Severance: What Was Up With That [SPOILER]?

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Warning: Spoilers Ahead

Summary

  • The episode “Woe’s Hollow” in Severance intensifies fan conspiracies about government experiments and real-world cabals.
  • A seal carcass in the forest opens up questions about symbolism, character fates, and connections to real-life conspiracies like Montauk.
  • The Montauk Project, mind control, and cloning hint at Lumon’s sinister agenda and the potential fate of Severed employees.

As a movie enthusiast, I must say that the second season of “Severance” has certainly stirred up quite a storm among fans, with many of us speculating wildly about its underlying themes and conclusions. However, the latest episode, titled “Woe’s Hollow,” has taken this to a whole new level of intrigue.

Previously, there had been whispers that Lumon was involved in government-funded human experiments, but this episode took those suspicions and blew them wide open, revealing what seems like connections to secretive real-world organizations. It’s as if we’re all wearing tin foil hats now!

The strange episode unfolds like a bottle episode within the unique realm of Severance, pushing boundaries even further. Mark, Helly, Dylan, and Irv awaken in an unfamiliar setting – Dieter Eagan’s Arctic Forest. Confused and curious, they share our bewilderment as they ponder many questions. A TV screen nearby provides instructions for them to traverse the forest’s icy thickets and streams towards Dieter’s fourth appendix, a chilling location known as ‘Scissor Cave.’

Milchick communicates via the monitor, assigning them the daunting task of navigating through the forest. Interspersed with propaganda from Kiel and ominous warnings in old-fashioned English, they are guided by eerie reflections of themselves that subtly indicate their path. The situation takes a turn for the bizarre.

A Mysterious Dead Thing

During their camping trip and team-building adventure hike, the group accidentally discovers what appears to be a dead seal. With concern about finding food in the future, Irv proposes they consume this supposed carcass. A detailed shot of the decaying body suggests it’s probably a seal due to its rounded snout and whiskers. However, even with this potential confirmation, curious viewers are left puzzled as more questions arise than answers provided.

It’s puzzling why the seal is present in this scene and what symbolic meaning it carries. Though it might be realistic for an animal to decay in a hazardous setting, its appearance on our show seems deliberate. Symbolically, dead animals often signify pain, loss, or even foreshadowing of a loved one’s demise. Could a character meet their end in this episode? Indeed, but just like the seal, such an event occurs metaphorically here.

It appears that prior to the team discovering their objective, Irv’s inner self (innie) had already embarked on a mission: to reveal the true identity of Helly. Unfortunately, after Irv’s later outburst where he came close to exposing outer Helly (outie Helly) to bring back innie Helly, Milchick effectively ends Irv’s involvement in the mission.

In his first night of sleep, Irv had a dream that awakened him, in which he saw Helly’s face and the name ‘Eagan’ displayed on his computer screen. This confirmed that Dieter wouldn’t be the only suspicious Eagan encountered during their journey. During the Macrodata Refinement sequence in the dream, viewers caught a glimpse of the file name ‘Montauk’ before the scene concluded, marking one of the most chilling surprises in Severance so far. This ‘Montauk’ is significant because it ties back to the dead seal and indirectly connects to a dangerous real-world conspiracy with the same name.

Good Thing They Didn’t Eat It

The title “The Montauk Project” is not only famous as a TV show like “Stranger Things,” but it’s also a controversial claim about a real government experiment in the 1980s. According to author Preston Nichols, this secret operation took place on Long Island, New York, at the Montauk Air Force Station. It was said to be a hotspot for various experiments that made it into the government conspiracy legend, including alleged encounters with extraterrestrial life, time travel, invisibility, and pushing the boundaries of human capabilities such as mind control, among others.

One piece of evidence that the conspirators had supposedly unveiled was the 2008 discovery of a bizarre, pinniped-like corpse on a beach in Montauk, New York. This find wasn’t far from the air force base and, presumably, not too distant from the fictional town of Kier within the same state. The gruesome body was unidentified and became known as “The Montauk Monster,” earning its place in infamy ever since. The references to Montauk were not by chance, and could possibly hint at Lumon’s broader sinister activities.

What Does This Mean For Severed Workers?

It’s evident that the company is involved in developing technology intended for separating human consciousness. In Dieter National Forest, it seems Lumon isn’t just experimenting with creating two types of individuals internally, but externally too, as suggested by the projections of the group traveling to the cave. Could those projections be clones? Given Lumon’s history, such a possibility wouldn’t be surprising at all.

As a passionate movie-goer, I can’t help but ponder the deeper implications behind Lumon’s actions. With the series delving into mind manipulation and personal autonomy, the allusion to the Montauk Project hints at the potential for genuine mind control. Could it be that characters like Milchick, Natalie, and Ms. Huang aren’t merely questionable individuals, but rather, puppets under the invisible strings of Lumon’s executive team?

Natalie and Milchick appear to harbor professional reservations, yet these experiments seem far from completion. This isn’t an encouraging sign for Lumon employees, but it does open up intriguing avenues for Lumon’s sinister intentions and the Severance audience who try to second-guess them.

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2025-02-09 00:54