‘Severance’ Season 2, Episode 8 Review

We’ve reached the penultimate episode of ‘Severance’ season two, as we find out what one of the most interesting characters has been up to.

Harmony Kobel reenters the show, and goes back to the town where she lived as a child, as we get to see some of her backstory unfold, meeting her sister, and discovering just how important she was to Lumon.

It seems she was pretty much used as child labor by the company, working in a factory from a young age, even having to use drugs to stay alert while working the machines. This would explain her fanatical devotion to the company, as she would have been essentially indoctrinated by them as a child, and have known nothing else. Considering how severe Lumon is with its workers, and in the idolization of Keir Eagan, it’s not surprising she turned out like she did.

I’m not a fan of when a show has episodes like this, where they just focus on one particular character who’s been absent for some time. That’s just a personal opinion, but it seems to be becoming more and more common in streaming shows, rather than taking the time to weave in all the characters’ stories throughout the entire series, switching back and forth between them in each episode. This makes things more engaging, as there’s always the desire to see what’s happening with the other storylines, and also, if you’re not a fan of a character, you don’t need to spend a whole episode with them.

Even so, we get to learn a lot about Kobel, who’s one of the most interesting characters in the show, and have the big reveal that she was the one who invested the severance procedure, and the whole office structure to support it, though her credit was stolen by Jame Eagan. With this knowledge, I’m surprised Lumon didn’t take better care of her, especially when she offered to fix the problems with the severed floor. Even if they don’t want her around anymore, it would have been better to keep her on their side for the time being, given how much damage she could cause.

There’s not much forward motion this episode, which is worrying considering there’s only one more episode this season, and a lot of it is carried by Patricia Arquette’s subtle acting. There are so many things still unknown or uncertain in the show, that it’s clear the season finale will be a springboard into season three, rather than any kind of solution on its own. Now that Kobel is on Mark’s side, that could be the signal for a more overt approach to taking down Lumon, but what form that will take, I don’t know.