Nearly three years after one of the most aggressive cliffhangers in recent memory, the mysterious Apple series is about to flip the switch again and finally answer the fates of the core characters.

Fortunately, “Severance” returns to Apple TV+ on Friday, and its makers seem to have used every second of the absence productively. The season takes new turns while remaining the most ambitious, batty and all-out pleasurable show on TV, an M.C. Escher maze whose plot convolutions never get in the way of its voice, heart and sense of humor.

A person in a suit holds a white cowbell, standing in a room. Their expression is serious. Season 2 of Severance premieres January 17 on Apple TV+.

After a three year sabbatical, the severed workers of Lumon Industries are returning for Season 2. Directed by Ben Stiller, the dystopian thriller premieres with two new episodes this Friday, Jan. 17 on Apple TV+.

The employees can choose to undergo a “severance” procedure, which means that outside the walls of Lumon, they cannot remember their work day, and when they’re at work, they cannot remember their outside lives.