Did you voluntarily sign up to have your brain damaged by an evil corporation? If you said yes, chances are, Dr. Ricken Lazlo Hale is your favorite author. And not just because he’s only the second writer you ever got to read after Kier Eagan. But you don’t need to be a severed employee or Rebeck to enjoy his work. Everyone can now discover the truth about themself without undergoing a controversial medical procedure. Severance has released the first eight chapters of Dr. Ricken’s in-show book, The You You Are, for fans to both read and listen to for free.
Michael Chernus’s Ricken Hale is a national treasure not in spite of being a hack author but because of it. His insights into life and humanity are actually pretty good. It’s just that he’s not exactly Shakespeare when it comes to expressing his ideas. That’s why he’s such a funny and lovable character on Severance. He and his books are also much more important than they would otherwise seem in Severance‘s world. His fifth book, The You You Are: A Spiritual Biography of You, made its way to Lumon’s severed floor during Severance season one, where it helped inspire the Macrodat Uprising.
Now, we can learn why so many find his work so powerful ourselves. (Or we can at least enjoy some of the funniest intentionally bad writing ever.) Apple TV+ has released eight chapters from Severance’s fictional book, both as a free ebook and in audiobook form. And you better believe Dr. Ricken did his own narration. That way, you can imagine you’re in attendance at one of his live readings. What will that be like? Apple Books calls it a “journey of self-learnedness.”
Our only complaint is that Severance only released eight chapters (39 pages) and not the whole book. We need more Dr. Ricken in our lives, not less. That’s the only way we’ll discover the we we are supposed to be. Or something.
We’re not totally clear what we’re supposed to take away from his lessons just yet. We just know his writing makes a huge impression on the kind of people who hate themselves so much they don’t want to exist for eight hours a day.
