Warning! This article contains spoilers for Severance season 2, episode 10.
season 2 saw Gemma finally enter the Cold Harbor room, where she undertook a bizarre task with a much deeper meaning. Severance left audiences in a whirlpool of emotion with the explosive season 2 finale. While the episode revealed some of the biggest mysteries set up in the show so far, it also set up plenty of ground for the series to cover in season 3 and beyond.
But among all the events to happen in this special extended episode of the hit sci-fi psychological thriller, Gemma’s fate was one of the most unusual. It’s been set up throughout season 2 that Mark and Gemma play a central role in Lumon’s plans, with Mark refining files that actually produced new severed Innies for Gemma, while Gemma was a lab rat on the Testing Floor, enduring countless hours of torture in various severed states. But Cold Harbor contained a unique horror for Gemma that appears harmless initially.
Gemma Takes Apart The Crib In The Cold Harbor Room For Lumon’s “Efficacy Test”
Lumon Needed To Be Sure That Severance Could Erase Everything About Gemma
When Mark completes Cold Harbor, creating yet another severed mind for Gemma, she is swiftly brought to the Cold Harbor room. Initially, it appears largely barren, but as Jame Eagan and other Lumon employees like the doctor tune in for the Efficacy Test, it’s revealed that Gemma is presented with a baby’s cot, and some tools to dismantle it. When she arrives in the room, they ask for her name, and Gemma responds that she does not know.
Related
What ongoing Severance storyline are you most excited to see more of in season 3?
Throughout Severance season 2, I found myself most allured by Helly’s storyline and the duality between her and Helena. These are both characters I’d love to see explored more in the future, and I think the finale’s plot twist has ensured that will happen. The developments with Jame Eagan also promise fascinating potential for these characters.
They then monitor her responses and emotions as she begins to dismantle the crib, and note that she feels absolutely nothing. Initially, this seems pretty tame compared to the other horrors Gemma has had to endure on the testing floor, such as being a patient in painful dental operations, riding a crashing airplane, and writing hundreds of cards until her hands ache. But in reality, this is one of the most twisted and cruel experiences they could put Gemma through, if she was able to retain any of her memories as an Outtie.
What Was Lumon Trying To Achieve With Mark’s Cold Harbor Project
Mark Refining Cold Harbor Was Closely Tied To Gemma’s Fate
Harmony Cobel revealed to Mark S. that refining files was actually a process that allowed Lumon to create new severed personas for Gemma. Over the course of his employment in the previous two years, Mark managed to refine 25 files, which meant Gemma was forced to become 25 different severed minds. And Cold Harbor was the final experiment before Lumon would consider the experiment complete and supposedly kill Gemma. However, to ensure she had no recollection of her Outtie’s life, Gemma was placed into a situation that was the most traumatic for her Outtie.
Prior to Gemma being taken into Lumon, and Mark learning his wife had passed away, Gemma and Mark Scout experienced a late-term loss of a pregnancy. This was particularly painful as the pair had prepared a room for the child, and a crib. However, when the baby was lost, Mark dismantled and took apart the crib, as seen in Severance season 2, episode 7, as Gemma watched their dreams disappear. If anything might have triggered memories or emotion in Gemma’s subconscious mind, the act of taking apart the crib should have been. However, considering the way she felt a trust in Mark over her more familiar handlers, even while severed, suggests that something remained beyond her Innie’s new conscious mind in Severance season 2.
8/10
- Release Date
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February 18, 2022
- Showrunner
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Dan Erickson, Mark Friedman
- Writers
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Dan Erickson
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