Severance - 2x10 "Cold Harbor" - Episode Discussion
Season 2 Episode 10: Cold Harbor
Aired: March 21, 2025
Synopsis: Mark forms a shaky alliance in an all-or-nothing play, while the team makes a dangerous last stand.
Directed by: Ben Stiller
Written by: Dan Erickson
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Man.. That was a great episode, and leaves it at a cliffhanger where nobody knows where the story is going. I'm a bit disappointed at how many answers we didn't get this season, mainly
And also the two fake-out "Mark is reintegrating for real!" episodes in the season left a bad taste for me. That sideplot had ZERO payoff or consequences.
And it's starting to get a bit difficult suspending my belief that there's only ONE security guy in the entire company that manages 50 some people.
This is one of the best episodes in the series, but the season overall is a lot weaker than the first. But at least we got Milchick dancing again.
With Cobel, I wonder if she lied about Gemma being killed to get back at Lumon, since Cold Harbor was the miscarriage and not her or Mark's death we don't actually know they were going to kill her compared to just using the overtime contingency full time and suppressing her outie completely.
That being said they did kidnap her and wanted someone who was assumed dead so would be a cheap shot by the writers to make the whole thing a big misunderstanding
we don’t actually know they were going to kill her compared to just using the overtime contingency full time and suppressing her outie completely.
Mr. Drummond was actively strangling Mark S to death knowing Cold Harbor had been completed. He wouldn't have done that if they needed Mark S (or Gemma) for anything anymore.
So I agree that Drummond trying to kill Mark aligns with that, but it doesn't actually align with their previous actions.
For example Gemma doesn't go into the Cold Harbor room until Mark completes the room. However Gemma goes into the other rooms multiple times. We see in the dentist room innie Gemma believes she was just their. In the Christmas room innie Gemma is tired of the repetitive activity. So even at 100% completion they test the rooms multiple times. When Gemma goes into Cold Harbor they are testing to make sure it works.
If Cold Harbor was the pinnacle of their achievements, why would they only test that room once, when they tested other rooms multiple times?
If Cold Harbor was the pinnacle of their achievements, why would they only test that room once, when they tested other rooms multiple times?
I think the other rooms were gathering the data that Innie Mark was refining. They went to the other rooms multiple times to gather more data. Think like 'training data' for AI.
Cold Harbor was the test. That Innie Gemma was just about to pass the test before Outie Mark showed up was already showing they'd succeeded. If the test was for success, they achieved success. They wouldn't need to test it again if Outie Mark hadn't interfered. Even if they were planning on testing it with Gemma again, Drummond clearly already knew he could beat up Mark and kill him. Marks only sin was trying to get in a door, and Drummond decided that was enough for a death sentence. Which tells me they were already done with Mark.
Edit: I forgot to mention this. Lumon told us they were going to kill Gemma. They goat sacrifice was to be buried with a woman. Were there any other women the show told us were going to be killed? Not that I heard of
So I also thought the other rooms were gathering data for Mark. For example you put Gemma in the dentist room then give the data to Mark. Mark then refines the data until Gemma "perfects" the room.
But from what we see if Cold Harbor, Gemma doesn't go in until it's done.
Now it is possible that Cold Harbor is the final test. If Gemma can "solve" Cold Harbor without refinement, she can "solve" anything.
Of course if Mark can disrupt the test and convince Gemma to go with him, perhaps the test or overall process itself is flawed. Gemma as Ms Casey was surely one of the first tests to confirm that Gemma would not be swayed by Mark. Yet here she clearly is.
The "Fuck" from Jame Eagan may not just be the appearance of Mark and his meddling, but the realization that the entire experiment is flawed.
We know Kier/Lumon/Jame stole from Cobel. It's possible they only now realized how unqualified they are.
But of course all this rests on the idea that Cold Harbor only had one solution and one test, which seems odd.
I added an edit to my post you replied to: Lumon told us they were going to kill Gemma within a few minutes/hours. The goat sacrifice Drummond said was to be buried with a woman to lead her spirit to Keir. Were there any other women the show told us were going to be killed? Not that I heard of.
Oh I completely agree. I think Lumon had every intention of killing Gemma. I think Drummond knew that. But I just find it so odd given their other behavior.
I'm pretty sure they were going to kill Gemma? Remember that Drummond said they were killing the goat to bury it with (a great woman) so that it could guide her back to Kier? I'm pretty sure he was referring to Gemma there.
Yes but he says entomb not kill, could just be permanent suppression of the outie
I wonder if she lied about Gemma being killed to get back at Lumon
Cobel is working for Lumon in the last episode. To what end? Who knows? How else did she know about Mark S an Helly R's romance? She was gone from the Severed Floor long before that was a thing. The birthing shed was the very first interaction she'd had with Mark S since her firing because of the OTC event.
The only way she would have known is if someone from Lumon told her. The only reason Lumon would have told her is because she was brought back in the fold.
Outie Mark knew about the Helly romance too though, calling her Heleny, I don’t remember Cobel being the source of that
What is Lumon actually trying to do? Cold Harbor is apparently about fully getting rid of past emotions when severed… But isn’t that how severance worked in the first place??
I would say, that their environment is sooo aseptic at the severance level this is an indication that it doesn't work as well as they would have expected. This explain this strange work environment where emotions of innies are controlled by bizarre mechanisms. I would say this Cold Harbor thing is a way for Lumon to really have a more reliable severance effect. And people will be able to be severed externally.
Also the fact that the Egon father goes to see his innie daughter and appears to prefer her innie might indicates he would like to replace his outie daughter by her innie at some point. Also an indication IMO that Lumon expect to severe people externally.
And regarding the amount of revelation we had during this season was satisfying to me. We already learned a lot while still keeping a lot of things confusing. We learned about the origin of Lumon, the cult of Kier and how they take children to work for them.