WARNING! This article contains SPOILERS for Severance season 2’s finale!The very end ofSeveranceseason 2’s finale discloses the truth about Mark’s “Cold Harbor” project and how it connects to the final room on the testing floor. 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 mean. Their role is extremely vague, being assigned different files like “Siena,” “Tumwater,” and, now, “Cold Harbor,” in which they have to sort groups of numbers based on the feelings they elicit in the refiners.
Some theories speculated that MDR’s numbers were meaningless, simply being utilized as part of a psychological experiment on the team. However, that theory became a lot less likely after Helena Eagan emphasized the importance of Mark finishing the “Cold Harbor” file inSeveranceseason 2, episode 2. After keeping viewers guessing what Cold Harbor could mean, season 2’s episode 7 revealed that the final room on the testing floor was also named after the file. This paved the way for season 2’s finale 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 sorted numbers into different boxes on his computer inSeveranceseason 2, episode 1’s ending, it was revealed that the file he was working on was called “Cold Harbor.” However, it was unlike any file thatSeverancehad shown viewers. The episode’s closing scene confirmed that Mark’s work on the file was directly connected to Gemma.
At theend ofSeveranceseason 1, Ms. Casey was “retired” from the Wellness Department and sent to the Testing Floor by Ms. Cobel, though the reason for both wasn’t revealed. Ms. Casey remained “missing” from the severed floor almost throughoutSeveranceseason 2, but her appearance in episode 1’s endingrevealed she was still being held at Lumon and experimented on. Since Ms. Casey was a “part-time” employee and her Outie, Gemma, had her death faked by Lumon, it seemed like the Cold Harbor file was intended to help give her a new purpose.
Episode 7 also hinted that Cold Harbor was the final testing room for Gemma, implying that she would be ready to enter it once Mark completes refining the Cold Harbor file.
However,Severanceseason 2’s episode 7 finally confirmed that Gemma was being held on Lumon’s Testing Floor, where the name of each testing room corresponded with that of a file Mark had worked on. The episode also showed howevery time Gemma entered a testing floor room, she transitioned into a new inniebut failed to recall any of her innies' experiences after she stepped out of the room. Episode 7 also hinted that Cold Harbor was the final testing room for Gemma, implying that she would be ready to enter it once Mark completed refining 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 file revealed by theEagan family membersSeveranceseason 2, episode 2, was that it could only be properly completed by Mark. It was a major reason why Lumon didn’t fire Mark after the “Macrodat Uprising” but still let go of Dylan and Irving; Lumon needed Mark, specifically, to finish the Cold Harbor file, which could only be explained by his Outie being Gemma’s husband.Severanceseason 2’s episode 7 confirms thatMark was, indeed, “working” on Gemma by “refining” her innies through the MDR numbers.
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According to “The Macrodata Refiner’s Orientation Booklet” inThe Lexington Letter, the MDR workers are expected to classify the sea of numbers on their screen into four categories (based on Kier’s four tempers) based on how they make them feel:WO (Woe), FC (Frolic), DR (Dread), and MA (Malice). The bottom regions of their screens have four bins, which need to be evenly filled with the four number clusters until the progress bar reaches 100%. With each new file, Mark unknowingly sorts Gemma’s four tempers to create a whole new innie version of her.
Here’s a breakdown of the four number clusters and feelings they are supposed to instill in an MDR worker:
WO (Woe)
FC (Frolic)
DR (Dread)
MA (Malice)
The Lexington Letteralso reveals that Lumon intentionally does not tell the MDR workers about the true purpose of their work because that could potentially create biases and inhibit their natural intuition. Since Mark had always been working on his Outie’s wife’s brain,it makes sense that he easily completed his first file and landed his “freshman fluke.“InSeveranceseason 2’s finale, Cobel also specifically quotes that the numbers are the building blocks of Gemma’s mind and serve as doorways into her brain, which confirms 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 episode 7reveals, Gemma’s innies are exposed to traumatic situations and events in the testing floor rooms. While one room makes her go through dental treatments, another puts her in a turbulent flight. After Gemma’s innies leave the room and transition back into Gemma, her memory is tested by Dr. Mauer, who asks her if she recalls anything that happened to her in the rooms. Although Gemma experiences physical pain from her experiences in the rooms, she seems to have no memories of what happened inside them.
Did You Know:Cold Harborwas also the working name forSeveranceseason 2’s filming.
This helps Lumon confirm that the severance barriers are holding up, proving the success of their experiments. InSeveranceseason 2’s ending arc, Mark finishes refining the Cold Harbor file, which establishes that Gemma’s final innie has been developed and is ready to be tested. When Gemma enters the Cold Harbor room, she transitions into her new innie, having no memories of her life as Gemma.
To ensure the new innie remembers nothing from her life outside the room, Lumon makes her relive Gemma’s most traumatic memory: her failed pregnancy and Mark’s reaction to it. A flashback inSeveranceseason 2’s episode 7 revealed that Mark was frustrated after learning that he and Gemma may never have a child. He took out his anger on a crib they had previously brought while Gemma only heard the commotion from a different room.
The crib’s box in the episode 7 flashback scene had “Col d’Arbor” written on it, foreshadowing how it was a key element for Gemma’s final test at Lumon. This also suggests Lumon has been keeping an eye on Gemma and Mark and manipulating the events of their lives for far longer than they realize.
Gemma’s final innie dismantles the same crib in the Cold Harbor room without showing any signs of distress, confirming that she retains no memories from her outie’s life. This proves to Lumon that the severance barriers hold up even when an individual is introduced to some of their most scarring memories. While Lumon’s true purpose remains shrouded, they seemingly created the technology and used the Cold Harbor project to test it because, someday, they hope to free humans from all suffering. Using the same technology, others, too, can create alternate innies and avoid experiencing unpleasant situations.
Each File’s Name Is Based On A Real Location
Image via Apple TV+
When Cobel tells Mark the truth about his MDR files inSeveranceseason 2’s finale, he recalls he worked on 24 files, with Cold Harbor being the 25th. With this, he realizes that he has created 24 different innies for Gemma and will create another version of her after completing the Cold Harbor file.Severanceseason 2 does not explain where the names of the files and the testing floor rooms stem from. However, it seems evident thateach room is named after a real-world city.
Here are all the MDR file names Severance has revealed so far:
Interestingly, each of the above cities is connected to a major water source, which seems to align withSeverance’s constant visual emphasis on water. While only time will tell how the name of the MDR files and the corresponding 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 tool to achieve something sinister.
Why Lumon Wanted To Kill Gemma After Mark Completed The Cold Harbor Project
Gemma was being held captive in Lumon because the company wanted to test its severance technology on her. After Gemma’s final test in the Cold Harbor room proved her innie retained none of her memories, her purpose in the company was fulfilled. Therefore, Lumon had to let her go. Since Gemma had already seen a little too much of Lumon’s inner workings and unethical human experiments, the company could simply risk letting her out. Owing to this, Lumon had planned to kill Gemma,treating her more as a sacrifice to bring a ground-breaking technology to the world.
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Given 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 threat because he would anyway cease to exist after he was sent out. Gemma, on the other hand, was herself on the testing floor, allowing her to see everything Lumon had been doing to enhance the severance technology. She could expose the company and reveal their secrets to the outside world, explaining why Lumon hoped to kill her inSeveranceseason 2’s finale.
Cast
Severance is a psychological thriller series featuring Adam Scott as Mark Scout, an employee at Lumon Industries who undergoes a “severance” procedure to separate his work and personal memories. However, as work and life personas mysteriously begin to collide, it quickly becomes clear that not all is as it seems. Created by Dan Erickson and directed by Ben Stiller and Aoife McArdle.
