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The latest episode of Severance Season 2, titled “Chikhai Bardo,” delves deep into the mysterious testing floor of Lumon. Here, Gemma, portrayed by Dichen Lachman, is subjected to bizarre experiments related to severance. These experiments, curated by Lumon, not only provide a surreal insight into Gemma’s journey but also shed light on Lumon’s ultimate objectives and address lingering questions from previous episodes.
Unveiling Gemma’s Ordeal on Lumon’s Testing Floor
Despite being severed into Ms. Casey, Gemma, fortunately, retains her Outie persona on the testing floor, preserving memories of her external life, including her marriage to Mark. Flashbacks in this episode offer glimpses into their relationship, painting a picture from their initial encounter to their emotional struggles with infertility. It is evident that Lumon opted for abduction and faked death rather than resurrection, as Gemma’s memories remain intact.
However, Gemma finds herself ensnared in the testing floor, under the watchful eyes of Cecily and Dr. Mauer. Various rooms subject her to uncomfortable scenarios, guided by eerie questions and medical procedures, such as a simulated dental visit or turbulent flight. These rooms, named after MDR files, hold significant clues about Lumon’s enigmatic operations.
Deciphering Lumon’s Enigmatic Experiments
The rooms on the testing floor reflect MDR team’s refined files, with each space mirroring a specific file. As Gemma navigates through these rooms, the narrative unravels the team’s role in crafting her haunting experiences. The impending room, Cold Harbor, holds promises of liberation, yet Lumon’s deceptive nature raises skepticism regarding their intentions.
Furthermore, the repeated cycles of distressing encounters in the testing floor suggest Lumon’s pursuit of a pain-free existence through severance. However, this utopian vision is marred by the inescapable suffering inflicted upon the Innies, embodying an eternal cycle of torment. Lumon’s experimentation with severance poses ethical dilemmas and challenges the concept of a fulfilling life amidst perpetual detachment.
Exploring Lumon’s Perplexing Objectives
Lumon’s relentless testing of the severance barrier hints at a larger agenda aimed at reshaping human experiences and emotions. By compartmentalizing aspects of life into separate Innies, Lumon seeks to redefine personal autonomy and alleviate suffering. However, the repercussions of this manipulation raise profound questions about the essence of pain and the authenticity of existence within Lumon’s fabricated reality.
As Cecily and Dr. Mauer send Gemma through the rooms every day, they ask her whether she has any memory of what happened in the rooms, or whether she felt any residual emotion from her time there. Mentally, she does not recall. Physically, though, she’s feeling the rooms’ effects: Her teeth hurt following the dentist visit, and she’s rubbing her hand in pain after the Christmas card room. So much for Kier taking away Gemma’s pain, right?
Cecily and Dr. Mauer’s persistent questioning about Gemma’s experiences points to them trying to ensure the severance barrier holds fast, even when a subject, like Gemma, has been severed many, many times.
Severance has hinted that it’s possible for things to bleed through the severance barrier. Innie Irving’s (John Turturro) daydreams about his Outie’s black paint, for example, or Outie Irving’s recollection of the black hallway down to the testing floor. Mark’s “freshman fluke” of completing the Allentown file could also be an example — did his Outie’s connection to Gemma affect his speed at all? And could it influence the completion of Cold Harbor?
Maybe that’s why Lumon was so adamant Mark be the one to finish that file. If neither Gemma nor Mark can recall their connection after the file is complete, maybe that will prove this multi-severed technology can withstand anything and is ready to be given to the masses.
Who is monitoring the MDR workers?
At one point in “Chikhai Bardo,” Severance shows us what looks like the testing floor’s control room, where Mr. Drummond (Ólafur Darri Ólafsson) and Dr. Mauer observe MDR’s progress. But they aren’t the only ones watching. Four people observe the MDR team through their screen, with each person looking quite a bit like their MDR counterpart. The effect is similar to the eerie “twins” Lumon gave the Innies in “Woe’s Hollow.”
There are key differences, though. While Mark’s double in that “Woe’s Hollow” (played by Adam Jepsen) is credited as “Shadow Mark,” Mark’s double in “Chikhai Bardo” (played by Eric J. Carlson) is credited as “Mark Watcher.” The different actors and role names confirm these characters are different and fulfill differing functions — but could there be similar Lumon technology at work in each case?
Lumon has been watching Gemma long before her accident.
In the flashbacks to Mark and Gemma’s relationship, Severance reveals that Lumon was part of Gemma’s life before her time on the testing floor. When she first meets Mark at a blood drive, the Lumon logo is on the equipment. Later, when she and Mark go to the fertility clinic, Dr. Mauer pops up in the background.
These instances are proof of Lumon’s insidious reach in the world, and also that they’ve been keeping tabs on Gemma for a while. Severance doesn’t clue us into why Gemma was so important to Lumon just yet, though. Maybe there was something special about her blood or her intake form that piqued the company’s interest. Speaking of…
What’s the deal with Severance‘s ideographic cards?
Another way Lumon sunk its claws into Gemma was with the ideographic cards Optics and Design manufactures. They sent her the cards through the clinic mailing list, and she had to write out how they made her feel.
One of the cards is labeled “Chikhai Bardo” — a Buddhist term for the transitional state in the first moments of death, and also a fitting description of Mark’s post-seizure state throughout the episode. It’s also the same card Dylan stole back in Season 1, depicting one man pointing his hand at another man’s chest.
Gemma sees these two figures as being the same person, interpreting the card as a man overcoming his own psyche in a moment of ego death. (Someone at war with their own psyche is right up Severance‘s alley!) Meanwhile, Mark just thinks that the card shows two men fighting and finds it pointless to engage.
Perhaps Gemma and Mark’s differing reactions to the ideographic cards point to why Lumon singled her out for capture. Maybe her inquisitiveness and unexpected understandings of the cards were just what they were looking for in a test subject. Could that mean the cards are a recruiting tactic and that more people are on Lumon’s radar for similar experiments?
That’s just one of many questions “Chikhai Bardo” leaves us with, even as it provides us with some more clarity on Severance‘s biggest puzzles. Now, the biggest question going forward is simply, “Why did Lumon choose Gemma?”
Severance Season 2 Now Available on Apple TV+
Severance Season 2 is now available for streaming on Apple TV+, releasing a new episode every Friday.
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