Severance Season 2 Episode 8, ‘Sweet Vitriol’, is the worst-rated episode of the Apple TV series – but I disagree with the hate.

Note: This story contains spoilers from "Severance" Season 2, Episode 8. Harmony Cobel (Patricia Arquette) has been absent for most of "Severance" Season 2, but Episode 8 put the spotlight back on her with some key revelations that explain the chip on her shoulder.

Episode 8 of Severance Season 2 takes us away from the Lumon factory for a fairly grim trip down memory lane, with Harmony Cobel (Patricia Arquette) heading back to her childhood home to retrieve something important.

Severance wears its influences on its sleeve, but it has mostly fused those influences into something uniquely its own.

With season 2 of Severance nearing its end, discoveries are being made on this week’s episode ominously titled “Sweet Vitriol.” If you missed last week’s episode, an old romance intersected with a present deadly threat, leaving viewers on the edge of their seats.

After a revelatory episode 7, Severance Season 2 takes a frigid turn in episode 8, "Sweet Vitriol." The episode focuses solely on Harmony Cobel's (Patricia Arquette) icy homecoming to the town of Salt's Neck. Once home to a Lumon ether factory, the town has since deteriorated after the company drained it dry.

The same can likely be said for Apple TV+'s short teaser for Season 2, episode 9, which shows a person cutting a boiled egg on a plate. Here's a reminder of the clip: Seems fairly innocuous, right? Maybe some parallels between the egg cutting and Lumon's severance procedure?

"Severance" season 2 is heating up going into this week's episode "The After Hours." As the penultimate episode of the season, it's got a lot riding on it. Especially after last week's episode dropped the biggest bombshell of the series so far.