Severance star Britt Lower confirms one oddly revealing detail about Helena Eagan’s relationship with eggs in season 2. Lower plays both the cold Lumon heiress, Helena, and her rebellious severed innie, Helly R. After Helena spent the first four episodes of Severance season 2 masquerading as Helly on the severed floor and the ORTBO summit, the latter half of the series has placed a greater emphasis on how Helena/Helly differ not just in their roles, but in personality and natural dispositions, operating as two distinct individuals.
In an interview with Vanity Fair, Lower revealed that one moment in Severance where Helena is made to eat hard-boiled eggs for breakfast highlights a subtle difference between the two sides of her character. In an episode of Severance season 2, Helena reluctantly eats two hard-boiled eggs as Jame Eagan (Michael Siberry), her ghastly father and the current Lumon CEO, sits by and watches. Read more about what she had to say below:
I will say, though: Helly R. really liked the eggs in season one. If you recall, at the egg-bar social, she’s like, “Oh, these are pretty good.”
Whereas Helena is not about hard-boiled eggs. Do you see the way that she eats those? She’s like, I’m going to eat as little of this as possible. I don’t know. [Laughs] One of them likes eggs and one of them doesn’t. It’s also referring back to this Eagan tradition that Kier ate his breakfast as, like, raw eggs. It’s a thing that Milchick mentions to Helena in episode two of season one.
What Helly/Helena’s Differing Appetities Means For Severance
The Eagan Legacy Behind Helly/Helena’s Split Personality
Severance season 2, episode 9 opens with one of the show’s most uncomfortable moments to date: Jame Eagan silently watching Helena eat hard-boiled eggs before eerily muttering, “I wish you’d take them raw.” It’s a disturbing exchange, but when paired with Severance season 1 lore, it becomes a window into the Eagan family. In season 1, Mr. Milchick (Tramell Tillman) casually tells Helly that raw eggs and milk were the favored breakfast of Mr. Eagan—likely a reference to Lumon’s founder, Kier Eagan.
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Helly and Mark share an emotional moment in which she repeats the words “I’m her,” which helps him finish Cold Harbor in Severance’s season 2 finale.
In contrast, Helly actually enjoyed eating eggs during an MDR social in Severance season 1. The difference in Helly/Helena’s food palette takes on a much larger implication as Jame prepares Helena to lead the company while Helly ultimately earns his interest. In season 2’s finale, Jame Eagan visits the severed floor and tells Helly that he does not love his daughter. Instead, he sees something far more valuable in the rebellious innie: the same “fire” that once lived inside Kier. This chilling declaration cements Helly, not Helena, as the Eagan Jame deems worthy of the family’s legacy.
Our Take On Helly/Helena In Severance
Season 3 Is Poised For A Helly V. Helena Showdown
Image via Apple TV+
Only Severance could take something as harmless as a hard-boiled egg and turn it into a deeply unsettling metaphor. Nonetheless, Jame’s growing obsession with Helly suggests that the Lumon CEO has begun to see innies as whole individuals, capable of embodying Kier’s spirit in ways their outties cannot. As Mark chooses to remain on the severed floor with Helly at the end of season 2, Severance season 3 is poised to further explore how Jame’s fixation on Helly evolves—setting the stage for a volatile power struggle between Helly and Helena that could redefine who actually holds the future of Lumon.
Source: VF
Severance
8/10
- Release Date
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February 18, 2022
- Showrunner
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Dan Erickson, Mark Friedman
- Writers
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Dan Erickson