Severance Season 2 Episode 7 Review: Chikhai Bardo

The truth about Gemma is partially revealed in Severance’s most heartbreaking episode yet. Severance Season 2 Episode 7, “Chikhai Bardo,” uses a series of flashbacks to explore Mark and Gemma’s relationship prior to her “death” and reveals what happened to her afterwards.

As previously claimed, Gemma is indeed alive and living at Lumon doing a strange battery of experiments that require her to visit multiple “rooms” a day as a severed personality. Each one is different, and eventually the room labeled Cold Harbor includes her stint as Miss Casey.

Dichen Lachman carries the episode both in screen time and emotional burden, having to play the severed versions of Gemma as well as emotional low points of her past life. She’s captivating to watch on screen as the previously blank canvas of Gemma gets filled in with new details.

The strange tests at Lumon, which are given minimal explanation other than Gemma seems to be a “patient” of Lumon, are interspersed with flashbacks of Mark and Gemma’s romance. From the time they meet at a blood drive on campus, their love story unfolds like an indie drama with the appearance of something shot on film instead of the usual crisp HD look of Severance.

There’s even a montage of romantic scenes set to French music for goodness sake!

The directing from Jessica Lee Gagné, who is the cinematographer for the series, captures the complete opposite of the show’s usual visual style. It’s warm and intimate instead of sterile and claustrophobic.

If you took out the scenes set at Lumon you’d have few clues what Severance is even about as the storyline focuses solely on their marriage and later their attempt to have children. It’s hard to decide what’s more jarring, seeing Mark happy or seeing anything other than snow covered landscapes outside his window.

In the present day, Devon is struggling to deal with Mark’s coma from the integration procedure, leading to conflict with Dr. Reghabi who refuses to help Devon if she calls Ms. Cobel. The coma is a useful framing device to get the flashbacks, but it’s hard to believe the show would put Mark in any real immediate danger.

For as beautiful and affecting the episode is, it does raise some questions about what show Severance wants to be. It seems to have mostly abandoned Season 1’s interest in being a commentary on capitalism and the workplace and fully adopted its identity as a character-driven sci-fi mystery.

Mark has always been the protagonist, but there are also times where the show feels like an ensemble thanks to the MDR team. It’s hard to see how characters like Dylan and Helly will get their due if Mark is the key to Cold Harbor and unlocking the greater Lumon mystery.

It’s not made entirely clear how Gemma ended up in Lumon’s control, but it’s implied her involvement is at least initially voluntary before she later is held against her will. Her routine of severed experiments seem to be an attempt to free herself from the pain her infertility and pregnancy losses have caused her.

Gemma ends up on a “mailing list” from their clinic which seems to be how she was entrapped by Lumon.

(Making a female character so desperate to have a child she’s willing to abandon her husband and essentially join a cult is a questionable plot decision at best, but without the full details of what she’s actually doing I’m trying to reserve judgement.)

Ironically her reason for being severed is not so different than Mark’s, who also joined Lumon to get over the pain of his loss. It hardly seems a coincidence, and I would not be surprised if they’ve both been manipulated somehow as part of the larger Cold Harbor experiment.

With all this new information we still don’t know what Cold Harbor is yet. Until we know what Lumon’s end game is, the show will continue to be a very stylish-ly presented mystery.

What did you think of this episode of Severance? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

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Severance airs Fridays on Apple TV+. 

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