SPOILERS for Severance Season 2, Episode 7 ‘Chikhai Bardo’
Stop the presses. Severance has delivered an episode so tense, beautiful, haunting and emotional that it rivals the season one finale as the best episode yet. This series has drip-fed us information for nearly two whole seasons, and now all of a sudden they’ve had a change of heart and opened the floodgates. The episode ended 5 minutes before writing this, and the only thought in my head right now is “WTF”, so I apologise if any or all of this is incoherent. This episode focuses entirely on Gemma and Mark. That’s right, not Ms. Casey… Gemma. It jumps from present day all the way back to their first meeting. From the real world right down to the Testing Floor. I’m still trying to wrap my head around what just happened, and I feel like it’s going to take the entire week to do so. But lets get stuck into some of the best 50 minutes of TV I’ve ever seen. I don’t even know how I’m going to break up this episode, this could be chaos, but here goes nothing.
Now that’s a meet-cute…
The opening shot immediately screams “flashback”. The colour palette and grainy texture are entirely new, and it doesn’t take long to reveal that what we’re watching is the first meeting of Mark (Adam Scott) and Gemma (Dichen Lachman). It’s a lovely, wholesome scene with two college professors bonding over their students’ assignments while donating blood.
The wholesome energy is then immediately ripped out of the room as we cut to a parallel scene with a nurse (Sandra Bernhard) taking Gemma’s blood and storing it in vials. Once I recovered from the shock that this is Gemma, like THE Gemma (assumedly at this point), I was able to continue. She asks Gemma “where did you go?” and Gemma smiles, indicating it was her remembering that moment with Mark.
We go back into another memory of Mark and Gemma in bed together before cutting to Mark laying alive but unconscious on his couch. I might add that this is the core structure of the episode and it’s beautiful – it’s showing us Mark and Gemma in the present day each remembering key moments from their life together indicating they’re very much both still in love. While Mark is asleep, Reghabi (Karen Aldridge) explains to Devon (Jen Tullock) that Mark is reintegrating and Gemma is well and truly alive. The confirmation hits her like a tonne of bricks, like I’d imagine it would with anyone.
The Testing Floor…
Back with Gemma, she’s still being tested and measured for all sorts of vitals by the unnamed Lumon nurse. The questions are basic yet strange, the strangest of all being the question regarding how many rooms Gemma will be visiting today, to which Gemma responds “six”. Gemma then returns to what looks like her living quarters/Lumon prison and changes into a new outfit and wig that’s neither Ms. Casey’s nor Gemma’s. This is where the intrigue really heightens as we get to see the Testing Floor in all its plain white-walled glory. As she follows the nurse through a maze of twists and turns she passes a range of doors named after cities from the US and around the world like Allentown, Cairns, Dranesville and more.
She enters the Wellington room and is immediately severed into someone who isn’t Gemma and we later learn isn’t Ms. Casey either. The surprises don’t stop there as the mysterious whistling man we saw two weeks ago strolls in with the trolley of dental equipment he collected from Felicia. He’s referred to later as Dr. Mauer (Robby Benson), so we’ll refer to him by that. This unnamed innie asks Dr. Mauer for a break as she was just in the room, but Mauer insists that it’s been six weeks since her last checkup. She’s terrified but complies, and we next see Gemma walking out to the nurse waiting for her, who confirms that she spent two hours in there. My jaw hurts after a ten minute checkup let alone two hours. She walks beyond the room named Cold Harbour and then we cut to yet another series of flashbacks.
Grief multiplied…
This sequence of flashbacks is the longest of the episode and it reveals a lot about Mark, Gemma and their relationship before her “death”. We get to see them bond as Mark gets her the lovely gift of an ant farm, as they begin to live together and purchase flatpack furniture. Furniture that, mind you, looks like a cot. There’s then a montage of their life together that looks to be full of love, romance and success while backed by a romantic French song.
The good times continue as it bleeds into a dinner date alongside Devon and Ricken. When Gemma says no to alcohol, Devon realises it’s because she’s pregnant, which kicks off a lovely yet brief moment between her and Devon that shows the strength of their relationship at that point. Another thing I love about these flashbacks is how different Mark is prior to Gemma’s death compared to what we’ve seen of him so far. It’s clear her death destroyed a man who was once proactive, confident and very career focused. However good times don’t last forever as Gemma suffers the pain, grief and heartbreak of a miscarriage in a truly distressing scene.
Yet another trippy blending of memories occurs, including one of Mark and Ms. Casey’s interactions from season one, before we travel into one of the more mysterious sequences of the episode.
The MDR underworld…
We next find ourselves in a dark room with four computers manned by new characters. We knew there were cameras in their computers, but we didn’t exactly know who. The glitching computer sequence reveals that before Mark started work on Cold Harbour he finished Dranesville… so did he program all of the rooms we see on the Testing Floor? Is the entirety of MDR’s work just for Gemma? As we zoom around the room we see that each of these characters looks kinda like the innie they’re surveying. So much so that I believe these are who we saw during the ORTBO, just with makeup to make them look more like their innies. I’m still stuck on the clones thing, so this new thought could be wrong, but it would make sense… otherwise why hire people that look like your other employees?
In the room is Mr. Drummond (Ólafur Darri Ólafsson) and Dr. Mauer, who is now sporting a different outfit and wig. Drummond asks Mauer if the severance barrier is holding, to which Mauer confirms. The rest of the conversation is as perplexing to me as it is to you, and it ends with Gemma walking into yet another room in a retro blue outfit.
This is how they getcha…
The next scene takes us back into another flashback with Mark and Gemma visiting a fertility clinic. This clinic is immediately suss as the first doctor we see is none other than Dr. Mauer, indicating that this clinic is one of many fronts for Lumon. This is confirmed when the client form she fills out has the Lumon logo in the top left. It seems this is the moment they caught wind of Gemma as a candidate for whatever tests they’re running. In a neat little moment, the scene cuts back to current day Gemma sitting in her Lumon-owned prison, which is the exact same layout as the clinic. It’s cool from a production standpoint as you get to use the same set twice, but also neat from a metaphorical standpoint that she’s been trapped there since that day.
After yet another trippy ass sequence, it leads into another short flashback of Mark and Gemma conducting the “final step” of whatever suspicious fertility plan Lumon gave them. It seems whatever Lumon gave her has nothing to do with fertility and more to do with prepping her for her role there.
Cutting immediately back to modern day Gemma (yes, there’s a lot of cutting) she’s being tested by Dr. Mauer, who’s looking a lot greyer in the hair than he did during the dental checkup scene. This must be his real look when he’s not donning wigs and retro outfits. We get a quick shot of the severed chip in her head before Dr. Mauer confirms all the rooms she went into – Wellington, Billings, Lucknow, St. Pierre, Cairns and Zurich. We know what Wellington is, but none of the others. His questions seem based around whether she remembers anything from the various rooms when she’s in the hallway. Coupled with Mr. Drummond’s question earlier, it seems they’re testing the efficacy of her severance given she’s severed more ways than one.
Prior to the scene ending, she asks Dr. Mauer about Cold Harbour as she noticed the last room she hasn’t been in only got given a name today. When she asks what happens once she’s been in all the rooms, he says “you will see the world again, and the world will see you”… cryptic as always. Then when she asks about seeing Mark, he doubles down and says “Mark will benefit from the world you’re siring. Kier will take away all his pain just as Kier has taken away yours”. It’s looking like Gemma is over the cryptic shit and asks him to talk like a normal person, prompting him to leave.
(insert “Pointing Leonardo DiCaprio” gif)
Returning to modern day Mark, still unconscious, Gemma and Reghabi start talking about the reintegration. Devon then brings up the Damona Birthing Retreat from season one and suggests taking Mark there to contact his innie. It’s a strange beat to bring up for it to never be used again, so maybe that location will come back. Devon then has the wild thought of calling Ms. Cobel for help against Reghabi’s warnings. Naturally, Reghabi isn’t on board with the idea, but her actions to just up and leave seem strange. She seemed invested in Mark’s reintegration but is then prepared to leave it all behind at the threat of Ms. Cobel finding her there.
Mark then drifts into another memory while saying “chikhai bardo”, and this one is huge. Gemma is looking at a bunch of cards and asking Mark for his interpretation, the card in question being the same card Dylan stole from O&D back in season one. It looks as though she’s filling out a mail-in questionnaire to win money that’s asking how you interpret the cards – most definitely how Lumon gauges its candidates. She confirms that it came in the mail and was probably due to being put on the mailing list of the fertility clinic.
Thank God You’re Here (Lumon Edition)
As modern day Gemma wakes up and goes through her usual morning routine, she gets changed into yet another new outfit before entering another room simulating turbulence on a plane. As expected, she’s accompanied by Dr. Mauer in another wig and costume.
A brief intermission reveals that Mark is stuck at 96% on Cold Harbour due to the nosebleeds he’s been experiencing. Maybe Lumon is starting to be onto him and the reintegration effects.
Back with Gemma and she’s popping on yet another outfit, this time entering a new room where she repeatedly and endlessly writes Christmas thank you cards by hand while her “husband” Dr. Mauer urges her to keep going. We later find out that this is the Allentown room. “It’s always Christmas” is such a defeating line in this scene, linking to the dentist sequence in which that severed Gemma commented on always being in the dentist’s chair.
Someone call Michael Scofield…
Following Gemma reliving an emotion-packed memory, she’s visited by Dr. Mauer in his regular daily look. When she tells him that she would like to return home, suggesting she’s complied with everything Lumon has put her through up to this point, he turns full villain. He lies to her by telling her Mark has since remarried and has a daughter while she’s been in there. He’s attempting to manipulate her, but she’s not buying it.
Everything they’ve put her through has finally built up and she knocks out Dr. Mauer, stealing his keycard to mount a thrilling escape. After avoiding the nurse in the dark hallways, she makes it to the elevator and travels up, thinking she’s finally made it. Only her chip is immediately activated and she becomes Ms. Casey for the first time since Mr. Milkshake sent her down last season. When Ms. Casey arrives in the Exports Hall, she walks through only to be stopped by Mr. Milkshake and told to return back down the elevator. It’s a truly heartbreaking scene not only for Gemma but for Ms. Casey. She looks so delighted and happy that she’s been woken up again, only to be essentially put back to sleep immediately.
As the lift returns and Gemma becomes herself again, she breaks down while sobbing and repeating Mark’s name. This is just so emotionally gut-wrenching as Gemma finally understands there’s no escape for her and she may never see Mark again.
Heartbreak and newfound faith
All while her escape is happening, we’re seeing a flashback to the night Gemma “died”. This scene is so compelling and full of nuances that can be read a number of ways. On one hand it can be seen as Gemma going to some sort of games night with friends, saying goodnight and not making it back home. But on the other hand I believe there’s an extra layer here. It seems like Gemma is saying a knowing goodbye to Mark, like she knows she’s going away for an extended period of time. Perhaps she has accepted some sort of opportunity with Lumon that requires her to disappear. What that might be, I don’t know, but it might explain why Gemma is so compliant in the Testing Floor and hopeful that she’ll get to see Mark. Maybe it’s none of that and it’s all Lumon kidnapping her, but given how intrigued she was by even the cards she got in the mail, I think there may be more to her disappearance.
After reliving this memory, Mark finally wakes up in the present day. While dazed, confused and full of emotions, he tears up as he seen another brief snapshot of Gemma. It seems he’s finally found hope and purpose in life, remembering who he once was and perhaps who he’s going to try to be again from now on. It’s a heartbreaking yet hopeful ending to a wonderful episode.
Lingering Thoughts
So Gemma is just… Gemma
After weeks (even years) of fun speculation about Gemma, we finally have a literal flood of concrete answers… though not ALL the answers. So it turns out Gemma/Ms. Casey is not a clone, and she didn’t die before being resurrected (that we know of). It seems the Gemma that Mark fell in love with is alive and well, living on the Testing Floor for the last couple of years. “Well” might be pushing it though, as it seems she has been severed into multiple different innies. The testing floor looks to have been designed to house Gemma and test her across a variety of stressful situations. Each door she enters severs her into a different innie, one which never leaves the confines of that room. So while Gemma goes into Wellington every six weeks, or Allentown once a year, her innies are living those daunting experiences for every second of their lives.
That looks to be her purpose at Lumon (or one of them) – to test the extent of the severance procedure by being severed into countless different personalities. It looks like they throw her innies into intense circumstances then test her outie to see if she remains stable and mentally unaffected by the experiences. Now the purpose and goal beyond that I have know idea, but it must have to do with Cold Harbour. Dr. Mauer says to Gemma that her work is birthing something that is going to change the world and remove all pain. Perhaps something to do with expanding severance into everyday life… we’ll soon see.
Clones? Or not?
The idea of clones was running rampant just a few weeks ago, but now with the Miss Huang revelations last week and now all these Gemma reveals, I’m not too sure it’s a thing. It may still turn out that way, but it looks like the ORTBO clones can be explained by the presence of the anti-MDR team who look like the MDR team. A little bit of makeup and some quirky posture can go a long way to making a human look deranged.
The great escape
Where to from here? Well, with Cold Harbour so close to finishing and Mark now fully reintegrated, this could go one of two ways. One being Mark, with the knowledge of his innie and outie, is able to stage a heist in which he breaks Gemma out of her prison. Think about it, his innie knows about the Glasgow Block and how it prevents the severance procedure from activating automatically in the lifts. If he can activate that, he could get her out and ruin Lumon’s chances of finishing Cold Harbour. The other option being Mark gets captured by Lumon and forced to complete Cold Harbour. Now that he (assumedly) has the memories of his innie and outie, he won’t go back and willingly work… right? So if Lumon catches wind of the reintegration, they might have him finish Cold Harbour before he can save Gemma.
That episode calls for an immediate rewatch, but before that I need to highlight my two favourite things about the episode. First of all, Severance has always been a stunning show but the beauty in the cinematography this episode was something else entirely. It all makes sense when you see that cinematographer Jessica Lee Gagné directed the episode. The flashback sequences were especially breathtaking, highlighting a colour palette we haven’t seen before in the show and applying a grainy filter over the top. Severance has never been more beautiful, and that’s saying a lot. Secondly, I think Dichen Lachman is a phenomenal actor and I adore everything I see her in, so the fact that we get an entire episode of her is a dream come true. She’s been great in her brief moments as Ms. Casey, but seeing her get to really flex her acting chops as Gemma for nearly 50 full minutes is a delight.
In the end, Severance just hit yet another new peak that somehow eclipses all of the greatness it has accomplished thus far. This episode is thrilling and suspense-packed in a way that’s different to the season one finale but just as impactful. It’s also beautiful, distressing and emotional on a level we haven’t seen in the show yet. The years of waiting has finally paid off, with this episode rewarding us for sticking with the show by dropping all sorts of answers. The wonderful thing is that despite all the reveals this episode packs in, I still have a long list of old and new unanswered questions. I’d love to think this episode is as perfect as the show can get, though I somehow think they’ll find a way to top this in the future. With that said, I need to go take a breather and let my brain digest everything I’ve just blurted onto the page.
10/10
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