‘Severance’: What Is Chilly Harbor?

[Warning: The following contains MAJOR spoilers for Severance Season 2 Episode 7, “Chikhai Bardo.”]

It’s maybe the largest thriller hanging over Severance’s second season: What the heck is Chilly Harbor, and what does it need to do with Gemma Scout (Dichen Lachman)?

In “Chikhai Bardo,” we bought a number of crumbs. We now know that Gemma is alive, relatively than in a catatonic or unresponsive state. We all know she remembers Mark (Adam Scott) and seems to be herself, relatively than a reproduction or a clone. We don’t, nevertheless, know what Chilly Harbor is meant to do. We all know solely that the room for it stays locked and that Mark is chargeable for refining the info that may in the end, we assume, create the expertise. Right here’s what we — and the Web — assume Chilly Harbor may be.

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What Is Chilly Harbor?

In line with a number of predominant and logical-sounding Reddit theories, “Chilly Harbor” may be devastating — and it’s solely doable Gemma received’t survive its completion. The consensus amongst teams of followers is that Gemma’s experiences within the rooms on the testing flooring are supposed to evoke inconveniences and fears from which individuals would possibly need to escape. Thus, as an innie, she writes tedious thank-you playing cards, endures a turbulent flight, and goes to the dentist, all of that are experiences non-severed folks would possibly need to decide out of. When Gemma reverts to herself, she has no reminiscence of what she went by; she merely leaves the room with aching gums or a sore hand.

Following that line of thought, the present theories suggest that Chilly Harbor may be a manner of escaping the final word opt-out human expertise: dying. The assistant on the testing flooring asks Gemma whether or not she fears suffocation or drowning extra, which appears to indicate Gemma’s being evaluated for her response to sure situations. As soon as Chilly Harbor is accomplished, it might find yourself being a option to take a look at whether or not Gemma is ready to expertise dying solely as an innie, due to this fact sparing her outie from going by the ache. We’ve additionally seen loads of nods to drowning in Season 2, with a whistled “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald” and Helena-Helly’s (Britt Decrease) near-drowning expertise.

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What Does Mark Need to Do with It?

All through Season 2, Severance has made it clear that Mark needs to be the one to finish Chilly Harbor. To listen to the employees at Lumon inform it, he’s the one one who’s succesful — however why? And why, for that matter, is there a lot curiosity in Mark as an worker when all the MDR staff have been skilled for a similar job?

If, because the theories suggest, Chilly Harbor relates particularly to Gemma’s fears, it’s doable that Mark is required to refine that knowledge as a result of he knew Gemma on the skin. He was married to her, in spite of everything; he is aware of she hates writing thank-you playing cards, that she all the time sneezes twice, that she’s allergic to nutmeg. If Chilly Harbor is supposed to be her final worry, who could be higher to refine the info to recreate it than her husband? This additionally locations Mark in a singular place to the Lumon higher-ups, as a result of he has a private reference to Gemma. We already know Mark’s refining work is concerned with Gemma’s torture, as a result of he accomplished a file referred to as “Allentown” — the title of one of many rooms Gemma entered.

In fact, ought to that show true, it’d be past horrible for each Mark and Gemma. Mark’s been working for the entire season to get his spouse again: If he finally ends up being the architect of her demise, it’d be exhausting to think about his character ever recovering. And it isn’t as if Lumon’s solutions to Gemma when she asks about Mark are providing a lot hope — whereas they’ve instructed her Mark will profit from the world her testing creates (“The completion of Chilly Harbor shall be remembered as one of many best moments within the historical past of this planet,” Mr. Drummond [Olafur Darri Olafsson] says), their responses when she asks about seeing her husband once more are extremely ominous. We wouldn’t be stunned if Mark finally ends up being too late to save lots of Gemma they usually find yourself both separated once more heading into the present’s third season, or separated completely.

Whether or not or not Chilly Harbor goes into impact, we expect Gemma deserves to hit the scientists on the testing flooring with even extra chairs. She’s earned it.