Severance – S02E08 – Sweet Vitriol | Transcript

Original release date: March 7, 2025

Cobel arrives in Salt’s Neck, the seaside town she grew up in. The town has fallen on hard times, as the Lumon-owned factory that once supported the town has closed, and much of the remaining population is addicted to the drug ether. Harmony makes contact with her old friend Hampton, a cafe owner and ether addict, who takes her secretly to Harmony’s mother’s house. Harmony’s aunt, Sissy, is a Lumon devotee who attempts to prevent Harmony from entering her mother’s old room, where she died after a long illness while Harmony was at a Lumon boarding school. Harmony finds the key to the room, but falls asleep on her mother’s bed crying. Hampton finds her, and they get high. Harmony decides to look inside the outdoor storeroom, where she finds her old papers, filled with sketches of the severance procedure and chip, revealing she was the true inventor. Sissy attempts to burn the evidence but Harmony saves them and escapes in Hampton’s truck, as an unknown car approaches the house. She then answers a phone call from Devon, who tells her of Mark’s reintegration.

* * *

[waves lapping]

[seagulls squawking]

[addict coughing]

[sniffs]

[inhales, exhales deeply]

[coughs]

[spits, inhales sharply]

[phone buzzing]

[“Who Knows” playing]

[“Who knows” continues through stereo]

[sighs]

You hear about that clusterfuck up on North Pine?

[waiter] Dutch Stevens’ kid.

How the fuck do you flip a two-ton snow plow?

[waiter] With stupidity.

The apple don’t fall far from the gutter.

[customer] Well, that’s kind of you.

[waiter] On the house.

Thank you.

Hey, Rose.

You want a refill?

You can top me off anytime.

I like the new do.

[Rose chuckles]

Très chic.

[wind whistles]

Harmony Cobel.

Well, flip my toboggan.

You want coffee?

No.

Tables are for paying customers.

Fine. Then buy me a coffee.

The town is older than I remember.

Frailer.

Yeah, well, with the market readjustment from a few years ago and the fluctuating interest rates, there was a retrenchment from some of the core infrastructure investments.

I need a favor.

But not here.

Meet me at the factory.

[waiter] Hey, Dot. Close up for me.

[Dot] Sure.

[“Where Do We Go From Here” playing]

[“Where Do We Go From Here” continues on radio]

[seagulls squawking]

You know how fucked it is to ask me to come here?

I need you to drive me to Sissy’s.

Oh.

No, thanks.

If they’re watching the house, they’ll recognize my car.

How much trouble are you in?

Enough.

You know she still lives by the nine?

I assumed.

Then you know she’s a fucking pariah here.

You can stay in the truck.

I need to get something.

Why would I help you with anything?

We were once chums.

Old colleagues lift each other up.

Colleagues?

Child fucking labor.

Kier and Imogene met at the Ether Mill, you know that?

Was she hacking up a lung at the time?

I can smell it on your breath.

Pathetic.

Fuck you.

You can help me or not.

But I’ll not be the punching dummy for your resentments.

[phone buzzing]

Coast is clear.

[sighs]

You’re higher than a bearded vulture.

[breathing shakily]

Tell her to drop dead for me.

You are not welcome here.

This is trespass.

I have a mind to call the authorities.

I do not want that huff peddler on my property.

You gave him his thirst for it.

You’ve a liar’s mouth.

[breathes deeply] Oh.

[breathing deeply]

[Sissy] Do you want to come down here and tell me what this is all about?

[grunts, inhales sharply]

What have you done with my things?

Sold. To the poor.

They weren’t yours to sell.

I sit in this house.

You do not.

Has anyone been here?

No one comes here.

Or telephoned?

A Mr. Drummond.

And what did he want?

What have you done, little mouse?

Harmony!

I want the key to Mother’s room.

That room stays shut until all who remember her sit with Kier.

You know this.

Give me the key. [breathes heavily]

Why do you bring nothing but woe into my life?

No, it is you who cursed this house with woe.

I will not have this quarrel.

What were her last words?

Child, do not test me.

What were they?

She said nothing after you pulled the tube from her gullet.

There was gratitude in her eyes to be freed from her suffering.

If only she had been a believer.

Perhaps she would have found solace in the nine.

[metal squeaking]

You didn’t have to listen to her wheezing as I did, day after day.

I would have cared for her myself, had I not been at school.

Where you belonged.

I didn’t even get to say goodbye.

Your studies were more important.

Mr. Eagan saw Kier in you.

He really did.

And the Wintertide Fellowship…

Even at the factory, no apprentice was more industrious than you.

Such a disappointment you’ve proven to be.

What did Drummond tell you?

Return and plead forgiveness, child.

The Eagans will grant it.

And show me mercy,

just like you did with Mother.

Where is the key?

All you will find in there is pain.

[breathes heavily]

[Ms. Cobel] Where is it?

I found it!

Come on.

[grunts]

[exhales sharply]

[breathing heavily]

[breathes shakily]

[breathes heavily]

[whimpers, breathes shakily]

[whimpers]

[sniffling, breathing heavily]

[sighs, inhales heavily]

[moans]

[sniffles, crying]

[crying]

[crying continues]

[breathing heavily]

[crying]

[Sissy] Don’t! Stand away!

[waiter] Get your harpy hands off me.

[Sissy] You’ve no salutation here, you blighted snuff slave.

[waiter] All right, I missed you too. You smell like crow skin.

[Sissy] I’ll phone somebody. I swear it!

[waiter] Yeah, call everyone. We’ll have a fucking kegger.

[Sissy] This is a pure house.

[waiter] Back off or I’ll put you in the bay!

[footsteps approaching]

[door opening]

[gasps, breathes heavily] What is it? What happened?

Nothing. Came to get you.

She’s not too happy about it.

[breathes heavily] Did you see something?

No, but it’s cold as shit in the truck, and I gotta get back.

[breathes heavily] I have to find it.

Find what?

[sighs] Oh, just give me a minute just to think.

[sniffles, breathing heavily]

[sighs]

[breathing heavily]

I liked her.

[scoffs]

You barely knew her.

She hated Lumon more than I did.

That’s all I needed to know.

Hmm.

At least she doesn’t have to live with Sissy anymore.

You wanna get high?

[inhales deeply, groans]

[coughing]

[chokes, breathes shakily]

[sniffs, coughs, laughs]

[coughs, breathes shakily]

[laughs, breathes shakily]

[chuckles]

[inhales deeply, moans]

[exhales deeply]

Wow.

[sighs]

[chuckles] Oh, I haven’t done that since I was eight.

[inhales heavily, groans]

You ready to man the vat for ten hours?

[laughs] Oh.

[laughs]

[grunts]

[sighs]

It’s so shameful that you sell it.

[kisses]

I don’t think it’s here.

What you’re looking for.

[Sissy speaks indistinctly] Get out of here!

She wouldn’t throw it away.

[breathes sharply]

[breathing heavily]

[grunts]

[grunting]

[breathing heavily]

[door opening]

Find it?

[grunts] Get the truck ready. And watch my head.

[breathes heavily]

I’m going. Don’t tell them I was here.

I would never bear falsity to a steward of the Eagans.

Lumon destroyed this town.

You owe them no loyalty.

[scoffs] There was no town before the factory.

And what about your own employ?

Everything that you have, you owe back to the Eagans as fealty.

Fealty?

Mine!

My designs!

Circuit blueprint…

Base code…

Overtime contingency…

Glasgow block. All of it.

Jame Eagan was the inventor.

So I’ve heard.

Extraordinary.

Why have you never spoken of this?

It was told Kier’s knowledge is for all.

That is true.

That if I sought credit, I would be banished.

[grunting, groaning]

[pants]

I hope you die as painfully as she did.

It was her hand that removed the tube, not mine.

No! [breathes heavily]

Your mother was a coward.

More sick in the soul than in the body.

Filled with malice and resentment.

I don’t believe you!

I thought you were different…

my flower.

I tried to help you grow.

But now I see you are a weed, just as she was.

[waiter] Hey! Someone’s comin’!

[horn blaring]

[engine revs]

You better get going.

[Ms. Cobel breathes heavily]

Hampton.

I’ll see you around.

Come and tame these tempers, assholes.

[“Fire Woman” playing]

[Devon] Mrs. Selvig? Oh, thank fuck, I’ve been trying to reach you.

Yes, I’m aware.

[Devon] So, listen, Mark has been reintegrating.

Reghabi?

[Devon] Yeah.

And she hasn’t killed him yet?

[Devon] No. I mean, I think he’s okay?

But listen, we wanna try something else.

Is Mark with you?

[Devon] Uh-huh. Yes.

Put him on.

[Mark] Yeah. Hello?

Tell me everything.