Severance • Page 55

Think the most important aspect of the episode was establishing a connection between Jame and Harmony, which was really the lone missing piece in connecting Harmony as (potentially) Helena's mother. The one question from Helly's orientation survey that hadn't had its significance justified was whether she recalled the color of her mother's eyes. That would be important to check as she would now be working on the severed floor with Cobel. It would also explain the reluctance of the company to just dispose of Harmony. It's entirely sensible that Jame/Lumon recognized how brilliant she was and wanted her to birth the company's heir. It also explains why she seems to be keenly familiar with/interested in pregnancy and nursing despite (as far as we know) never having a child.

Seems entirely possible that Harmony's an Eagan herself, given we know nothing about her father, that she grew up in Kier's childhood town, and that the Eagan family has a proclivity for inbreeding. That could also be a rationale for her mother's bitterness towards Lumon and the family.

 

Someone explain to me why both Mark and Devon seemingly trust Cobel now

 

You are opening a portal to r/severance.

https://www.reddit.com/r/severence/s/BNTLDrzIQe

 

I have no idea. We saw Devon panic call Cobel and then hang up. I’m assuming that syncs with tooth-brushing Cobel. But I think we haven’t seen, from Devon and Mark’s side, the subsequent calls. I’m hoping we see their deliberation/thought-process for officially deciding to loop Cobel in on their situation.

 

Devon was just desperate and scared, that's not too hard for me to rationalize.

Mark really shouldn't trust her at all now though, given he's seemingly reintegrated and knows everything about who she was on the severed floor. She's going to likely have to prove her value to him by letting him know what Lumon is doing to Gemma and what Cold Harbor is. They both want information from each other, which at least justifies cooperation.

 

Dang, I never thought about Harmony being Helena’s mother, but that kinda makes sense.

 

What would be the thematic or interpersonal value-add of that twist? We have the info that Lumen basically robbed her of her childhood and her mother’s last moments and the twist that Cobel invented all/several of the severance technologies, so she already has full motivation to be resentful and fully turn on Lumen. That feels like a pretty busy enough load for her character.

 

Good lore drop episode. Also good Emmy reel episode for Arquette. Just like others I am puzzled by the placement of another character centric backstory episode that veers off from the main plot at this point when we don't have many episodes left with the main 4 this season.

 

Slight frustrations with the pacing of this season aside I’m really trying to not take for granted that we have this to look forward to for two more weeks. For all any of us knows we might not see season 3 til 2028 lol. Past two months flew by, really hope we aren’t left hanging for that long again

 

Someone at NYT is a big fan apparently - today’s Connections got me

 

I wish the kids today still made music with guitars because “come and tame these tempers, assholes” deserves to be the sample drop before the first breakdown of a midwest emo song.

 

It would tie Harmony to the actual plot and the main characters.

Her inventing Severance/having a shit childhood doesn't make her matter to the story in the scheme of things; the audience wasn't wrapped up in who invented the procedure or how it works on a logistical level. The way to make the character matter on an emotional level is to connect her directly to the story/characters at the center of the show. I think people's larger frustration with an entire episode dedicated to Cobel was *because* she hadn't mattered much to the the actual plot to this point.

 

Yeah, she’s not Helena’s mom. A bit of a random theory. It wouldn’t make sense to me especially with Helena actively threatening Harmony’s life last time they interacted.

Harmony is also already connected to the main characters bc of all their history together, and with the knowledge that she “created” the procedure and was there at the beginning of the company, she’s holding onto a ton of Lumon / severance secrets that can help the main cast if she’s willing.

 

We don't know what the threat entailed. We also don't know the man Helena brought with her and why that seemed to trigger Cobel. That would indicate there's still an even deeper part of her backstory that hasn't been touched on yet.

She didn't need to invent the procedure in order to know the information Mark wants. She's only relevant to the characters because she oversaw the severed floor in season one. That doesn't make her particularly important to the plot or explain giving her an entire episode in season two. If she had just drove off after the Helena confrontation and never appeared again, would it have affected the show? She's been barely more consequential than Petey or Reghabi.

 

I think they may be using Gemma to experiment/refine Severance barriers for Helena. They mentioned how Helena still needs her tempers balanced manually through therapy sessions. Redheads are genetically more susceptible to pain(and even require more anesthesia for dental procedures).

I think they made the character specifically redheaded for a reason. There's also the fact inbreeding can increase the chance of passing down a specific recessive trait. You obviously also incur a lot of ailments through inbreeding, which can lead to infertility. If Helena can't conceive(and therefore produce an heir), it may explain the company's interest in Gemma.

 

I nominate this clip.

 

i don't fully get harmony being so devotional to keir if his son/grandson (?) fucked her over

 

I think she said she thought they would take everything away if she ever called out the idea theft. And I’m assuming experiencing having everything taken away anyway was a last straw for her faith and devotion. As I’m typing this, it gives even less credence to Cobel being Helena’s mom as Harmony has now twice witnessed credit for her devotion and ingenuity and work get reassigned to a blood Egan. No matter how faithful she is or how much she gives, she’ll never be accepted or valued since she isn’t in the Eagan family. Likewise, they would never give the reins to an illegitimate child. Also, Helena and Harmony have had private conversations on screen. Why am I going on and on about this theory lol

 

'Severance' Recap Season 2 Episode 8: Ms. Cobel's Backstory Explained

 

Might have been the worst episode of the series

 

These look terrible lol

 

beautiful episode but duller than a doorknob

 

Great ep actually