Warning: This article contains spoilers for Severance season 2, episode 8.
Severanceseason 2 has been full of surprises that have helped answer many of the lingering questions from season 1, but it has created just as many new ones, especially regarding Cobel.Severanceseason 2’s casthas brought back all the main characters from the first season, as Lumon’s severed employees have continued to unravel their employers' secrets and their bosses have become more suspicious than ever. However, one character that we have seen relatively little of this season was Ms. Cobel.
Severanceseason 1’s endingsaw Cobel fired from her job as manager of the severed floor, and season 2 opened with her on unsteady ground with Lumon. After seeing no clear way to return, Cobel got in her car and drove away, leading viewers to wonder where she was heading. Now, finally,Severanceseason 2 sees Cobel arrive in Salt’s Neck, her hometown. While Cobel was there to uncover a massive Lumon secret, the episode also served to explore her history with Lumon and show the character finally realizing the company’s evildoing.
Severance Season 2’s Salt’s Neck Episode Just Made Harmony Cobel’s Backstory So Much Worse
Lumon Has Controlled Her Entire Life
Previous episodes ofSeverancehad given little information about Cobel’s backstory, though the information we did know was all quite grim. In the episode directly before,Reghabi stated that Cobel was “raised by Lumon,“implying that the principles of the company had been deeply ingrained in her from a young age. This is matched by scenes showing her praying and singing to Kier and Lumon. However, these details turned out to be just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to Cobel’s true history with the company.
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Severance’s Salt’s Neck episode seesHarmony Cobel visit her aunt Sissyat her childhood home, but there is little love lost between them. Sissy is a devoted follower of Lumon and is ostracized from the town, which was devastated by Lumon’s extractive business principles.Cobel returns to Salt’s Neck for the first time since childhood to see that there are very few people left, and many suffer from ether addiction after losing their jobs when Lumon’s factory closed.
Not only is it revealed that Lumon’s remote Salt’s Neck factory massively impacted the town, but viewers also learn thatHarmony Cobel worked in that factory as a child. Since she was deemed a promising candidate, Cobel was taken from Salt’s Neck forLumon’s Wintertide Programand never returned. This means that her entire life was guided by Lumon both in terms of where she worked and also what she learned from her family in her home life.
Severance Suggests That Harmony’s Family Forced Her Into Child Labor
Cobel Worked in Lumon’s Salt’s Neck Factory Before Moving Up
While Ms. Cobel’s affinity for Lumon has always been clear, the extent to which her family was involved in that process was a secret until now. When she returned to Salt’s Neck, Cobel first attempted to address Hampton as her former co-worker, though he clearly did not see their experience in the same light, referring to it as child labor.This small interaction perfectly highlights Cobel’s inability to fully wrap her mind around Lumon’s horrifying child labor practiceseven as she begins to turn against the company, and her family likely has something to do with that.
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When talking to her aunt, Sissy, Harmony Cobel attempts to voice her disagreement with her aunt’s extreme views and the fact that she was unable to be with her mother before she passed away. Sissy is very loyal to Lumon and believes in the nine core principles, even to the extent that she admonishes Ms. Cobel’s mother for not believing in them before her death. Seemingly to offset Cobel’s mother’s lack of belief,Sissy pushed Cobel into working for Lumon from a young age.
Why Sissy Is So Disappointed In Harmony
Sissy Is A Devoted Lumon Follower
Despite the pain that Ms. Cobel feels about not being there for her mother when she needed her the most, Sissy seemingly has no pain surrounding her sister’s death. In fact, she mentions to Harmony Cobel that her mother is suffering in death for not believing in Lumon’s teachings. Furthermore, Sissy argues that Ms. Cobel was right to be away while her mother was dying, sinceSissy feels the interests of Lumon are more important than Cobel’s personal feelings. Unsurprisingly, then, Sissy is not happy to know that Ms. Cobel was fired.
Sissy feels that Ms. Cobel became like her mother, turning against the Eagans and Lumon.
Their relationship is quite traumatic for Ms. Cobel, but rather than feeling sympathy for hor hard her niece’s life has been, Sissy is simply disappointed to know that Cobel had strayed from Kier’s path. Sissy feels that Ms. Cobel became like her mother, turning against the Eagans and Lumon. Despite there being pretty clear evidence of the negative impact that Lumon has had on Salt’s Neck, Sissy remains devoted to Kier and is unwilling to understand why Cobel backed away from Lumon, thoughSeverancehints that she is willing to go even further now.
