Apple TV+We know Helly (and her Innie Helena Eagan) is the child of the ever-creepy Lumon CEO Jame Eagan, but her mother is still nowhere to be found. However, Severance Season 2 may have already revealed who she is.
Season 2 Episode 9 opens with an eerie insight into the Eagan household. Helena goes for an early morning swim before settling down for breakfast with her father, who declares it a “momentous day” (the day Mark is supposed to finish Cold Harbor).
“Won’t you eat?” she asks him, but he creepily replies, “I’ll watch.” She has a single boiled egg, split into six segments (perhaps a metaphor about the severance procedure), which she then cuts into even smaller pieces as Jame groans in the corner.
It’s all highly unsettling, but did we expect anything less from the Eagan family? Although Helena is an Eagan through-and-through, it’s still unclear who gave birth to her, and with just one episode of Severance Season 2 to go, a new theory has emerged.
Helly’s mother could be hiding in plain sight
Given Jame and Cobel’s history, the theory goes that Ms Cobel is actually Helly’s mother. It’s all just speculation at this stage, but stranger things have happened in the world of Severance.
Apple TV+As we learned in Season 2 Episode 8, Cobel grew up in Salt’s Neck, where she invented the severance procedure. Jame Eagan was with her every step of the way, eventually stealing the idea from her and manipulating her into staying quiet.
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As Cobel rifles through her belongings, she finds her Annual Reminiscences (yearbook) from the Myrtle Eagan School For Girls. Inside are pictures of her as a teenager celebrating her multiple achievements.
She also finds an award announcing her as the winner of the Wintertide Fellowship for the Year of Wiles, and it’s a bust of Jame’s head.
Earlier on in the episode, Cobel’s auntie Sissy tries to justify the “child f**king labor” her niece was subjected to.
Apple TV+When pressed about the fact that she missed her own mother’s death, Sissy replies, “Your studies were more important. Mr. Eagan saw Kier in you.”
The latter sentence is interesting – what if Jame had been grooming Cobel not only to steal her ideas but also to continue the Eagan lineage?
Cobel’s brilliant mind and deep connection to Lumon could have made her the perfect candidate in Jame’s eyes to bear the “next” Kier.
Given his manipulative nature and the power he held over her, it’s possible he forced her into having a child with him – creating Helly as his heir and shaping her to embody Kier’s ideals from birth.
Severance fans share Cobel theory
A number of Severance fans have shared this theory, with Season 2 Episode 9 revealing yet another clue: Jame has a pattern of getting women pregnant and then covering it up.
Apple TV+At the end of the episode, Cobel helps to smuggle Devon and Mark into the Damona Birthing Retreat. When they arrive at the gates, she tells the security guard that they’re going to cottage five.
“I don’t have anyone scheduled,” says the guard, to which Cobel says, “She’s one of Jame’s. No one’s to know.” It’s enough to get her through, meaning this is certainly not the first time this has happened.
Taking to Reddit, one wrote, “Cobel saying ‘one of Jame’s’ at the birthing cabin. Dude’s a r*pist, probably lied about Gemma’s fertility and they’re trying to turn her into the next Imogene.”
Another replied, “Some people have theorized that Jame was grooming Cobel and that Cobel is Helly’s mother (we’ve never learned anything at all about Helly’s mother).”
In a separate Reddit thread, one fan wrote, “A young Jame Eagan is pictured awarding a young Cobel as the recipient of the Wintertide Fellowship in her yearbook. Could they have had some kind of (secret) relationship where she birthed a child?
“Because they were in different society class levels, he the rich almighty and she the working class child prodigy at his family’s company – he couldn’t publicly be linked with her or he took advantage of her given their power struggle dynamic and how cult-like the Eagans are preying on the youth.
“So she relinquished their baby’s wellbeing to his family’s control in hopes that their daughter would have a chance at life, or he flat out took possession of their daughter because his own wife couldn’t bear children.
“They have some agreement in place where Cobel continues on as a Lumon loyalist and the only child he was ever able to conceive he gets to keep as his own. Whatever the case, their daughter happens to be Helena. And Helena is unaware of who her mom’s true identity is.”
Apple TV+They went on to point out the confrontation between Cobel and Helly in the Season 1 finale, including lines from the script that weren’t included.
Helly threatens, “I’m going to kill your company,” to which Cobel replies, “Your company! All of this is for you! God you’ve no idea what people give for you! Who the hell do you think you are?”
The Redditor added, “Given that Dan’s writing is intentional and the lines, ‘All of this is for you! God you’ve no idea what people give for you!’ got cut, this could suggest that Cobel is telling her how much she’s given up for her…
“Cobel has a reason to stay invested in Lumon after they stole all her ideas because her child will benefit from its/her success.”
Another agreed, “I totally think you’re onto something here. We still don’t know why Cobel has experience with babies, we’ve never heard any mention of Helena’s mother, and we now have a direct link between Harmony and Jame.
“And from what little we know of the timeline it does seem like Helena’s birth year (early 1990s) would align with Cobel graduating school and being brought into the Eagan fold via her designs being stolen (late 1980s).”
Make sure you know when the next episode drops with our guide to the Severance Season 2 release schedule, and check out our guides on the Glasgow Block and the Lexington Letter.
We’ve also got recaps of Episode 1, Episode 2, Episode 3, Episode 4, Episode 5, Episode 6, and Episode 7.
