If you’re not familiar with the fantastically strange yet remarkably relatable premise of the sci-fi office series “Severance,” what I’m about to say may not make a whole lot of sense. Skip to paragraph three for a primer, then come back up here. Hopefully I won’t sound quite as unhinged after a bit of context, but then again, it’s been a rough few months so I can’t promise 100% sanity.

Surgically severing my work life from my personal life sounds like a delightful option right about now. The unprecedented challenges facing journalism have meant that my job keeps getting harder, from covering a chaotic election to processing internal strife here at the paper, to contending with how to write about the rise of a new American oligarchy without imploding. All this, and our hometown is still burning. In short, the once-disturbing premise of the dystopian drama/dark comedy now infuses me with calm. Finally, a way to do my job without the emotional strife!

Season 1 of the clever, absorbing show executive produced by Ben Stiller, who directed six of the nine episodes, introduced viewers to Lumon Industries and its “severed” workforce, made up of employees who’ve agreed to a surgical procedure that separates their work memories from their nonwork memories. The switch is activated when the altered individual step into an employee elevator that takes them down to the “severed work floor” in the morning and back up to the surface at the end of their shift.

The innies of the macrodata refinement department spend their shifts in front of computer screens, sorting random numbers into digital bins. They have no idea what the digits mean or what their employer produces. The sole focus is reaching their quarterly goal. Outties have no idea how their innies are being treated. In other words, it’s a corporate overlord’s wet dream. Even stranger, Lumon‘s office culture revolves around a cultlike devotion for its late founder, Kier Eagan, evident in the sculptures, paintings and numerous volumes of Kier scripture throughout the building.

Returning Friday after nearly three years, Apple TV+’s psychological thriller continues to explore the extreme consequences of seeking a work/life balance, and not a minute too soon to quash my fantasies of a viable path toward leaving one’s work at the office — or escaping one’s personal woes by getting lost in work.

The consolation for dashing my dreams? Season 2 is an exquisite, masterful work of television. Its 10 episodes pack sci-fi creepiness, wry social commentary and black humor inside of a tightly constructed story that’s substantive and thrilling.

Created by Dan Erickson, Season 2 expands the backstories of its main characters, adding emotional depth to the cold, Kubrick-esque environs of their workplace. We rejoin the macrodata refinement team five months after last season’s epic cliffhanger, when they breached the system by tripping Lumon’s “overtime contingency” mechanism, or OTC, to awaken their innies in the outside world.

Mark S. (Adam Scott), Dylan G. (Zach Cherry), Helly R. (Britt Lower) and Irving B. (John Turturro) hoped to alert the public about their oppressive work conditions and glean insight into who they are on the outside. And maybe they’d even solve a few mysteries about their employer. Why is the data they handle deemed highly classified? Is Mark’s allegedly deceased wife, Gemma (Dichen Lachman), alive and “working” at Lumon? And what’s the story with the goats?

While they unmask several mysteries, fresh riddles emerge. Newbie Ms. Huang (Sarah Bock) looks to be about 12, but she’s working at Lumon. When asked why she’s a child, she dryly replies, “Because of when I was born.”

Former enforcer Ms. Cobel (Patricia Arquette), who imploded last season, is plotting to win back her former position, or is she? Mr. Milchick (Tramell Tillman), with his unnerving smile and rageful undercurrent, still roams the “severed floor,” but cracks are appearing in his managerial facade. And Lumon has turned the MDR team’s revolt into a PR opportunity, promising more transparency and respect for its severed workforce.

Employees are now promised better conditions, such as hall passes and exciting new snack choices like fruit leather! Lumon has even graciously pulled its surveillance cameras out of the break room, or so they say. The MDR team knows better, and they have a plan.

I don’t want to reveal too much here, and I’d probably get much of it wrong anyway because “Severance” encompasses more twists, turns and deceptive doorways than the endless hallways of Lumon. But trying to figure out what’s happening, and who’s behind it, is half of the fun.

Other addictive aspects of this show are the powerful performances. Turturro’s portrayal of Irv’s haunted outtie is spellbinding and infused with heartbreak. Scott’s performance as the team leader who’s seeking answers, and perhaps even liberation from Lumon, is strikingly authentic against the fabricated, sterile environs of the office. Tillman’s slow reveal of Milchick’s hidden layers add new, captivating dimensions to a show that’s already full of them. Nuanced performances from Cherry and Lower animate the personality split between innies and outties.

Disturbing, dark riddles compound and unfurl in wonderfully unexpected ways by the thrilling season finale. And though the story comes together in a tight conclusion, enough intrigue remains to concoct another season (if we’re lucky).

“Severance’s” playground is the uneven field where office drones battle the Musks and Bezos of the world and where the insidious power of corporate behemoths stretches far beyond their stated business. If only those scenarios were science fiction.

Basil Joseph in a still from ‘Pravinkoodu Shappu’

One well-crafted sequence can sometimes make a film worthwhile, even when the film in its totality hits a notch below where it could have. These sequences tell us of the possibilities that a filmmaker holds, and serve as a showreel of someone whose work is worth looking forward to. Such sequences are galore in debutant Sreeraj Sreenivasan’s Pravinkoodu Shappu, partly thanks to cinematographer Shyju Khalid, who has shot some of the major Malayalam films of the past decade.

To list out a few, there is a school bus chase sequence that sends chills down your spine due to its clever staging; there are thoughtfully lit night scenes inside a toddy shop, and one by a pond where a murder is taking place under the dim, reddish tail lamps of a vehicle; or like that of a masked man attacking a house at night, seen from the point of view of the woman facing it; or even the opening sequence which juxtaposes a classic nostalgic song with a shocking visual.

However, the deftness in the handling of these scenes is not visible uniformly in the film, which brings together the potent mix of an investigative thriller and a black comedy. At the core of it is a typical Agatha Christie-esque situation, with a death at a particular location and a handful of suspects. But instead of elite mansions or luxury trains, here the location happens to be a toddy shop, frequented by the regulars from the village, with quite a few among them having a shady record in the past. When the toddy shop owner is found dead, fingers point to all of them.

Police officer Santosh (Basil Joseph) derives much pride from solving crimes using intelligence than violence. It is Santosh who brings the humour in this film, and with his easy shifts from goofiness to sharpness, Basil’s performance is one of the elements that hold the film together. The past lives of the dead man and the suspects unravel as the investigation progresses. But, some of the characterisation and situations are intentionally sketchy, probably to retain the mystery till the end.

A certain ingenuity marks the way the murder is executed, you do feel mildly satisfied with the roundabout manner of arriving at that point. It just does its job, without knocking you off your seats, which the truly exceptional ones achieve. With a lot of back and forth shifts in the non-linear narrative, the editing is on point for most parts, but some scenes feel too long-winded and even superfluous, considering the information we already know. At the same time, there are instances of insufficient or unconvincing information too, as regards the motive.

Despite its intriguing setting and liberal doses of black humour, Pravinkoodu Shappu ends up underutilising its potential.

Pravinkoodu Shappu is currently running in theatres

With its intricate, carved-wood paneling and diamond-shaped glass panes, location scout Lori Balton thought the smoking room of the historic Andrew McNally House was just glorious.

The distinctive look of the Altadena mansion, built in 1887 for the co-founder of maps and atlas firm Rand McNally Publishing, made it a favorite for filming. The Queen Anne-style home appeared in the HBO series “Entourage,” among other productions.

But the McNally House, along with other notable filming locations around Southern California, was destroyed in the recent fires.

“There was so much texture,” said Balton, who is based in Venice. “You did not feel like you were in L.A. Such a great location to have. It just breaks my heart.”

As the region grapples with the sheer number of homes and buildings destroyed, livelihoods disrupted and lives lost, its signature industry will face yet another setback in the loss of go-to filming spots, particularly in the Altadena area and Pacific Palisades.

The destruction adds to the list of hardships Hollywood faces, which now includes the loss of workers’ homes, from below-the-line crew members to actors and executives, and pauses in production that can strain personal finances.

“There is no question that the fires’ impact extends to the business of film production and the livelihoods it sustains,” nonprofit FilmLA spokesperson Philip Sokoloski wrote in an email. “We believe the immediate and long-term impacts to the local entertainment economy from the fires will prove significant, but these are also unknowable at this time.”

Over the years, Sherman Oaks-based location manager Ed Lippman had scouted many homes in the Palisades and Altadena areas for potential filming locations. As he watched the local news reports last week, he saw crews driving down Altadena’s E. Mendocino Street, where he had worked with many homeowners who allowed shoots on their property.

“I wasn’t even thinking about film or location sets at that point,” Lippman said. “I was thinking about the people, the magnitude of people I had personal interactions with … suddenly, their houses were gone. It was kind of overwhelming.”

Location scouts, managers and set decorators are now putting together a database with addresses and photos of homes in the fire zones that they’ve scouted over the years to help homeowners who need documentation for insurance claims. If a house was ever used in a film or TV production, or even was just scouted, someone could still have photos that may help with those claims, Balton said.

Balton has already added 50 homes to the list from her own records.

“The film industry supports them any and every way we can,” she said. “We can’t film on location without their homes and their communities.”

Palisade fire: memorable film landmarks gone

With its coastal views and sprawling mansions, Pacific Palisades has been a frequent spot for filming.

“You could get a lot of really nice, East Coast looks,” Lippman said. “You could shoot L.A. for other parts of the country, easily.”

The Palisades fire has now burned more than 23,000 acres and numerous homes, structures and landmarks.

One of those destroyed was Will Rogers State Historic Park, which was made up of a ranch house, barn and other buildings that once belonged to the vaudeville and film actor. The property was the filming location for “Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home,” where it doubled as San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park. It was also featured in the 1981 movie “Cutter’s Way” starring Jeff Bridges, 1999’s “The Story of Us” with Bruce Willis and Michelle Pfeiffer and Lindsay Lohan’s debut feature film, “The Parent Trap,” from 1998.

About two miles away, Palisades Charter High School suffered heavy damage from the fire, though it was not lost in the blaze. School officials have said about 40% of the campus was burned, and the school is now looking for temporary facilities to resume classes.

The high school has been featured in productions including the Lohan and Jamie Lee Curtis remake of “Freaky Friday,” 2001’s “Crazy/Beautiful” with Kirsten Dunst and the Anne Hathaway-led crime drama “Havoc” from 2005. The school’s volleyball courts and track also briefly appeared in 1976’s horror film “Carrie.”

The historic Topanga Ranch Motel, which was built in 1929 and designed in a distinctive bungalow style, was also destroyed. The location was a popular spot for film and TV shots.

Eaton fire: homes with character up in flames

Long favored by location scouts and managers for its film-friendly community and the distinctive looks of its older homes, Altadena has doubled as East Coast locales, international destinations and even places closer to home.

The Eaton fire has burned more than 14,000 acres and numerous structures in both Altadena and Pasadena, including entire neighborhoods.

“Each house had been there so long that it had its own personality,” Balton said. “We look for locations that are really adding another character to a movie.”

She sighed.

“It’s gone, it’s all gone,” Balton said.

Zorthian Ranch, an artists colony in the foothills of Altadena, also burned. The sprawling ranch with its eclectic art pieces, wandering llamas and sculptures, was featured in a music video for Capital Cities’ “Safe and Sound,” as well as other film and TV productions.

About a mile away, Charles S. Farnsworth Park, too, was destroyed in the fire. Boasting an airy outdoor amphitheater surrounded by trees and a view of the L.A. skyline, the park was used to film Apple TV+’s series “Shrinking” starring Harrison Ford and Jason Segel, and the 2001 film “American Pie 2.”

“There are no words, really,” Balton said of the destruction. “Hope we go on. You can rebuild homes but boy, how long it takes to rebuild a community.”