WARNING! This article contains SPOILERS for Severance season 2, episode 5!An ominous opening kicks off Lumon by different severed departments. Namely, a curious moment 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 to Lumon’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

In Severance season 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 the SS Edmund Fitzgerald in Lake Superior. This particular sinking is ed in history for the tragic loss of all 29 crew 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” is one of the few occasions in which Severance has tapped into references to real history and pop culture. Typically, Severance keeps its references to the fictional history of Kier Eagan and 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 while whistling “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 with Irving about his paintings of the dark hallway to 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's Severance story 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 with Gemma and the Cold Harbor project, hoping to bring them down from within. As the man heads down to the testing floor in Severance season 2, episode 5, it may be his “final voyage” down the elevator depending on what his scene with O&D really entails.

New episodes of Severance season 2 release Fridays on Apple TV+.