Severance still needs to answer 2 big questions about Charlotte Cobel
Apple TV+Charlotte Cobel is a crucial figure in the lore of Severance, particularly with Harmony and her relationship with Lumon – and two big questions remain as we move through Season 2.
Ms Cobel was an unsettling enigma in Severance Season 1. Just like Mr Milchick, she hasn’t been severed – but her life was very much split in two, either ruling over the MDR team with an iron fist or suspiciously worming her way into the life of Mark’s Outie (under the guise of Mrs Selvig).
Harmony was fired towards the end of the first season after Lumon discovered her behavior (but she still raised the alarm about the OTC). In Season 2 Episode 1, Milchick told Mark she no longer worked for the company.
However, we will see her again – and whatever she’s up to, it has something to do with Charlotte Cobel.
Who is Charlotte Cobel?
Apple TV+Charlotte Cobel is believed to be Harmony’s late mother. But we still don’t know two things: how did she die, and how was she connected to Lumon?
In Season 1, we saw that Harmony had a shrine to all things Lumon, including a portrait of Kier and certificates and photos from her early years at the Myrtle School for Girls.
Notably, there’s a ventilator tube with a hospital tag on it that has Charlotte Cobel’s name and her date of birth: March 17, 1944.
Given that Severance takes place in the present day and Patricia Arquette (who plays Harmony) was born in 1968, it seems likely that her character is Charlotte’s daughter, rather than a sister or another relative.
Harmony has mentioned her mother a couple of times. In Season 1, she told Mark’s Innie: “The good news is, hell is just the product of a morbid human imagination. The bad news is, whatever humans can imagine, they can usually create.”
However, on the outside, she told his Outie: “You know, my mother was a Catholic. She used to say it takes the saints eight hours to bless a sleeping child.”
Was her mother severed? Perhaps she was the first to go through the procedure, and it cost her her life, which is why Cobel is so interested in Mark (and possibly even Gemma/Ms Casey).
In an earlier interview with Vulture, Arquette was asked about Harmony’s obsession with Mark. “I know the answer to this, but I’m not telling yet. It could ruin some things,” she teased.
“There is an answer to that question. It’s also rooted in Harmony’s deep inner self. Mark is a special project she’s working on. That’s all I’m going to say about that.”
Make sure you’ve got our Severance Season 2 release schedule bookmarked, find out how you can watch Season 2 for free, and read more about the Lexington Letter.