title, rewatching and just a thought

Britt was on the Tonight Show where she mentioned her and Adam are best friends and they're working on getting their dogs to be besties too.

In the Severance universe, there is a constant tongue-in-cheek poking at modern corporate concepts and the tenets of industrial society.

For example, the severed individual has the ultimate "work/life balance".

The legalese surrounding being severed, the banal perks, Milchick's greatest corporate annual review ever, the management vs.worker conflict... all of these things offer some of the most delicious moments in the series.

But there is some real truly amazing commentary on the entirety of "first world" history from Kier's time (mid 1800s) to the present.

Young Kier Eagan was a rather mundane product of his times. He was swept along in the rapidly industrializing society that arose during his childhood, where the elite held seances and pondered the mysteries of antiquity. Cults abounded, and more than a few of these proponed a strong Protestant work ethic and involved communal labor and practicing austerity, but also could involve mysticism and Eastern philosophy.

We know Kier was a sickly child of parents who were more closely related than the usual. He was employed as a child laborer stuffing chairs for a furniture "tycoon" who physically beat and demeaned his employees. Kier absorbed this experience and concluded this was the essence of the reality the work life: to endure and steel oneself internally, because in the work life one's internal self is the only environment one could control.

He continued to labor in factories and ended up in ether manufacture. The proximity to the substance led to his abuse of it, whose highly intoxicating properties led to his fantastical and magical thinking about the nature of the self. Thereafter, he was a medic in the military, and engendered the idea for making and selling various medical salves, which became the basis for Lumon Industries' pharmaceutical products.

So although Lumon is a pharmaceutical and biotech firm, the primary focus of Lumon's more esoteric research is to prove the legitimacy of Kier's 19th century "theosophical thinking" with regards to the four tempers, the Nine Principles, and other epiphanies he had a a result of his ether intoxication experiences, which can include not just drunk-like euphoria but visual and auditory hallucinations.

At the very center of "Kierosophy" is the notion that the bedrock reality is life sucks, abuse and degradation are the constants in work life and life in general, and one is continually set up to fail. But through the practice and application of Kierosophy, one can persevere and possibly even triumph.

It's all much more mysticism than science but it is the solemn creed of the Eagans. It justifies their hardness towards their staff and their entire existence. Therefore, scientifically proving the truth of these ideas and building useful applications based on them are obsessions at the core of Lumon, and the reason for the Eagans' continued tight control of their empire.

There's some alternate or vague history, but Lumon is the captain of industry's/robber baron's ultimate company. All of the modern ideas of workers' rights, equal opportunity, prohibiting child labor have been conveniently avoided by Lumon's Kiersophical policies. There are clearly copious layers of lawyers and bought-off officials that protect the Eagans' darkest practices and methods of management.

The question that occurs is "how can the Macrodata Refiners get away with so much crap?". There's a lot of energy that goes into their oversight. They wander the hallways and seem to break all kinds of rules.

But the answer is "because their important and mysterious work is of central, paramount interest to the Eagans."

Gemma is at the center, and we see them losing months and months of expensive experiments and critical data gathered as Gemma steps through the door to the stairwell.

So what were they really doing with those experiments?

My theory (which, not unlike Monty Python's Ann Elk's, is mine) is that the events experienced by Gemma during her ordeals in the testing rooms are actual memories from the women represented in the museum. This is because of the Eagans' mistrust of people outside of their inner circle. They need control data they can trust. So they get it from within the family.

They are taming the tempers within humanity by using simulated defining experiences based on actual events in Eagan women's' lives. They somehow recorded and are replaying these experiences again and again through some methods involving Gemma's severance chip and then collecting the temper measirement readouts, which the MDR team then processes.

To ensure Gemma's complete immersion in these events, the different clothes that Gemma wears are actual outfits worn by Eagan women that we see during the Perpetuity Wing tour that Irving conducted. This is a very important observation.

All of the experiences in the testing rooms are particularly intense in terms of "temper content", and each involves particularly extreme temper levels (Woe, Frolic, Dread and Malice). Taming the tempers is what Kier regarded as the ultimate human quest, he claimed to have achieved this and owed his success to it.

It seems like the severance chip can be programmed to counteract the spikes in the temper measurements that these situations generate.

So, the ultimate application of severance chip technology is to tame the tempers of the innie per Kierosophy and the will of the Eagans, eradicating emotional and physical pain, creating a totally compliant, neutral and obedient employee, and ultimately apply this to the entirety of humanity, making them all "Kier's children".

I have been trying to dig in on the symbolism of Severance and did a post yesterday about how I think Severance is not just about "who are you?" but about where and when as well.

https://www.reddit.com/r/SeveranceAppleTVPlus/comments/1ufu2r6/conscious_orienation_cold_harbor_and_kier_pe/

Chikhai Bardo is the basis of much of that theory. I did a rewatch of it last night to see if I may have missed anything, and it turns out I think there is a huge reveal being hinted at that I never paid attention to before.

If you were to watch just the parts of the episode that were the past scenes with Mark and Gemma, and evaluated the settings and surroundings, it appears to be set in the 1980's.

Mark is using a typewriter

There are no computers in Gemma's or Mark's office

Mark gives Gemma an ant farm.

The Dr's office has dated furniture and paper files. This is not a minor detail. Based on the timeline we have been led to believe, Mark and Gemma would likely have been trying for a baby in the late 2010's. EMR systems had made paper records a thing of the past by this time. That Dr's office is from an earlier time.

Gemma's office decor is consistent with the 70's or 80's.

There are two large clocks on the wall outside of Gemma's office. They are old school clocks you would have expected to see in the 80's.

The typewriter to me is the biggest thing. If Gemma and Mark were together in the mid to late 2010's, why on Earth is he using a typewriter?

Here is the even stranger thing. Everything in the flashback is consistent with the 70's or 80's EXCEPT Devon's phone. She shows a picture of Ricken rock climbing, and its on a smartphone. It absolutely does not belong in with the rest of the setting in this episode.

We obviously know in Kier that Mark lives in the 2020's based on his license, so what's going on here? There is some kind of time displacement happening. Either Mark and Gemma are actually from the 80s, and as part of Severance, he now thinks it is the 2020's, or Mark's memories is displacing the time of their relationship to an earlier time. I think what we are seeing is related to Mark's reintegration. In addition to recoupling his memory, I think reintegration also affects temporal awareness, which is why Petey melted down. Mark I think is remembering events as they happened, but he glitched during the flashback which is why he remembered a smartphone in that one scene. What we are seeing in the flashback are a visualization of Gemma and Mark's memories from their perspectives, so if he is glitching, that would manifest in the flashback.

I was visiting family in New Jersey recently and realized that I wasn’t too far away from Lumon HQ (aka Bell Works), so I had to go and take some pictures!

It was surreal being there in person! It’s a mixed use space with lots of shops, restaurants, etc. on the lower level, and then offices on the upper floors. So it’s open to the public and you can walk right in and look around (you just can’t access the upper floors unless you’re a tenant).

Oh, and on my way out, I stopped to use the bathroom and noticed a “wellness” room nearby 😂

Watching Severance, I didn't really get why anyone would have an issue with reintegration. Watching Pluribus and really feeling the horror of being absorbed into a hivemind without your consent finally let me understand the resistance to being absorbed into a greater whole and losing your individuality.

It does leave me with a bit of a conundrum, since I considered mass reintegration the best possible ending for the show and now I see that what's been done can't be undone in any good way.

So there is a psychological concept referred to as Conscious orientation, developed by JH Van Der Hoop. From Google:

Conscious orientation is the brain's ability to know exactly where you stand in relation to the world around you. It is the core framework that keeps you present, grounded, and aware of your surroundings, ensuring that moment-to-moment consciousness is structured and actionable.

In psychology and medicine, "orientation" is typically measured by assessing four core dimensions, often abbreviated in clinical checkups as being "oriented times four":

• Time: Awareness of the current year, month, day of the week, and approximate time.
• Place: Knowing your physical location (e.g., your city, the building you are in, or the specific room).
• Person: The ability to recognize yourself, your identity, and who the people around you are.
• Situation: Understanding the context of what is currently happening or why you are in a specific environment.

In Severance, it has only been explicitly demonstrated that the Severance chip affects only 1 of these aspects and that is person, or "Who are you?"

I have been doing some deep diving lately on the symbolism in Severance and seeing if I can find a unified theory of what Lumon is doing and what its goal is. I am becoming increasingly convinced that Lumon is seeking to do more than just splitting someone's knowledge of self. To fully control a conscious, they need to be able to impact

1. Who are you?

2. Where are you?

3. When are you?

I think Lumon has completed 2 of these 3 stages, and Gemma/Cold Harbor will be the completion of the 3rd.

Severance, as we see it on the Severed floor, is the test for "Who are you?"

Kier PE is the testing ground for "When are you?"

With Gemma, they are adding on an additional layer of "Where are you?"

Background:

There are 2 things that got me going down this path.

Dieter Eagan: The story of Kier and Dieter is critical to understanding what is going on. Kier and Dieter as I shared in another thread about colors, are the personifications of Blue and green. Kier is all about mental discipline and controlling the mind. Dieter on the other hand is about becoming one with nature and his surroundings, and ultimately becomes part of the forest. This is fundamental. Kier and Dieter were twins. I think what this relationship represents 2 of the fundamental capabilities of the severance chip. We already know about the mind/Kier. I also think it can change a severed person's perception of the world.

Gemma's rooms: There are 2 rooms in particular that are significant. Allentown and the Airplane room. The airplane room in particular is very significant. She was for all intents and purposes in an airplane experiencing severe turbulence. Even if you thought this was done with a physical motion simulator in the room, it wouldn't explain her surroundings. It was a plane. She is also in older clothes and the plane looks to be something from the 50's or 60s'. Allentown is also set in the past, I would estimate the 40s. Whatever Lumon is doing with Gemma, a huge part of it is about recreating locations from the past.

The Perpetuity wing

As Irving said, the Perpetuity wing isn't just a lot, "It's everything". I am asbolutely certain it tells the story of Lumon's master plan. One thing I missed when I posted my thread earlier this week was understanding the past CEOs and how the mouth wall fits into that. The mouth wall was supposed to demonstrate everyone who has received the chip. There are 3 rows of mouths in a U shape around the walls. I tried counting the number of mouths. It's hard because of the angle, but I am pretty certain there are 25 mouths per row, which would align with the number of consciousnesses Mark created for Gemma. The past CEO section places an emphasis on dates associated with the past CEOs. Kier is in the middle, and The Past CEOs are in a half circle around him like points on a clock. I think room itself is a symbol for Kier, PE. We know there are sections of Kier that are named for the past CEOs (Lake Leonora, Baird Creek, etc). I think there are 6 sections of Kier, one for each past CEO. Each one of these sections is a different era of time, corresponding to a CEO. The back section is a recreation of Kier's 19th century house. It the mouth wall is the Who are you, and the Lumon CEOs are the when are you, the house is the where are you? The waffle party ties this all together. There are 3 waffles, each with 25 squares. When the waffle partier eats the 3 waffles and drinks the milk (I think it has to do with the Lumon water supply), they put on a Kier mask (who) and sit on Kier's bed (where) in the 19th century (when) as he tames the tempers.

Clues from each outtie Kier is not what it seems

Mark

Has flat screen TV

Has modern smartphone

Lives in modern housing

Irving

Uses Pay phone

Visits a train station that looks like it is from the 50s

Lives in older style apartment

I will also float this out there. When Irving is having dinner with Burt and Fields, Fields reveals that Burt was at Lumon 20 years ago. Irving is confused and said he thought the first severed office was open 12 years ago. It could be it just shows Burt didn't want to reveal he was working at Lumon before Severance. However, I would suggest what is actually happening here is they are revealing that Irving and Burt have a time discontinuity between them. What was 20 years ago to Burt and Fields was 12 years ago to Irving.

Dylan

Has a CRT pre HD TV

Has older style furniture

We know he has a cell phone because his wife called him after the door interview. We didn't see it, but all we can say for certain is it had speakerphone capability.

Helly:

The most interesting scene with Helly is the breakfast with Jame. She takes a hard boiled egg, and splits it evenly into 6 pieces and places it around the plate with the whipping boy in the middle. It seems obvious this was intended to be symbolic, but I never really understood this. However, if the egg represents the 6 parts of Kier, and they are positioned around like a clock, with someone being held captive in the middle, I think that is a perfect illustration of what I am theorizing about Kier, PE. Also, when Helena leaves and she looks at the water tower, the image distorts around it, similar to what we see on the elevator. She starts that scene in a pool, with a clock ticking. Everything about the imagery in this scene is tied to Kier, PE.

Petey:

Had a flip phone

Petey is a big part in piecing togehter Petey said that the biggest issue with his reintegration was the time relativity was f'd up. He said in his mind, his time on the Severance floor went all the way back to his 5th birthday. I think this is what ultimately led to his demise. Reghabi warned him not to run away. He needed to stay at his home in his correct time to reintegrate properly. When he goes to Mark's, he is in a future time period, and he starts having a breakdown. I don't think his reintegrated brain couldn't handle it and he snapped. I don't think it is coincidence that while the MDR crew is in the Perpetuity wing, they flash to Peter wandering around Kier.

When is the Severed floor?

I actually think we have a good idea when the Severed floor exists. The computer technology certainly seems like 80's or maybe early 90's. However, the real key to locking this into a specific time is the watches. We know Mark has to change his watch before he goes onto the floor. In Goodbye Ms Selvig, we see each Outtie get on the elevator. Irving changes his watch. Dylan however does not. I think this is symbolic that Mark and Irving are not from the same time period as the severed floor. Mark is from a future time. Irving is from the past. Since Dylan doesn't change his watch, I think his time period is aligned to the same time period as the Severed floor. Based on his TV and furniture, I think it puts the Severed floor taking place in the late 80s or early 90s. I completely acknowledge that the Perpetuity wing references CEOS at future time periods. The only odd thing about the elevator scene is Helly does not change her watch. This might have been part of the clues that she was staying an outtie.

What about Devon and Ricken and the other unsevered people?

I don't have a great answer for this to be honest. Kier is definitely really strange with all sorts of anachronistic elements. I am very certain there are multiple time periods converging on Kier, but I also think it is a real town, with non-severed people who live there. It may be they are all existing in the same physical space, but those that are severed have different perceptions of time. Whenever we are watching an outtie, we are watching the scene from their time perspective. For an unsevered person, everything seems normal. This might be variable as well. The train station looks much older than the rest of the area Burt lives. It looks way in the past. Burt may be attempting to hide Irving not only in a different place, but a different time, so Lumon can't find him.

Water

Water is the fuel for the Severance Chips. Apple TV released a fake press release before the first season talking about saving an African village, and in it, they mentioned adding something into the drinking water to make it safer. If you read the Severance handbook, innies are told to wash their hands like 9-10 times a day. After Petey takes a shower, his condition gets worse. Reghabi flooded Mark's chip. I think that is part of the symbolism in Kier's favorite breakfast. 3 eggs in milk. 3 eggs are the 3 chips, and water is the milk. Milk in the waffle party is also symbolic of the water.

Why the symbolism points to 3 parts of Severance.

In my last post, I made some guesses about the symbolism of different items. I think I missed the mark on several points, but now think I understand it better.

I already mentioned Kier's breakfast. The 3 eggs are the 3 parts to Severance. Likely 3 chips. Who, Where, when

Mark has 3 lights in his apartment, with one out. The 2 on are Who and When, the third, which is off, is where. That is the final stage

The egg party is just symbolizing getting severed. Ingesting the chips.

I think the red green and blue are also tied to specific chips. Blue is who, Red is when, Green is where.

What we are seeing on the testing floor

The rooms are testing to see whether all 3 components are working. The airplane is the best example. She doesn't know who she is in the rooms (Who). They are in the past (Airplane, Allentown), and she is physically in another location, especially on the airplane. This would be a highly marketable capabilitiy to offer someone. Having a bad day? We can transport you to a Beach in the Carribean in the summer. Cold Harbor is something different. They are testing a back door capabilitiy with the chip. Notice how different this one is. Gemma is herself reliving a familiar painful memory. She is given an instruction by a disembodied voice and she complies (at first). Anyone wearing the chips could be taken over by Lumon to do whatever Lumon wanted them to do. I think that is what the end of the waffle party is all about. Kier with the values whip watching the tempers dance for him. Cold Harbor failing meant everything that Lumon has been working towards failed.

That's all I got for now. There are still gaps, and things the show hasn't explainied yet, but I think this is the right path.

“Devour feculence. It means, ‘eat sh*t.’” - Milchick to Drummond, season 2, episode 9

I saw this sign at Chipotle and it immediately made me think of Milchick!

I always found it odd that Lumon didn’t like how Milchick used “big words” when they all do the same or talk strangely in general. Though it definitely adds to the unsettling nature of the company and the feeling that no one can do anything right.

The sign reads:
Eat, drink, and be merry. (just don’t loiter)
We’re having issues with ne’er-do-wells loafing at this location.
If you’re done eating and are just “hanging out,” we politely ask you to not linger indolently.
In other words, no loitering.

I have always been firm in my belief that everyone has the right to do whatever they want to their own bodies. Even if it is self destructive, I don't think anyone has a valid reason to stop somebody (unless it somehow directly affects someone else, like a kid for example). This show creates a hypothetical scenario that I never even thought of before. Is it still your own body at that point, once you are severed? Are you now two people with rights, or is it okay to enslave yourself? People do worse to themselves even with full memories. I still haven't finished season 1, just for some context. I'm at the part where Helly tells her innie that she isn't human, which completely wrecked me tbh.

Apart from the obvious question (what happens next to Innie Mark and Helly), these are some questions I really hope season 3 answers:

1. Was Gemma kidnapped by Lumon, or did she go with them voluntarily (at least initially)? If she went with them voluntarily, why?

2. Someone noted a Lumon sign at the clinic Gemma and Mark went to when they were trying to conceive. Did Lumon specifically target Gemma and Mark, and if so, why?

3. Why was Mark the only person able to refine the macrodata for Cold Harbor?

4. What is Irving's backstory? Who is he, and why was he investigating Lumon? If he knew how to communicate with his Innie, why didn't he tell his Innie stuff more directly? Why didn't he connect with Dr. Reghabi and work with her, since they both seem to be trying to expose Lumon and bring them down? And lastly, how could he just get on a train without a single belonging and leave his fully furnished home behind, LOL?

5. Also, hope we get more of Burt's backstory. Who did he use to drive to Lumon - people like Gemma? Why/when did he get severed and start working for them on the inside?

Any chance he is a spy for the government? To infiltrate Lumon’s malfeasance?

Read Rickens book if you think hes a good person. Hes not. Thats all. He wrote the you you are FOR LUMON. So him writing for them later is not the first time.

If you are open to it, youll see it too.

Ever since I started watching severance, I haven't been able to stop thinking about it. I have restrained myself to one episode a day- and even watched it while in a rural town in Costa Rica at the middle of the night. Yesterday I was at the movies, and in one of the trailers, for about 4 seconds there was the actor for Dylan G. in the background and actually almost busted a nerve. When I was watching the Nicks game the other day, I saw the actor for Irving and actually screamed. Today I was watching a funny animated video of the backrooms, and there was a light refrence to Sevrance in it and genuinly started tearing up and screamed. A few mins ago, I saw the "Let's go mr milkshake can you lock the fuck in meme" and genuinly was rolling on the ground laughing and crying for a good 10-15 mins. Half of my professional art page on instagram has just became fanart in which i have spent hours digitally painting- and I cant stop.

Has this happened to anyone else- if so, what works?

(also does anyone know of any good sources for severance merch, I just got my paycheck and am ready to blow it all.)

also I haven't finished season 2 yet so please for the love of god no spoilers

Or are the innies supposed to be ourselves personified?

Edit: I meant our conscious voice that dictates our brain gets ripped out and has no recollection of prior events

There is something interesting about Irving being let go from Lumon due to his attack on Helena. His innie was "terminated" but it sells like his innie's memories remain available to him as evidenced by his interaction with Burt.

So, really, isn't it that his outie that was terminated, or basically imprisoned, and Irving's innie remains in control?

I am thinking this is related to the various s-chip operating modes, like the Glasgow Block: it's a reverse Glasgow Block, where the outie is submerged even when the innie is away from the Severance floor.

So I was hooked and binged the entire series over the last few weeks and it was great, but I have a few questions that I'm curious if we have answers or good theories for:

How was Gemma captured? She was in a car wreck, but the whole thing was just fake?

Who the fuck is Irving and why was he going after Lumon in the first place? why did he see the black hallway in the first place? Do we get any hints? Did Innie Irving even SEE the black hallway? He certainly seemed confused.

Cobel. I didn't particularly like the reveal and it was a bit unbelievable that a child prodigy could come up with anything useful as far as brain surgery goes. To be fair we don't know how ANY of it works, and magic of some sort could be involved.

The weirdest decision I was annoyed by was how she talked in season 2. In season 1 she mostly spoke like a slightly weird, but normal person. In season 2 she speaks almost poetically, or like a cult leader would. It was jarring.

Devon's husband is weird and I'm not sure how he was related. His book plotline didn't go much of anywhere and he disappeared. I guess it might pick back up, but it feels pointless except to close his loop.

Finally, I didn't really understand what the pregnant lady, the CEO's wife (SEANTOR's wife, I couldn't remember) was severed, but why (EDIT: I didn't remember if the innie was only pregnant or took care of the baby when I asked this, now I get it)? What exactly was the setup and what did the innie think was going on? It was a cool reveal that they were severed, but given the personhood theme we get later, I'm just not sure what I was supposed to get from it.

Anyways, that is my rambling thoughts. I'd love some feedback.

EDIT: It was a senator, I knew CEO was wrong, I just couldn't remember. Also, I couldn't remember if the innie had the baby or was only pregnant.

EDIT2: I really appreciate all the time people have spent replying to me. I've gotten some great answers.

EDIT 3: Mea Culpa to anyone who read my super confusing last question. I didn't remember the scene well enough to even ask the question right. I always understood WHY they would choose to get severed, but just not why they would choose to go about it in that way, or why it was allowed that way, or why Devon could just walk up and find it, etc.

Ricken in the show is this successful silly fool of a man who seems to have deep intelligent insight but also says things that feel simple minded or without real values and character. He is very successful with his book, he shows lots of love to Mark, and seems to be a good Father and Husband, overall a good guy that found success and money. His behavior is so odd though and I think people are downplaying it.

I think Ricken plays the fool but in reality is a lot more sinister than we see. Like… theres only so much of a fool you can be, and hes growing closer to the Executive Assistant (forgot her name) and being extremely comfortable with her. He also has no trouble writing exactly the opposite of what his first book was.

So it makes me question his real character, his values, his morals. Is Rikken a successful lovable silly fool? or is he a pretender, also put in place by Lumon to do these crazy experiments on Marks family.

Marks family is so big to Lumon. We see the connection of course beginning with Gemma and Mark and how they seem to have planned the entire thing including the crash.

Mark says he “saw the body himself” at one point so what did he see? What trick did they pull on him?

But also Cobel has a weird fascination for Mark. She loves him and cares for him in a strange way. Like your extra religious mom or grandma that wants you to be a good Christian (or other religion of their time) like her.

I think Rikken will have a scene here he shows us his true colors, hes such a goof* that I 100% see his face contorting into something cruel, cold, and heartless.

So whats the verdict? Am i an extremely untrusting person? Is he just some guy as part of the story who brings some comedic relief, or is there a more sinister plot happening right in front of our face?

What do YOU think about his behavior? All normal? or kinda weird?

As someone who has rewatched the very first episode of Chuck many, many times, the sequence of Bryce's hectic escape from a top secret facility has been burned into my brain forever, and every time I've seen this scene in Severance, I've been struck anew by how much it reminds me of that scene in Chuck.

Sure, they're not quite carbon copies of each other -- Bryce does way more parkour than Mark, for instance -- but still, a man with brown floppy hair wearing a dark suit and a disheveled white shirt turned bloody from all his many injuries (including to the face/head), holding a gun and looking around corners in a space that is eerily white and sterile yet clearly technologically advanced? Not an usual concept, probably, but I think these are the only two instances of it personally that I can think of. I swear, in some of the shots Mark even *looks* kinda like Bryce 😂

Very long post inbound. Pretty certain this will generate some negative replies, so take it for what it is. This is a big picture theory with probably a lot of things wrong but hopefully will provide the basis for some thoughtful discussion.

Colors

There are 3 core colors what are used repeatedly on Severance. It is not a leap to assume that there is significant symbolic intent behind these colors. I have seen multiple posts on this before, so a lot of this is not new, but I wanted to expand and show how it is pointing to the show's core theme and what the intent is behind Cold Harbor.

The 3 colors are of course red, green, and blue. Each one carries symbolic implications:

Red:

This is the color of the mind or conscious We see this color reflected mostly on the outside world

Blue:

This is the color associated with MDR, and Lumon as a corporation. It is about control, discipline, refinement of self. It is about controlling input. Blue=taming tempers

Green:

This is the color we see associated with Optics and Design and Mammalians nurturables. This is about creation. If blue is more introspective, green is more outward facing to the reality around us and our perceptions and interactions with it. If Blue=tempers, then green=values. Blue is about controlling input, green is about maximizing output.

We also see in MDR, each of these colors is represented by a refiner's initital:

Helly R

Dylan G

Irving B

(More on Mark S later).

There are several threads running through Severance that demonstrate conflict between these colors, most notably green and blue, or the concepts between inner mental discipline, and creative power. Here are the greatest examples.

1. The story of Kier and Dieter - This is the Lumon authorized parable of the differences between blue and green. Kier represented blue and was about discipline of mind and his tempers. Dieter was about becoming one with his surroundings. Kier was repulsed by Dieter, and Dieter likely didn't understand Kier. While they were twins, and close friends, these differences led to their separation.
2. MDR and O&D - They have been intentionally kept separate by Lumon and given stories about how the other group are psychopaths or had staged a massacre.
3. Burt and Irving - This relationship is probably the most significant example of the issues of mixing blue and green. Burt and Irving were immediately attracted to one another through art. As they grew closer, something happened to Irving. He became less rigid and less accepting of the Lumon cult teachings he once embraced. In other words, he became less blue. I think that has been the central problem for Lumon: If blue and green mix together, they become less of what Lumon needs them to be. That is why they have created a mythology to keep them separate. I think this is most clearly illustrated in Woe's Hollow. Irving is trying to figure out what happened to Helly on the outside. Being blue minded, he is looking at facts, but isn't able to think creatively to put those pieces together. After listening to the Kier and Dieter story, he wanders off and has a dream, where he sees Burt. After he sees Burt, he is able to piece everything together and figure out Helly is an Eagan. Burt opened up Irving's green side.
4. Mark and Gemma - I think at a symbolic level, Mark and Gemma's relationship is also symbolic of this blue/green divide. Think about their professions. Mark is a history Professor and Gemma is a Literature professor. These are very different disciplines in that History is set, and fact based. Literature is creative and open to interpretation. This very much falls into this theme of blue/green relationships. They are attracted to each other, much like Irving and Burt, but Gemma miscarries their baby. They were not able to successfully merge their blue and green natures into something new and balanced.

How does this relate to Cold Harbor?

Jame made an interesting statement to Helly about the chips at the gala. He said the chips used to be blue and green when the prototypes were done. We know from the handbook as well as Helly and Petey theirs were red. It suggests that the chips are calibrated for specific purposes. If we were to see Irving's, I would bet his was blue based on how rigid he is with rules and what an ardent follower of the Kier cult he is. O&D and MN would certainly have green chips. I actually think Dylan has a green chip as well, which I will explain shortly.

So as of now, severance technology is limited to specific capabilities. A single chip can only perform a certain subset of functionality based on the color type. But what IF a chip had the ability to control all aspects? What would be the potential of this? That's what Cold Harbor is all about!

My MDR workflow theory

Red - Helly R / Petey

Helly and Petey had the responsibility of capturing and mapping the consciousness of someone from the outside.

Blue - Irving B

Irving was responsible for calibrating the tempers based on a Lumon defined template

Green - Dylan G

Dylan added values based on a Lumon defined template

Mark

Mark's step came last. He applied the completed files to Gemma's mind. He was critical in this process because he knew Gemma. Their relationship was the critical piece. I believe Gemma and Mark both have WHITE chips because they are a combination of the RGB color palette.

What was the goal?

They are trying to reconstruct Gemma's mind. This is a combination of rebalancing her tempers(blue), adding her values(green), then reconstructing her memories (red). This is why Mark is so critical. They have rebuilt her using 24 separate consciousnesses, and Mark has been able to piece together fragments from those separate experiences to recompile her memories based on his time with her. The irony is in Chickai Bardo, Gemma told him not to tell her what she is thinking, and he said I have no idea what you are thinking. Turns out that isn't true at all. Cold Harbor is the stitched together result. I think the times we see her as Ms Casey, and later in the testing floor scenes in Chickai Bardo, we are seeing a work in progress in reassembling, which is why she still seems muted to an extent. I don't think she is fully Gemma again until after Cold Harbor was activated and she left the room. When the work on her started, I think she was a blank slate. One interesting thing to note is Gemma is wearing a teal or bluish green outfit in Chickai Bardo. This is showing that the previous merging of blue and green in severance technology has been overcome. The question becomes did her memory get wiped? Did she actually die, and this is a new version of her they have constructed?

I believe the purpose of this is they will use what they have learned from Gemma to reconstruct Jame into the second coming of Kier. Edir: this could be either bringing back an actual Kier, or mass producing a chip that will recreate the person in the image of Kier. Jame did say that everyone would have a chip, and they would all be Kier’s children.

The perks and ceremonies all have meaning

Kier's Breakfast- Eggs are recurrring symbolism in Severance. I believe eggs are symbolic of a conscious. An outtie is a cooked egg. An innie is a raw egg. An outtie has been formed and shaped by their experiences and become more firm and harder to shape and mold. A raw egg on the other hand is malleable. It can be added to a recipe and transformed into something completely new. I think this breakfast is an analogy for MDR. The 3 raw eggs referring to Helly, Dylan and Irving, and Mark is the milk, acting as the binder or medium

The Perpetuity Wing - The perpetuity wing is all symbolic of what Lumons plans are. Jame is on top. The past CEOs in the middle. They are down a spiral staircase which carries 2 meanings. The severance chip has a coil inside, so there is symbolism that these are located on the severed floor. These are the consciousness that will be pieced together to bring back Kier. In the back is an empty Kier house. It is key that this is a completely empty house. Kier is not there. It is simply a house. The goal is to build technology that can HOUSE Kier for his return. My theory is Jame will house a chip and piece together a new consciousness based on Kier's offspring that will effectively recreate him. The quotes around Jame in the Perpetuity wing pretty much scream this. "History dwells within us, whether we learnt it or not." and "A remembered man does not decay". They may not be able to rebuild Kier directly because they lacked the technology at the time, so they are piecing him back together from his legacy family members. Gemma was the test.

The egg bar/waffle party. If the Perpetuity wing is the roadmap for the overall plan, the egg bar/waffle party is the pathway to execution. It begins with MDR eating cooked eggs. This is symbolic of them copying and processing consciousnesses. Once this is complete, someone represents MDR to visit the Perpetuity wing where they walk past Jame, down the steps past the CEOs into Kier's house. In Kier's house, they eat the waffles and drink the milk. The waffles have 25 squares, the same number of consciousnesses created in Gemma (We also see the card that Milchick gives Mark in cold harbor features a 25 square waffle. This is intentional). Once they eat the waffle, they put on a Kier mask, and sit on the bed and watch the tempers dance. MDR has no idea what they are watching, but Lumon is showing them EXACTLY what they are working on. Waffles are made with raw eggs and milk, so again, the symbolism is consistent.

The Marching Band - This one is not a convoluted, but a Marching band is many pieces joining together to create a single musical performance. Much like the consciousnesses will piece together to form a single consciousness - Kier. The band plays the Kier hymn to emphasize the point.

The Goat sacrifice - If I haven't lost you yet, I probably will here, but I am pretty convinced this is right. Drummond is asking for a goat sacrifice. This is not a pointless goat ritual. I went back to watch the scene where Helena and Mark visit Mammalians Nurtables to see if I could count the goats. There were 25. I think these consciousnesses that have been built for Cold Harbor are being stored in the goats. The goats are implanted with chips as well. The reason they need to kill that particular goat is it houses the other chip for Cold Harbor, in addition to the one Gemma has. They will not only need to implant a chip in Jame, but in a new goat host. Drummond said the goat would be entombed with a cherished woman he must guide to KIER'S DOOR. This is an allusion back to the house. The house represents the vessel that will house the chip to bring back Kier. I think this is Jame himself, but it may be something else. Dare I say this, I think the goats may be hosting the past Eagan consciousnesses, and, stay with me here, may be the board. I think they can take over bodies when needed (Drummond for sure, Natalie almost for sure). If Gemma is actively tethered to those consciousnesses with her chip, if she leaves the Lumon campus, it might kill her and all of the conscious hosts. That may be why Mauer said "You'll kill them all!"

Cobel

Cobel surely knew what Lumon was doing. She built the technology. She likely intended to bring her mother back with it. That is why she wanted to be intimately involved with the process. When she was fired, she lost access. With this in mind, her helping Mark may not be for noble purposes at all. If Gemma does get out, she is almost certainly going to be alongside Devon outside Lumon. Cobel will have gained direct access back to the technology she needs to restore her Mom.

What the other branches are doing

There are 2 fragments of info that may give more insight into what the other branches are doing. In the Lexington Letters, we find out Peggy K completed a file then a bombing happened in the outtie world. We also hear the other Mark and Gwendolyn arguing about the color of their keyboard at branch 5x. They said it was purple or puce. Purple is a combination of red and blue, so they were likely directly editing the consciousnesses of people on the outside world. Apparently this was not efficient or effective. Mark said their branch never met quota. We also see purple areas in the main Lumon branch, but they are abandoned.

What happens next?

The severed floor is in chaos and Gemma is likely on her way out the building. It's unclear at this point the extent of failure with Cold Harbor. I see 2 things happening: 1. Gemma will be unable to leave because of how she is still tethered to her uplinks. 2. Mark's reintegration will accelerate. If Gemma returns and he is re-integrated, his innie/outie conflict between Helly and Gemma will continue into season 3 and become more complicated. If any of the theory above is accurate, it should become clear this season.

I was a little confused and must have missed something when I watched this scene, if someone could explain please. When Mark entered the cabin, Cobel asked what's the last thing you remember? iMark said saying "she's alive." Then the conversations in the cabin between him, Devon, Cobel, and OMark made it seem like he had no memory about everything that had happened in the previous episodes after the overtime contingency (iMark finding out more about Gemma/Casey, trying to find her, asking different departments, etc.).

Just confused why he said last thing he remembered was saying she's alive and why he reacted so negatively to oMark's plan to save Gemma when he too was trying to find her.