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.

While “Severance” has a wonderfully creepy-compelling premise, it’s a concept better suited to a movie than a multi-episode TV series.

It’s been quite a while since we last saw Mark S. (Adam Scott), an employee at the mysterious company Lumon Industries, which uses a surgical procedure called “severance” to separate people’s home lives from their work lives. Season 1 ended on a cliffhanger in April 2022, leaving viewers eager for the next chapter.