Severance: The Dark Secrets of Cold Harbor

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Without a doubt, “Severance” is one of the most thrilling and pertinent shows currently gracing our television screens. The second season is now streaming on Apple TV+, and since its initial debut three years ago, it has amassed a vast number of enthusiastic followers and growing viewership. The series delves deeply into intricate themes such as grief and the ways in which we deal with or avoid confronting our most agonizing recollections. From the meticulously designed office set to the rich tapestry of Lumon lore, every aspect of “Severance” is carefully crafted and purposeful. Nothing on this show happens by chance; each element carries significance.

The TV series centers on a team of ordinary employees from Lumon Industries’ Macro Data Refinement division, who have each undergone a unique procedure known as Severance. This process involves implanting a chip in their brains that divides their consciousness into two distinct parts: one for work, which is called an “innie,” and another for personal life, known as an “outie.

From the first season, it’s clear that keeping the two consciousnesses separate isn’t as straightforward as Lumon suggests. In the second season, Mark S. (Adam Scott) has been striving to merge his identities so he can recall his innie’s memories and uncover Lumon’s actions against his wife Gemma (Dichen Lachman), who he had believed was deceased.

Over the course of events, Mark has consistently focused on perfecting the details within a crucial document known as Cold Harbor. This document, which has played a significant role in both seasons, holds immense importance for Lumon. It is widely believed that only Mark can conclude this document, and as per Mr. Drummond (played by Olafur Darri Olafsson), it could alter the world upon its completion. While Lumon’s ultimate purpose with the Severance process remains a mystery, various clues have been dropped regarding potential long-term objectives.

One major point the series hasn’t clarified yet is the mystery behind Cold Harbor. We know it plays a crucial role in Lumon’s objectives, but we’re unsure what those goals are. So far, only Mark has access to the related files, and we don’t understand why he is the one or what makes this project so significant. Fans have been sharing their speculations across the web during this season, and we too have our own ideas regarding what could be hidden within Cold Harbor.

4
Cold Harbor Is About Experiencing Death

During season 1, Mark held the belief that his wife was deceased following a car accident. However, it was later revealed in the finale that she wasn’t actually dead. Intriguingly, when Mark’s inner self gazes at a photo of his wife Gemma, we see Miss Casey – the part-time wellness counselor at Lumon. Earlier, we knew that Miss Casey gets sent to the testing floor beneath the main floor when Lumon doesn’t require her services anymore. This revelation leads us to understand that Gemma had been kept in that location all along.

Lumon selected Gemma for study as she had experienced a miscarriage and was undergoing IVF treatments. This made her an ideal candidate for research focused on managing pain and hardship. In the second season’s seventh episode, it is revealed that Lumon has been subjecting Gemma to various experiments, where she assumes different personalities each time she enters a room, all designated by MDR file names.

Every time one of Gemma’s inner selves (innies) enters a new room, she encounters diverse unpleasant situations. For instance, visiting the dentist, enduring a bumpy flight, or writing numerous thank-you notes with her less skilled hand. After returning to her own self (Gemma), the nurse (Sandra Bernhard) queries if she feels any physical or emotional changes. Gemma consistently mentions physical discomforts such as pain in her wrist or a sore mouth. It seems that Lumon is trying to determine if any recollections of the innie’s negative experiences can be triggered and affect the outer self (outie) emotionally. The only room they have yet to allow Gemma access to is Cold Harbor, the room linked to the crucial file Mark S. is handling in MDR.

Given that every room carries an unpleasant encounter that people typically wish to steer clear of, it seems logical that Cold Harbor would offer such a profoundly negative encounter that everyone would prefer to bypass. Many spectators speculate that Cold Harbor is synonymous with death, given the experiments and the significance of the file Mark is handling. It’s been suggested that upon completion of the file, it will reshape the world. It could be that Lumon is striving to refine the severance chip so that when a person approaches death, they can trigger their innie’s consciousness and thus avoid the most feared aspect of life.

On the testing ground, they subject Gemma’s inner beings to a series of excruciating tests. These experiments might be aimed at discovering the limits of an innie’s ability to endure both physical and emotional pain before it starts affecting their outer selves. If Lumon can perfect the chip so that nothing from these experiences impacts the outie, it could drastically alter humanity’s perspective on death.

3
MDR Is Deleting Gemma’s Innies’ Memories

As a movie buff putting it in my own words, “The work we do is enigmatic and crucial,” Mr. Milchick (Tramell Tillman) shared with the MDR team back in season 1. And indeed, it’s shrouded in mystery and of utmost importance. Our job primarily involves crunching numbers on our computer screens and categorizing them neatly at the screen’s bottom. Mark once told Helly (Britt Lower) that these numbers have a knack for stirring emotions within you, and at times, they can be downright spine-chilling.

Helly initially doesn’t trust Mark, but after she meticulously organizes some figures, it turns out they are quite unsettling. As the episodes progress, it becomes clear that these numbers have a connection to thoughts or feelings. The feelings that these numbers provoke correspond to Lumon founder Kier Eagan’s Four Tempers (Sorrow, Merriment, Malice, and Fear). In essence, the MDR team is refining data by gathering clusters of numbers that evoke an emotional response and then labeling them with a specific emotion. We have also noticed abbreviations for the tempters on the containers they sort the numbers into.

In episode seven, it became evident that Miss Casey isn’t the only inner consciousness (innie) belonging to Gemma. Whenever Gemma enters one of the rooms named after MDR files, a unique innie who has only experienced what’s within that room becomes active. This suggests that the MDR team is fine-tuning the information and statistics related to each room’s experience, which might be affecting the memories of Gemma’s innies. It seems possible that MDR could be inadvertently modifying or even erasing Gemma’s innies’ memories to create an innie without feelings or memories. If this is true, Cold Harbor might be a place where they are attempting to eliminate Gemma’s recollections of her external life, so she experiences and remembers nothing from it, including the pain associated with it.

As a film enthusiast, I can’t help but ponder the heart-wrenching scenario where Gemma and Mark reconnect, only for her not to recognize him or feel anything towards him. This emotional void would be an unparalleled torment for Mark, perhaps even surpassing the despair he felt when he believed she was gone forever. In the pursuit of global transformation, Lumon Laboratories is developing a groundbreaking technology: a chip that can selectively dissolve feelings and memories, all while maintaining a single consciousness. This innovation holds immense value to them, not out of affection for Gemma and Mark, but due to their strategic utility.

The memory of Lumon’s past manipulations still lingers, a stark reminder that they would stop at nothing to realize their ambitions. If it means achieving their goals, they wouldn’t think twice about shattering the lives of individuals like Gemma and Mark once more.

2
Lumon Is Trying to Prevent People From Having Negative Experiences

In the various chambers of Gemma’s existence, her alternate selves have been compelled to enter situations that most people would rather bypass entirely. These include dental appointments, rough air travel, and writing stacks of thank-you notes with their less skilled hand. Although we didn’t witness the other rooms her additional innies visited, we saw Gemma preparing to step into those spaces, dressed in professional attire or workout gear, for instance. It’s heartrendingly clear that Gemma has been fragmented into numerous innies who each know only their assigned room’s world. The sole consistent aspect in each innie’s life is Dr. Mauer (Robby Benson), who ominously manages the rooms where Gemma’s outer selves reside, and then Gemma herself when she returns to her own room.

It seems like Gemma and her inner selves are being subjected to continuous emotional and physical hardships, raising the question if this is solely for inflicting pain upon her. Instead, it appears Lumon is pushing the boundaries of each innie to discover their limits, particularly how much physical discomfort an outie can endure. They’re also investigating the extent they can push innies before emotional stress influences the outie’s psychological health.

At present, Gemma only experiences physical aftereffects from her innies’ experiments. However, it is clear that living on the testing floor and being deprived of sunlight takes a toll on her mental well-being. Since every room has been connected to an unpleasant incident, Lumon might be working towards developing a version of the severance chip that shields individuals from having to bear negative experiences.

The space for Cold Harbor could be where they refine this particular chip technology, designed to shield individuals from unfavorable encounters and memories, such as painful or traumatic experiences. In the first season, Devon encountered a wealthy woman at a birthing retreat who was having her second or third child. Remarkably, when Devon met her again at a park some days later, the woman failed to recognize him, suggesting that she may have utilized this technology to forget the pain and trauma associated with childbirth.

If wealthy individuals are already utilizing this sort of severance technology, it lends credibility to Lumon’s global sales pitch suggesting that people can choose to bypass unpleasant experiences. In the first season, Michick convinces Mark of the appeal of severance as a chance at a new beginning and a means to forget his sorrow. The core themes of Severance revolve around burying grief and painful memories. Lumon symbolizes the misconception that one can evade trauma and sadness, while the innies signify the truth that you cannot escape your recollections; instead, you must confront them. Cold Harbor might be the final step in perfecting the chip to activate when a person shows signs of distress.

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1
Lumon Is Refining the Four Tempers

From the third episode of season 1 onwards, Kier Eagan’s Four Tempers serve as the foundation for Lumon’s beliefs. These four primary emotions – sorrow (woe), joy (frolic), fear (dread), and anger (malice) – form the core of Eagan’s temperament model. Interestingly, the characters at MDR embody these very emotions, with Mark S. personifying sorrow, Dylan G. representing joy, Irving B. symbolizing fear, and Helly R. epitomizing anger.

The Four Temperaments play a crucial role not just in the workings of Lumon and its objectives, but also in shaping the narrative and underlying themes of Severance. They serve as a key aspect within the long-term section of the Lumon building and are often referenced by Lumon staff. It appears that MDR is organizing data into groups corresponding to the Four Temperaments, which might imply that MDR is modifying the temperaments of each of Gemma’s alternate selves (innies).

Through analyzing Gemma’s inner experiences and temperament-related feelings, Lumon intentionally modifies the thoughts and emotions of innie workers. This manipulation could involve MDR fine-tuning the Four Temperaments to produce a vast number of individuals who no longer experience the primary human emotions. Lumon aims for employees to be fully committed to their jobs without external distractions, which is how they attract potential candidates for the severance process by promising an ideal balance between work and personal life.

Once Mark has correctly organized every number in the Cold Harbor document, he will be able to exclude the Four Tempers from Gemma, effectively making it possible for Lumon to control these emotions by creating a variant of the severance chip that eradicates them completely. This would result in newly detached individuals being devoid of the four primary emotions and perfectly equipped to function as corporate drones. Eliminating joy, fear, sadness, and anger from an individual would leave them emotionally vacant, with no personal thoughts or motivation beyond work and their duties. This aligns with Severance’s exploration of capitalism and corporate dominance.

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2025-03-09 06:33