Severance Season 2’s Penultimate Episode Just Changed Everything We Know About the Procedure

This nonfiction contains spoilers for Severance Season 2 so far, including its penultimate occurrence “Sweet Vitriol.”

Season 2 of Severance has delivered up to this point, with the bid firing connected each cylinders since its long-awaited instrumentality backmost successful February. However, there’s been a chiseled deficiency of Patricia Arquette’s Harmony Cobel. The show’s lead-in to the Season 2 finale changes each of that, giving america a Cobel-centric occurrence that rearranges everything we knew astir the severance process up to this point.

The occurrence brings an extremity to Cobel’s roadworthy trip, uncovering her successful a sleepy coastal municipality agelong past its heyday. Everything we spot is decrepit, up to and including the Lumon mill that “saved” the municipality earlier dilatory sidesplitting it. We get a glimpse astatine the erstwhile person of Macrodata Refinement’s childhood, confirming that Lumon was into kid labour good earlier the instauration of the severed floor’s Miss Huang (Sarah Bock). Cobel’s parent died a tragic decease successful this town, portion her chap kid laborers grew to adulthood addicted to ether and with obscurity to spell erstwhile the enactment dried up. Those near stay loyal to Kier, with the objection of James Le Gross’ quality Hampton, who seems to person grown to hatred Lumon agelong earlier Cobel joined the party.

Hampton helps Cobel marque it to her puerility location undiscovered — Kier is ever watching, aft each — and it’s present that she finds what she was looking for: a notebook that blows the lid disconnected the full damn series.

Earlier this season, erstwhile she was staring down Helena Eagan (Britt Lower), Cobel implied that Lumon owed her. She was, successful fact, rather adamant astir it, consenting to fto spell of decades of enactment and spit successful the look of the non-offer for her to instrumentality a presumption extracurricular of the severed floor. In “Sweet Vitriol” we larn why: it wasn’t an Eagan who created the severance procedure, but Harmony Cobel herself. Turns retired that her adamance was justified aft all.

This besides means that Devon’s (Jen Tullock) instincts were close erstwhile it came to calling Cobel astir her concerns astir Mark (Adam Scott), adjacent if it was ill-advised owed to Cobel’s erstwhile allegiances. There is, successful fact, nary 1 much suited to guarantee Mark survives re-integration than Harmony Cobel. But the existent question remains: whose broadside is she really on?

On the 1 hand, hellhole hath nary fury similar a longtime loyal laborer who realizes however exploited they’ve been implicit the years. On the other, Cobel has been indoctrinated successful the Kier cult her full life. Was her life’s enactment being stolen from her capable to really bring her to assistance Mark?

Moreover, what does this revelation mean for the enigma surrounding Gemma? Lumon operates connected a request to cognize basis, with each of their departments being distinctly siloed from 1 another, but Mark and Gemma’s fates look intrinsically intertwined successful a mode that extends beyond their emotion for 1 another. It stands to crushed that Cobel doesn’t conscionable cognize what happened to Gemma and wherever she is now, but that she spearheaded the full happening from the beginning.

Mark’s unwellness seems apt to hold Cold Harbor’s completion, but volition that substance if the different macrodata refiners are showing up for work? That doesn’t look to beryllium the case, considering Lumon’s insistence connected keeping him around, but he’s going to person to instrumentality to enactment yet either way, if lone to bust Gemma retired of her cell.

Like each revelations successful Severance, learning this accusation astir Cobel sparks a fig of large questions adjacent beyond what we’ve already discussed here. For instance, volition Cobel marque it retired of this play alive? She’s got enemies connected each sides and Lumon has made it wide that they aren’t disquieted astir silly things similar laws. However, it’d beryllium a important stroke to the bid to suffer her quality truthful soon, particularly aft we’ve missed her overmuch of Season 2. Redemption followed by decease is simply a longstanding storytelling trope, but here’s hoping the show’s writers take to subvert that successful favour of keeping 1 of the series’ astir absorbing characters alive.

At immoderate rate, Severance Season 2’s penultimate occurrence whitethorn person shifted gears a bit, but it’s inactive servicing the overarching enigma successful precise meaningful ways. This Cobel revelation could mean large things for each of MDR, and expands the beingness importantly by introducing caller corners of the globe that Lumon has destroyed. This enlargement matters due to the fact that we won't beryllium stuck connected the aforesaid enigma forever, and determination is capable nutrient connected the bones of the Kier cult communicative to support this going and, astir importantly, absorbing for a precise agelong time.

See you backmost connected the severed level for adjacent week’s Season 2 finale.