Full spoilers follow for Severance season 2 episode 1.
After a three-year wait, Severance season 2 has finally landed on Apple TV Plus – and, surprise surprise, its first episode – titled ‘Hello, Ms. Cobel’ – has already sparked some big new fan theories about what’s really going on at Lumon and where the story goes from here.
Like everyone else, I’ve got thoughts and hypotheses on Severance‘s latest chapter and how it sets up events to come in the highly-rated Apple TV Original’s second season. So, join me as I discuss seven talking points from the season 2 premiere. Let the theorizing commence!
1. Helena Egan is impersonating Helly R to infiltrate the MDR team
This is the first big theory I’ve had since I watched episode 1 for my Severance season 2 review. Judging by the comments I’ve seen online after ‘Hello, Ms. Cobel’ was released, plenty of other people believe Helena Egan (i.e. the daughter of current Lumon CEO Jame Egan), not her ‘innie’ Helly R, is who we see on the Severed Floor.
Now, I know what some of you are wondering: Helena shouldn’t be able to access the Severed Floor. After all, if she uses its elevator, she’d pass through the severance barrier and be replaced by Helly R. To that, I say this: Lumon, or Helena herself, could simply turn off the barrier, use the elevator to travel to the Severed Floor, and infiltrate the Macrodata Refinement (MDR) team by posing as Helly R.
There’s evidence to suggest that this is the case. For one, she’s the last person to return to the Severed Floor – Mark S, Dylan G, and Irving B all arrive before her in that exact order. Upon exiting the elevator and being hugged by Mark S, Helena seems confused and somewhat taken aback by his warm greeting.
That’s not all. She’s the first to notice that the Severed Floor’s security cameras have been removed. She also asks questions that Helly R wouldn’t. She’s very evasive when asked what she – or, rather, her ‘innie’ – saw in the real world during the season 1 finale, too. Sure, this could just be Helly R lying to the rest of the team about who her ‘outie’ is, but her reaction and responses to follow-up queries are more akin to how Helena would react than Helly.
Her general demeanor just seems… off as well. She’s way too calm when Mark S talks about the need to find and rescue Ms. Casey (i.e. Gemma, the wife of his ‘outie’ Mark Scout), and even agrees to help him. If this was really Helly R, she’d be more upset that Mark S wants to aid his ‘outie’ in locating Ms. Casey/Gemma because Mark S and Helly are falling head over heels for one another.
Lastly – don’t worry, I’m nearly done with this theory – there are two extra clues in episode 1’s final sequence. First, Helena struggles to find the ‘on switch’ on the back of her computer. Then, as the screen loads up, a file reading ‘Santa Mira’ pops up on Helena’s monitor (see the image above, as spotted by one Reddit user) for confirmation of this. For the uninitiated, Santa Mira is a fictional town that’s regularly appeared in various sci-fi and/or horror films, including 1956’s Invasion of the Body Snatchers movie. Why is this significant? Because Helena has invaded Helly R’s life and, well, ‘snatched’ her body to spy on Helly’s MDR colleagues and listen in their conversations. I’m onto you, Helena…
2. Sarah Bock’s Ms. Huang is the latest graduate from Myrtle Eagan School for Girls
The only season 2 newcomer who’s joined as a series regular (read my Severance season 2 hub for more details on this season’s cast), Sarah Bock’s Ms. Huang is a fascinating addition to the show’s roster. Indeed, not only is she the Severed Floor’s new deputy manager, but she’s also a child.
So, why has Lumon employed a kid? And what possessed the nefarious biotechnology corporation to install her as new Severed Floor manager Seth Milchick’s underling? My best guess is she’s the latest kid to graduate from Myrtle Eagan School for Girls. That’s the same institution that Harmony Cobel was educated at and the same place that prepares future non-Severed Lumon employees for a career at the clandestine megacorporation.
After Cobel’s firing, Ms. Huang could be getting lined up as Milchick’s eventual replacement. After all, he’s proven to be fallible as the floor’s head and deputy head, so maybe he’s just a stop-gap hire before Lumon ousts him in favor of Ms. Huang. Well, as long as she doesn’t prove to be as error-prone as Milchick is…
3. The Macrodat Uprising report and Severance Reform aren’t real
Plenty of season 2 episode 1 is dedicated to the notion that Lumon has turned over a new leaf regarding to its working practices. After the so-called Macrodat Uprising – aka the event that saw the MDR team’s ‘innies’ escape into the real world – Mark S and company were reportedly hailed as heroes for blowing the whistle on Lumon’s horrific working conditions. As Milchick and an amusing felt puppet animation later tells MDR (and viewers by proxy), that’s led to a process known as ‘Severance Reform’, which supposedly puts Lumon’s severed employees’ wellbeing above everything else.
I don’t buy this at all. For one, the newspaper that Milchick gives to Mark S, which shows the MDR team being hailed as heroes, isn’t real. The Kier Chronicle, i.e. the print newspaper, doesn’t exist. The image that adorns its front page is a heavily doctored photograph of a real-life event – former US President Dwight Eisenhower’s visit to Rio de Janeiro in the 1960s, for those wondering – too. Oh, and let’s not forget that Lumon’s wellness division, which Ms. Casey led, has been shut down. You can’t prioritize employee happiness by doing that, can you?
Lumon has never cared about its severed workforce, so why would it make a sudden U-turn and do so now? To get the MDR team back to work, of course! Without them, Lumon can’t complete… well, whatever sinister work it’s carrying out. As long as it gets Mark S and company back on-side with these supposed promises to improve things, the company’s fabricated plan has worked.
4. Mark S’ fellow macrodata refiners weren’t asked to return
Early on in one of the best Apple TV Plus shows’ latest episode, Mark S is told by Milchick that Dylan G, Irving B, and Helly R didn’t want to return to Lumon.
I believe this is another lie concocted by Lumon. I’m convinced that Dylan and Irving were fired for the roles they played in the Macrodat Uprising. Helly, meanwhile, wasn’t allowed to return because Helena’s father Jame didn’t want her to. It’s that, or Jame and Helena began to formulate a plan that would see Helena infiltrate MDR by masquerading as Helly, which ties into the first theory I wrote about in this article.
So, why wasn’t Mark S’ contract terminated as well? He’s too important for Lumon to let go, hence why he was brought back and given a new team to manage to complete whatever the Severed Floor is working on. Speaking of which…
5. Cold Harbor is the project that Mark S needs to complete – and it’s got something to do with Gemma
Just like the ‘Santa Mira’ file we see on Helena/Helly’s computer monitor, Mark’s screen drops a big tease about the project he’s been working on at Lumon: a project called Cold Harbor.
How do I know this? Its name appears in the top left corner of the screen (see the image above) during episode 1’s final scene. It’s also two-thirds complete, as evidenced by the progress bar that creeps up from 67% to 68% after Mark S dumps some more data into box 03 on his monitor.
Okay, but what’s this got to do with Gemma/Ms. Casey? Her face flashes up on the monitor before the episode ends, so clearly Cold Harbor has some connection to her. We know Gemma ‘died’ in a car accident (read: she was kidnapped by Lumon), but we don’t actually know what happened. Sure, Mark’s ‘outie’ was told Gemma’s car careered off the road and smashed into a tree – we see him visit the scene of Gemma’s death in season 1 – but that doesn’t mean this is where she actually ‘died’.
Was Gemma actually abducted on an ice-cold night by a port, hence the name Cold Harbor? Or does it relate in some way to The Battle of Cold Harbor, a brutal part of the American Civil War, that occured between May and June 1864 (i.e. less than a year before Kier Eagan founded Lumon) Okay, I’m reaching for an answer that isn’t there with that duo. Nevertheless, Gemma is in some ways connected to Cold Harbor.
6. Irving knows about the black hallway because he’s been there before
Among the myriad things that season 1’s final episode revealed and/or teased, the paintings of an unsettling, black hallway that Irving’s ‘outie’ kept making was one of the most fascinating aspects (and there were lots of them!) of Severance‘s first season.
As we learn in season 2’s premiere through Irving’s conversation with Dylan, the corridor leads to an elevator that goes down, rather than up. Clearly, there’s another secret department or floor that Lumon doesn’t want anyone to know about.
But, how does Irving know about it? My theory is that his ‘innie’ has found it before and, after Lumon realizes he’s been snooping around places he shouldn’t be, he’s had his mind wiped. However, because his ‘innie’ is the only persona whose memories were erased, his ‘outie’ can still (albeit subtly) remember what his ‘innie’ saw, which is why he keeps painting the same thing over and over again. I also believe that, whatever that hallway and elevator leads to, it has ties to the tasks that the MDR team are carrying out and, by proxy, Gemma. It’s all interconnected!
7. Dylan G is going to mess up the life of his ‘outie’ via the Outie Family Visitation Suite
Ever since Milchick used Lumon’s Overtime Contingency program on Dylan G in season 1 episode 7, the latter has been desperate to learn more about the life of his ‘outie’, including his family.
It seems he’ll get the chance to actually meet them sometime this season. Midway through ‘Hello, Ms. Cobel’, Milchick secretly reveals that Lumon plans to make the Outie Family Visitation Suite – a new area that’ll allow ‘innies’ to meet the relatives of their ‘outie’ in a safe, secure, and strictly controlled environment.
Evidently, this is another way for Lumon to keep Dylan G on-side, but I’m convinced that something will go horribly wrong with its use. Will Dylan G fall in love with Gretchen, aka the wife of his ‘outie’? Would that cause complications in the life of his ‘outie’, especially at home? If Dylan G feels he’s been betrayed by Lumon in some way, could he lash out and hold the family of his ‘outie’ hostage?
Furthermore, what will his MDR cohorts say if they find out Dylan G has been given an extra reward as part of Severance Reform? Could it cause ructions between Dylan and his work colleagues? Time will tell on all of those questions but, whatever happens, I can’t see the Outie Family Visitation Suite being good for Dylan G.