WARNING! This text comprises SPOILERS for Severance season 2’s finale!The very finish of Severance season 2’s finale discloses the reality about Mark’s “Chilly Harbor” challenge and the way it connects to the ultimate room on the testing flooring. Because the very starting of the collection, one of many greatest mysteries has surrounded what Severance’s Macrodata Refinement Department truly does and what the numbers they’re sorting actually imply. Their function is extraordinarily imprecise, being assigned completely different information like “Siena,” “Tumwater,” and, now, “Chilly Harbor,” through which they should type teams of numbers primarily based on the emotions they elicit within the refiners.
Some theories speculated that MDR’s numbers have been meaningless, merely being utilized as a part of a psychological experiment on the group. Nevertheless, that concept grew to become lots much less doubtless after Helena Eagan emphasised the significance of Mark ending the “Chilly Harbor” file in Severance season 2, episode 2. After conserving viewers guessing what Chilly Harbor might imply, season 2’s episode 7 revealed that the ultimate room on the testing flooring was additionally named after the file. This paved the best way for season 2’s finale to unravel the reality about Chilly Harbor and its significance.
Chilly Harbor Is Mark’s Venture In Severance Season 2 That Entails Gemma
Mark Sorting Numbers For Chilly Harbor Is Associated To Lumon’s Experiments With Gemma
When Mark sorted numbers into completely different bins on his pc in Severance season 2, episode 1’s ending, it was revealed that the file he was engaged on was referred to as “Chilly Harbor.” Nevertheless, it was not like any file that Severance had proven viewers. The episode’s closing scene confirmed that Mark’s work on the file was straight related to Gemma.
On the end of Severance season 1, Ms. Casey was “retired” from the Wellness Division and despatched to the Testing Ground by Ms. Cobel, although the rationale for each wasn’t revealed. Ms. Casey remained “lacking” from the severed flooring nearly all through Severance season 2, however her look in episode 1’s ending revealed she was nonetheless being held at Lumon and experimented on. Since Ms. Casey was a “part-time” worker and her Outie, Gemma, had her loss of life faked by Lumon, it appeared just like the Chilly Harbor file was meant to assist in giving her a brand new objective.
Episode 7 additionally hinted that Chilly Harbor was the ultimate testing room for Gemma, implying that she can be able to enter it as soon as Mark completes refining the Chilly Harbor file.
Nevertheless, Severance season 2’s episode 7 lastly confirmed that Gemma was being held on Lumon’s Testing Ground, the place the identify of every testing room corresponded with that of a file Mark had labored on. The episode additionally confirmed how each time Gemma entered a testing flooring room, she transitioned into a brand new innie however didn’t recall any of her innies’ experiences after she stepped out of the room. Episode 7 additionally hinted that Chilly Harbor was the ultimate testing room for Gemma, implying that she can be able to enter it as soon as Mark accomplished refining the Chilly Harbor file.
How Chilly Harbor’s Macrodata Refinement Numbers Join To Gemma
Mark’s Innie Has Been Subconsciously Creating Gemma’s Innies By Sorting Her Tempers
One essential a part of the Chilly Harbor file revealed by the Eagan family members Severance season 2, episode 2, was that it might solely be correctly accomplished by Mark. It was a serious cause why Lumon didn’t hearth Mark after the “Macrodat Rebellion” however nonetheless let go of Dylan and Irving; Lumon wanted Mark, particularly, to complete the Chilly Harbor file, which might solely be defined by his Outie being Gemma’s husband. Severance season 2’s episode 7 confirms that Mark was, certainly, “working” on Gemma by “refining” her innies by the MDR numbers.
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In accordance with “The Macrodata Refiner’s Orientation Booklet” in The Lexington Letter, the MDR employees are anticipated to categorise the ocean of numbers on their display screen into 4 classes (primarily based on Kier’s 4 tempers) primarily based on how they make them really feel: WO (Woe), FC (Frolic), DR (Dread), and MA (Malice). The underside areas of their screens have 4 bins, which should be evenly crammed with the 4 quantity clusters till the progress bar reaches 100%. With every new file, Mark unknowingly kinds Gemma’s 4 tempers to create a complete new innie model of her.
Here is a breakdown of the 4 quantity clusters and emotions they’re speculated to instill in an MDR employee:
|
Quantity Classes |
Emotions They Elicit |
|
WO (Woe) |
|
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FC (Frolic) |
|
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DR (Dread) |
|
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MA (Malice) |
|
The Lexington Letter additionally reveals that Lumon deliberately doesn’t inform the MDR employees concerning the true objective of their work as a result of that would probably create biases and inhibit their pure instinct. Since Mark had all the time been engaged on his Outie’s spouse’s mind, it is sensible that he simply accomplished his first file and landed his “freshman fluke.” In Severance season 2’s finale, Cobel additionally particularly quotes that the numbers are the constructing blocks of Gemma’s thoughts and function doorways into her mind, which confirms Mark was refining Gemma’s innies by MDR.
Why Mark’s Chilly Harbor Venture Is Necessary To Lumon’s Future
Lumon Is Seemingly Making an attempt To Free People From All Struggling
As Severance season 2’s episode 7 reveals, Gemma’s innies are uncovered to traumatic conditions and occasions within the testing flooring rooms. Whereas one room makes her undergo dental therapies, one other places her in a turbulent flight. After Gemma’s innies go away the room and transition again into Gemma, her reminiscence is examined by Dr. Mauer, who asks her if she remembers something that occurred to her within the rooms. Though Gemma experiences bodily ache from her experiences within the rooms, she appears to haven’t any recollections of what occurred inside them.
This helps Lumon verify that the severance boundaries are holding up, proving the success of their experiments. In Severance season 2’s ending arc, Mark finishes refining the Chilly Harbor file, which establishes that Gemma’s closing innie has been developed and is able to be examined. When Gemma enters the Chilly Harbor room, she transitions into her new innie, having no recollections of her life as Gemma.
To make sure the brand new innie remembers nothing from her life outdoors the room, Lumon makes her relive Gemma’s most traumatic reminiscence: her failed being pregnant and Mark’s response to it. A flashback in Severance season 2’s episode 7 revealed that Mark was annoyed after studying that he and Gemma could by no means have a toddler. He took out his anger on a crib that they had beforehand introduced whereas Gemma solely heard the commotion from a distinct room.
The crib’s field within the episode 7 flashback scene had “Col d’Arbor” written on it, foreshadowing the way it was a key aspect for Gemma’s closing take a look at at Lumon. This additionally suggests Lumon has been keeping track of Gemma and Mark and manipulating the occasions of their lives for a lot longer than they notice.
Gemma’s closing innie dismantles the identical crib within the Chilly Harbor room with out displaying any indicators of misery, confirming that she retains no recollections from her outie’s life. This proves to Lumon that the severance boundaries maintain up even when a person is launched to a few of their most scarring recollections. Whereas Lumon’s true objective stays shrouded, they seemingly created the know-how and used the Chilly Harbor challenge to check it as a result of, sometime, they hope to free people from all struggling. Utilizing the identical know-how, others, too, can create alternate innies and keep away from experiencing disagreeable conditions.
The Chilly Harbor Identify & Why There Are 24 Different Initiatives Linked To Mark & Gemma
Every File’s Identify Is Based mostly On A Actual Location
Picture by way of Apple TV+
When Cobel tells Mark the reality about his MDR information in Severance season 2’s finale, he remembers he labored on 24 information, with Chilly Harbor being the twenty fifth. With this, he realizes that he has created 24 completely different innies for Gemma and can create one other model of her after finishing the Chilly Harbor file. Severance season 2 doesn’t clarify the place the names of the information and the testing flooring rooms stem from. Nevertheless, it appears evident that every room is known as after a real-world metropolis.
Listed below are all of the MDR file names Severance has revealed thus far:
- Allentown
- Dranesville
- Siena
- Lucknow
- Loveland
- Wellington
- St. Pierre
- Zurich
- Sopchoppy
- Chilly Harbor
Apparently, every of the above cities is related to a serious water supply, which appears to align with Severance‘s fixed visible emphasis on water. Whereas solely time will inform how the identify of the MDR information and the corresponding testing rooms tie into Lumon’s overarching objective, it’s laborious to not speculate that, within the grand scheme, Lumon plans to make use of water as a instrument to realize one thing sinister.
Why Lumon Wished To Kill Gemma After Mark Accomplished The Chilly Harbor Venture
Her Goal In Lumon Had Been Fulfilled
Gemma was being held captive in Lumon as a result of the corporate needed to check its severance know-how on her. After Gemma’s closing take a look at within the Chilly Harbor room proved her innie retained none of her recollections, her objective within the firm was fulfilled. Due to this fact, Lumon needed to let her go. Since Gemma had already seen slightly an excessive amount of of Lumon’s interior workings and unethical human experiments, the corporate might merely danger letting her out. Owing to this, Lumon had deliberate to kill Gemma, treating her extra as a sacrifice to deliver a ground-breaking know-how to the world.
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Given how Drummond violently assaults Mark in Severance season 2’s finale, it’s laborious to not imagine that even Mark’s objective in Lumon was fulfilled. Lumon in all probability simply didn’t see him as a menace as a result of he would anyway stop to exist after he was despatched out. Gemma, alternatively, was herself on the testing flooring, permitting her to see every part Lumon had been doing to boost the severance know-how. She might expose the corporate and reveal their secrets and techniques to the surface world, explaining why Lumon hoped to kill her in Severance season 2’s finale.
