Warning! This article contains spoilers for Severance season 2's episode 8.Apple TV+ sci-fi show's season 2, Miss Huang has been one of the most mysterious characters. She seems too young to work in Lumon and shows immense loyalty to the company. Her robotic demeanor and blind faith in Lumon had convinced many viewers that, like Miss Casey, she was another permanent innie who did not exist as an outie in the outside world.
Miss Huang's behavior became even stranger when she advised Milchick not to treat the innies as humans by allowing them to give Irving a funeral. Her lack of empathy towards other innies suggested she was nothing like them and probably not even severed. After dropping so many subtle clues about who she was and what she was doing in Lumon, Severance season 2's episode 8 has finally confirmed a tragic detail about her past by revealing many aspects of Harmony Cobel's past.
Harmony Cobel Confirms She Was In The Wintertide Program As A Child
Her Backstory Confirms She Has Almost Spent Her Entire Life With Lumon
After Cobel arrives in her childhood village, Salt's Neck, in Severance season 2's episode 8, her conversations with Hampton reveal she started working in the local Lumon ether factory at a very young age. While at it, she attended the Myrtle Eagan School For Girls, where she was indoctrinated in Kier Eagan's ideals and teachings. She showed immense potential during her early years with Lumon, which paved the way for her to become a Wintertide Fellow, marking the inception of a new journey for her at Lumon Industries.
Sissy Cobel claims that Jame Eagan saw Kier in Harmony, suggesting that Lumon's frontrunners initially saw immense potential in Harmony Cobel.
Cobel's backstory in Severance confirms that Lumon's development in Salt's Neck created many employment opportunities for the local townsfolk in Salt's Neck. However, the company seemingly broke many ethical and moral boundaries to expand its business. Minors like Cobel and Hampton were forced to work in ether-manufacturing factories that seemingly exposed them to the addictive inhalation anesthetic, diethyl ether. Although Cobel's Fellowship eventually helped her leave the village and work for Lumon's Branch 501 facility, most other townsfolk, like Hampton, remained hooked on diethyl ether.
Severance Season 2 Confirms Lumon's Use Of Child Labor
Hampton & Cobel Were Forced To Work In Lumon's Factories From A Young Age
When Devon suggests they must call Harmony Cobel to help Mark rescue Gemma from Lumon, Reghabi reveals Cobel was "raised by Lumon." This hints at how Cobel has had a long history with the company, explaining why she shows unwavering loyalty to Lumon in season 1 and even worships Kier Eagan. Things take an even darker turn in Severance season 2's episode 8 when Hampton offers Cobel to get high with him on diethyl ether, and Cobel remarks that she has not inhaled the substance since she was 8 years old.
Minors like Harmony and Hampton were exposed to dangerous compounds like diethyl ether as they toiled away in the factories, manipulated into believing their work was necessary for their village's growth.
This subtle detail reveals that she worked in Lumon's ether factories when she was as young as 9 years old. After establishing its factories in Salt's Neck, Lumon cared little about age or ethical regulations, using child labor to meet their ethyl production needs. Minors like Harmony and Hampton were exposed to dangerous compounds like diethyl ether as they toiled away in the factories, manipulated into believing their work was necessary for their village's growth. Cobel found her escape after becoming a Wintertide Fellow, but that further entrenched her in Lumon's control.
What Harmony Cobel's Past Means For Miss Huang
Miss Huang Is Another Victim of Lumon's Immoral Practices
In season 2's episode 6, Milchick implies that he gets to call the shots on whether Miss Huang is "Wintertide material." This confirms that, like Harmony Cobel, she, too, has been hired by Lumon with the promise of a prosperous future. Like Cobel, Huang was likely picked from Myrtle Eagan School For Girls and taught Kier Eagan's teachings from an early age. After being forced into child labor, she was also led to believe that the innies are mere test subjects for Lumon and their lives were less valuable than the outies.
Severance's Salt's Neck Location Explained: What Did Lumon Do To Destroy The Town?
Severance season 2, episode 8 takes place solely in the town of Salt’s Neck, begging the question of how it connects to Lumon and the overall plot.
Although Huang's cold demeanor towards the innies did not make her too likable, the Wintertide parallels between her and Cobel make it hard not to empathize with her. She seems to be another victim of Lumon's unethical practices of indoctrination and exploitation, which involves molding young minds to serve the company. As Cobel's backstory in the Severance season 2 episode confirms, Huang, too, was manipulated into believing that "Wintertide" was a mark of distinction and a high form of achievement when it was nothing but another means for Lumon to establish control over prospective employees.
Severance is a psychological thriller series featuring Adam Scott as Mark Scout, an employee at Lumon Industries who undergoes a "severance" procedure to separate his work and personal memories. However, as work and life personas mysteriously begin to collide, it quickly becomes clear that not all is as it seems. Created by Dan Erickson and directed by Ben Stiller and Aoife McArdle.
- Cast
- Patricia Arquette, Sarah Bock, Marc Geller, Michael Cumpsty
- Showrunner
- Dan Erickson, Mark Friedman
- Directors
- Ben Stiller
- Writers
- Dan Erickson
- Main Genre
- Drama
- Seasons
- 2
- Story By
- dan erickson
- Streaming Service(s)
- AppleTV+
