#I’m only on s2e3 so idk if I’m even close to right or not

[the-real-kilgore-trout]

My theory is that macrodata refinement is actually a part of the severance process. They’re manually separating and boxing away (compartmentalizing) a person’s mind when they’re severed because ai can’t comprehend emotion or memory. Part of the severance chips are programmed to evoke the emotions without actually revealing the memory (like only the amygdala is triggered but not the rest of the brain so only the emotion is present. We already know from Helly’s surgery that the chip is quite close to the amygdala). The “scary” numbers (box one) are the most traumatic ones, and the other boxes are memories with other emotional associations. That’s why there’s a time limit, because it’s likely done during the surgery (or potentially when the severed person sleeps, which is when the brain processes memories).

Cold Harbor is them reprogramming Gemma’s chip because they made some sort of error the first time. Because Petey said there were people kept on the severance floor permanently in episode three (iirc), I think Gemma/Ms. Casey is one of them. She’s the only employee who is referred to as Ms/Mr. [NAME] who isn’t shown to be unsevered, but all the severed employees (except for her) are referred to as their first name and last initial. She's also only referred to by her first name, unlike people like Cobel and Milchik. That would also explain the focus on keeping Mark only until Cold Harbor is finished. They don’t want to screw up twice so they’re using someone who knew and loved her because he’s more likely to be accurate with the data. Also probably why Cobel was so watchful over him and determined for him to remember Gemma while at work.

I also think her severance and “death” is like Maddie’s dad from Pantheon (if you don’t know, pantheon is about a tech company secretly uploading people’s minds to the internet at the cost of their physical bodies. Maddie’s dad agreed to secretly be uploaded because he was dying, and the company told his family he died). (Btw pantheon is a great show with very similar themes to severance). Idk exactly why she agreed to that though or the exact nature of something like that. It could be about reconstructing her body, which is why she goes to the testing floor, because something went wrong with her (maybe a clone? The goats could be part of a cloning/reanimation/consciousness transfer experiment, maybe even an allusion to dolly the sheep)

But of course, we all know Irving was right, they're cutting swears out of movies/j

Idk man I’m sure this makes no sense I’m very sleep-deprived and watched all of season one on a fourteen hour flight