I happened upon this theory on an unofficial “Severance” Facebook fan page, written by one Beatrice Thornbrooke. She posted it on March 3rd. I take no credit for it whatsoever, and like any fan theory, who knows how valid it may be… but it’s certainly interesting, and - with the exception of her speculation as to what Cold Harbor could’ve been - it isn’t entirely disproven by the S2 finale, so I reckon it’s decent food for thought.
Here’s Thornbrooke’s words now:
***
“Okay, hear me out.
The goal of Lumon is to create a docile army of worker bees by destroying what makes us human.
They will pitch this to the general public as the ability to abolish all fear and unpleasantness through severance.
To accomplish this, the severed employee's personality and memories are encrypted and stored on their chip while on the severed floor.
The next step is to decrypt their personality and destroy the resulting data - a process requiring two people with an especially close relationship.
Lumon identifies Mark and Gemma because they were very close AND they had painful emotional leverage.
Lumon either chipped Gemma while she was in a coma, or they approached Gemma and offered a happy ever after for her and Mark if she agreed to work with them.
Whatever the case, they faked her death, implanted her chip, and recruited Mark to refine her.
Stay with me here...
All of Gemma's personality data (her hopes, dreams, fears, and memories) were stored in a file called Allantown.
Mark sorted this file in record time because he knows his wife so well.
Each group of numbers Mark refined created a subfolder stored in Gemma's chip. These subfolders each represent a room for Gemma's innie to confront and destroy. So begins the process of ego death.
Gemma walks in and experiences all of the unpleasant emotions associated with each room (fear of flying, fear of the dentist, etc.) Mark then sorts the resulting data. When a file is completed, it is erased forever.
In S2E7 we finally meet Gemma, who is trapped in her own chip. Ms. Casey is Gemma's outie. The Gemma Mark loved is slowly being erased by his own hand.
At the beginning of the episode, they asked Gemma if she was more afraid of suffocating or drowning in a landslide. She's not afraid of suffocating because she has already completed that room (file).
Her remaining fears are losing Mark and drowning. This is what awaits in Cold Harbor.
When Ms. Casey is complete, it will be like Gemma never existed.”
I mean she was pretty close with most of her points, given how the finale unfolded. Apart from Ms. Casey being Gemma's outie, which doesn't make much sense to me.
I also believe that Lumon definitely wants to use this chip for something sinister and evil and to control a lot of people who'd give in to the promise of erasing all of their fears and pains. But given how powerful and wealthy Lumon is, it seems weird to me that they would only experiment with one person. I think the rest of the MDR was definitely contributing to this whole operation in some way, or perhaps refining other people who weren't necessarily as close to them as Gemma was to Mark, or possibly even total strangers (which would take a lot more time I assume). I wish they've given us something regarding that, at least a hint of some sort that suggests this is a much bigger operation than what we've seen so far.
I think that Lumon, in typical evil corporation fashion, is trying to create emotionless soldiers. I'm not 100% sure why they picked Gemma but likely because she was in a coma and had very strong emotional connections to a few people and events in her life that would allow them to test the severed bond. I believe they allowed her to interact with Mark as Mrs Casey as one of the ways to test the effectiveness of Severance (see if she would develop an emotional connection with him or not).
I honestly do not see how the goats come into play. I thought for a minute that they would make Gemma kill one of them to see if she would do it without emotions. Or maybe they were testing the goat lady to see if she was able to keep sacrificing goats she cared for without emotions.
I also have some other open questions:
- What was Mrs Huang's place in all of this? Is she one of the children births in those birthing cabins?
- What's with all the water theme around lumon? They showed us enough shots of that Lumon water tower for it to not feel totally random
My issue with the "emotionless soldier" theory is why would Lumon do this when it already has hundreds of people (or more) devoted to them like in a cult? They already do whatever Lumon orders them to do pretty much. So I doubt that they're building an army. Rather they're trying to create a power position that seemingly aligns with a "democracy" yet it's actually a dictatorship (or worship) of some sort. But perhaps I overthink this and you're right. We'll see.
Yes, your reasoning for picking Gemma stands, but my question in that case is why only her? I'm quite sure there are many people suffering from emotional distress, grief, trauma, etc, who could've been just as great subjects. That's why I think it would make sense if the rest of the MDR were working on their own "person," and Gemma isn't the only subject in the experiment they're conducting.
Yeah, I also don't really see what's the role of Mrs. Huang in all this. Some said she might be the child of Gemma and Mark I think.
The water theme is interesting, I didn't think of it all. I thought the water tower is just part of the cinematography aesthetics, to be honest, but you may be onto something with that. It could be something relevant.
That's what I love about this show there could be so many directions for them to go in season 3! Let's see it any of the theories come through 😂. They might take us in a totally different direction
For why only Gemma honestly it doesn't make sense to me with any of my theories. Maybe we saw her story and there are more like her. They did have those workers from other offices in the first episode. Maybe there are just a lot of different MDR teams all focused on 1 person.
Interesting about Miss Huang I had not think of that but it would be a cool twist.
Yes, I agree, however, I do worry a little that it'll become somewhat like Lost. There are so many intriguing potential theories that whatever we get for real might end up a lot more disappointing than we'd like. I honestly hope they take us in a direction that none of us expects -- Erickson plays his cards very well usually.
That would make sense if they had several departments focusing on 1 person only (but not the same person).
I just thought through the Miss Huang theory, and I'm an idiot, lol. How could she be their daughter? She's way too old, and Gemma's "death" took place only a few years earlier, so I think we can scratch that theory. Unless she grows faster than a normal human being, haha.
Haha ok yes fair 😂. Unless the timeline was really wrong I guess Miss Huang is not their kid. So I like my theory of her being one of Jame's kids from those birthing cabins.
I’m for sure going to come back to this more directly and/or also don’t want to pre-empt my own work I’m currently doing on Severance, but a quick scattershot thought I want to hit you with because I think it operates as a kind of starting point towards “Severance Unified Theory” is this:
I don’t think the Outie world is “the real world,”*either*.
There are too many weird indicators — the fact that the cars have no State on their license plates, just more Kier quotes; the fact that the orientation video for the ORTBO plays on a CRT TV…that isn’t plugged into anything; the fact that many Outies have trouble remembering things too (remember how Outie Mark can’t remember his mom’s eye color either? It’s played as a “men don’t notice things” gag…but what if it’s not…?).
I think we may be dealing with a world that is either on the brink of or actually post-apocalyptic event — notice how it’s apparently winter forever outside? And I think there are numerous indicators that Lumon is associated / associates itself with Noah’s Ark. The theme of doubling / things going “two by two”; the messianic religious imagery around Kier; and the fact their mysterious logo is…a water drop.
And don’t forget the most important and key thing Cobel ever says — the best way to keep your workers in line…is to let them *believe* that they are free…
Something to consider around all the other mysteries…
That's a really cool theory. Love it. And yes, a post-apocalyptic world would channel all the desolate outside world (always blue and white and lifeless), as if winter was pretty much the only season left. Also, it'd actually make sense to build this for 2-3 seasons, then reveal it similarly as Lost did it at the end of S3. I hope they pull something like that off -- it'd be beyond impressive.
It's an unnerving show that has a preposterous premise and a couple good actors (John Turturro and Christopher Walken). It is noteworthy however that we now have a preposterous president and an even more outlandish first buddy who's heading a fictional department (DOGE) that is dismantling our government. So in that light, maybe not so preposterous. To see a better show on Apple, watch Slow Horses. More entertaining by far.
I happened upon this theory on an unofficial “Severance” Facebook fan page, written by one Beatrice Thornbrooke. She posted it on March 3rd. I take no credit for it whatsoever, and like any fan theory, who knows how valid it may be… but it’s certainly interesting, and - with the exception of her speculation as to what Cold Harbor could’ve been - it isn’t entirely disproven by the S2 finale, so I reckon it’s decent food for thought.
Here’s Thornbrooke’s words now:
***
“Okay, hear me out.
The goal of Lumon is to create a docile army of worker bees by destroying what makes us human.
They will pitch this to the general public as the ability to abolish all fear and unpleasantness through severance.
To accomplish this, the severed employee's personality and memories are encrypted and stored on their chip while on the severed floor.
The next step is to decrypt their personality and destroy the resulting data - a process requiring two people with an especially close relationship.
Lumon identifies Mark and Gemma because they were very close AND they had painful emotional leverage.
Lumon either chipped Gemma while she was in a coma, or they approached Gemma and offered a happy ever after for her and Mark if she agreed to work with them.
Whatever the case, they faked her death, implanted her chip, and recruited Mark to refine her.
Stay with me here...
All of Gemma's personality data (her hopes, dreams, fears, and memories) were stored in a file called Allantown.
Mark sorted this file in record time because he knows his wife so well.
Each group of numbers Mark refined created a subfolder stored in Gemma's chip. These subfolders each represent a room for Gemma's innie to confront and destroy. So begins the process of ego death.
Gemma walks in and experiences all of the unpleasant emotions associated with each room (fear of flying, fear of the dentist, etc.) Mark then sorts the resulting data. When a file is completed, it is erased forever.
In S2E7 we finally meet Gemma, who is trapped in her own chip. Ms. Casey is Gemma's outie. The Gemma Mark loved is slowly being erased by his own hand.
At the beginning of the episode, they asked Gemma if she was more afraid of suffocating or drowning in a landslide. She's not afraid of suffocating because she has already completed that room (file).
Her remaining fears are losing Mark and drowning. This is what awaits in Cold Harbor.
When Ms. Casey is complete, it will be like Gemma never existed.”
I mean she was pretty close with most of her points, given how the finale unfolded. Apart from Ms. Casey being Gemma's outie, which doesn't make much sense to me.
I also believe that Lumon definitely wants to use this chip for something sinister and evil and to control a lot of people who'd give in to the promise of erasing all of their fears and pains. But given how powerful and wealthy Lumon is, it seems weird to me that they would only experiment with one person. I think the rest of the MDR was definitely contributing to this whole operation in some way, or perhaps refining other people who weren't necessarily as close to them as Gemma was to Mark, or possibly even total strangers (which would take a lot more time I assume). I wish they've given us something regarding that, at least a hint of some sort that suggests this is a much bigger operation than what we've seen so far.
Thanks for sharing this, Jack.
Here's my theory:
I think that Lumon, in typical evil corporation fashion, is trying to create emotionless soldiers. I'm not 100% sure why they picked Gemma but likely because she was in a coma and had very strong emotional connections to a few people and events in her life that would allow them to test the severed bond. I believe they allowed her to interact with Mark as Mrs Casey as one of the ways to test the effectiveness of Severance (see if she would develop an emotional connection with him or not).
I honestly do not see how the goats come into play. I thought for a minute that they would make Gemma kill one of them to see if she would do it without emotions. Or maybe they were testing the goat lady to see if she was able to keep sacrificing goats she cared for without emotions.
I also have some other open questions:
- What was Mrs Huang's place in all of this? Is she one of the children births in those birthing cabins?
- What's with all the water theme around lumon? They showed us enough shots of that Lumon water tower for it to not feel totally random
My issue with the "emotionless soldier" theory is why would Lumon do this when it already has hundreds of people (or more) devoted to them like in a cult? They already do whatever Lumon orders them to do pretty much. So I doubt that they're building an army. Rather they're trying to create a power position that seemingly aligns with a "democracy" yet it's actually a dictatorship (or worship) of some sort. But perhaps I overthink this and you're right. We'll see.
Yes, your reasoning for picking Gemma stands, but my question in that case is why only her? I'm quite sure there are many people suffering from emotional distress, grief, trauma, etc, who could've been just as great subjects. That's why I think it would make sense if the rest of the MDR were working on their own "person," and Gemma isn't the only subject in the experiment they're conducting.
Yeah, I also don't really see what's the role of Mrs. Huang in all this. Some said she might be the child of Gemma and Mark I think.
The water theme is interesting, I didn't think of it all. I thought the water tower is just part of the cinematography aesthetics, to be honest, but you may be onto something with that. It could be something relevant.
That's what I love about this show there could be so many directions for them to go in season 3! Let's see it any of the theories come through 😂. They might take us in a totally different direction
For why only Gemma honestly it doesn't make sense to me with any of my theories. Maybe we saw her story and there are more like her. They did have those workers from other offices in the first episode. Maybe there are just a lot of different MDR teams all focused on 1 person.
Interesting about Miss Huang I had not think of that but it would be a cool twist.
Yes, I agree, however, I do worry a little that it'll become somewhat like Lost. There are so many intriguing potential theories that whatever we get for real might end up a lot more disappointing than we'd like. I honestly hope they take us in a direction that none of us expects -- Erickson plays his cards very well usually.
That would make sense if they had several departments focusing on 1 person only (but not the same person).
I just thought through the Miss Huang theory, and I'm an idiot, lol. How could she be their daughter? She's way too old, and Gemma's "death" took place only a few years earlier, so I think we can scratch that theory. Unless she grows faster than a normal human being, haha.
Haha ok yes fair 😂. Unless the timeline was really wrong I guess Miss Huang is not their kid. So I like my theory of her being one of Jame's kids from those birthing cabins.
I’m for sure going to come back to this more directly and/or also don’t want to pre-empt my own work I’m currently doing on Severance, but a quick scattershot thought I want to hit you with because I think it operates as a kind of starting point towards “Severance Unified Theory” is this:
I don’t think the Outie world is “the real world,”*either*.
There are too many weird indicators — the fact that the cars have no State on their license plates, just more Kier quotes; the fact that the orientation video for the ORTBO plays on a CRT TV…that isn’t plugged into anything; the fact that many Outies have trouble remembering things too (remember how Outie Mark can’t remember his mom’s eye color either? It’s played as a “men don’t notice things” gag…but what if it’s not…?).
I think we may be dealing with a world that is either on the brink of or actually post-apocalyptic event — notice how it’s apparently winter forever outside? And I think there are numerous indicators that Lumon is associated / associates itself with Noah’s Ark. The theme of doubling / things going “two by two”; the messianic religious imagery around Kier; and the fact their mysterious logo is…a water drop.
And don’t forget the most important and key thing Cobel ever says — the best way to keep your workers in line…is to let them *believe* that they are free…
Something to consider around all the other mysteries…
That's a really cool theory. Love it. And yes, a post-apocalyptic world would channel all the desolate outside world (always blue and white and lifeless), as if winter was pretty much the only season left. Also, it'd actually make sense to build this for 2-3 seasons, then reveal it similarly as Lost did it at the end of S3. I hope they pull something like that off -- it'd be beyond impressive.
It's an unnerving show that has a preposterous premise and a couple good actors (John Turturro and Christopher Walken). It is noteworthy however that we now have a preposterous president and an even more outlandish first buddy who's heading a fictional department (DOGE) that is dismantling our government. So in that light, maybe not so preposterous. To see a better show on Apple, watch Slow Horses. More entertaining by far.
https://thescreen.substack.com/p/slow-horses-season-3-is-character