This 4-Year-Old Korean Sci-Fi Show on Apple TV+ Is the Closest Thing to Severance You Can Get
If you loved Severance's mind-bending exploration of memory and identity, this K-drama is your next obsession.
The second season of Severance is finished. The show has already been renewed for a third season, but it will take at least a year. What to watch in the meantime?
Among the projects close in spirit to Severance, many name Lost, Maniac and Westworld. But we found a criminally overlooked Korean drama that explores memory, identity and the ethics of tampering with human consciousness, just like Ben Stiller's show – Dr. Brain.
What Is Dr. Brain About?
Talented neurosurgeon Sewon Koh invents brain synchronization technology to solve the mystery of his son's death, which caused his wife to attempt suicide and who is now in a coma.
Sewon decides to connect his brain to a dead man, but after the experiment he sees no visible effect. After some time, it turns out that the memories of another person's brain are manifesting in the doctor's mind in the form of surreal visions mixed with reality and even new habits.
This does not stop the man from further experiments – the next target is his wife. But the knowledge gained from a deceased man turns out to be dangerous – Sewon gets the attention of very dangerous people.
Dr. Brain Is a Dizzying Mix of Different Genres
With his first TV project Kim Jee-woon, the director famous for such cult films as A Tale of Two Sisters and The Quiet Family, enters the territory that Christopher Nolan seems to be responsible for – and imposes his own order.
Where Nolan follows the smooth path of an impressive but understandable genre story, the Korean director adds stylish noir, hallucinatory horror and a lively buddy movie to a family drama about healing and a sci-fi thriller.
Dr. Brain Tackles the Same Topics and Moral Issues as Severance
Both Severance and Dr. Brain delve deeply into the ethics of interfering with human consciousness. But where Severance traps its characters in a corporate nightmare, Dr. Brain takes a more active approach. The result is a similarly unsettling thriller that questions reality.
Like Severance, Dr. Brain plays with fragmented identities and unreliable perspectives, but swaps Lumon's sterile offices for slick, cinematic Korean storytelling and a murder-mystery twist.
The show's protagonist, like Mark Scout, grapples with the consequences of violating the mind's boundaries – and the stakes are life, death, and solving a haunting personal tragedy.
For fans of Severance's existential dread and intricate plotting, Dr. Brain delivers another gripping, high-concept puzzle. Kim Jee-woon's show is a must-watch for fans of brainy, complex sci-fi.
Where to Watch Dr. Brain?
Dr. Brain is available to stream on Apple TV+.
