WARNING! This article contains SPOILERS for Severance season 2, episode 4!While she’s pretending to be Helly, Helena Eagan has a tragically honest confession to Mark inSeveranceseason 2, episode 4 that could be a major help for the Innies in the future. In a shocking bombshell twist, “Woe’s Hollow” reveals thatHelena Eagan has secretly been posing as HellythroughoutSeveranceseason 2 – ever since Mark convinced Lumon to bring back Irving, Dylan, and Helly’s Innies. However, after Helly exposed the Innies’ torment and subjugation on the severed floor at a Lumon gala in the season 1 finale,Helena couldn’t risk allowing her Innie to truly return.
However, Helena was very convincing when covering up her real identity and maintaining Helly’s resentment of her Outie. When “Helly” lied about her Outiein the season 2 premiere, it was partially because she was ashamed and feared the repercussions of being an Eagan – which is true for both Helly and Helena. As Helena studied her Innie more intensely, she, like Helly, also fell for Mark and became extremely vulnerable with him. After they slept together,Helena truthfully confessed, “I didn’t like who I was on the outside. I was ashamed,”emphasizing a sad reality about her self-perception and loneliness.
Helena Eagan Truly Is Jealous Of Helly & Wishes She Could Be More Like Her In Severance
Helena Wasn’t Really Pretending To Be Helly In That Moment
While Helly is a part of Helena, she’s the part of her that she believes she can never become on “the outside.” Helly is a version of Helena that’s unencumbered by the expectations and demands of her position, family, trauma, and past, and Helena resents her Innie for that. Helena wishes that she could be as rebellious, funny, well-liked, somewhat carefree, selfless, and assertive as Helly, and her inability to do so makes her feel both ashamed of herself and like a coward. As she admits,Helena doesn’t like who she is, or who she’s been taught she must be.
What The Glasgow Block Is In Severance
Severance season 2 introduces a Lumon protocol named the Glasgow Block, which ties to another major theory from the first four episodes.
Helena being able to admit that about herself to Mark’s Innie is implied to be one of the most vulnerable moments she’s ever experienced, andshe also loathes that Helly gets to have an environment that fosters that sort of honesty, support, and love. Helena doesn’t have that. As amember ofSeverance’s Eagan family, all Helena knows is that she must serve Kier’s goals and image to expand Lumon’s control and her family’s own power.
If she didn’t have someone like Jame Eagan as her father or the weight of Lumon and the Eagan name on her shoulders, maybe she could be more like Helly.
She doesn’t get to be an individual, and she doesn’t get to experience love, affection, and support from her family;Helena became a controllable pawn for Lumon from the moment she was born an Eagan. If she didn’t have someone likeJame Eagan as her fatheror the weight of Lumon and the Eagan name on her shoulders, maybe she could be more like Helly. So, of course she’s going to jump at the opportunity to pretend to be Helly – she gets to feel Mark’s love, Dylan and Irving’s friendship, and, ironically, the freedom of Helly’s persona.
Helena & Helly Both Being In Love With Mark Makes Their Romance Extremely Complicated
Mark Loves One & Slept With The Other
ThroughoutSeveranceseason 1,Mark and Helly’s Innies fostered a dynamic that grew from apprehension to friendship to romance. Right before they both left in anticipation of their “overtime contingency” plan inSeverance’s season 1 finale, Helly kissed Mark, with a disclaimer that she did so in case they never came back, or in case they both did. Helly wanted to act on her feelings for Mark and ensure she kissed him in case Lumon “killed” their Innies, but also hoped that, if their Innies returned, they could actually be together and start a relationship in the future.
Since Helena had rewatched footage of Helly and Mark’s kiss while studying her history and behavior, she carried on Helly and Mark’s romance in season 2 while pretending to be her. Helena was hesitant to kiss Mark at first, but their continued flirting then culminated in Helena and Mark sleeping together in her tent inSeveranceseason 2, episode 4. While Mark still thought she was Helly,Helena had clearly also fallen in love with Mark and wanted that intimacy with him.
Since Helly has been “off” since she was tackled at the Lumon gala in the season 1 finale, she still doesn’t know that Mark’s Outie is married to Ms. Casey.
Therefore, now that Helly is back, Mark is going to be extremely conflicted. He now has to admit to Helly that he slept with Helena while still thinking her Outie was her, and Helly will have to contend with the idea that the man she loves slept with the woman who impersonated her and is responsible for her subjugation and psychological torture.Helena and Helly both love Mark, while Mark only loves one and slept with the other, which is, of course, complicated further by his Outie being married to Ms. Casey.
Helena Disliking Herself Hints At How MDR’s Revolution Can Really Work
Helena Doesn’t Actually Believe In The Lumon Values She Must Enforce
Helena has grown to truly love Mark and Dylan’s Innies, so she wouldn’t take destroying and torturing them lightly any longer. Additionally, she doesn’t have any love for herself when she’s with them, and seems to think that theworship of her ancestor Kier Eagan, his fables, and Lumon’s feigned charity and care for others are all nonsense. She accepts her role with the company and tries to stop efforts to sabotage her work with the severance procedure, buther heart isn’t really in it – she does it because she’s expected to and it’s what she’s known all her life.
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But, how long can that really last for Helena? She already clearly feels underappreciated and neglected by her father and the company itself. She doesn’t like who Lumon and her family have turned her into. Plus, her love for Mark’s Innie means she wouldn’t want the company to get rid of him, which MDR can use to their advantage. Ifthey can work to get Helena to flip against Lumon, thenSeverance’s Innies can pinpoint the company’s biggest vulnerabilities, stop their cruelty, and expose the truth.
