This post contains spoilers from Severance season 2 episode 2 from this point forward.
Well, we knew that whatever happened in the Outie world after the overtime contingency, it probably wasn't exactly as it was presented to the Innies. But Severance season 2 episode 2 reveals the aftermath and impacts the Outies really faced, and it's brilliantly executed and also mind blowing in a way that's seriously upped the ante for the series moving forward.
In all honestly, I shamefully took everything Milchick told the Innies in the Severance season 2 premiere when they returned to Lumon at face value. They experienced fame in the public eye for their rebellion? Sure, sounds plausible! Five months have passed in the Outie world? Yeah, that makes sense! The three others opted not to join Mark? Again, that tracks!
But season 2 episode 2 flips the script and shows the inverse of the first episode. While we spent the entirety of the season premiere piecing together the confusion with the Innies, episode 2 takes place completely among the Outies and fills in most of the blanks. We're only two episodes into the 10-episode season, but Severance is already making a case for the year's best show.
It was all a lie!
For me, the most shocking revelation from seeing the other side of the post-overtime contingency events was realizing that there was very little truth to the explanation given to the Innies. Nearly half a year hadn't passed before the Innies were approached again to return to Lumon. In reality, Milchick had approached both Dylan and Irving (not Helena for obvious reasons) immediately after with a gift basket and a firing. He crawled back to them after Mark returns and demands they're brought back.
Also, another revelation that was personally shocking to me was how involved Helena actually is in the decision making at Lumon. I should have known something was up with her Outie when she was firm and low key mean to her Innie in season 1. But anyway, Helena gives a public apology and aids the coverup of the overtime contingency. There was no parade in the honor of the "Macrodat Uprising." Why did I think Lumon would ever allow a celebration of such a thing?
However, Helena did confirm the existence of episode 1's biggest cliffhanger: Cold Harbor. We still don't know what it is, but she needs Mark to work in order to complete whatever this project is, and obviously it has something to do with Gemma/Ms. Casey. Speaking of, there's tension between Mark's Outie and Devon, who believes the "she's alive!" exclamation was about the baby. As we all do, Mark's Outie has questions, suspicions, and frustrations with all of the uncertainty.
Cobel offered a promotion, Mark confronts her
After her absence in the season premiere, Patricia Arquette returns in her role as Ms. Cobel, and she's not here to play any games. Helena sits her down to talk about her role in stopping the overtime contingency before it was taken too far, and Cobel believes she's about to get her job back. She's excited at that prospect and seems ready to dive right back into things on the severed floor. However, she's less enthused to hear Milchick took over her job and she'd be getting a promotion.
Cobel doesn't give Helena a response about whether she's taking the new position at Lumon, but I suspect that she wouldn't turn them down. It's better to be included than excluded. And there's no way Lumon would allow her, even with an NDA, to leave the company. That's a huge risk. It's hard to know what Cobel's thinking though and where her true allegiances lie. Does she have hard feelings for the Lumon board now? Is she feeling differently about the Innies? What's going on?!
When Mark comes home from work, he sees Cobel next door loading her car and leaving. He rushes over to ask her questions, but she's unreceptive. Once she drives away, he runs in front of her car so she can't move forward and keeps asking questions, particularly about Gemma. She doesn't respond, just stares, until she screams, honks, and speeds off. So, we're not getting any intel from Cobel this week, but she's clearly a boiling kettle whistling on the stove. She'll crack soon enough.
New episodes of Severance are released Fridays on Apple TV+.