The following article contains spoilers for the Severance season 2 finale, “Cold Harbor.“Severanceshow creator Dan Erickson and EP/director Ben Stiller address the lingering questions about Cold Harbor in season 2. The season 2 finalesees Mark (Adam Scott) complete Project Cold Harbor with Helly R.(Britt Lower), who has worked on it since season 1. The episode explains the nature of MDR’s work and its link to Gemma (Dichen Lachman), who is revealed to have 24 innies until the completion of Cold Harbor, which marks an important historical event in Lumon’s history. However, it doesn’t fully explain what Cold Harbor is for in the big picture.
While talking toDeadline, Stiller and Erickson explain the lack of explanation in theSeveranceseason 2 finale. Stiller revealed that they don’t “quite know” the purpose of the Cold Harbor experiment yet, but confirms that Lumon is exploring “different consciousnesses” with Gemma. Erickson added thatthey intentionally left Cold Harbor open for interpretationfor a variety of reasons while pointing out the importance of the scene where Gemma has to face the crib, which evokes a painful memory for her outie, who struggled to have kids. Check out their comments below:
Stiller:The Cold Harbor experiment, we don’t quite know what the purpose of it is, but we do get the sense that [Gemma]’s been severed into, like, a number of different consciousnesses. It’s something that’s very important to Lumon, and what that is, I think we don’t quite know yet. I do think it sets up, obviously, the stakes of what they’re doing down there.
Erickson:We left some of it up to interpretation on purpose. We didn’t want to sort of walk people through exactly what was being tested and why. In part, because such a big part of this, of this show, has become the conversations that take place after the fact, and so we trusted that people would think about it and would talk about it, and would have different ideas about it, and that would just make it that much richer.
What we had seen previously in the season, was Gemma being put in these different rooms and having these different innies who are going through all of these different torments. I think that what makes the Cold Harbor room different is that there she is. She is doing something that calls back to a very painful element of her Outie life, and so as opposed to seeing ‘Does the pain transfer from the innie to the outie?’ we seem to be sort of looking at the reverse here now in terms of what that means and why that’s important. I think there’s a lot of room for conversation there.
What Their Comments Mean For Severance Season 3
Cold Harbor Mystery Continues In Season 3
Severancewas renewed for a third seasonhours after the season 2 finale’s arrival. In a separate interview, Stiller shared that the dark sci-fi showremains a work in progress, meaning that they won’t know the exact plan for the next step until they get to it. Unlike other hit TV series, the creative team behind the Apple TV+ show approaches the series season by season and comes up with answers as they go, which keeps each season fresh and upcoming events more unpredictable. However, unlike the gap between seasons 1 and 2, Stiller has been adamant that the third installment won’t take nearly three years to develop.
THAT Death In Severance Season 2’s Finale & What It Means For Season 3 Explained
Severance season 2, episode 10 includes the death of a major character that will have big ramifications on the story of season 3 and beyond.
Erickson’s comment offers some important clues as to what Lumon is up to, highlighting the “torments” Gemma’s innies endure. After MDR completesthe Cold Harbor project, Gemma’s new innie sees a crib and proceeds to take it apart when Dr. Mauer, monitoring her and giving her commands, is amazed by her reaction. Erickson’s comment further clarifies that the experiment with Gemma is a study of pain and how it transfers from innie to outie, hinting that she could potentially be part ofLumon’s plan to adjust and improve their methods.
Severance Season 2 Finale Sets Up A Different Season 3
Image via Apple TV+
TheSeveranceseason 2 finaleofferssome of the most important answersto what Mark and his team have been assigned to do and what the goats on the severed floor are for. Throughout the two seasons, Mark and his team are seen picking out number clusters but have no clue what they mean until Ms. Cobel reveals to Mark’s innie that the numbers represent different emotions, and through each completion of the file, they create a new identity for Gemma, who works as a test subject for Lumon.
While the episode is very satisfying, there are still a lot of questions left to answer, including Gemma’s history with Lumon and the final running scene. It appears that Lumon faked her death, but whether Gemma is a willing participant is currently unknown, and even thoughMark’s innie decidesto help rescue Gemma, he is in love with Helly and chooses to stay on the severed floor with her. Meanwhile, Helly R. has earned the attention of her outie’s father, James Eagan, who tells her that he sees Kier in her.Severanceseason 2 has set upa different tone for season 3, and there’s no doubt that the conflicts are heading to a greater scale.
All episodes ofSeveranceseason 2 are available to stream on Apple TV+.
