‘Severance’ Season 2, episode 9: Why does Jame Eagan say Helly ‘tricked’ him?

A lot happens in Severance Season 2’s penultimate episode, but as things heat up with Mark’s (Adam Scott) attempted rescue of his wife Gemma (Dichen Lachman), there’s also a weird moment between Helly (Britt Lower) and her dear old dad.

No, not the mildly disturbing egg scene at the beginning — their brief interaction in the Lumon offices right at the end.

So what does Jame Eagan (Michael Siberry) say, and why does he say it? Let’s recap.

What happens at the end of Severance Season 2, episode 9?

Towards the end of the episode, Helly (Britt Lower) is in the Lumon offices on her own, memorising the directions to the exports hall, which Irving (John Turturro) hid for Dylan (Zach Cherry) to find on the back of a poster. Suddenly, Eagan pops up behind her in the doorway like some creepy old ghost.

“You tricked me,” he whispers. “My Helly.”

Helly shoves the note under her keyboard and turns to him, looking more baffled by his presence than anything else. The scene ends with her muttering, “What the fuck?”

She has a point. Why is Jame Eagan on the Severed Floor, and what does he mean when he says that she “tricked” him?

Why does Jame Eagan say Helly “tricked” him?

At first it seems that there are a few possible explanations for Jame’s comment. The first is that he knows what Helly is doing; he’s seen her memorising the note, and he knows she has something planned. But if that’s the case, why would someone as high up as he is go all the way to the Severed Floor to confront her himself? It also briefly crossed my mind that Helly might actually still be her Outie in this scene going undercover again, and that Jame knows she’s pretending to be her Innie. But this feels too convoluted to be true — that twist has already happened once, after all — and the fact that he calls her “Helly” (coupled with her reaction to seeing him there) implies that she is still the Innie Helly we know and love.

Is it possible that Jame’s main motivation is just to see his daughter in her severed state? To try and make some sense of why she did what she did in the Season 1 finale? This seems the most likely explanation, but we won’t know for sure until next week.

Severance Season 2 is now streaming on Apple TV+, with a new episode every Friday.