Severance Season 2 Episode 8 BREAKDOWN and Ending Explained

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Written and Hosted by Colton Ogburn
Edited by Harriet Lengel-Enright
Randolf Nombrado
Brianna McLarty
Lee Mazzio

Featuring
Pete Feltzer: Blusky and Twitter @atgcast

#ScreenCrush

[lloydmiller]

Something important that you missed... In the yearbook, it says she was the head of the Goat Husbandry Club.

[kristaberry]

That's why Harmony wanted to stay as manager over the severed floor - she invented it all!

[thisandthatwithmatt]

Ben Stiller said in the “after the episode” that it was her aunt and not grandmother

[jtheg]

Going back to an interview i saw with Adam Scott, he says Ms Cobel is a dangerous adversary because she's such a genius. That genius description sounded a little weird to me in the context but now i know exactly why she is a genius. She invented severance

[kellidawnholsopple]

I also was shocked at Cobel getting high at 8. And I LOVE Elias’ question about her motivation to invent severance.

Those two thoughts came together for me at the end of the episode - my current theory is that Cobel and her 8 year old “colleague” and all the other child laborers must have gotten high just to survive through the physically and mentally grueling 10 hour shift in the factory. In a way, THAT was their first severance procedure - putting themselves into a chemically induced altered state of consciousness through the drug to numb the discomfort of the work shift.

Maybe it was such torture at such a young age that drove her to daydream about a way to relieve the suffering of workers - or, if that sounds too altruistic, just to relieve her own suffering that led her to the idea.

I think that scene about her getting high and being a child laborer is so important!

What a gorgeous show!

[rinehardt]

I love this twist. Did not see it coming that harmony came up with all that technology no wonder she's so pissed off. Remind you of today and throughout history where you have certain people take other people's ideas and then prop themselves up as some kind of visionary. Patricia Arquette is such a phenomenal actress.

[JessyD_NYC]

I think Cobel invented Severance to help her get through her grief while remaining “industrious” and still serving Kier during her bereavement. This is why she feels Mark is so important and why she has such a connection and a twisted kind of love for him.

[elvieann]

The first shots of the town made me think of the dying coal mining town my mom grew up in, and I immediately understood the message. It was a fantastic "show, don't tell" episode. Beautiful cinematography too.

[corbinmckee]

Funny how this breakdown is almost as long as the episode was!

[roccobruno]

The cinematography of the episode alone was worth it. The revelation at the end of course blew my mind.

[kathrynbedrosian]

I don’t think Harmony’s plan is a full switch to the good guys team but she’s upset with the Lumon management. If she could run things I think she would

[brennanbarnes]

Great stuff everyone! Personally, I'm expecting more than three seasons. For one, Dan Erickson's talked about having a 5 seasons plan in a few separate interviews as well as saying he already knows the ending & final shots of the show. There's also way more questions to be answered and plot threads dangling, again Dan Erickson & Ben Stiller have talked about how the 'why' of Mark/Gemma were selected/targeted by Lumon is the key question of the show and we've barely seen the tip of that iceberg. I think 3 seasons would be a massive, massive mistake.

[gabyactualities]

Cold Harbor is a program to overcome grief after loosing a close one. Now that Harmony has embraced her grief over losing her mother, she understands it’s wrong.

[kyledahlquist]

While short and seemingly disconnected, I appreciated the worldbuilding of this episode. Cobel is such an intriguing character, and I was happy to get some of her backstory. Not every episode has to be balls-to-the-wall to be important.

[CoreyElliottIsBoss]

Sissy is Ms. Cobel’s aunt! They mentioned that in the behind the scenes of the episode.

[Sweetwaterdream]

I think severance as a series is asking the question: Do humans need to feel pain, discomfort, bordom…all of the things characterised by the four tempers. Them starting as an ether company is pretty symbolic as Ether was used as an anaesthetic and now is used as a drug to numb people to the world and numb the pain of existence. As anaesthesia improved and things progressed, ether was no longer needed and discarded. Severance is now the ultimate way for humans to escape pain and discomfort…Mark being the prime example to use severance to escape the pain of Gemmas “death”. I wouldnt also be surprised if Gemma is severed to help with the pain of being unable to bear a child. Of course Severance has its severe consequences just as ether did in the end. What happened with efher may be a foreshadowing of what the end consequences of severance can bring…but also are we more perfect if we no longer have to experience discomfort or pain

[leslievalladares]

Learning that Cobel got high at 8 years old was like WHAT?!

[jepcy]

“…why I believe Season 3 will be the final season…” even though it’s been approved through season 4😂

[pattykcake]

My only critique of this episode is that we needed more shots of cobel driving

[jobrien]

It’s really depressing that Harmony was a child laborer who was huffing ether at age 8, and then became a prodigy in the Lumon cult, that actually had the scientific ideas for Severance, only to have her work appropriated by Jame Eagan, and after a lifetime of devotion, was dumped like a bag of trash.

Just when you think Lumon couldn’t get any worse… the skeletons just keep coming out of their closet.