Latest news with #Cobel
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Patricia Arquette's ‘Severance' character talks like that because ‘she thinks that's what power sounds like'
Even after two seasons of Severance, Harmony Cobel (Patricia Arquette) remains an enigma. The woman occasionally known as 'Mrs. Selvig' seems like the ultimate example of Lumon's management style, and yet she herself is constantly at loggerheads with her superiors. She apparently invented the severance procedure as we know it, and yet helps Mark Scout (Adam Scott) break through it. Many mysteries remain as Severance fans look forward to Season 3, but certain things about Cobel can be explained in the meantime. In a new interview with Gold Derby, Arquette says that she is responsible for both the character's look and her mannered way of speaking. More from GoldDerby 'Ballerina' targets $35 million opening in box-office clash with 'Lilo & Stitch' 'Brilliant Minds' creator Michael Grassi on how his love of Oliver Sacks inspired NBC's new medical drama The Making of 'The Eyes of the World: From D-Day to VE Day': PBS variety special 'comes from the heart' READ: 'When I was first thinking of building that character, I saw her with silver hair, white hair,' Arquette says. 'I felt like her hair should be a little older than she is. But also I wanted to have this affected, weird voice. I liked this idea that she's got this affected voice because she thinks that's what power sounds like. That's what these middle managers sound like. It's probably something she heard in school and you hear it a little bit from her aunt when you see the squalor she actually grew up in. So this is a made-up voice, a voice of success, and it's become this corporate sound.' Arquette continues, 'there's also an inscrutability when you're raised in an organization or structure [like Lumon], where you're not supposed to feel your feelings. You're supposed to swallow your feelings and you're not supposed to tell everyone what's going on or you'll get in trouble. You learn to play things close to the vest. I don't think Harmony's ever been really safe in her life anywhere or with anyone. And then when we went to Salt's Neck, it was like, 'Wow, this is a very Bergman-looking color palette, with actual icebergs floating by.' If your character looked like a piece of nature, she would look like an iceberg.' Cobel was not as prominent in Severance Season 2 as she was in Season 1, since she lost her position both at Lumon and as Mark's next-door neighbor. But she was able to take the spotlight in the episode 'Sweet Vitriol,' in which viewers followed Cobel back to her hometown of Salt's Neck — once the location of a major Lumon ether factory, now a left-behind wasteland full of poverty and addiction. Among other things, the episode revealed that Cobel basically invented the severance chip, despite getting little credit for it. It seems like a paradox that the Lumon employee responsible for its most important technology also defies upper management as often as Harmony does, but Arquette says that paradox is central to Severance. 'It may seem like a perversion, but honestly, her interior unresolved story informs the creation of the severance chip,' Arquette says. 'She's trying to prove something through this thing. There is a synchronicity between the severance chip and her interior landscape. They are very closely wedded to each other, these two things. It's not accidental.' The epidemic of ether addiction that pervades present-day Salt Neck is also no accident. Think of it, Arquette says, like an earlier attempt at separating people's work memories from the rest of their life. 'Ben [Stiller] wanted this rotting factory town,' Arquette says of Salt Neck. 'This is an early version of Lumon's attempt to create a corporate town, and these are the vestiges left over after the poisoning of the water and the ether factory and everyone becoming addicts. In a weird way, ether is an early form of severance. It's like the drug of forgetting. So what if you could forget, like with ether, but without the drug? Well then you would need a chip, and that's severance.' Best of GoldDerby The Making of 'The Eyes of the World: From D-Day to VE Day': PBS variety special 'comes from the heart' From 'Hot Rod' to 'Eastbound' to 'Gemstones,' Danny McBride breaks down his most righteous roles: 'It's been an absolute blast' Jay Duplass on exposing his 'dad bod' and playing a 'soft villain' in 'Dying for Sex': 'Easily one of my biggest acting challenges' Click here to read the full article.
CNN
22-03-2025
- Entertainment
- CNN
People aren't just laughing at corporate culture in ‘Severance' Season 2. They're pushing back
There's a moment early on in Season 2 of Apple TV+'s workplace drama 'Severance' where character Harmony Cobel is at a crossroads. Cobel (Patricia Arquette) stands in front of the future boss of Lumon, the company she has dedicated her life to. She's just been offered a promotion, one that she rejects in an effort to advocate for her old job. She wants to finish what she started, she says, voice steady and unwavering. Her boss, Helena Eagan (Britt Lower), is set to inherit the company. For reasons not revealed until later in the season, Helena denies Cobel's wishes and reminds her to be grateful for what the company has already given her. 'I think you've overestimated your contributions,' Helena says, her tone almost menacing. 'And underestimated your blessings.' Her words are a slap in the face for Cobel, who is later revealed to be the creator of the company's premier 'severance' technology, which cleaves employees' memories into two distinct personas that keep their work and personal lives separate. And looking back on the second season of 'Severance,' which concluded its record-breaking run Thursday, that moment between Cobel and Helena underscores a consistent theme through the season: As a worker, you are disposable. 'Severance,' which follows a team of 'severed' workers led by Mark S. (Adam Scott) as they try to uncover the truth about the company they work for, returned after three years for its second season. And coincidentally, it met audiences at a time of economic upheaval. An unsteady job market has contributed to rising scrutiny around large corporations, also a driving theme of the season. Now, the show reflects reality back to us, revealing the eerie ways modern corporate culture has become a villain. The first season of 'Severance' debuted when 'quiet quitting' was becoming a popular trend, as workers — fresh off going through the mental stress of a worldwide pandemic — drew more explicit boundaries between work and home. This season came at an even more fraught time. In 2023, highly publicized strikes by the United Auto Workers union, Hollywood writers and actors, and airline workers against their respective corporations led to the largest number of work stoppages in America in more than 20 years. More recently, as threats of an impending recession mount, US-based employers are tightening their belts, cutting more jobs in February than any other February since 2009, spurred in part by the massive layoffs of federal workers being carried out by the Trump administration and Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency. Even those who are working may feel stuck. Anti-corporate sentiment has grown in recent years, including a period following the pandemic when so many Americans left their jobs, it was dubbed the 'great resignation.' Now, amid a cooling job market, employees across the country are seeking new jobs at the highest rate since 2015, according to Gallup, and overall satisfaction with employers has hit a record low. It's fitting, then, that people can't seem to get enough of 'Severance.' It's a significant departure from series about corporate culture that tend to either be episodic pursuits à la 'Suits' or grounded comedies like 'The Office.' Unlike these other popular shows, where the workplace might act more as a backdrop than as an opposing entity, 'Severance' confronts the exploitative nature of giant corporations, veiled by dangled benefits like free food and company retreats. Who hasn't been placated with corporate platitudes or company swag when advocating for concrete change? One online resource advises companies to offer free snacks, beverages and even lunchtime yoga when pay raises aren't possible. 'Severance' not only highlights the absurdity of corporate culture, it emphasizes the illicit underbelly. Everything is in service to Lumon, and Mark S. and his team now see that. The workplace woes highlighted on 'Severance' have audiences drawing parallels to their own jobs. Social media is filled with quips and notes about the agonizing ways in which the show nails the corporate experience. Details like melon-only fruit parties and branded finger traps are just the beginning. One person online compared being severed to code switching at work; another compared it to switching between a public work social media account and a private one. The popularity of this season of 'Severance' points to a shift not just in television, but in our society: People aren't just laughing at corporate culture anymore, they're pushing back. The fictional Lumon's exaggerated corporate environment is intentional. Series creator Dan Erickson and his team studied the ways corporate and government whistleblowers have been treated by these entities in real life — dissenters are first fought, and then made to assimilate, Erickson noted. They used that information to form the basis of the second season, he told The Hollywood Reporter, as Lumon responds to the planned breach by the four main employees in the first season's finale. 'It always struck me as a very specific kind of manipulation,' Erickson said ahead of the second season's premiere. 'At the end of the day, a company like Lumon wants to be the good guy, and there's the sense that even this rebellion — they take credit for it.' Throughout this season, as Lumon attempts to squeeze as much work out of its key employee Mark S., we see the ways workers at every level are treated like kitchen rags, wrung dry and tossed aside. Beyond Cobel, Milchick (Tramell Tillman), another manager within the company, is treated similarly, forced into an impossible role and thanked with underhanded compliments that steadily, if the tension in his jaw is any indication, raise his blood pressure. At another point, Lumon begs for the return of one employee (Irving, played by John Turturro), only to call for his murder once he begins to ask uncomfortable questions about the company's plans. The critiques 'Severance' poses against corporate culture shouldn't obscure the show's thesis: that your fellow workers are a saving grace. Throughout the second season, the characters of 'Severance' must rely on each other to fight Lumon. Indeed, when they don't, things fall apart (just see Dylan G.'s remorse at dismissing Irving's instincts). The arc mimics reality. Before the UAW announced its strike in 2023, President Shawn Fain had to first explain the decision and announce the vote. Fain was clear in his thoughts that a strike was the best way forward; his remarks to the union rail against the billionaire class and the abandonment of auto workers. 'Nobody is coming to save us,' Fain said at the time. 'Nobody can win this fight for us. Our greatest hope — our only hope — is each other.' Mark S. might as well have uttered those same words himself.
CNN
21-03-2025
- Entertainment
- CNN
People aren't just laughing at corporate culture in ‘Severance' Season 2. They're pushing back
There's a moment early on in Season 2 of Apple TV+'s workplace drama 'Severance' where character Harmony Cobel is at a crossroads. Cobel (Patricia Arquette) stands in front of the future boss of Lumon, the company she has dedicated her life to. She's just been offered a promotion, one that she rejects in an effort to advocate for her old job. She wants to finish what she started, she says, voice steady and unwavering. Her boss, Helena Eagan (Britt Lower), is set to inherit the company. For reasons not revealed until later in the season, Helena denies Cobel's wishes and reminds her to be grateful for what the company has already given her. 'I think you've overestimated your contributions,' Helena says, her tone almost menacing. 'And underestimated your blessings.' Her words are a slap in the face for Cobel, who is later revealed to be the creator of the company's premier 'severance' technology, which cleaves employees' memories into two distinct personas that keep their work and personal lives separate. And looking back on the second season of 'Severance,' which concluded its record-breaking run Thursday, that moment between Cobel and Helena underscores a consistent theme through the season: As a worker, you are disposable. 'Severance,' which follows a team of 'severed' workers led by Mark S. (Adam Scott) as they try to uncover the truth about the company they work for, returned after three years for its second season. And coincidentally, it met audiences at a time of economic upheaval. An unsteady job market has contributed to rising scrutiny around large corporations, also a driving theme of the season. Now, the show reflects reality back to us, revealing the eerie ways modern corporate culture has become a villain. The first season of 'Severance' debuted when 'quiet quitting' was becoming a popular trend, as workers — fresh off going through the mental stress of a worldwide pandemic — drew more explicit boundaries between work and home. This season came at an even more fraught time. In 2023, highly publicized strikes by the United Auto Workers union, Hollywood writers and actors, and airline workers against their respective corporations led to the largest number of work stoppages in America in more than 20 years. More recently, as threats of an impending recession mount, US-based employers are tightening their belts, cutting more jobs in February than any other February since 2009, spurred in part by the massive layoffs of federal workers being carried out by the Trump administration and Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency. Even those who are working may feel stuck. Anti-corporate sentiment has grown in recent years, including a period following the pandemic when so many Americans left their jobs, it was dubbed the 'great resignation.' Now, amid a cooling job market, employees across the country are seeking new jobs at the highest rate since 2015, according to Gallup, and overall satisfaction with employers has hit a record low. It's fitting, then, that people can't seem to get enough of 'Severance.' It's a significant departure from series about corporate culture that tend to either be episodic pursuits à la 'Suits' or grounded comedies like 'The Office.' Unlike these other popular shows, where the workplace might act more as a backdrop than as an opposing entity, 'Severance' confronts the exploitative nature of giant corporations, veiled by dangled benefits like free food and company retreats. Who hasn't been placated with corporate platitudes or company swag when advocating for concrete change? One online resource advises companies to offer free snacks, beverages and even lunchtime yoga when pay raises aren't possible. 'Severance' not only highlights the absurdity of corporate culture, it emphasizes the illicit underbelly. Everything is in service to Lumon, and Mark S. and his team now see that. The workplace woes highlighted on 'Severance' have audiences drawing parallels to their own jobs. Social media is filled with quips and notes about the agonizing ways in which the show nails the corporate experience. Details like melon-only fruit parties and branded finger traps are just the beginning. One person online compared being severed to code switching at work; another compared it to switching between a public work social media account and a private one. The popularity of this season of 'Severance' points to a shift not just in television, but in our society: People aren't just laughing at corporate culture anymore, they're pushing back. The fictional Lumon's exaggerated corporate environment is intentional. Series creator Dan Erickson and his team studied the ways corporate and government whistleblowers have been treated by these entities in real life — dissenters are first fought, and then made to assimilate, Erickson noted. They used that information to form the basis of the second season, he told The Hollywood Reporter, as Lumon responds to the planned breach by the four main employees in the first season's finale. 'It always struck me as a very specific kind of manipulation,' Erickson said ahead of the second season's premiere. 'At the end of the day, a company like Lumon wants to be the good guy, and there's the sense that even this rebellion — they take credit for it.' Throughout this season, as Lumon attempts to squeeze as much work out of its key employee Mark S., we see the ways workers at every level are treated like kitchen rags, wrung dry and tossed aside. Beyond Cobel, Milchick (Tramell Tillman), another manager within the company, is treated similarly, forced into an impossible role and thanked with underhanded compliments that steadily, if the tension in his jaw is any indication, raise his blood pressure. At another point, Lumon begs for the return of one employee (Irving, played by John Turturro), only to call for his murder once he begins to ask uncomfortable questions about the company's plans. The critiques 'Severance' poses against corporate culture shouldn't obscure the show's thesis: that your fellow workers are a saving grace. Throughout the second season, the characters of 'Severance' must rely on each other to fight Lumon. Indeed, when they don't, things fall apart (just see Dylan G.'s remorse at dismissing Irving's instincts). The arc mimics reality. Before the UAW announced its strike in 2023, President Shawn Fain had to first explain the decision and announce the vote. Fain was clear in his thoughts that a strike was the best way forward; his remarks to the union rail against the billionaire class and the abandonment of auto workers. 'Nobody is coming to save us,' Fain said at the time. 'Nobody can win this fight for us. Our greatest hope — our only hope — is each other.' Mark S. might as well have uttered those same words himself.
CNN
21-03-2025
- Entertainment
- CNN
Fed up with work? ‘Severance' Season 2 puts things in perspective
There's a moment early on in Season 2 of Apple TV+'s workplace drama 'Severance' where character Harmony Cobel is at a crossroads. Cobel (Patricia Arquette) stands in front of the future boss of Lumon, the company she has dedicated her life to. She's just been offered a promotion, one that she rejects in an effort to advocate for her old job. She wants to finish what she started, she says, voice steady and unwavering. Her boss, Helena Eagan (Britt Lower), is set to inherit the company. For reasons not revealed until later in the season, Helena denies Cobel's wishes and reminds her to be grateful for what the company has already given her. 'I think you've overestimated your contributions,' Helena says, her tone almost menacing. 'And underestimated your blessings.' Her words are a slap in the face for Cobel, who is later revealed to be the creator of the company's premier 'severance' technology, which cleaves employees' memories into two distinct personas that keep their work and personal lives separate. And looking back on the second season of 'Severance,' which concluded its record-breaking run Thursday, that moment between Cobel and Helena underscores a consistent theme through the season: As a worker, you are disposable. 'Severance,' which follows a team of 'severed' workers led by Mark S. (Adam Scott) as they try to uncover the truth about the company they work for, returned after three years for its second season. And coincidentally, it met audiences at a time of economic upheaval. An unsteady job market has contributed to rising scrutiny around large corporations, also a driving theme of the season. Now, the show reflects reality back to us, revealing the eerie ways modern corporate culture has become a villain. The first season of 'Severance' debuted when 'quiet quitting' was becoming a popular trend, as workers — fresh off going through the mental stress of a worldwide pandemic — drew more explicit boundaries between work and home. This season came at an even more fraught time. In 2023, highly publicized strikes by the United Auto Workers union, Hollywood writers and actors, and airline workers against their respective corporations led to the largest number of work stoppages in America in more than 20 years. More recently, as threats of an impending recession mount, US-based employers are tightening their belts, cutting more jobs in February than any other February since 2009, spurred in part by the massive layoffs of federal workers being carried out by the Trump administration and Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency. Even those who are working may feel stuck. Anti-corporate sentiment has grown in recent years, including a period following the pandemic when so many Americans left their jobs, it was dubbed the 'great resignation.' Now, amid a cooling job market, employees across the country are seeking new jobs at the highest rate since 2015, according to Gallup, and overall satisfaction with employers has hit a record low. It's fitting, then, that people can't seem to get enough of 'Severance.' It's a significant departure from series about corporate culture that tend to either be episodic pursuits à la 'Suits' or grounded comedies like 'The Office.' Unlike these other popular shows, where the workplace might act more as a backdrop than as an opposing entity, 'Severance' confronts the exploitative nature of giant corporations, veiled by dangled benefits like free food and company retreats. Who hasn't been placated with corporate platitudes or company swag when advocating for concrete change? One online resource advises companies to offer free snacks, beverages and even lunchtime yoga when pay raises aren't possible. 'Severance' not only highlights the absurdity of corporate culture, it emphasizes the illicit underbelly. Everything is in service to Lumon, and Mark S. and his team now see that. The workplace woes highlighted on 'Severance' have audiences drawing parallels to their own jobs. Social media is filled with quips and notes about the agonizing ways in which the show nails the corporate experience. Details like melon-only fruit parties and branded finger traps are just the beginning. One person online compared being severed to code switching at work; another compared it to switching between a public work social media account and a private one. The popularity of this season of 'Severance' points to a shift not just in television, but in our society: People aren't just laughing at corporate culture anymore, they're pushing back. The fictional Lumon's exaggerated corporate environment is intentional. Series creator Dan Erickson and his team studied the ways corporate and government whistleblowers have been treated by these entities in real life — dissenters are first fought, and then made to assimilate, Erickson noted. They used that information to form the basis of the second season, he told The Hollywood Reporter, as Lumon responds to the planned breach by the four main employees in the first season's finale. 'It always struck me as a very specific kind of manipulation,' Erickson said ahead of the second season's premiere. 'At the end of the day, a company like Lumon wants to be the good guy, and there's the sense that even this rebellion — they take credit for it.' Throughout this season, as Lumon attempts to squeeze as much work out of its key employee Mark S., we see the ways workers at every level are treated like kitchen rags, wrung dry and tossed aside. Beyond Cobel, Milchick (Tramell Tillman), another manager within the company, is treated similarly, forced into an impossible role and thanked with underhanded compliments that steadily, if the tension in his jaw is any indication, raise his blood pressure. At another point, Lumon begs for the return of one employee (Irving, played by John Turturro), only to call for his murder once he begins to ask uncomfortable questions about the company's plans. The critiques 'Severance' poses against corporate culture shouldn't obscure the show's thesis: that your fellow workers are a saving grace. Throughout the second season, the characters of 'Severance' must rely on each other to fight Lumon. Indeed, when they don't, things fall apart (just see Dylan G.'s remorse at dismissing Irving's instincts). The arc mimics reality. Before the UAW announced its strike in 2023, President Shawn Fain had to first explain the decision and announce the vote. Fain was clear in his thoughts that a strike was the best way forward; his remarks to the union rail against the billionaire class and the abandonment of auto workers. 'Nobody is coming to save us,' Fain said at the time. 'Nobody can win this fight for us. Our greatest hope — our only hope — is each other.' Mark S. might as well have uttered those same words himself.
The Independent
07-03-2025
- Entertainment
- The Independent
Severance sparks debate after fans slam ‘boring' new episode
Severance fans have taken to social media to complain about the latest episode of the hit Apple TV+ series with some calling it the 'worst' to date and 'pointless'. The psychological thriller is more than halfway through its highly-anticipated second season which has so far earned rave reviews from viewers and critics. The show stars Adam Scott, Britt Lower, Zach Cherry and John Turturro as a group of employees at the mysterious Lumon company, which is run by the equally suspicious Eagan family. They have all undergone a procedure called 'severance' which divides their work and home lives completely in a daring experiment to find a work-life balance. So far, despite many twists and turns, fans are still trying to figure out exactly what is going on in the show. Although episode seven, which delved into Mark's backstory with his wife Gemma, received some of the most positive reactions of the season so far, episode eight has had a less than enthusiastic response. Warning: This article contains spoilers for Severance season two episode eight The episode reintroduces Harmony Cobel (Patricia Arquette), who hasn't been seen since the start of the season. Viewers are given a deep dive into Cobel's upbringing and her early obsession with the Eagans. Although the episode is relatively short, clocking in at just 37 minutes, many have called it 'boring' and a 'waste of time'. One fan wrote: 'The latest episode of Severance, episode 8 was boring as hell! No wonder it's only 37 mins, I was on my phone the entire time and only the last 10 mins gave us something interesting.' Another added: 'New Severance episode... what a big miss, complete waste of time. Ending felt so weird cringe and out of place. Right after one of the best EPs of TV crazy. Why the f*** does Mark's sister keep calling Cobel? Such an unnatural thing to do why does she trust this woman?????' A third joked: ' Severance episode 8 should've been an email.' However, some have defended it, praising Arquette's performance and for expanding the show's mythos. One fan said: 'Patricia Arquette's performance was brilliant. I bought into seeing this more vulnerable side of her and seeing how she was raised and this scene in her mother's room was a great emotional scene to see the weight of her missing her mother.' A second added: 'This episode was so vital to the story IDC! Harmony has been working for severance since she was 8?!?! Now we finally see why Miss Huang is a child. Even showing the aftermath of what her home became after the company came through speaks volumes.' A third claimed: 'Everyone who said s2e8 of Severance was bad simply doesn't know good writing if it hit them like Cobel's car. every sentence and expression was just PACKED with meaning and story. They managed to say SO much about her in so few words and so much set design. Beautiful.' Only two episodes remain of the current season. No official statement has been made about season three at the time of writing.
