"Holding the love": Severance star Patricia Arquette talks about the breathing tube scene in Season 2 Episode 8

In Severance Season 2, Episode 8, called "Sweet Vitriol," Patricia Arquette's character, Harmony Cobel, has a very powerful scene. She lies on the bed her mother used before she passed away and takes off an old breathing tube.

After doing this, she starts to cry a lot, and even falls asleep there.

Patricia Arquette talked about this moment in an interview with Vulture. She said it's a very meaningful scene on Severance because:

"The breathing tube is holding the love she didn’t get. Breathing through it is almost like getting a kiss from her mom, lying in bed and cuddling with her. It’s also tied to her not getting to have any kind of closure."

The Severance scene vividly shows Harmony's unresolved trauma and family history that has left her with deep emotional scars. Her mother's addiction and aunt Sissy's meddling had a huge impact on her growing up.

Lumon became the parental love she never had. But now, Lumon has cut her off, and all those buried feelings are coming back to hit her hard.

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Severance Season 2: The breathing tube is a window into Cobel’s past

Season 2 of Severance has been peeling back the layers of Harmony Cobel's history, and Episode 8 gives us a personal look. The scene with the breathing tube is about more than just being visually weird. It shows us how much Cobel's life has been filled with feeling ignored and wanting love.

Her mom was hooked on ether and couldn't give her the care she deserved, and her aunt Sissy only made things worse by causing more problems between them. Patricia Arquette's acting in that scene is so intense. You can feel the pain of a woman who's lost and wants something she can never have again.

She talked about how Cobel's trauma gets worse when she loses her Lumon "family." Getting fired suddenly left her without a purpose and made her face feelings she had pushed down deep. This adds another important piece to the show's themes of memory, losing things, and who we really are.

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Harmony Cobel and Mark's connection defines Severance Season 2

Cobel's character in Severance has an interesting side. She obsesses over Mark Scout, played by Adam Scott.

Arquette talked about this to Variety. She chose a special way to say Mark's name. It's like how important people talk and sounds like Bea Arthur in Maude.

She explained:

"Authority has this certain tone... And then you think of all these different people in upper management, the way that upper management sounds."

The way Mark is shown in Cobel's world shows that he is really important to her. Mark is special because of his relationship with Gemma and his link to the Cold Harbor project at Lumon. At first, Cobel pretended to be his neighbor, Mrs. Selvig, but over time her feelings for him got mixed up with her work.

In Severance Season 2, there are only two episodes left, and things are looking intense for Harmony Cobel and Mark. Since Cobel lost her job at Lumon, she still cares a lot about Mark. We don't know what she'll do next after talking to Devon at the end of Episode 8, but it's clear she isn't done with Lumon.

Now, with the stakes higher than ever, we're eager to see how far Cobel will go. She has nothing left to lose, so we can expect action from her.

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Severance Season 2 is streaming on Apple TV+.

Next up: Ben Stiller and Eddy Cue talk about the show's target audience at SXSW