ORTBO DEBATE

The reality of the ORTBO has been debated where some people think that the ORTBO took place in a real life setting/national park and others believe that the ORTBO is actually taking place in a simulated/projected/manipulated space either at the Lumon building or elsewhere. There are pretty convincing reasons that validate both sides of the debate. Here are the ones I thought most about:

Reasoning for simulation/projection theory:

  1. It appeared as though the innies awoke at different times at the beginning of the episode. We know for a fact that innie Mark woke before Irv because Mark tells him that he too woke up on the ice, which means earlier than Irv. Them waking up at different times resembles the spacing in which the MDR outies must enter the Lumon building at different times signalling that they may still be in the Lumon building or some kind of simulation. 
  2. It also seems far fetched not only that the outies agreed to this retreat but how they would have been brought to the location practically. They would have be brought at different times in order to maintain seperation of the outies — if not, the outies would have seen each other and potentially interacted (which is unallowed). Them being brought there at different times also wouldnt make sense because as previously noted, Mark woke up on the ice before Irv, wouldn’t Mark have noticed the Lumon team dropping Irv off on the ice? None of this makes practical sense. 
  3. None of the innies ever showed any signs of actually being cold, nor did they mention it. Irv also showed no signs of being nearly “frozen to death” in the morning when he woke back up from his dream.

Reasoning for real location theory:

  1. There are shots where we can see birds in the background plus the walking distance the innies undertake seems too grand to be traversed in a simulation space. Maybe birds could be projected but it doesn't seem like the amount of walking could be done in a room or basement area inside the Lumon building.
  2. It seems unlikely that sex between Mark and Helena would be allowed in a simulation space where there would likely be cameras or some way that Lumon employees could monitor their actions.
  3. The fact that Helena’s life was seemingly in real danger when being drowned points to the outdoor space to be real life or else Lumon employees would have likely just shut down the projections or prevented her from drowning in some other way.
  4. Why would a manipulated space be needed if the "Glasgow Block" can be initiated/lifted from anywhere?