Yahoo Lifestyle Severance: 6 Burning Questions We Have After Episode 2
Warning: The following post contains spoilers for Friday’s Severance.
After giving us the Innies’ perspective in last week’s premiere, Severance turned back to the Outies this week, showing us what repercussions the Lumon rebellion had on the outside world. (No ticker-tape parades, as far as we can tell.)
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Friday’s Episode 2 filled in the blanks a bit on last week’s premiere, with Milchick firing Irving and Dylan before badgering Mark to come back to work. (We also learned more about how important Mark is to Lumon — and the top-secret project he’s working on.) While Mark puzzled over what his Innie meant by that “She’s alive” outburst, Helena Eagan issued an apology for her Innie’s outburst, blaming it on a mix of alcohol and medication, and tried to bring Ms. Cobel back into the Lumon fold… although not as manager of the severed floor. Eventually, Milchick convinced Mark to return and brought back his friends, too, and Mark confronted Cobel about his wife, with Cobel screaming at him and driving off into the night.
We still have a lot of questions, though! As illuminating as Episode 2 was, a ton of mysteries remain, and certain moments set off our alarm bells in new ways as well. So join us as we dive into the six big questions we’re still pondering after watching Episode 2 — and hit the comments below to share any questions (or answers) you might have.
1. Why doesn’t Lumon want Cobel running the severed floor?
Helena brought Ms. Cobel back to the Lumon offices and thanked her profusely for alerting them to the overtime contingency switch, even apologizing for how she was treated by the company. They offered her a job on the newly formed “severance advisory council” — but when Cobel asked to run the severed floor again instead, Helena held firm that Milchick was in charge of the floor now. Why do they want to keep Cobel away from the floor so badly? Do they think her connection to Mark via “Mrs. Selvig” makes her complicit with the employees? Do they even suppose, maybe, that she was in on the rebellion? There’s more to this story, for sure.
2. Why can’t Mark see that “She’s alive!” is about his wife?
Outie Mark was dazed when he regained consciousness after the switch, and though Devon told him his last words as an Innie were “She’s alive!” (and he was holding a photo of Gemma at the time), he didn’t seem to grasp the connection at first, thinking his Innie was talking about Devon’s baby. Huh? Later, we got some insight when Mark told Devon how hard it was to go through Gemma’s death the first time. So maybe he does know, and he just doesn’t want to admit it, because it would open up an old wound? In any case, Mark can’t really work on getting his wife back until he admits to himself that she’s still around.
3. Is Helena kinda into Mark?
So this was a weird one: While Helena Eagan quickly went to work shutting down the Lumon rebellion, issuing a public apology and dispatching Milchick to deal with their Outies, she also had a fascination with her Innie’s burgeoning romance with Mark. Late at night, Helena watched surveillance footage of her Innie Helly running up to Mark and kissing him, and then she played it back, watching it over and over. Does Helena have a thing for Mark? Is she seeing in Helly and Mark the kind of genuine romantic connection that she can only dream of for herself?
4. Who is Irving calling from a pay phone?
Irving was abruptly dismissed by Milchick, and he found a map to Burt’s house in his pocket, giving him a clue about his Innie’s intentions. We later saw him call someone from a pay phone, with Burt watching him in a nearby car. But who was Irving calling? Burt? We saw in the Season 1 finale that Outie Irving had been collecting news clippings about Lumon’s misdeeds. Maybe he’s working with someone on the outside to expose them once and for all?
5. What is “Cold Harbor”?!?
After Mark agreed to return to Lumon, Milchick explained to Helena how he brought in three new macrodata refiners to replace Mark’s friends, hoping they have good chemistry with him. Helena wasn’t concerned about chemistry, though, saying that they just need Mark “back to work… long enough to complete Cold Harbor.” Whoa… so is that the big project Mark and his friends have been working on? And that Mark seems uniquely qualified to finish? Remember, at the end of last week’s premiere, Mark was working on a file called “Cold Harbor,” and then we saw a flash of Gemma’s face on surveillance video with the words “Cold Harbor” in the upper lefthand corner. What is “Cold Harbor,” though? (And why is it so cold?)
6. Where is Cobel going?
At episode’s end, Mark caught up with Cobel just as she was packing up her things and driving away. He tried to stop her, demanding to know if she knew anything about Gemma, but she just screamed at him and drove off. Where is she going, though? Is Lumon relocating her so she’s not right next door to Outie Mark? Or is she ditching this whole scene altogether? She did seem to consider for a moment when Mark asked about Gemma — which makes us think she knows more than she’s saying.
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