WARNING! This article contains SPOILERS for Severance season 2, episode 5!An ominous opening kicks offSeveranceseason 2, episode 5, as an Exports Hall employee whistles a thematically fitting song while going down to Lumon’s testing floor. Rather than picking back up with the aftermath of MDR’s twists at Woe’s Hollow, “Trojan’s Horse” begins by introducing what seems to be a secret plot againstLumon by different severed departments. Namely, a curiousmoment between the Optics & Design employees and an Exports Hall employee retrieving supplies.
At the beginning of the episode, a man wheels a tray into Optics & Design while his face remains obscured from view. On his way here, he whistles a familiar tune until reaching Felicia and her colleague, to whom he asks, “Do you have them?” While the employees are only seen giving him a set of surgical tools, the tension of the scene implies that something else could have been snuck onto the cart, especially since man is then seen going down toLumon’s “Exports Hall.” Plus,the song that he whistles while walking seems to give away their hidden intentions.
The Lumon Employee Is Whistling “The Wreck Of The Edmund Fitzgerald” In Severance Season 2 Episode 5
The 1976 Folk Song Chronicles The Sinking Of The SS Edmund Fitzgerald
InSeveranceseason 2, episode 5’s opening scene,the song that the Lumon employee is whistling is “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald.”The tune was written and sung by Gordon Lightfoot and originally released in 1976, and describes the 1975 sinking of the real freighter ship theSS Edmund Fitzgeraldin Lake Superior. This particular sinking is remembered in history for the tragic loss of all 29 crew members on board following a storm, with the disaster leading to significant shipping reforms in the Great Lakes.
The ominous whistling of “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald” isone of the few occasions in whichSeverancehas tapped into references to real history and pop culture. Typically,Severancekeeps its references to the fictionalhistory of Kier Eaganand the show’s own version of the world today, which adds far more importance to the use of this song and its meaning in season 2’s story.
What “The Wreck Of The Edmund Fitzgerald” Hints About Severance Season 2’s Story
Lumon’s Severed Floor Is Seemingly Trying To Sabotage The Testing Floor’s Work
Having the Exports Hall employee going down the elevator after a suspicious hand-off with O&D whilewhistling “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald” hints at a potential conspiracy to sabotage the company. It was already clear that Felicia is suspicious of Lumon’s work in the “Exports Hall” after speaking withIrving about his paintings of the dark hallwayto an elevator, and this scene hints O&D now has a plan to expose the truth about what’s happening down there. It’s unclear what exactly Felicia gave the man, but it’s likely the episode’s eponymous “Trojan Horse.”
Asal Reghabi’sSeverancestory reveals that some Lumon surgeons have already rebelled against the company.
Therefore, “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald” may as well be “The Wreck of Lumon Industries.”Optics & Design and the Exports Hall might secretly be working to metaphorically sink the company and its operations on the testing floor, such as withGemma and the Cold Harbor project, hoping to bring them down from within. As the man heads down to the testing floor inSeveranceseason 2, episode 5, it may be his “final voyage” down the elevator depending on what his scene with O&D really entails.
