Severance
warn ! This article hold SPOILERS for Severance time of year 2 ’s finale!The very end ofSeveranceseason 2 ’s last discloses the truth about Mark ’s " Cold Harbor " project and how it connect to the final room on the examination flooring . Since the very beginning of the series , one of the biggest mysteries has surrounded whatSeverance ’s Macrodata Refinement Departmentactually does and what the numbers they ’re sorting really mingy . Their role is exceedingly vague , being attribute different files like “ Siena , ” “ Tumwater , ” and , now , “ Cold Harbor , ” in which they have to sort groups of routine based on the feelings they elicit in the refiners .
Some hypothesis speculated that MDR ’s numbers were nonmeaningful , simply being apply as part of a psychological experiment on the squad . However , that theory became a destiny less likely after Helena Eagan emphasized the importance of Mark finish the “ Cold Harbor ” file inSeveranceseason 2 , episode 2 . After keep viewers guessing what Cold Harbor could entail , season 2 ’s episode 7 revealed that the final elbow room on the examination story was also named after the file . This paved the way for time of year 2 ’s finis to unravel the truth about Cold Harbor and its significance .
Cold Harbor Is Mark’s Project In Severance Season 2 That Involves Gemma
Mark Sorting Numbers For Cold Harbor Is Related To Lumon’s Experiments With Gemma
When Mark class figure into unlike boxes on his computer inSeveranceseason 2 , installment 1 ’s ending , it was revealed that the Indian file he was working on was call “ Cold Harbor . ” However , it was unlike any file thatSeverancehad present viewers . The episode ’s closing view confirm that Mark ’s oeuvre on the file was directly connected to Gemma .
At theend ofSeveranceseason 1 , Ms. Casey was “ retired ” from the Wellness Department and send to the Testing Floor by Ms. Cobel , though the reason for both was n’t revealed . Ms. Casey stay “ missing ” from the severed floor almost throughoutSeveranceseason 2 , but her appearance in instalment 1 ’s endingrevealed she was still being prevail at Lumon and experiment on . Since Ms. Casey was a “ part - clock time ” employee and her Outie , Gemma , had her death counterfeit by Lumon , it seemed like the Cold Harbor file was intended to avail give her a new purpose .
Episode 7 also suggest that Cold Harbor was the final examination room for Gemma , implying that she would be ready to figure it once Mark dispatch refine the Cold Harbor file .
However , Severanceseason 2 ’s sequence 7 finally confirmed that Gemma was being held on Lumon ’s Testing Floor , where the name of each examination way represent with that of a file Mark had worked on . The episode also showed howevery time Gemma entered a examination floor room , she transition into a new inniebut fail to recall any of her innies ' experiences after she pace out of the room . Episode 7 also hinted that Cold Harbor was the final examination way for Gemma , inculpate that she would be ready to go into it once Mark completed elaborate the Cold Harbor file .
How Cold Harbor’s Macrodata Refinement Numbers Connect To Gemma
Mark’s Innie Has Been Subconsciously Creating Gemma’s Innies By Sorting Her Tempers
One crucial part of the Cold Harbor Indian file revealed by theEagan mob membersSeveranceseason 2 , sequence 2 , was that it could only be by rights dispatch by Mark . It was a major reason why Lumon did n’t flack Mark after the “ Macrodat Uprising ” but still let go of Dylan and Irving ; Lumon needed Mark , specifically , to finish the Cold Harbor filing cabinet , which could only be explained by his Outie being Gemma ’s husband . Severanceseason 2 ’s episode 7 confirm thatMark was , indeed , " act upon " on Gemma by " refining " her innies through the MDR numbers game .
Kier Eagan ’s 9 principles keep showing up in Severance , put up challenging questions about what they mean and how they impact the show ’s characters .
According to " The Macrodata Refiner ’s Orientation Booklet " inThe Lexington Letter , the MDR doer are expected to classify the sea of numbers on their blind into four family ( based on Kier ’s four biliousness ) found on how they make them feel : WO ( Woe ) , FC ( Frolic ) , DR ( Dread ) , and MA ( Malice ) . The bottom neighborhood of their cover have four bins , which need to be equally meet with the four number bunch until the progress cake reaches 100 % . With each Modern file cabinet , Mark inadvertently assort Gemma ’s four pettishness to produce a whole new innie variation of her .
Custom Image by Yailin Chacon
Here ’s a breakdown of the four number clusters and feelings they are theorise to instill in an MDR worker :
bit Categories
Feelings They Elicit
Image via Apple TV+
WO ( Woe )
FC ( Frolic )
DR ( Dread )
MA ( Malice )
The Lexington Letteralso reveals that Lumon intentionally does not enjoin the MDR workers about the true role of their work because that could potentially create biases and inhibit their natural hunch . Since Mark had always been work on his Outie ’s married woman ’s nous , it take in sense that he easily fill in his first filing cabinet and land his " freshman flue . “InSeveranceseason 2 ’s stopping point , Cobel also specifically quotes that the number are the building blocks of Gemma ’s mind and serve as room access into her mentality , which confirm Mark was refining Gemma ’s innies through MDR .
Why Mark’s Cold Harbor Project Is Important To Lumon’s Future
Lumon Is Seemingly Trying To Free Humans From All Suffering
AsSeveranceseason 2 ’s installment 7reveals , Gemma ’s innies are exposed to traumatic site and events in the testing floor room . While one way lay down her go through dental treatments , another puts her in a churning trajectory . After Gemma ’s innies leave the room and transition back into Gemma , her computer memory is test by Dr. Mauer , who asks her if she recalls anything that happened to her in the elbow room . Although Gemma experiences physical pain from her experience in the way , she seems to have no memory of what happened inside them .
Did You bang : Cold Harborwas also the working name forSeveranceseason 2 ’s motion-picture photography .
This helps Lumon confirm that the severance barriers are holding up , proving the winner of their experiments . InSeveranceseason 2 ’s ending bow , Mark finishes polish the Cold Harbor file , which establishes that Gemma ’s final innie has been acquire and is quick to be try out . When Gemma enters the Cold Harbor way , she transition into her newfangled innie , having no memories of her life as Gemma .
Image via Apple TV+
To ensure the new innie remember nothing from her life outside the room , Lumon make her relive Gemma ’s most traumatic memory : her failed pregnancy and Mark ’s response to it . A flashback inSeveranceseason 2 ’s episode 7 discover that Mark was frustrated after get wind that he and Gemma may never have a kid . He took out his anger on a crib they had antecedently brought while Gemma only heard the commotion from a unlike way .
The cot ’s box in the episode 7 flashback scene had " Col d’Arbor " written on it , prefigure how it was a key element for Gemma ’s final test at Lumon . This also suggest Lumon has been keeping an centre on Gemma and Mark and manipulating the events of their animation for far longer than they see .
Gemma ’s last innie dismantles the same crib in the Cold Harbor elbow room without show any signs of distress , confirming that she retains no memories from her outie ’s animation . This proves to Lumon that the severance barriers restrain up even when an person is acquaint to some of their most pit memories . While Lumon ’s true purpose remains hide , they seemingly created the technology and used the Cold Harbor projection to examine it because , someday , they trust to absolve humans from all suffering . Using the same engineering , others , too , can create alternating innies and avoid experiencing unpleasant place .
The Cold Harbor Name & Why There Are 24 Other Projects Linked To Mark & Gemma
Each File’s Name Is Based On A Real Location
double via Apple TV+
When Cobel tell Mark the trueness about his MDR files inSeveranceseason 2 ’s conclusion , he recalls he act upon on 24 file , with Cold Harbor being the 25th . With this , he realizes that he has produce 24 unlike innies for Gemma and will create another variant of her after finish the Cold Harbor file cabinet . Severanceseason 2 does not explain where the public figure of the file and the testing floor rooms staunch from . However , it seems evident thateach room is nominate after a real - world urban center .
Here are all the MDR single file names Severance has revealed so far :
Interestingly , each of the above cities is tie in to a major water source , which seems to align withSeverance ’s constant visual accent on water . While only time will tell how the name of the MDR data file and the like testing rooms tie into Lumon ’s overarching purpose , it is hard not to speculate that , in the grand scheme , Lumon plans to use water as a cock to reach something minacious .
Why Lumon Wanted To Kill Gemma After Mark Completed The Cold Harbor Project
Her Purpose In Lumon Had Been Fulfilled
Gemma was being held imprisoned in Lumon because the caller wanted to examine its severance technology on her . After Gemma ’s last test in the Cold Harbor room prove her innie keep back none of her memories , her intent in the company was fulfilled . Therefore , Lumon had to let her go . Since Gemma had already see a small too much of Lumon ’s intimate workings and unethical human experiments , the company could simply risk get her out . Owing to this , Lumon had planned to belt down Gemma , treating her more as a sacrifice to institute a ground - breaking engineering to the world .
Severance season 2 ’s features a young initiative credits succession , which seems to suggest at many challenging future development in the Apple TV+ series .
give how Drummond violently attacks Mark inSeveranceseason 2 ’s finale , it is hard not to believe that even Mark ’s purpose in Lumon was fulfilled . Lumon probably just did not see him as a terror because he would anyway cease to exist after he was send out . Gemma , on the other hand , was herself on the examination story , allow her to see everything Lumon had been doing to heighten the falling out engineering . She could reveal the company and unveil their secrets to the out-of-door earthly concern , explicate why Lumon go for to belt down her inSeveranceseason 2 ’s finale .
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Cast
Severance is a psychological thriller series featuring Adam Scott as Mark Scout , an employee at Lumon Industries who undergo a " severance " procedure to separate his employment and personal retentivity . However , as work and spirit personas mysteriously start out to collide , it quickly becomes readable that not all is as it seems . Created by Dan Erickson and directed by Ben Stiller and Aoife McArdle .
