Warning! This article contains spoilers for Severance season 2’s episode 8.Hampton inhales a strange substance when Harmony Cobel meets him in Severance season 2’s episode 8, raising many questions about the Salt’s Neck town’s prevalent drug use and its connection with Lumon. Unlike most other episodes in the Apple TV+ sci-fi show, which unfold in or around the Lumon office, Severance season 2’s episode 8 takes viewers far away from the main setting to reveal several secrets about Cobel’s past and her connection with Lumon. With this, the Severance season 2 episode takes place in Salt’s Neck, the quaint village where Harmony Cobel spent her early years.
Moments after Cobel arrives in the town, she notices people inhaling an unknown substance. Much later, Hampton offers her the same drug, and she seems to know what it is. After seeing the two Severance season 2 characters get high on the drug, it becomes hard not to wonder what it is. A closer look at what Harmony reveals about her past and her Lumon history suggests that the use of the drug in Salt’s Lake has deeper ties with the central company in the series.
Hampton Was Getting High From Something In A Green Bottle During Severance Season 2 Episode 8
The Green Bottle Likely Contained Ether
Severance season 2’s episode 8 does not explicitly mention what the chemical in Hampton’s green bottle is, but it seems very likely that it is ether. The Apple TV+ show has previously established that Lumon’s factories manufactured ether. Harmony Cobel’s conversations with Hampton also suggest that the two of them started working in Salt’s Neck Lumon factories at a very young age. After smelling the liquid from Hampton’s green bottle, Cobel even recalls how she had not inhaled the chemical since she was nine.
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Severance’s Salt’s Neck Location Explained: What Did Lumon Do To Destroy The Town?
Severance season 2, episode 8 takes place solely in the town of Salt’s Neck, begging the question of how it connects to Lumon and the overall plot.
All these subtle clues suggest that Cobel and Hampton were exposed to ether while working in a Lumon factory. Cobel seemingly broke her habit of inhaling the drug after she left to work in Lumon. Hampton, on the other hand, kept using the drug long after leaving the factory. Historically, diethyl ether has been used as an anesthetic and can even cause short-term memory loss. Given how Kier Eagan was a doctor during the American Civil War, it would make sense that he learned about ether and its uses around the same time.
Severance Season 2 Suggests Those Left In Salt’s Neck Rely On The Drug In The Green Bottle
Lumon Shut Down Its Ether Factory But Left The Town With An Addiction
Since the consumption of diethyl ether leaves one with short-term memory loss, Kier was probably manufacturing it in his factories to test an early form of the severance procedure. Most Salt’s Neck citizens seemingly worked in the factory because it was the only source of employment in their location, which led to them getting exposed to ether on a daily basis. As a result, most citizens got addicted to the substance, which might explain why many of them also have other major underlying health conditions.
Salt’s Neck state in Severance season 2’s episode 8 suggests that Lumon shut down its factory after finding a new way to sever humans, but the impact of actions continues to affect the people of Salt’s Lake.
Right after Harmony enters Salt’s Neck, she notices several people getting high on the substance. It is hard not to believe that even her mother died after prolonged exposure to diethyl ether from working in a Lumon factory. Salt’s Neck state in Severance season 2’s episode 8 suggests that Lumon shut down its factory after finding a new way to sever humans, but the impact of the company’s actions continues to affect the people of Salt’s Lake.
Severance
8/10
- Release Date
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February 18, 2022