Severance dropped Gemma's entire backstory in episode 7, leaving some of us (me) more confused than ever. But thankfully every Mensa-level genius in the world seems to have gathered in the Severance subreddit, and theories are already cooking.
To briefly recap: on top of learning about Gemma and Mark's relationship this week, we got a glimpse at what Gemma's been up to in Lumon. She appears to be alternating between multiple severed realities in different rooms—though the only room she hasn't entered is "Cold Harbor," which is name of the project Mark S has almost finished completing.
As Slate points out in their recap, these rooms seem designed to test how well Gemma's non-severed self blocks out the uncomfortable/painful situations her severed selves go through. Not sure what the end game is, but this could be a future program Lumon plans to roll out to the public. Like...hate the dentist? Your severed self will go for you and you wont remember a thing. Fear flying? Your severed self will handle it.
But, what is Cold Harbor? Reddit is busy figuring it out, some fans think the room ultimately represents death, and the ability to sever oneself off from it.
As for how Gemma became a testing case Lumon, one Redditor points out that her and Mark's IVF doctor is the same man monitoring her in the severed rooms.
Unclear if Lumon kidnapped Gemma or if her participation was initially voluntary (seems unlikely...why would she fake her death and not tell Mark?), but there are definitely more questions than answers at this point!
