SPOILERS for Severance Season 2, Episode 8 ‘Sweet Vitriol’
Before even beginning this episode, a moment of sadness hit upon realising it would only be 37 minutes. That sadness went away when remembering the finale of season one was a mere 40 minutes and it ended up being the best and most tense episode of the season. This week, the confirmation that runtime means nothing came when the credits closed on what is a very unique yet thrilling and mystery-laden episode. Last week we took a break from our regular MDR crew to explore Gemma’s history and relationship with Lumon. Now we’ve taken a similar break to explore Harmony Cobel’s history and relationship with Lumon, something we got hints about in season one but was never fully fleshed out.
Cinematographer Jessica Lee Gagné returns behind the lens and she is a visionary when it comes to capturing landscapes and bringing new flavours to this world. The way the episode opens, capturing the ocean and this disheveled town, is undeniably beautiful and cinematic. There’s an eerie and mysterious tone lining every scene thanks to the haunting way she captures the environment. It’s very Banshees of Inisherin, just blanketed in a layer of snow.
Ghosts of Lumon’s past…
After a few episodes out of the spotlight, we pick back up with Harmony Cobel (Patricia Arquette) after she raced away from Helena and Mr. Drummond in episode 3. She looks to finally have arrived in Salt’s Neck, her mysterious home town that she almost returned to before having second thoughts and going back to Lumon. Well now she’s here, and it’s not quite the idyllic coastal holiday destination you’d hope it to be. Though very quiet, the town looks horribly disheveled and run down, almost as if not a soul calls it home anymore. She pulls over to brush her teeth, an odd choice but I guess dental hygiene is important even when on the lam. As she spots an addict sniffing some sort of drug from a paper bag, she gets a call from Devon but doesn’t pick up. To be fair she’s got a bit on her plate.
Cut to a nearby cafe and we see that there are at least a few people still living there, although they look very old, sick and frail. The cafe owner played by James Le Gros, who is later credited as Hampton, is dealing drugs in green bottles to get by. As Harmony enters the cafe it’s immediately clear that the two share a complicated history. He doesn’t seem all too pleased by her arrival, a matter made worse when she has him pour her a cup of coffee before not drinking a single sip. Just a tad rude, Harmony. When she comments on the frailty of the town, Hampton comments that infrastructure investors pulled out of the town, leaving it in tatters. You can immediately guess who he’s talking about there. She asks that they meet at “the factory” and he just ups and leaves his store in the hands of Dot (Emma Troake) who can barely move and is surviving on a oxygen tank. Bold decision.
En route to this factory, we can see the Lumon name and logo printed on a few buildings, including the factory. Seemingly Lumon didn’t just have a presence in the town, they were the reason for the town’s thriving nature. So when they departed, it became frozen in time… literally and figuratively because it looks so damn cold. Harmony asks Hampton for a favour, the favour being to drive her to see Sissy, a supposed pariah who still lives by the 9 Core Principles of Kier. She needs something from her, but what we have no idea. Their convo also drops some neat tidbits of info about their relationship. It seems they were friends and colleagues who worked for Lumon, but he quickly corrects their status from colleagues to child labourers. After a little bit of Kier and Imogene history about the Ether Mill they stand before, he agrees to drive her there.
There’s no place like home…
On the way to the isolated house on the tip of a cliff face, Devon keeps on calling only to be ghosted again. As Harmony approaches the house she’s greeted with hostility by Sissy (Jane Alexander), full name Celestine Cobel, otherwise known as Harmony’s auntie. A plaque on the wall reveals not only her name but her prior occupation as a Youth Apprentice Matron for Lumon. Seems she was not only family, but also a teacher/mentor at Harmony’s school. As Harmony roams the home in which she grew up, she doesn’t find what she’s after and needs access to her mother’s room which is conveniently locked. The relationship between Sissy and Harmony is an interesting one – as they quarrel in the living room it’s clear that there’s plenty of conflict there, but also some lingering care.
Their conversation brings to light that the hospital tube Harmony brought with her, that we saw in season 1, belonged to her mother on her death bed. It’s insinuated that Sissy is the one that pulled it from her throat, subsequently ending her life, but that point comes back later. Harmony missed her mother’s final moments as her schooling was apparently more important. Through her studies she became such a top student that Jame Eagan saw Kier in her, and she also partook in the Wintertide Fellowship, confirming that Huang is a devotee as she once was. There’s been enough hints in the past to where none of this is entirely new or revelatory, but it’s great to fill in the gaps.
In searching Sissy’s room for the key to her mother’s room, it’s clear that Sissy is still immersed in worshipping the Eagan family. There’s articles about Jame, statues of the 4 tempers and a display of the 9 principles. When she tracks down the key, she enters the room to reveal a ghastly environment that’s trapped in time. In a moment of emotional vulnerability she reattaches the tube and lies on the bed, mourning in the only way she knows how. After dozing off, Hampton puts his disdain for Sissy aside to barge in and wake Harmony up, getting high and sharing an impromptu kiss – one that seems more empathetic than romantic. Their brief conversation brings to light that Harmony’s mum despised Lumon while Sissy was devoted to them, no doubt causing conflict in that household.
The brains of the operation…
In Harmony’s desperate search for a mysterious item, she realises there’s a bunker that would probably house all of her belongings. To be honest I’d have probably started there, but to each their own. In the bunker is where a few more reveals and confirmations come to light. First Harmony finds a book of Annual Reminiscences from her time at the Myrtle Eagan School For Girls. Inside it shows she was valedictorian of her year level and also the Wintertide Fellow, for which she received a bust of Jame Eagan and a photo with the man himself.
She proceeds to find the bust and pry open the base, pulling out a book, ledger or journal of some sort. Here I thought we’d have to wait another week or two before finding out the contents. But Severance has been a little trigger happy with its reveals lately so of course we only have to wait a couple of minutes. The big reveal comes while Harmony and Sissy continue to fight over their differing views on Lumon. That’s where Harmony becomes hysterical and reveals to Sissy and us that SHE is the brains behind the entire severance procedure. She designed the circuits, the code, the Overtime Contingency, the Glasgow Block and everything else. She mentions she never spoke up about it as she was told that to seek credit would result in her being banished. This is huge so I’ll get to what this means at the end.
In one final act of desperation to protect the legacy of the Eagan family, Sissy attempts to burn the evidence that points to Harmony as the true inventor of severance. My heart stopped for a minute as I thought she was successful, but thankfully Harmony got away with the goods. Sissy then reveals that her mother is the one who pulled the tube from her own throat to end her suffering. Sissy is so devoted to Lumon, a company renowned for its deception and lies, that you could choose to believe her or not. Either way, she ends the conversation by calling Harmony “a weed, just as she was”.
An unlikely ally…
After rushing out of the house, headlights over the hill indicate someone from Lumon has caught wind of Harmony’s location and is heading her way. She shares a final moment with Hampton, who stays behind to slow down Lumon, before fleeing in his car.
She receives another call from Devon (Jen Tullock) and finally answers the call, with Devon wasting no time getting Harmony up to speed. It’s risky considering Devon doesn’t know that Harmony is very anti-Lumon at the moment, but thankfully we know it’s (hopefully) going to pay off. She informs Harmony that Mark has been reintegrated and they want to try something else. What that “something else” could be I have no clue, but Harmony is still shocked that Reghabi hasn’t killed Mark with the procedure. The episode ends with Mark about to tell Harmony everything that’s happened while she was on her road trip.
Lingering Thoughts
Harmony’s importance revealed
Ever since the first episode of the series, Harmony Cobel has been one of the most intriguing, compelling and mysterious characters. As the woman running the severed floor, she was high in the ranks of Lumon but still responded to the will of higher-ups like the Board, Helena and Natasha. Her relationship with Mark specifically became a big mystery – why was she so invested in Mark to make sure she spied on him on the inside and the outside? So many of her motivations remained a mystery, but with this episode we’ve shed some light on her past and revealed she’s way more important than we could have imagined.
The revelation that the entire severance procedure is her brainchild and that Jame is a fraud is huge. Jame Eagan took the credit for it because Harmony was blinded by her devotion to Lumon, believing everything she accomplished and designed was on behalf of Kier. Now it makes sense why she was so determined to get her old job back, given that it’s her brainchild. Given the journal looks like it was drawn up while she was in school, and the first severed office opened 12 years ago, we can assume that either perfecting the procedure took a while or severance was used in other capacities beforehand.
Not only is she important in Lumon’s history but she’s also crucial to the future of the company as now she may be the only one with the knowledge of how to bring them down… if that is her goal. We still don’t know if her goal is to become Lumon CEO, overthrow Helena, lead the severed floor or eradicate the entirety of Kier’s worship. Regardless, I love that her redemption arc is finally in full swing – that looked to be the direction back in episode 3 so I’m glad it’s playing out.
Lastly, it’s a bold choice to follow one bottle episode with another, keeping us away from the main MDR narrative for so long, but in the case of Severance it works. These bottle episodes have done one major thing – they’ve given us more context to care about both Gemma and Harmony on a personal level. Now that we understand more about what they’ve endured and the weight of their situation, we can take that level of care into the final few episodes. It may be agonising having to wait yet another week to see what’s happening with our crew, but I trust the process.
My one observation with this episode is that while last week’s Gemma revelations were completely new eye-openers, this week’s Harmony revelations were mostly providing context to things we’ve gathered from other episodes. For instance Harmony’s history as a decorated student and Lumon devotee isn’t new, but it’s neat seeing the extent of that devotion. Also details about her mother and auntie are great in having us understand the motivations behind her actions. Basically, the revelations in this episode (save for the big one) were more character based. They weren’t designed to leave us baffled like with Gemma’s, but more to give us further avenues to understand and sympathise with Harmony’s position.
As for where to from here? Harmony being the brain behind severance does have me thinking she won’t die so soon, but at the same time I’m putting my money on the fact that she’ll bow out in the remainder of the season. As a whole, this episode was stunning thanks to its change of scenery and cinematic touches. There’s a distinctly ominous and eerie tone throughout the whole episode, perhaps the most haunting to date. It’s paced very well, a welcome break from the frantic energy of last week’s mind-boggling event. This is where I need to highlight Patricia Arquette. The character of Harmony doesn’t work this well without her performance. She’s a wonderful actor and she does so much with her expressions to tell a story with minimal dialogue. Harmony is a character who has put on a facade for so long, that it’s great to see Patricia finally bring out her more emotional side and lead an entire episode.
9/10
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