Spoilers for Severance season 2 episode 2 follow.
Severance season 2 episode 2 has posed even more questions to us. I love a good mystery and every week one of my favorite things to do is look at new clues and information about the series – after all, it continues to be one of the best Apple TV Plus shows for a reason.
Despite still being in the dark about a lot of things, Severance knows how to keep us interested, and although we’re only two episodes in we’ve got a lot to talk about. The anticipated return is off to a flying start with plenty of new details including that new season 2 opening sequence and all the clues it gives us.
This episode focused heavily on the innies, check out our Severance season 2 episode 2 recap for more details on that, but if you’re here for some food for thought scroll on for this episode’s major theories.
1. The elevator didn’t “ding” – so Helena is posing as Helly after all
This elevator scene seems to be a crucial moment in this episode. In our Severance season 2 episode 1 theories piece, we touched on the idea that Helena was posing as Helly R and that does seem to be the case. When we watch the MDR employees go down the elevator, there’s a noise indicating that they’ve switched from their outies to their innies. But when Helena goes, shock horror, there’s no noise!
Many fans speculated this was the case and it seems they’ve subtly confirmed this as the lack of a “ding” has got the whole internet talking. I do love when Severance fans obsess over the little details, it’s part of what makes this show so great. There’s even an entire YouTube video that analyzes the tones used in this scene, if you want to go further down the rabbit hole.
2. Helena’s apology video was forced and even she didn’t want to do it
We’ve all seen disingenuous apologies, and the one Helena records to try and set the record straight after the gala is both amusing and intriguing at the same time. She claims she got drunk while on a “non-Lumon medication” which made her say everything that Helly R told the outside world. It seems too clean and too scripted which led me to wonder just how much control Helena has at Lumon.
Okay, so the entire that Lumon’s PR team wrote her a tidy script is not exactly a groundbreaking suggestion, but what does interest me is how Helena behaves in this episode, especially when she looks sad immediately after the camera is turned off. I’m not sure if she supports Lumon or if she’s merely doing all this to appease her father. After all, if you’re an Eagan and you’re not on board with the whole Kier thing, I don’t think that would go down particularly well.
Could Helena go on to be an unexpected hero this season? Or is she just as cold as her father and presumably his father before that? The Eagans intrigue me very much. In the video, Helena talks about how “seriously her family’s company affects the lives of real people around the world”, but what does that mean?
3. Cobel knows something important about Gemma / Ms. Casey
Given her dramatic response to Mark and the fact she screamed and drove off, it’s clear Cobel knows more than she’s letting on. Considering she has been outie Mark’s neighbour since he joined Lumon and has been keeping tabs on him, I’m betting she’s the key to finding out the truth about this whole thing. She’s by far one of the most intriguing characters in the show, and in an interview with TechRadar actress Patricia Arquette teased that her loyalty to Lumon will be tested this season.
She’s definitely up to something if she was spooked by Mark’s line of questioning which has led me to believe she’s directly involved with Cold Harbor, whatever that actually is. One mystery seems to bleed into another in Severance, doesn’t it?
4. Mark is the most important person in MDR – but why?
Lumon is going out of its way to keep Mark happy, both inside and outside the company, and it’s clear he’s an integral part of whatever they’re doing. Throughout the episode the company tries everything it can to convince Mark to stay including offering him a pay rise, giving him better mental health support, and Milchick expresses he would hate to lose innie Mark, so it seems that the rest of MDR is replaceable except for him.
After the last episode’s bombshell revealed that Mark was working on something called Cold Harbor, and it involved Gemma/Ms. Casey, it’s pretty clear that he has to work on this file. But what he’s doing exactly is currently unclear, and makes up some of Severance’s many mysteries. He’s the main character not only to us as viewers, but also in the Severance universe as well.
5. Devon suspects Milchick is up to something and might act on this later
When Milchick arrives at Devon and Ricken’s house, she’s hostile towards him and refuses to say much about what happened when Mark’s innie spoke to her. She also expresses annoyance at how Miss Cobel (or Mrs Selvig as she knows her) managed to get so close to her family. I’m speculating there’s going to be some sort of showdown between Milchick and Devon, because we know how protective she is over her brother and she seems to see right through this act he’s putting on.
Devon infiltrating Lumon in some capacity interests me and I’d love for her to be more involved in season 2. As if she hasn’t got enough on her plate with a new baby, she’s now got Mark to look out for.
