Warning: Spoilers ahead forSeveranceseason 2, episode 2, “Goodbye, Mrs. Selvig.“Severanceseason 2, episode 2, “Goodbye, Mrs. Selvig,” is the first time Adam Scott’s Outie Mark meets his former Lumon boss since the season 1 finale, and their interaction goes as poorly as expected. After discovering at theend ofSeveranceseason 1thatboth his Innie and his Outie have a relationship with Patricia Arquette’s character, who is artfully referred to as “Cobelvig,” Mark has a specific reason for why he wants to seek her out and ask her some very interesting questions.
Arquette and Scott have been key members of theSeverancecastsince 2022’s inaugural season. Despite almost three years between the sci-fi thriller’s first two runs, their fascinating dynamic has thankfully remained a major focus of the larger story. However, although"Goodbye, Mrs. Selvig,” shines a light on some ofSeverance’s biggest mysteries, the way it drags other topics further into the shadows proves why it’s one of thebest shows on Apple TV+. In short, although Cobel appears to leave at theend ofSeveranceseason 2’s second episode, it’s tough to believe she won’t be back.
Outie Mark Confronted Ms. Cobel In Severance Season 2, Episode 2
The woman Mark’s Outie knows as Mrs. Selvig is caught off-guard
Mark’s Outie spends a lot of “Goodbye, Mrs. Selvig” looking for the episode’s title character. Of course, he knows very little about where to find her, especially following her dismissal from Lumon Industries. So, he has few choices other than to keep knocking on her door, hoping his mysterious neighbor with the fake name is home. While this reaps no rewards for pretty much the entire installment, Mark finally gets lucky and arrives home at the very momentMs. Cobel is packing her things and trying to flee into the night.
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Mark knows he won’t get anything out of Mr. Milchick (Tramell Tillman). His new boss is still a loyal employee of the workplace that installed Mark’s Severance Chip, so it’s not within Mr. Milchick’s best interests to tell Mark the whole truth. Therefore,Mark’s best shot at answers is to interrogate Ms. Cobel, and he knows that. There must have been a reason why she slotted herself so firmly into his Outie’s personal life when their dynamic is supposed to be restricted to that of a professional relationship between Cobel and Mark’s Innie. Sadly, he fails to find much out.
Why Outie Mark Asked Ms. Cobel About Gemma
Innie Mark found out something he was never supposed to know (& tried to tell his Outie)
Until theSeveranceseason 1 finale, Mark’s Outie was firm in his belief that his wife, Gemma, was dead - and had been for two years. Inversely,Mark’s Innie had no idea about his Outie being a widower, or that he was ever even married. This is nothing unusual, as the point of the Severance Procedure is to keep the lives of Innies and Outies separate. However,the Macrodat Uprisingresulted in Mark’s Innie seeing a picture of his Outie and Gemma - a woman who looks exactly like Innie Mark’s Lumon therapist - Dichmen Lachman’s Ms. Casey.
With the woman he knows as Mrs. Selvig the only lucid connection between his two lives, Mark is desperate to ask her about Gemma’s fate.
Trying to give those around him the information he’d just discovered, Innie Mark yells, “She’s alive!” while holding a picture of Gemma on their wedding day. Immediately after, theOvertime Contingency Protocolends and Outie Mark takes back control. Even under strong pushback from his sister, Outie Mark insists his Outie must have been referring to something else, but it becomes clear throughout “Goodbye, Mrs. Selvig” that he has ever-growing doubts. With the woman he knows as Mrs. Selvig the only lucid connection between his two lives,Mark is desperate to ask her about Gemma’s fate.
Ms. Cobel’s Reaction To Mark & Why She Sped Away In Her Car
Mark’s former boss fights with the two sides of herself
Mark feels deeply betrayed by his neighbor’s deception. After sharing stories of his grief after Gemma’s death, he’s angry that Cobelvig turned out to be more than just a neutral ear. In the throes of his fury,Mark jumps in front of her car and tries to force her to share her motives. Something in the tension of the exchange tells Mark that it all comes down to Gemma, and he quietly accuses Cobelvig of not sharing vital information about his supposedly late wife. Mark’s instincts are validated, as Ms. Cobel simply screams and speeds away from the encounter.
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The reaction of Arquette’s character doesn’t exactly portray her as a woman without answers. Instead, her long pensive silence strongly suggests she knows pretty much everything that Mark is looking for. Unfortunately,she still feels a religious-like reverence for Lumon- despite them letting her go and giving her old position to Mr. Milchick. So, although she is still devastatingly angry at Lumon for how she feels she’s been treated, she can only come so close to sharing company secrets with Mark. The result, as shown inSeveranceseason 2’s second installment, is being overwhelmed and running away.
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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.
