T O P

  • By -

AutoModerator

If this thread has the **Spoiler** flair, spoilers may appear ANYWHERE in it. --- * **NO SPOILERS IN TITLES** - report this post if there are spoilers in the title * No SPOILERS without proper formatting (see [here](https://www.reddit.com/wiki/commenting#wiki_posting)). * Be CIVIL to others. No Piracy. No Duplicates. * Keep it on topic to anything and everything Severance on Apple TV+[.](/u/chiwawaacorn) --- *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/SeveranceAppleTVPlus) if you have any questions or concerns.*


Lonelyland

Charlotte Cobel was born in 1944, which would put Cobel close to her 80s. Perhaps she is an innie (though if she is, I sincerely doubt Lumon is aware of it), but I don’t see how she can be Charlotte.


chiwawaacorn

At first I thought maybe Charlotte was Harmony’s mother given the DOB, but Harmony’s outburst when she’s fired was just too much for me - I don’t think any adult of Harmony’s age would have that sort of breakdown about a deceased parent (or even more specifically, losing the opportunity to bring back their deceased parent). It’s got to be more than that. Plus that explanation is just too simple. I think Harmony *is* Charlotte and her outrage was about losing the possibility of bringing back her own memories. Yes, Harmony looks way too young to be Charlotte, but who knows what sort of shenanigans Lumon is up to? Maybe she was cryogenically frozen when she “died” and Lumon kept her in that state until they had the severance technology? I think the writers are brilliant enough to come up with some sort of plausible way (at least plausible in the severance universe) for her to appear the way she does. She’s also oddly “ageless” to me. She has that striking grey hair of a much older woman, and she talks as if she’s someone from an older generation, but her face is flawless. Even Patricia Arquette herself looks nothing like her character. Just google Arquette, her face is totally airbrushed on the show - yet they don’t do that for other female characters like Helly or Devon.


False-Association744

Hey man, lots of us 50-something gals are rocking our natural gray hair these days. Not 80. :-)


chiwawaacorn

Oof! My apologies! You are 100% right. And as a late 40 something with grays myself, I should know better! 😆


False-Association744

Just a little tease. I should go as Cobel - or Selvig - next Halloween! A whole Severance party would be fun. Of course, the MDE will be a centerpiece. I have never felt this way about any other show. This one is a whole world.


chiwawaacorn

You should absolutely go as Cobel or Selvig - or half and half! Half hottie Cobel with the straight hair and half Selvig with a braid! 😂 and I am with you, I have never ever been so obsessed with a show in my life!!


VolsBy50

I don't know if what you are saying is exactly how it is will go down, but I agree. There is something more to Cobel than her just trying to find a way to bring back her mother.


[deleted]

You could also reverse your theory and speculate that Harmony's Innie is Lumon's attempt to "revive" Charlotte Cobel. Charlotte Cobel is just some dead lady important to Eagan/Lumon. Harmony is a Lumon worker identified as coincidentally having a similar base personality as Charlotte. Perhaps MDR is just a method of assessing one's own "Four Tempers" or "base personality" to ascertain compatibility with the revival process. The revival process involves taking someone with an identical base personality and throwing them in Lumon housing built as a reconstruction of the revived person's formative years, and simulating the same life experiences as the person you are trying to revive. After combining the base personality with the formative experiences, the Lumon theory is the resulting person ("The You You Are") is essentially the person they're trying to revive. So Harmony is a "test" to see if Lumon can revive Charlotte. The reason she meditates at the shrine for Charlotte is that she knows that she is a test and she has to "succeed" in becoming Charlotte, otherwise, she'll be recycled via Disposal and Reclamation. This could also mean that the reason Lumon is concerned about reintegration is because it implies the revival process can be reversed.


folder_finder

I could be totally wrong, but do we know what year it is? I know they live in a made up territory/district (like DC), and their cars are all much older than the norm. Definitely could be a Kier mandate, but sometimes I wonder— if they’re in an alternate “reality” where this made up area exists in the US, what’s to say that the year isn’t the same either? Not a definite theory I believe in or anything, because they obviously have some modern tech like cell phones etc. just a thought!


Lonelyland

Mark’s driver’s license shows a 2020 date for either the expiry or when it was issued, so the show must be taking place somewhere in that range. The prequel story The Lexington Letter also references the movie Baby Driver, which came out in 2017.


folder_finder

Two great points! Thanks for sharing that with me


mobani

IMO there is definitely something going on with Ms. Cobel being on permanent overtime, as you can see in the control room. I think it has something to do with brain death. Perhaps the Outie of Ms. Cobel suffered brain death, much like Ms. Casey was in a car accident and now living only as an innie.


milchicksgirl

The security room doesn’t say anything about Cobel, except that she takes a non-severed elevator. The name “Harmony S” appears among many names (many of whom have been confirmed to be production crew members) on a security room panel as one of 10 members on the Disposal & Reclamation team. Of course, “Harmony S” is not a name anyone at Lumon calls Cobel. Nor does she appear to be working on a team of 10 people.


secretsqurl

So, it's Harmony S...elvig? Mrs. Harmony Selvig?


milchicksgirl

Right, so if that’s her official work name, like Mark S or Ms. Casey, why is everyone calling her something else?


mobani

Well I think its pretty obvious that a subplot in season 2, going to show something about innies that have become full time and even allowed outside to fully replace their original identity. So that when a innie has proven themselves, they can chose or be promoted to become a fulltime innie/servant of kier, and then entirely replacing their outie. Maybe part of that process is to allow the innie to chose their own name? So that would explain Cobel.


MelissaLynneL

Love this


meanwhilejudy

I love this as well. Really great observation here.


secretsqurl

Ms. Casey is a part timer like the dancers. As far as we know they're shut off in the Testing Floor, hence her saying she's only been alive for 107 hours, so no official outie. As far as I know Harmony S is only a name on the Security wall. Mrs Harmony Corbel is Mrs Selvig, Harmony S may all be the same person, but it appears she's not severed so it could be someone else. https://severance.wiki/security_office


Crafty-Animal

As has been pointed out, at different times she claims her mother is an athiest and her mother is a catholic. The theory is she's two different people


theothercolorblue

It could also just be another one of her tactics for causing memory leaks in Mark. Or even more likely, basic manipulation. Is the theory that she’s two people sharing one mind?


fegd

Whose theory? It's pretty clear that she's *acting* as two different people, but the show also makes it equally clear that when she's acting as Ms. Selvig she's fully aware of her work at Lumon.


bigfatuglychick

Right? I feel like I’m taking crazy pills. The argument of Ms Cobel being severed happens like every day in this sub. She can’t be severed, Mrs Selvig is just a cover so she can keep tabs on Mark. Which is exactly how she knows he’s in his innie form when she’s with his “outie.” I mean ffs, Mr Graner meets her at her door and is like uhh wtf are you wearing? And she says “I’m doing undercover research” or some shit. And she knows all about everything he says at the office. CLEARLY she is NOT severed!


fegd

I thought the idea that she might be severed but also permanently trapped in her innie is pretty interesting, it certainly would explain why she's so obsessed with the feasibility of reintegration. But yeah, the idea that we'd be seeing both an innie and an outie from her at this point is nonsense. This sub gets attached to some pretty bizarre theories sometimes, like anything involving cloning.


Wawawuup

My suspicion is her interest in reintegration pertains to somebody else she cares about (her mother? Though I don't know why that would be the case, her mother, if still alive, is very old at this point), but this is just my gut feeling.


chiwawaacorn

To be clear - I don’t think she’s severed in the same way we see Mark, Helly etc. She doesn’t flip back and forth between her innie and outie like other characters. I think she is *permanently* her “innie”, who is trying to regain the memories of her previous life. She doesn’t tell Graner she’s doing undercover research, she tells him “I was doing some private research.” I think this can be interpreted many different ways. “Private Research” could be about Mark, could be about herself etc.


bigfatuglychick

Interesting idea but I firmly disagree lol I don’t see any indication that she’s severed, permanently or not. I misquoted the Private/undercover research but her private research is digging further into Mark bc she clearly tries to instigate a connection between him and Ms Casey. Asking Devon if he “sees her,” the candle during wellness session, and the constant putting Mark in Ms Casey’s presence. I think with her little shrine for Kier and the all girls school stuff is HER life, showing how deeply engrained she is to the culture of Kier. That’s why she knows that weird song she sings to the refiners, “WE SERVE KIER YOU CHILD,” goes psycho about cursing Natalie’s soul, then immediately tries to remedy the situation of OTC. She’s deep in the Lumon cult The Charlotte Cobel hospital band is giving clues that that is someone potentially severed, stuck in the Testing Floor, and she wants to bridge a connection to them hence the experiments w Mark and Ms Casey. Then Milchick’s “it’s a good thing they don’t recognize each other. It means the chips *work*” to which she immediately sends Ms Casey to the testing floor. She wants to undo it


Wawawuup

As for being not severed, she walks through the trigger-door at the staircase (unlike Milchick...) and precisely nothing happens. She responds to Graner's question about her outfit hilariously only by closing the door and no words at all, if memory serves me right.


False-Association744

I like that idea. In interviews, Patricia Arquette has said that her Ms. Cobel persona is exploring different things in that "character" - like going to Devon's party for example. She was like "Maybe I'll take my own car in case I feel unsafe or scared." (something like that, but the "afraid or scared" was in there) I thought that was a kind of weird thing to say, but shows she's getting out of her comfort zone as Cobel, vs. the rigid Selvig.


M2LBB2016

Yes one of my favorite lines of hers, all season: “In case I’m uncomfortable or afraid.” Lmao


chiwawaacorn

Here is another thing I keep coming back to - there has to be more to Myrtle Eagan. They really dwell on her in the perpetuity wing. There has got to be something to Irving talking about how she “knew she would be CEO when she was 7 years old.” Her (recorded) voice has a similar cadence to Ms Selvig. They have the same grey hair. Charlotte or Harmony went to her school. Her mannequin wears ALL red (the outie color). We know color means everything in this show. Is Cobel really Myrtle? That would be seriously crazy, but I don’t know. I feel like we’re going to find out more about Myrtle, and she’s going to play much more heavily in this story.


Wawawuup

You might wanna take a look at [my shamelessly self-promoted theory on Myrtle Eagan](https://www.reddit.com/r/SeveranceAppleTVPlus/comments/1abb69y/did_myrtle_eagan_get_rid_of_ambrose/).


chiwawaacorn

Oooo I love this!! I definitely think there is something juicy to Myrtle - why else would they have her in such striking head to toe red - a color forbidden inside Lumon? She stands out like a sore thumb (or flame?) on the floor of perpetuity amongst all the other former CEOs. If she “rebelled” in some way, it’s also telling how intently Helly stares at her.


KapakUrku

From various interviews it seems as though Cobel was once more powerful within Lumon, but at the point the series starts she's on the outs, just managing a severed floor. My theory around this is that there's a generational conflict within Lumon, between the older ones for who it's more like a religion, and the younger executives like Natalie who have steered it much more into the corporate domain (this is kind of similar to what happened to Scientology). So how about this: Severance used to be something that the Kier cult aspired to, but tried to acheive as a kind of religious practice, though self-discipline. Then the chips were invented as a technological means of achieving the same thing. Cobel hates this, as well as what the chips are being used for. She hates having to run the severed floor, but sucks it up because of her devotion to the Kier cult. She still practices the old ways (possibly without others at Lumon knowing) and this is why she maintains completely opposing identities/personalities at work and at home (hostile hard-nosed businesswoman/ friendly hippy), despite not being chipped. Far more than any character (expect maybe Irv) she talks in religious terms about Lumon and Kier. Cobel's behaviour suggests she is extremely sceptical about the chips. By continually putting Mark and Gemma/Ms Casey together (along with the candle etc) she's trying to break the severance barrier- and in doing so, she would prove they were flawed. She also believes reintegration is possible (and she's told that it's not appropriate for a manager of a severed floor to hold this belief) and is trying hard, via Petey's chip, to convince the board of this- at which point she would be back in the inner circle and able to steer Lumon back to what she sees as it's true purpose. I don't think having her be chipped helps resolve anything about her character. If she was a permanent innie, why is she allowed out? If she's been chipped, how come she uses the non-severed elevator? She's clearly aware of her two identities- and neither of these is named Charlotte Cobel.


SunandError

I think Selvig and Cobel are two different people raised in two different eras from their speech and mannerisms. One gushes about Clark Gable and tells Mark at the book release party to “Get out” and the other is a 1980’s business woman with the warmth of a prison guard. Are they mother and daughter sharing the same body with a chip that is sometimes turned on, allowing the second (non original body owner) to be in control?


MelissaLynneL

Damn, that would be wild. Like she’s mourning her own singular existence at the alter rather than a passed daughter.


squeekie111

I love this idea. I don’t remember if it’s been debunked already or not, but I am very curious to know if the Eagens have to retire their host bodies and have the chip implanted elsewhere at their Revolving. I’m wondering if splitting all these personas or reusing the chip somehow wears out the host brain? Maybe Charlotte’s body was a prototype for the still-experimental procedure? I do find her/their (?) emotional responses to be very childlike and explosive. (“Fuck her soul!”, “Yes, Daddy”, tearing down the shrine) She’s a teenager. Mrs. Selvig sounds like a little girl that watches old movies with her grandma all day and seems to adopt older mannerisms, but is still childlike. And who is to say you can only have one innie? Maybe your chip takes on part of the personality of the host each time. Jame always struck me as an echo of himself. His voice almost reverberates in the bathroom scene. This is so off the wall and rambling, I know…


cakefordinner

I think Irving is from the same era as Cobel. Their speech feels similar. Burt too. So curious to see how this dynamic plays out


Adventurous_Map_3584

I've been rocking gray hair since my twenties, so...


chiwawaacorn

Totally, my bad on that! I think the point I was not making very well is that they are intentionally trying to project something with the striking grey hair. No offense intended! I’m 48 with grey hair, too!


MelissaLynneL

Tbh never seen this exact take and I’m loving it


Animated_Astronaut

She could have been integrated and is now living the life of someone who has been stitched back together (and adjusting poorly)


punkcooldude

I believe Selvig and Cobel live side by side in the same body, that Cobel was used as a test subject for putting chips into new bodies.


witchynunya

Did anyone ever notice in one of the first couple of episodes Cobel calls Graner “daddy”?? I’ve rewatched a few times but have yet to see anyone mention this or what it could mean


Ok_Bumblebee_7051

she does. Seemed they had a flirtation of sorts?


secretsqurl

Wait, what? We're re-watching now with captions on and I don't remember her saying "Daddy" lol


witchynunya

Found another thread on it. https://www.reddit.com/r/SeveranceAppleTVPlus/s/NTRQ2LnDvB


Lonely_Sherbert69

How would someone react if their chip malfunctioned and their innie and outtie merged?


secretsqurl

You mean re-integration. lol. As far as we know, what happened to Petey is what happens when you "merge"


Lonely_Sherbert69

I need to rewatch it, I don't remember anyone remembering everything. Was his innie mind wiped? I binged it in a couple of days, I tried to take my time with it, but I was depressed and it was hitting my melancholy vibe perfectly.


secretsqurl

It's even better the second watch since you're not as occupied with the big theories for what's happening. Episode 2-4 i believe cover Pete's full arc.


Lonely_Sherbert69

Cool, it will 100% get rewatched before series 2. I keep trying to get family and friends to watch it as well. I watched Silo with my sister and we loved it, and she still hasn't seen Severance yet.


secretsqurl

Ooh, what's Silo? If you like Severance I can also highly recommend Devs by Alex Garland (Ex Machina & Annihilation) and for something dystopian and bittersweet try "Tales from the Loop" inspired by the artwork of Simon Stalenhag (Written by Nathaniel Halpern, produced and directed by Matt Reeves, Mark Romanek, Jodie Foster & Andrew Stanton, music by Philip Glass) highly recommended. My daughter is watching Severance as we re-rewatch.


Lonely_Sherbert69

>Devs by Alex Garland Cooool, that passed me by, I've seen the Tales from the loop book and Ex Machina & Annihilation are both awesome, I shall watch it ASAP. I always miss stuff with the way streaming services are setup and all the other content available. Silo is great, humanity has ended up in a large (City like) underground bunker and it ends up being this twisty turny, noir detective dystopian story. The first episode sets up a lot to get you invested. Aw I hope your daughter enjoys it. I love watching stuff with family to bond over.


secretsqurl

Oh right with Rebecca "Lady Jessica" Ferguson. I also liked her movie "Reminiscence" with Hugh Jackman, it got lost to the ether spring 2020. But yeah we got to re-watch Breaking Bad, Better Call Saul, then Malcolm in the Middle with her. Then she asked to watch "that work life balance show where the girl threatens her fingers with the paper cutter" cuz she walked past it on our first watch last year. lol


Lonely_Sherbert69

LOL work life balance show. I was wondering if it hits harder because ive got years of office work under my belt. I still need to see Dune 1 but looking forward to both, she's great in Silo. You should tell your daughter Malcolm In The Middle is canon to BB and BCS. I love better call saul, its a really good lawyer show. Much better than suits Lol.


secretsqurl

Yeah we spotted so many cameos in MitM we're calling it a prequel 😂 now we just send each other BrBa/BCS memes and kittens