After a five-month period of darkness, Lumon finally woke up Ms. Cobel’s least favorite severed employees, Mark, Helly, Dylan, and Irving. At least, that’s what they want us to think. Everything that we’re seeing in season 2 of Severance should, of course, be taken with a huge grain of salt. Things are not as they appear when a maniacal biotechnology company has the power to manipulate people’s minds. Naturally, because the possibilities are endless, plenty of fan theories have been circling the internet. Are the goats real babies?? Is Helly R. really Helena??? A bitch needs to know! But since the season is rolling out episodes one by one like in the olden days, we’ll have to wait patiently for the answers to roll in. For now, let’s discuss one big fat question mark: What is Cold Harbor in Severance season 2?

Severance Cold Harbor Theories

What is Cold Harbor in Severance?

Cold Harbor is the title of the MDR file Mark S. is working on in season 2. At the very end of the premiere, Mark S., like the rest of his core four, decided to keep his job at Lumon. I mean, it was kind of an easy decision, considering quitting would have effectively ended his innie’s life. So Mark S. went back to removing those scary numbers from his MDR data as the episode came to a close. But wait — you might have missed the teeny tiny little clue that people are freaking out about.

For the first time, or maybe it’s just the first time fans are noticing it, the file on Mark’s ancient dial-up computer reads “Cold Harbor” in the upper left-hand corner. The screen also shows that the Cold Harbor project is already 67% complete, which means whatever he’s making happen is very quickly OTW.

Now, here’s the major kicker. The final moment of the episode flashed to a shot of Ms. Casey (AKA Gemma, Mark’s real-world wife) in a room somewhere. And what is in the corner of the surveillance video footage, you might ask? The words Cold Harbor, of course.

What is behind the Cold Harbor door?

After watching my poor girl Gemma get hit from left, right, and center in Lumon’s gnarly experimental rooms in episode 7, she asks the worst doctor on planet earth what the name Cold Harbor means. Cold Harbor is the only room left on the floor, and Gemma is obviously worried something shady AF is going to happen in there since she walks out of the other rooms feeling vague after-effects from the torture (like a sore mouth or a sore hand or wondering why her hair is done like a Who from Whoville in the name of science).

Naturally, the doctor doesn’t give a straight answer when he tells Gemma that after she completes Cold Harbor, she’ll be able to “see the world,” and the world will “see her.” When Gemma asks if that means she’ll be set free, he’s basically like LOL, no.

So what does that mean? Some Reddit detectives think Cold Harbor could be the ultimate trauma in life, AKA death. Gemma said she was afraid of drowning, so her Cold Harbor innie might be drowned or otherwise pushed to an ultimate limit in there to see if outie Gemma can withstand the unconscious PTSD.

I, personally, think Lumon is more concerned with rebirth than death. Doctor Death also mentioned “siring” a new world — and the whole reason Gemma potentially got involved with Lumon was that her IVF wasn’t working. What if Cold Harbor doesn’t stop at simulating death but is actually designed to transfer someone’s consciousness to new life??? Ben Stiller, you have me shook.

What data is Mark refining in Severance?

It would appear that the data Mark is refining is directly related to Gemma/Ms. Casey’s consciousness. At the beginning of the season, I asked myself: Is Mark S. bringing Gemma to life, a second time, as someone other than Ms. Casey? Is he creating a third severed personality in her brain? Is he simply turning Ms. Casey’s severed chip back on after she got fired last season? Now it’s clear Mark’s outer self is the only person who can sort the data coming from Gemma’s torture downstairs. But what are they going to do with the information he’s sorting? Yikes, I’m afraid to find out, but I hope Mark S. and Ms. Casey and Mark and Gemma can get their happy ending over Lumon. Is that too much to ask for in a dystopian future?