WARNING! This article contains SPOILERS for Severance season 2, episode 9!Helena Eagan’s home and family life get more context inSeveranceseason 2, episode 9, including a shocking revelation about her father Jame’s secret affairs. BeforeSeveranceseason 2, episode 9, Helena Eagan’s life was only explored within the walls of the Lumon building, outside in the parking lot, or at a Chinese restaurant. For the first time,“The After Hours” gives a glimpse into the home that Helena still lives in with Jamenear the Lumon building, making their already odd relationship and dynamic even more strange.
Although he’s the CEO of Lumon, even less is known about Jame Eagan than Helena. Small details about him have been revealed over time through Helena’s story and broader discussions of the Eagan family, but Cobel’s turn against Lumon inSeveranceseason 2 has finally unsheathed some dark secrets about the eccentric, powerful man. Episode 8 confirmed thatJame stole Cobel’s designs for the severance procedureand claimed them as his own, withepisode 9 revealing that he’s been secretly taking care of his “indiscretions” by using one of Lumon’s severance facilities, opening up more mysteries about Helena’s family.
Severance Season 2 Reveals Jame Eagan Has Several Secret Children
Jame Sends His Illegitimate Children’s Mothers To The Lumon Birthing Retreat Center
After Devon and Mark form analliance with Cobel to combat Lumon, they devise a plan that leads to the siblings discovering some shocking secrets about Jame Eagan. The trio comes up with a plan to speak to Mark’s Innie about what’s really going on inside Lumon’s walls on the severed floor, which involves sneaking Mark into Lumon’s birthing retreat center, near where Devon gave birth back inSeveranceseason 1. In order to get through without a reservation,Cobel tells the security guard that Devon is “one of Jame’s” and “no one is to know” about this.
By taking them to the Lumon-run birthing retreat center, Jame is able to keep the knowledge of his other children a secret from society.
The security guard lets Cobel and Devon through without any argument, indicating that this is far from the first time a woman claiming to be having Jame Eagan’s child has arrived in the middle of the night. More broadly, this sceneimplies that Jame Eagan has secretly had children with multiple women over the years, though he seemingly doesn’t claim any of these kids from his affairs. By taking them to theLumon-run birthing retreat center, Jame is able to keep the knowledge of his other children a secret from society.
Helly’s Major Complaint About Helena & Mark Was Already Tragically Reversed In Severance’s Season 1 Finale
In its final moments, Severance season 1 perfectly flipped Helly’s biggest complaint about Helena and Mark’s relationship with one heartbreaking scene
While Cobel knows about Jame having multiple kids from affairs over the years,it’s unclear how many secret children he has or who their mothers are. Do these kids know that Jame Eagan is their father, or does he pay off the women he impregnates to hide their parentage and claim toSeverance’s Eagan familyempire? As far asSeverancehas revealed to viewers, Helena is the only publicly claimed child of Jame Eagan, which begs more questions about her mother, upbringing as Jame’s “only” child, and whether she knows about her siblings.
Who Is Helena Eagan’s Mother & What Happened To Her?
How Long Has Jame Secretly Been Having Affairs & Other Children?
So much emphasis is placed upon Helena being the daughter of Jame Eagan, but virtually nothing has been revealed about her mother. There’s no indication whether Jame married Helena’s mother and they had her during that relationship, or if Helena’s mother was just another “one of Jame’s” anonymous women he impregnated.The only time that Helena’s mother is referenced is when Helly wakes up in the conference roomand is asked the general onboarding question, “What is or was the color of your mother’s eyes?” By asking this, it’s at least implied that Helena knows her mother’s eyes.
Jame and Helena Eagan appear to be the only two people living at the Eagan family compound inSeveranceseason 2, episode 9.
Still, there’sno concrete answer regarding whether Helena’s mother is still aliveor if she died before the beginning ofSeveranceseason 1’s events. It’s been theorized thatHelly R. being Helena’s Innie nameis an homage to her mother, whose maiden name could have potentially been Riggs, but the Apple TV+ sci-fi show has yet to clarify the chosen moniker’s origin. Additionally, if Helena’s mother is still alive, then does she know about Jame’s affairs? Or, if Helena’s mother is dead, did Jame only start having affairs and secret children after her death?
The Eagans Likely Have More Generations Of Secret Illegitimate Children
Image via Apple TV+
BeforeSeveranceseason 2, episode 9, there had been an abundance ofonline fan theories speculating that some existing characters were secretly members of the Eagan family. The theories speculated that the characters don’t know about their Eagan lineage, which could be explained by the characters themselves or their parents being the results of an affair with an Eagan. Some theories speculated that Harmony Cobel might be an illegitimate Eagan ifCobel’s now-deceased motherhad an affair with Ambrose Eagan, while other theories have claimed that Mark and Devon unknowingly have some Eagan blood in them.
Whether these theories aboutSeverancecharacterssecretly being Eagans turn out to be far-fetched or not,the revelation that Jame Eagan does, in fact, have secret children from affairs gives them a bit more plausibility. If Jame has been hiding illegitimate children from the public, then there’s no telling whether his Eagan ancestors have also done the same over the years. AsSeveranceseason 2 has emphasized, what the Eagan family has disclosed to the public is never the full story – including their own family tree.
