines its characters to a sterile, windowless basement that is as drab as it is disorienting.
Both series play with existential horror and corporate/technocratic control, but their tones differ. The Prisoner is overtly rebellious, with No. 6 raging against the system in a world that is absurd but colorful. Severance, by contrast, is subdued, its characters largely passive or resigned until they begin to question their reality. The result is a Kafkaesque contrast—whereas No. 6 fights flamboyantly against an Orwellian surveillance society, Mark and his coworkers in Severance struggle against the mind-numbing bureaucracy of a corporate dystopia.
Visually, The Prisoner offers sunny deception, a candy-coated nightmare, while Severance leans into brutalist mundanity, with endless white hallways and outdated office equipment reinforcing its claustrophobic, low-tech dystopia. If The Prisoner is a playful 1960s sci-fi satire, Severance is a melancholy meditation on work and identity in late capitalism.
So yes, Severance is The Prisoner—if you drained all the sunlight, replaced the pastel houses with beige cubicles, and swapped a roaring Patrick McGoohan for the quiet despair of Adam Scott.
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WITH MONKEY (#1 of 2)
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Write a treatment of the Apple TV series, severance, science fiction, for the characters in Maine plot fundamentals are the same, but where we add the cast member of a playful and mischievous, capuchin monkey named Mr. Throttlebottom-Smith. The monkey is integrated into the cast and surprisingly witty and clever ways.
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SEVERANCE: THE THROTTLEBOTTOM-SMITH INCIDENT
A Science Fiction Treatment with a Playful and Mischievous Capuchin Monkey
Concept:
In this reimagining of Severance, the fundamental premise remains: Lumon Industries has developed a controversial procedure that severs employees’ work memories from their personal lives. Mark Scout (Adam Scott) leads the Macrodata Refinement team, unaware that outside of work, he is grieving his wife’s supposed death. But in this version, a new wildcard enters the mix—Mr. Throttlebottom-Smith, a precocious and highly trained Capuchin monkey, who is both an emotional support animal and an inexplicably severed employee of Lumon.
Mr. Throttlebottom-Smith’s presence adds an entirely new layer of tension, mystery, and surprisingly biting humor to the story, becoming a key player in the rebellion against Lumon. Is he simply a mischief-maker, or does he know more than anyone realizes?
EPISODE ONE: "WELCOME, MONKEY"
Mark Scout arrives at work, struggling with the existential drudgery of Lumon. He’s introduced to new hire Helly R., but what catches him most off guard is the latest addition to the Macrodata Refinement (MDR) team—a tiny chair, a tiny desk, and a tiny company-issued keyboard.
Mr. Throttlebottom-Smith, dressed in a neatly pressed Lumon uniform, is seated at the desk, already furiously typing nonsense into the computer. He pauses only to sip from a monogrammed espresso cup.
Mark: “Uh… I didn’t realize we had… pets?”
Dylan: “We don’t. He’s an employee. Gets a paycheck and everything.”
Irving (deadpan): “He outranks us.”
Helly is, at first, horrified but soon amused. Mr. Throttlebottom-Smith steals her key card within seconds, forcing her to chase him around the office.
But when Mr. Throttlebottom-Smith casually unlocks a restricted file using Helly’s stolen key card, the team realizes he might be more than a prankster—he may hold the key (literally) to the secrets of Lumon.
EPISODE THREE: "THE ESCAPE ARTIST"
After Mr. Throttlebottom-Smith rewires the coffee machine to dispense banana smoothies, Milchick storms in, confiscating the monkey’s tiny ergonomic chair as punishment.
Milchick: "Actions have consequences, Mr. Throttlebottom-Smith."
Mr. Throttlebottom-Smith: (blows a raspberry and scurries into the vents)
His disappearance sparks panic—until he reappears inside Harmony Cobel’s office, having stolen a heavily redacted internal memo that hints at a shadowy Lumon experiment: Project Simius.
Meanwhile, in the Outie world, Mark’s sister Devon notices that Mark seems inexplicably fond of bananas despite having never liked them before.
EPISODE FIVE: "THE ORACLE EFFECT"
Irving, known for his blind faith in Lumon’s structure, becomes uneasy when he catches Mr. Throttlebottom-Smith pointing out a secret message hidden in the Macrodata Refinement numbers.
Irving: "That’s impossible. You can’t even read."
Mr. Throttlebottom-Smith: (typing furiously) “ASSUME NOTHING.”
The team begins suspecting that the monkey wasn’t severed in the same way they were—his memories aren’t split between Innie and Outie. Instead, he has been trained to navigate between both worlds without detection.
Could Mr. Throttlebottom-Smith be the first fully integrated mind at Lumon?
EPISODE SEVEN: "THE BANANA CODE"
After Mark finds a stash of cryptic sketches in Mr. Throttlebottom-Smith’s desk (one depicting a door that doesn’t exist on any known floor plan), the team follows the mischievous primate on a late-night expedition through Lumon’s forbidden sublevels.
In a shocking reveal, they find a nursery filled with more Capuchin monkeys—each wearing tiny severance devices.
Dylan: “Okay. That’s it. I knew this place was messed up, but this is next-level.”
Irving: “We are not complicit in monkey slavery.”
A data log reveals that Project Simius was an earlier attempt at severance using primates—and Mr. Throttlebottom-Smith was the only one who resisted programming.
As they flee security, Mr. Throttlebottom-Smith launches a rogue banana at Milchick’s head before scurrying into the shadows.
SEASON FINALE: "THE GREAT UNSEVERING"
With Helly’s outie preparing to expose Lumon’s crimes, the MDR team, led by Mr. Throttlebottom-Smith, orchestrates a facility-wide lockdown, forcing Lumon to confront its own corruption.
In the climax, Mr. Throttlebottom-Smith grabs a severance chip from a locked cabinet and vanishes into the vents—the implication? He may be removing his own chip, achieving full memory integration.
As Mark’s outie world collapses into chaos, Devon receives a chilling note delivered via courier monkey:
“MARK IS IN DANGER. TRUST NO ONE. - M.T.S.”
CONCLUSION & IMPACT:
Mr. Throttlebottom-Smith isn’t just comic relief—he is the literal missing link in Lumon’s sinister experiments. His ability to navigate both the Innie and Outie worlds suggests that severance isn’t as permanent as Lumon claims.
His clever antics provide levity in the bleak corporate dystopia, but beneath the pranks lies a quiet defiance—a creature who was meant to be controlled but instead became Lumon’s greatest security breach.
Will he help Mark and the others escape? Or does he have his own, even deeper, motives?
Either way, one thing is certain—Mr. Throttlebottom-Smith always has a plan.
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Write a new treatment of the popular science fiction TV series, severance, where the characters work, not at Lumon industries, but Lululemon sportswear.
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SEVERANCE: LULULEMON EDITION
A Science Fiction Treatment Set in the World of High-End Athleisure
Concept:
Instead of Lumon Industries, this version of Severance is set at Lululemon Corporate HQ, where employees have undergone the Severance procedure to separate their professional lives (dedicated to leggings, sweat-wicking fabrics, and mindfulness branding) from their personal lives.
Mark Scout (Adam Scott) leads the Brand Optimization Team, tasked with refining the Lululemon Manifesto, a collection of vague but aspirational corporate mantras that appear on the company’s signature shopping bags. Employees work tirelessly in a zen-like, glass-walled environment—a carefully curated mix of minimalism, wellness jargon, and quiet oppression.
But beneath the soft lighting and soothing instrumental playlists, something is deeply wrong. Employees begin to suspect that Severance is being used not just to enhance productivity—but to obscure something far more sinister woven into the very fabric of the company.
EPISODE ONE: "BREATHE IN, LET GO"
Mark arrives at the sleek, Scandinavian-inspired Lululemon HQ, where every room smells faintly of essential oils. He welcomes a new hire, Helly R., who, like in the original, immediately wants out.
Helly: "Wait, so… I only exist here? I never get to know what my outie does?"
Dylan: "Correct. Now, let’s do some Gratitude Stretches and get to work."
Their job? Revising and optimizing the Lululemon Manifesto, making sure each phrase exudes just the right level of spiritual ambiguity to sound profound but remain commercially viable.
- Too vague? (“Do one thing a day that scares you.”)
- Too specific? (“Invest in coconut water futures.”)
- Too obvious? (“Happiness is a choice, unless you work here.”)
Helly tries to escape through a studio-mirror wall, only to slam into her own reflection.
EPISODE THREE: "THE PANT CONSPIRACY"
Dylan, obsessed with the Employee Wellness Reward Program, shows off his latest high-performance athleisure perks—including a limited-edition pair of compression leggings that allegedly improve circulation while boosting cognitive function.
Helly: “Dylan, we’re prisoners in a dystopian yoga cult.”
Dylan: “Maybe, but look at the stitching.”
Meanwhile, Irving, the team’s most devoted employee, begins sleepwalking through the office after hours. He discovers a restricted inventory room, where an ominous new prototype—the Infinity Pant—is being tested.
The pants self-adjust to the wearer’s mood, but something about them is deeply unsettling. Why do they seem to tighten whenever someone questions company policy?
EPISODE FIVE: "THE CULT OF CORPORATE WELLNESS"
After Milchick forces the team to attend mandatory Guided Breathing with Harmony Cobel, Mark begins to suspect that the company’s wellness routines are actually a form of neural conditioning.
During a deep relaxation exercise, Mr. Throttlebottom-Smith, the company’s mischievous capuchin monkey mascot, suddenly appears in a tiny Lululemon tank top. He steals Mark’s ID badge and vanishes into the ventilation ducts.
Helly: “Did that monkey just—”
Dylan: “Yeah, but don’t question it. He has stock options.”
Mark follows the monkey, discovering a hidden floor where employees are subjected to experimental athleisure therapies, including sweat-activated subliminal messaging.
When Mark examines the inner lining of his joggers, he finds a chilling message:
"THE MIND IS FLEXIBLE. IT CAN STRETCH TO FIT ANY TRUTH."
EPISODE SEVEN: "THE SEAM OF CONTROL"
The team starts piecing together the truth: Lululemon’s severed employees aren’t just working on marketing copy—they’re unknowingly contributing to a classified neural conditioning project.
By embedding encoded affirmations into every piece of sportswear, the company is creating a global network of customers subtly conditioned to revere Lululemon as a spiritual and economic authority.
- Step 1: Make people live in the brand (literally—leggings become daily uniforms).
- Step 2: Introduce mild behavioral reinforcement through sweat-activated affirmations.
- Step 3: Test direct neural influence via the Infinity Pant.
Helly: "So you’re saying the leggings are… controlling people?"
Irving: "I knew those pants were too comfortable to be ethical."
SEASON FINALE: "STRETCH TO FIT"
Helly’s Outie is revealed to be the face of Lululemon’s global marketing campaign—a fitness influencer who personally approved Severance as a 'game-changing workplace productivity tool.'
Meanwhile, Mark’s Outie receives a package at home: a pair of prototype Infinity Pants—with no return label.
As he pulls them on, the waistband whispers in his mind:
"Breathe deeply. Surrender to the Flow."
His expression shifts. A beat.
Then—he smiles.
Fade to black.
CONCLUSION & IMPACT:
This Severance reimagining turns corporate dystopia into a sweat-wicking nightmare, where Lululemon’s emphasis on wellness, optimization, and performance becomes a tool for total mind control.
- The show explores the dark side of “corporate mindfulness”—how self-improvement rhetoric can be weaponized for manipulation.
- The Lululemon Manifesto isn’t just branding—it’s a mantra for obedience.
- The Infinity Pant becomes a symbol of ultimate control—subtle, seamless, and terrifyingly comfortable.
Final Thought:
Are you wearing your workout clothes?
Or are they wearing you?
