The Season 2 finale of Severance was one for the ages, capping everything on the highest possible note — well, almost everything. One thing “Cold Harbor” does very well is leave crumbs to be picked up when the upcoming Season 3 arrives, and fans have been particularly drawn to the painting that greets Mark S. (Adam Scott) when he returns to Lumon’s severed floor, titled “The Exalted Victory of Cold Harbor.” According to one currently circulating fan theory, it could contain clues about where the next season might go, not relating to Mark, but everyone’s favorite self-help author, Dr. Ricken Lazlo Hale, PhD (Michael Chernus). Severance rarely drops meaningless clues, so it’s possible that Ricken’s position in the painting, right behind Helly R. (Britt Lower), could imply a deeper connection to Lumon and the Eagan family moving forward.
Has Ricken Had a Deeper Connection to the Eagans All Along in ‘Severance’?
Severance rarely discloses the backstory of characters who are not part of the main plot, and, in that sense, Ricken is pretty much a mystery box in himself. Michael Chernus once detailed Ricken’s upbringing on X with series creator Dan Erickson‘s approval, stating that Ricken’s parents came from old money. According to Chernus, they were also theater artists who looked down on him for being an “unsophisticated child” to whom they had to explain basic things about life and human interaction, like speaking and culture, and even scoffed at his first writings, calling them “pedestrian.” Chernus also said that Devon (Jen Tullock) is the “grounding force” in Ricken’s life, but has since deleted his X account, leaving viewers only with what can be inferred from his on-screen performance.
Ricken is often seen as comic relief in Severance, offering a contrast to Mark and Devon’s typical Scout cynicism through his eccentricities. In Season 1, he hosts a “no-dinner dinner party,” which is derailed once his friends begin to interview Mark about his experience with the severance procedure; to show support for his brother-in-law, Ricken tells him, “I stand behind you.” At that moment, this line doesn’t sound so important, but, now, fans are connecting the exchange to Ricken’s illustrated position in the Cold Harbor painting — behind Helly R., who is an Eagan, and watching over Mark S. from afar. It may seem like a stretch, but Ricken really is one of the oddest characters in a series already filled with odd characters, and, given that there is a whole company full of people who act and speak just like him, a deeper connection begs to be made.
‘Severance’ Has Dropped Many Hints About Ricken Being More Than He Seems
So far, we’ve seen little of Ricken in Severance, but enough to describe him as being socially awkward, deeply sensitive, and insecure. All this might indeed be a consequence of being neglected by narcissistic parents, but, with the little we have, investigating potential leads is the best course of action. The first and most obvious is, of course, the way he acts and speaks. Mr. Milchick (Tramell Tillman) may have been reprimanded for his use of overlarge words, but the truth is that Lumon employees in general often use very formal language and confusing lines of thought. That’s exactly how Ricken expresses himself, almost as if he “speaks Lumon.”
Another potential clue can be found in Season 1 when Mark spends the night at Devon and Ricken’s. He sleeps in their future baby’s room, and notes three different beds in the space. Ricken explains that his “colleagues” told him it was a means of preventing trauma via swapping out beds, with the child simply “progressing” from one bed to another as they grow. At first, it seems like another comedic exchange, but in Season 2, Mr. Milchick tells Ms. Huang (Sarah Bock) that upon her graduation from the Wintertide Fellowship, she will be transferred to Svalbard, Norway, and her bed will be picked up from her parents’ house and shipped to the same location. It’s a highly specific detail to be mentioned, and it seems to matter that Ms. Huang will sleep in her own teenage bed, instead of being forced to another.
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“The Board has concluded the call.”
We also learn that, after all the trouble from the OTC in the Season 1 finale, Lumon wants to hire Ricken to write a different version of his self-help book, The You You Are, specifically for the innies of severed employees. That’s because there’s already an affinity between Ricken’s thought and Lumon’s corporate culture, including language and the desire to dominate others through overly complicated ideas delivered in a shallow package. Given their limited knowledge, that’s all that innies are capable of grasping intellectually. Mark Scout thinks Ricken is a fraud, but Mark S. is fascinated by his book — taking all this into account, why does Ricken know exactly how to speak to innies?
What Could Be Behind Ricken’s Eccentric Persona in ‘Severance’?
There are many possibilities as to why Ricken is the way he is, and the deeper we go into this rabbit hole, the creepier it seems. Ricken often mentions “colleagues” and “friends,” implying he is highly influential and respected in his community. We even meet some of them during the inaugural reading of his book, and they are all as strange as he is. Rebeck (Grace Rex) is distressed at the idea of physically sharing her book with Mark, while Patton (Donald Webber Jr.) is desperate for everyone to believe that he found baby Eleanor in the Season 1 finale, not Mark. They are both present at the “no-dinner party,” along with Danise (Annie McNamara); the three of them also have trouble conversing normally about World War I with Mark, and are fascinated by the fact that he’s severed.
A possible theory is that Ricken and his friends grew up attending Lumon schools, like Harmony Cobel (Patricia Arquette), which would explain why all of them are socially awkward and deeply pretentious. But the truth may be even weirder. “Ricken,” “Rebeck,” and “Danise” are all strange names that sound wrong or incomplete, as if they are incomplete themselves… or possibly severed. In Season 2, we learn that Jame Eagan (Michael Siberry) fathered multiple illegitimate children, looking for “the spark of Kier” in them, but it’s never mentioned what happened to them. Such a scandal would be nearly impossible to keep secret — unless Jame had a way of making these children forget about their parentage, possibly through severance. It would also give him personal motivation to steal the idea behind the procedure from Cobel.
Of course, the answer to this question could end up being something more straightforward, like Ricken simply being a disgraced Eagan, or a Lumon operative keeping tabs on the Scout siblings, but, again, Severance isn’t a series to idly sprinkle story crumbs and never pick them back up again. Whatever Ricken is hiding behind his quirky yet lovable character, that’s something Season 3 is likely to explore, given how little screentime he had in Season 2. In the meantime, we’ll be poring over that Cold Harbor painting for even more clues about the upcoming third season.
Both seasons of Severance are streaming on Apple TV+, with Season 3 set to premiere at a date yet to be announced.
- 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