If there’s one thing Lumon loves more than torturing its employees, it’s a creepy painting.
Who could forget “Kier Pardons His Betrayers,” the blood-red tableau that greeted the returning MDR Innies in the Season 2 premiere? Or what about the extremely violent “The Grim Barbarity of Optics and Design” from back in Season 1?
Each is unsettling in its own right, as well as a key part of Lumon’s propaganda machine. But in its Season 2 finale, Severance introduces a new frightening painting that blows those out of the water: “The Exalted Victory of Cold Harbor.”
The work commemorates Mark’s imminent completion of Cold Harbor, placing him and his computer at the center of the pool at Woe’s Hollow. Given that location’s key role in the Kier Eagan canon, the depiction of Mark in Woe’s Hollow emphasizes how crucial his work on Cold Harbor is to Lumon. Plus, the frigid waters evoke the name “Cold Harbor,” adding extra layers to the painting’s significance.
But Mark — rendered here in a state of revelation, hand raised as if to deliver the final keystroke on his file — isn’t alone. He’s surrounded by a crowd of people who guided him to this moment (some more than others), making “The Exalted Victory of Cold Harbor” a round-up of Severance‘s ensemble.
Here’s everyone who’s in Severance‘s “The Exalted Victory of Cold Harbor.”
On the left side of the painting: Lumon troublemakers and blips in the grander plan.
Credit: Screenshot: AppleTV+
The group of people on the left side of the painting are mostly those who have caused Lumon trouble or been involved in company crises. The inclusion of some, like Mark’s MDR team, makes sense, while the presence of others, like Devon (Jen Tullock) and Ricken (Michael Chernus), may seem a bit more baffling. Why would Lumon put non-Lumon employees in this historic painting? Or company enemies like Harmony Cobel (Patricia Arquette), for that matter? Let’s break it down.
The MDR Innies: Irving (John Turturro), Helly (Britt Lower), Dylan (Zach Cherry), and Petey (Yul Vazquez)
Like the racist “inclusively re-canonicalized” Kier paintings Lumon gifted Mr. Milchick (Tramell Tillman), “The Exalted Victory of Cold Harbor” seems as much like a (creepily misguided) attempt to celebrate Mark as it does a piece of Lumon propaganda. And you can’t celebrate Mark without including the MDR team.
Sure, they’ve all had their moments of rebellion at Lumon, from triggering the Overtime Contingency to Irving trying to drown Helena and Petey reintegrating. But if Lumon wants Mark to see the painting as an encouragement to finish Cold Harbor and claim his place in Lumon history — again, not his vibe! — then it’s a no-brainer to keep his team beside him. Plus, while they’re on the left side of the painting, from Mark’s perspective, the MDR team are at his right hand. They’re his right-hand team! How sweet, even if the painting itself is spooky as can be.
Optics and Design: Burt (Christopher Walken), Felicia (Claudia Robinson), and Elizabeth (Rachel Addington)
MDR isn’t the only department to get some love in “The Exalted Victory of Cold Harbor.” O&D also gets celebrated, even though they, too, got in trouble with Lumon for inter-departmental mingling. But since O&D curates the Severed Floor’s paintings, who’s going to stop them from including themselves?
Harmony Cobel (Patricia Arquette)
Cobel’s inclusion in the painting is perplexing. On the one hand, she was the head of the Severed Floor for almost all of Mark’s time there, and she invented severance, so she absolutely should be commemorated. On the other hand, she’s now an enemy of Lumon, and Mr. Milchick made a point that the company was distancing itself from her in the Season 2 premiere. (Remember the “throuple” moment? Simpler times.) So I guess props to Lumon are in order for giving Cobel some credit and not editing her out of history.
Mark’s family: Devon (Jen Tullock) and Ricken (Michael Chernus)
“The Exalted Victory of Cold Harbor” features several people who have never set foot on the Severed Floor, starting with Mark’s sister, Devon, holding baby Eleanor, and Mark’s brother-in-law, Ricken. Innie Mark did meet them both during the Overtime Contingency, so these aren’t unfamiliar faces. Plus, Ricken’s book The You You Are proved instrumental to Mark’s journey of self-discovery in Season 1, to the point that Lumon has recruited Ricken to write a (heavily edited) version for other Innies.
The most fascinating element of Ricken and Devon’s role in the painting is Devon’s body language. She’s the only person in the crowd to be turned away from Mark, and she’s looking at him with skepticism. Her attitude in the painting makes sense given her real-life worries about Mark’s role at Lumon, but it also means Lumon’s got her in its sights. How much danger is she really in?
Mashable Top Stories
Ricken’s buddies: Balf (Rajat Suresh), Danise (Annie McNamara), Patton (Donald Webber Jr.), and Rebeck (Grace Rex)
Far in the back of the lefthand crowd, you can make out more characters who are unaffiliated with Lumon: Ricken’s assistant, Balf, as well as his dinner-less dinner party squad of Danise, Patton, and Rebeck. Innie Mark met all of them at Ricken’s reading during the Overtime Contingency, so their inclusion here could be meant as more encouragement to Mark — even his most rebellious moments and unauthorized encounters led him to Cold Harbor.
Of course, Lumon being Lumon, there’s a small chance that these four do have a greater connection to the company. But since we haven’t seen them beyond Ricken’s party, I’m doubting it. That doesn’t mean they don’t deserve to be remembered in the art equivalent of “Severance‘s Greatest Hits,” though!
The collateral damage: Mark W. (Bob Balaban), Gwendolyn Y. (Alia Shawkat), and Dario R. (Stefano Carannante)
Gone but not forgotten, the three new Innies Mark meets (and then sends away) in the Season 2 premiere get their moment in the spotlight… in the back of “The Exalted Victory of Cold Harbor.” Does that make up for losing their lives? Or for Mark W.’s Outie breaking his lease in Grand Rapids?
On the right side of the painting: The Lumon loyalists
Credit: Screenshot: AppleTV+
While the left side of the painting is a hodgepodge of outsiders and rebellious Lumon employees, the right side of “The Exalted Victory of Cold Harbor” includes characters who tend to have the greatest allegiance to Lumon — or who just haven’t rocked the boat as much.
Ms. Casey (Dichen Lachman)
We haven’t seen much of Wellness Director Ms. Casey in Severance Season 2, but she does take a spot right beside Mark in “The Exalted Victory of Cold Harbor.” Coming from Lumon, that proximity — a reference to her actually being Mark’s wife Gemma — feels exceptionally cruel.
Team MDR: Mr. Milchick and Miss Huang (Sarah Bock)
Severed Floor manager Mr. Milchick and Wintertide Fellow Miss Huang may have had their squabbles in the back half of Season 2, but they appear side by side here. Miss Huang is even carrying her trusted theremin. She just wants to play!
Natalie Kalen (Sydney Cole Alexander)
Board Liaison Natalie pops up at the side of the crowd. No board speaker in sight though. I guess the board won’t be joining us for this painting.
Doug Graner (Michael Cumpsty)
Reghabi (Karen Aldridge) may have killed Head of Security Doug Graner in Season 1, but at least he gets memorialized in “The Exalted Victory of Cold Harbor.”
Mammalians Nurturable: Lorne (Gwendoline Christie), Wyatt (Brian Rock), and the Goat Man (Jared Johnston)
Mammalians Nurturable, aka the Goat Department, joins MDR and O&D in this terrifying tableau. Pictured here are Department Head Lorne; Wyatt, the first goat wrangler Helly and Mark met in Season 1; and Goat Man, who has the honor of wearing a massive goat costume. While MN hadn’t caused chaos at Lumon prior to the Season 2 finale, I bet Lorne throwing down with Mr. Drummond (Ólafur Darri Ólafsson) might jeopardize their department (and their chances of making it into paintings) in the near future.
The Four Tempers: Woe, Dread, Malice, and Frolic
The representations of Kier Eagan’s Four Tempers watch on as Mark finishes refining Cold Harbor. Cobel confirmed that the refining process meant building a new Innie for Gemma out of the Tempers, making their inclusion here make even more sense. (There’s also a non-zero chance that these could be the dancers from the Waffle Parties.)
The MDR Shadow Innies
Rounding out the right side of the painting are the strange Shadow selves introduced in “Woe’s Hollow.” Do we know their deal? Absolutely not, but it’s enough to get them in the painting!
On top of the painting: Lumon’s CEOs, past, present, and future
Credit: Screenshot: AppleTV+
Lording over the scene from the top of the Woe’s Hollow waterfall — famously the tallest in the world! — are nine Eagans, some of whom we’ve met in the show, and many of whom we’ve only seen as statues in the Perpetuity Wing.
As the CEO-in-waiting, Helena Eagan stands at the center of the tableau, flanked on either side by her father Jame (Michael Siberry) and Lumon founder Kier (Marc Geller). Rounding out the rest of the Eagan lineup, from left to right, we have: Ambrose, Myrtle, Phillip, Leonora, Baird, and Gerhardt. They’re all looking at Helena, the future of Lumon, whereas she looks ahead, to a post-Cold Harbor world.
Too bad for Lumon, then, that Mark derails the entire project by helping Gemma escape! That’s what you get for calling your shot too early and painting your propaganda ahead of time.
Severance Season 2 is streaming on Apple TV+.
