(Warning: Spoilers ahead)
Discovering that Lumon Industries left a town with nothing more to show for itself than an addiction problem is hardly a surprise. Neither is finding out that Harmony Cobel’s (Patricia Arquette) rage is a complex response to early exposure to Kier Eagan’s philosophy. However, Severance delivers another bombshell by disclosing exactly why losing access to the severed floor makes Cobel furious.
Cobel is much more than a supervisor and an Eagan fanatic. “Sweet Vitriol” digs into Cobel’s Lumon work history dating back to her childhood, and I was convinced a twist was incoming about her being an illegitimate descendant. The actual answer is (thankfully) more subversive than another branch on the Eagan family tree: Cobel is the true mastermind behind the severed procedure.
Since Cobel has been absent since the third episode, having a standalone encounter with her character is much-needed. Cobel was last seen confronting Helena (Britt Lower) in the Lumon parking lot. Before this, the disgraced Lumon employee was on her way to Salt’s Neck, changing her plans to give Helena a list of demands to return to work. “I think you overestimated your contributions,” said Helena. The Eagan heir is probably not privy to the truth, and Cobel’s desire to prove her worth is understandable.
Going home is never easy. Salt’s Neck is a husk of a coastal town boosted and then ravaged by Lumon. Everything is the same shade of gray as Cobel’s hair, and it isn’t just the cold weather that paints a bleak image. The first person Cobel encounters openly huffs solvents, highlighting the ingrained issue.
It isn’t like Cobel gets a hero’s welcome, but she has enough sway with Drippy Pot Café owner Hampton (James Le Gros)—who also provides his customers with ether—to get him to meet her at the old factory. The logo might be faded, but the Lumon branding is still visible.
“You know how f---ed it is to ask me to come here?” says Hampton. Cobel side steps this, requesting that Hampton drive her to see Celestine “Sissy” Cobel (Jane Alexander) because Lumon will recognize her car. At first, I wondered if he was Cobel’s brother or ex, but Cobel said they “were once chums” before referring to them as old colleagues. Hampton corrects her, saying “child f---ing labor” so it isn’t only Miss Huang (Sarah Bock) who fits this description.
Despite Lumon’s treatment of her, Cobel still exhibits signs of loyalty. She reminds Hampton that Kier and Imogene met at the ether mill. Ah, what a lovely meet-cute! This romance is memorialized in The Courtship of Kier and Imogene, a painting seen in Season 1. Ether is a source of addiction dating back to the 19th century (Kier was born in 1841), and this subreddit offers an enlightening interpretation.
In a town that loathes Lumon, local pariah Aunt Sissy still lives by the Nine Core Principles. Resentment runs so deep that Hampton insists on staying outside. Not that Sissy wants him to enter, referring to Hampton as a “huff peddler.” Later, a plaque reveals Sissy was a “Youth Apprentice Matron,” highlighting why Cobel blames her for Hampton’s ether addiction (“You gave him his thirst for it”).
Cobel is hunting for something, but her bedroom is stripped of every identifying detail aside from the height markings on the door frame, stopping when Cobel was 12. It is a chilling indication of when her childhood ended.
In Season 1, Cobel’s homemade Eagan shrine included a breathing tube and a hospital bracelet belonging to Charlotte Cobel. Discovering Charlotte is Harmony’s mother isn’t unexpected considering Harmony clings to the medical apparatus like a comfort blanket.
Cult-like elements of the Eagan philosophy are hard to avoid in this house, but Cobel’s mother was a non-believer and actively Lumon. Deep resentment stems from Cobel not getting to say goodbye; she only wants to enter her mother’s locked room.
Instead, Sissy berates Cobel for wasting her potential. Sissy wants her niece to plead forgiveness to the Eagans and forget what is in her mother’s room because she will only find pain. Cobel ignores this advice, successfully finding the key amid Sissy’s treasure trove of Kier related materials and affirmations.
Inside are decaying reminders of her mother, including moth-holed clothing and the bed she died in. Cobel hooks the breathing tube up to the abandoned machine and inhales. While I wouldn’t recommend this form of grief therapy (you can feel how musty the room is), it has the desired effect of letting Cobel release years of anguish.
The day passes and Hampton is still waiting, which speaks to their shared history. It has gotten so cold that he enters the house, much to Sissy’s anger. Le Gros and Arquette’s dynamic feels lived in, bearing the scars of a childhood straight out of a Charles Dickens novel.
There is tenderness in his offer to get high, which Cobel hasn’t done since she was eight. Again, troubling! While some of the Eagan philosophy nods to W.K. Kellogg, Lumon’s impact on Salt’s Neck is reminiscent of the Sackler dynasty and the opioid epidemic. Cobel does inhale the ether and the pair briefly kiss but are interrupted by Sissy yelling from downstairs.
Cobel snaps into action, looking for her prize. In an outdoor shed, Cobel finds an old Myrtle Eagan School for Girls “Annual Reminiscences” (aka, yearbook), showing she was valedictorian and the Jame Eagan Wintertide Fellowship recipient. Inside a bust of Helena’s father, Jame, are notebooks containing the damning truth. No, these aren’t typical teenage journals.
“Lumon destroyed this town,” Cobel spits. In fact, Lumon has taken everything. The notebooks are full of sketches, formulas, and theories that are the basis for Severance. Cobel, not Jame Eagen, birthed these ideas—including the Overtime Contingency and the Glasgow Block. If Cobel sought credit, she would be banished.
No wonder Cobel is a vibrating ball of rage, but Sissy wants to push the knife in further. She tries and fails to burn Cobel’s work (never have a conversation like this by an open flame) and reveals Charlotte died by suicide. Sissy calls Charlotte a coward, and her niece is a weed, but they are interrupted because someone is driving toward the house. Luckily, Hampton lets Cobel take his truck, and if this isn’t love, I don’t know what is.
Cobel drives away from her childhood home and finally picks up the phone. Devon (Jen Tullock) has tried to call several times about Mark’s (Adam Scott) reintegration condition. It turns out Cobel is precisely the person Devon needs to talk to about her plan to take Mark to the innie cabins, and Cobel wants Mark to tell her everything.
After confronting the past, Cobel is now ready to tackle the present—and overcome her Keir Eagan addiction.
