Overview

• Episode 8, 'Sweet Vitriol,' focuses on Harmony Cobel's return to her decaying hometown, Salt's Neck, a former Lumon company town.
• The episode reveals that Cobel was the original inventor of the severance chip during her time as a Lumon Wintertide fellow.
• Cobel's past includes working in a Lumon-run ether factory as a child, highlighting the company's history of exploiting child labor.
• Her complex relationship with Lumon deepens, as she uncovers her contributions were uncredited and begins to question her allegiance to the corporation.
• Critics are divided on the episode, praising its visual storytelling but critiquing its narrative focus and perceived detour from the main plot.