SEVERANCE 2x07 BREAKDOWN! Every Clue & Detail You Missed!

welcome back to new rock stars I'm Eric. Boss and this is a breakdown of. severance season 2 episode 7 chikai BTO. this Gemma focused episode that. simultaneously reveals everything and. nothing at all when it comes to what. Lumen might be doing with gimma is in my. view the finest episode of the series we. have seen yet it deserves all of the. awards and not just for the typical. sance mystery crafting but just for the. Artistry that went into all the editing. and camera work the sound mixing the. music the writing the performances that. all work together to create this. beautiful and heartbreaking emotional.

experience so that we were kind of able. to set aside our Theory brains at least. for a moment as we just felt our way. through the humanity of these Souls so. we must break down This Magnificent. episode scene by scene shot by shot for. all the really cool details and just. easy to miss clues that you might have. missed so this episode's title chai. Bardo gets referenced by Gemma later in. the episode but it is a Buddhist term. referring to the fourth of six total. stages that a soul experiences three. stages in life three stages in death and. chai Bardo is the first stage of death.

when the Consciousness detaches from the. corporeal body and can either see and. Unite with the light of reality to. achieve enlightenment and break free. from The Reincarnation cycle or like. Punk Satani Phil the groundhog not see. that light and just continue forth. through the two remaining states of. wintry death obviously we can see the. connection with Gemma as a severed soul. and severed in multiple different ways. right and what we are seeing her go. through in this episode essentially the. first stage of her death a sort of limbo. State trapped within some kind of Lumin. controlled reincarnation cycle in which.

they seem to be trying to unlock the. secrets that will allow the Conquering. of death itself so just to kind of help. you understand the structure of this. episode we intercut among chronological. flashbacks of Mark and Jemma's time. together as professors at gans's college. and their struggles to conceive a child. Gemma being on a lumen floor beneath the. severed floor in which she goes in and. out of various rooms corresponding to. the files that Mark has been working on. and within those rooms Gemma goes. through an additional sever transition. so that she doesn't remember whatever. painful trauma she goes through each. time and that gimma the one in the.

hallways and in her living quarters has. the mind and soul and memories of Mark's. wife but when she goes up a level to the. severed floors she then becomes the. compliant Miss Casey identity and this. is all while we get to know the very. creepy dentist Dr Mau and his role at. the company or various roles with he and. Drummond in some additional space of. observers who watch the MDR crew and. this is all while rabi and Deon tried to. keep calm with a coma to mark on the. surface I feel like I have to say this. because like a lot is thrown at us this. episode and I just want to Share My.

overall interpretation of Gemma in this. episode and I recognize that there are. several ways to interpret what Lumen is. doing with Gemma but I think that Gemma. and Mark met in a sincere meat Cube. while giving blood as part of a drive. where Lumen was actually harvesting the. blood maybe even blood of academically. minded candidates and at that point. actually started targeting Gemma for. what they would eventually be doing to. her and that led to this couple. struggling with fertility which then led. to Gemma actively pursuing this culty. treatment plan with Lumen and that led. to her car accident after which I think. lumen might have claimed her remains as.

perhaps what they think is their. corporate property part of their. experiment to resurrect a corpse and to. purify its Soul by forcing this person. to reenact painful life event scenarios. as a company uses her soulmate up above. her to measure and bottle her dread so. that they can use it for other people. like the company's founder and CEO. family line so I don't know if that's. what's really happening here it's just. the one Theory sphere my brain can. handle without exploding okay we open in. this episode on the back of Gemma as she. walks out of a tunnel into the daylight.

yet another shot of Gemma moving through. some passageway trying to make her way. into the light so this is the campus of. gan's college according to the blood. drive Banner in the next scene and we. know Gans from season 1 is a college. where Mark and Gemma worked and season 1. episode 7 this campus is where Mark. meets up with rabi and remember on his. date in the first season Mark said that. he was from a town called Gans so it. might be like a neighboring town to Kier. PE this is actually the first exterior. shot we've gotten on the series in which. it's not winter it appears to be. Springtime in springtime is. archetypically the time of rebirth and.

renewal winter is the time of death now. these flashback scenes are all shot on. handheld with this beautiful grainy. Celluloid giving them a warm home movie. feel to them the costumes worn by. characters in these flashbacks feel like. we are seeing the early 80s which just. gives it this kind of nostalgic charm to. it now through the campus Gemma passes. this woman with long gray hair that. briefly had me wondering if it might be. Harmony coobel because it totally seems. like Lumen is targeting gans's College. to harvest academic blood an overhead. shot shows a courtyard to be this.

interesting rhombus shape at a kind of. 70° angle I would say a similar diagonal. to the corners on gemma's floor of lumen. that they're slanted at and other. locations like the doctor's office. waiting room and gemma's quarters a. younger bearded Mark sits beside Gemma. at a blood drive Gemma having to give. blood samples and other forms of. traumatic bleeding in this episode will. be a recurring Motif Gemma has been. willingly giving up her blood for drives. like this feeding machines marked with. Lumen water drop logos and later that. Fertility clinic is owned by Lumen so. how long long have they had her DNA on.

file are they trying to keep everyone's. DNA or just some certain candidates DNA. like we've been assuming that company. droplet logo was water or maybe some. other keier brewed ether tonic but now. I'm wondering if it might also just be. blood Gemma is grading papers on themes. of religious conversion in tolto Death. of Ivan ilich referring to Leo tolstoy's. 1886 novela about an ambitious. magistrate who suffers an injury. declines toward death and begins to. question the meaning of life itself and. the distinction between an artificial. life and an authentic life many literary.

critics over the years have observed. that it reflects Tolstoy in the later. years of his life when he went through a. religious conversion of his own in the. late 1870s while like his earlier novels. War and Peace and anarina are widely. celebrated works of realist fiction The. Death of Ivan ilich like his non-fiction. work confession represented the author's. late stage moral and spiritual. Reawakening as tolto became obsessed. with Jesus's Sermon on the Mount and. became a Christian Anarchist and a. pacifist so this very topic represents a. philosophical contrast of Mark and areas.

of study Mark teaches the history of. World War I probably identifying more. with tolstoy's earlier realist Works. inspired by that author's time fighting. in the Crimean War Gemma as a professor. of Russian literature and citing. Buddhist Concepts later in this episode. is the more spiritual thinker the paper. Mark grades is All Quiet on the Western. blunt drug use byy enlisted soldiers. during World War I obviously it's a play. on Eric Maria remarks 1928 German novel. All Quiet on the Western Front. describing the experiences of the German. soldiers in World War I the trauma they. endured and yes many returning soldiers. From The Trenches of that war did.

tragically get addicted to drugs like. morphine so while the topic of this. paper is a worthy discussion the stoner. humor joke in the title suggests that it. wasn't written by a student who takes it. that seriously Mark asks I'm sorry who. are you ah again recalling the opening. line of the series who are you and a. question that comes back in nearly every. episode in some explicit or implicit. form as identity is a core philosophical. question of the series Mark tries to. shake her hand but the transfusion tube. catches him so he clasps her hand with. his left hand inadvertently making it so.

that these two are laying beside each. other holding hands we cut to Gemma. sometime after her accident on a new. floor of lumen that I'm just going to. call gemma's Floor blood is now taken. from her arm and we follow this close-up. of the blood snaking down the tube as we. now pan left and this shot of Gemma and. the nurse further away from the camera. so visually it's like her blood is being. cycled back into her whole body like. perhaps she did die and Lumen used the. blood they had harvested from her in the. process of resurrecting that body the. nurse draws two piles of blood and asks.

where did you go another interesting. question because Deon will also Echo. this question in the final line of the. episode where' you go now this nurse is. played by Sandra burnhard longtime. comedian who blew up a bit in the 90s. and appeared in later seasons of Rosanne. Jemma doesn't answer the question she. just Smiles but we St close upon her. eyes to know that the smile she flashes. isn't genuine the episode transitions to. the memories that occupy Jemma's. conscious mind a blissful morning with. Mark and bed back in the softer focused. warmer Color Film Celluloid with more. extreme close-ups on their eyes we see. Mark's eyes and then transition from.

that closeup to present time Mark after. he fainted I love how this episode is. structured to flash back to these. memories going in and out from the point. of view of both Jimma and Mark to. suggest that while they are physically. Starcrossed these two are both able to. find each other in dreams of the time. they had together both the good and the. bad Devon asks rabi if they need an. ambulance and rabi firmly says no a. reminder that due to the EMT Crest on. the dispatcher of the month plaque for. Dylan's wife Gretchen the paramedics in. this town seem to all be working for. Lumen as well and Gretchen might be the. one on call right now rabi confirms to.

Devon that Gemma is alive but she says. it in a way that we're not sure what the. quality of that life is back at gemma's. physical exam with the nurse her. temperature reads 97.6 de F she gets her. blood pressure taken she's weighed and. then we see this vision chart with. letters on one and goats rotated in. different ways on the other ah it all. comes back to the goats could this be. for separate persons who don't retain. the ability to read after all in the. orbo they didn't really know what fire. was or are some of the mamalian nurtural. employees illiterate the Gemma then. takes a test by holding these sensors.

connected to a device called a wo meter. referring to the first of the four. tempers wo Frolic dread and Malice. remember wo was given the spooky. Supernatural form this season this kind. of test I assume is what Drummond was. referring to with Helena Egan when he. said that lum's medical team declared. that her four tempers were imbalanced. the wo meter dial swing wildly among. numerical ranges as the nurse asks the. random question that kind of comes off. as something between like Scientology. auditing and the void Camp test of Blade. Runner if you were caught in a Mudslide. would you be more afraid of suffocating. or drowning now the absurdity of that.

question is drowning is effectively a. form of Suffocation they're both a kind. of death by asfixiation oxygen being cut. off from the brain Gemma answers. drowning with a kind of knowing tilt of. her head maybe because it sounds like. the more peaceful of the two but she may. also just be thinking of her car. accident we know her car hit a tree but. in the season two opening credits we see. a car submerged in an ice pond so maybe. Gemma ultimately died by Drowning before. she was resurrected if that was the case. that could be why the wo meter reads her. wo PE on her response to this question.

Jimma asks how many rooms today and the. nurse says six which seems to be the. number of rooms Jimma just goes through. every day we see Jemma wears a pale. green uniform and sleeps in a green. colored bunk that's literally part of. the same room as a nurse station she. opens a closet to find a red dress a wig. shoes and a handbag sh so I assume this. is the outfit that she wears when she. goes into the room that she comes out of. with her jaw really hurting like this is. the outfit that she wears every time she. ends up visiting the dentist so she. passes through a living room with a tape. deck that we come to later and we follow. her in the nurse through the corridors.

of this floor now whereas the corridors. on the separate floor have turns angled. at 90° this floor has door walls that. are kind of angled at 45 degre and I. think it might be so that when you enter. the room you don't immediately see. what's inside these rooms have labels. matching the file names of the numerical. batching performed by Mark and the. others on MDR allent Town that's a city. in Pennsylvania that was a town Mark's. Crystal paper weight on his cubical desk. was labeled we've seen this file name. before Ken is a coastal city in. Queensland Australia we saw this on. screen back in the first episode of the. series and we return in season 2. drainville was the name of the vile that.

Mark was working on in the very first. episode of the series this is a town in. Virginia and yet another site of a Civil. War battle Sienna is the medieval town. in Italy and this was the name of the. file that was assigned to heli in season. 1 episode 2 Loveland is a town in. Colorado and the site of a deadly flood. in 1976 that killed 144 people tum wat. is a city in Washington state that was. the file that Dylan was working on in. the first episode of the series stop. Choy is a town on the Florida Panhandle. and then they stop at Wellington. Wellington is the capital city of New. Zealand the keep Pricks the nurse's.

middle finger to draw blood so I guess. rather than badges down here they. require proof of DNA to access each of. these rooms this part of lumen truly. does run on blood Gemma steps through. the threshold and is immediately hit. with a bing and a zly effect so part of. her must be severed again within this. floor and this any any gimma must be. remembering the last time she was. leaving a traumatic experience in. another one of these rooms it doesn't. know what the Gemma version of herself. who walks the halls and lives in the. quarters goes through that could be why. her first words to the dentist are can I. please need get a break because anytime.

this any in comes to Consciousness in. one of these rooms for her it's just. like back to back to back trauma. exposure inside the Wellington room. Gemma finds the whistling dentist whom. we later learn is named Dr Mau and I was. totally right in the past episode when I. clocked that this is Robbie Benson aka. the voice actor who voiced beast in. Disney's 1991 Beauty and the Beast and. all successive directed video sequels. and Kingdom Hearts games the way we. realize this character traps Gemma in. his sort of castle with this creepy. romantic fixation on her does represent. a kind of Twist on the Beauty and the.

Beast Dynamic once again he whistles the. song The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald. which I broke down in the past episode. it's the retelling of the sinking of the. SS Fitzgerald on L Superior in 1975. causing the loss of 29 men Dr ma says. it's been 6 weeks which would be way too. soon to return to a dentist it's. normally 6 months and for Gemma she says. she was just here now we spent a lot of. time speculating why Lumen would need. this dentist but now I think this is. just one of Dr mau's costumed characters. in these wo triggering scenarios that's. why his dentist tools were supplied by o.

d everything o d makes is kind of like. part of the ministry of truth of lumen. their props and propaganda that they use. to sell whatever illusion that Lumen. wants either their internal employees or. people in the outside world to believe. about them Robbie Benson just does so. many weird line reads like here I should. have been an accountant like my mom. wanted yeah I get a real serial killer. vibe in the draw he brings in on my mama. and then he channels Mr Burns with. this he prods into her mouth and in in. gimma Z's out of the trauma so that the. next thing she knows she's outside and.

hallway Gemma is like 2 hours later. leaving the room with a sore jaw since. we know Gabby Arta uses Severance. procedure to force her innie to go. through the medical procedure of. childbirth maybe Wellington could be a. test by Lumen to see how severed Ines. might be able to absorb the woe of the. common dread of going to a dentist Gemma. passes other rooms like roads referring. to the city in Greece and the site of. the Colossus of RADS one of the Seven. Wonders of the Ancient World which. collapsed in an earthquake in 226 BC and. then she passes by our great mystery. Room of Cold Harbor now the words Cold. Harbor now float above Mark's head in a.

cross- disolved transition making it. look like it's a thought bubble in his. dream state Devon says you need you back. me lady ah remember in season one these. siblings referred to themselves as me. Lord and Mady and Mark was Mady some. rapid eye movement under Mark's eyelid. leads to this awesome transition. twisting the room into this brown ring. forming Mark's eye in the flashback we. hear two elevator Chimes but these are. not the Lumen pings it's just a normal. elevator with no zoly effect on Mark's. face we get to follow just normal mark. from an elevator through a corridor like. in the pilot episode in the 2 premiere. but now it's just a casual flirty strut.

to visit a girlfriend at work and inside. her office Gemma sneezes now hm the way. the moment focuses on her sneezing it's. like focusing on Mark's coughing right. the sneeze could be a clue maybe she has. a condition that Lumen discovered in her. DNA that made her a Target or maybe. through the transfusion process Lumen. actually gave her some kind of sickness. and that's what made her infertile and. made her a psychologically primed. candidate for their experiment want to. attribute any possible bad outcome to. Lumen Jemma is preparing for a lecture. on morat which is another Tolstoy.

work a novella written between 1896 and. 1904 and published posthumously in 1912. as tolto approached death he wrote the. story about a rebel commander from the. Caucasus mountain-based group called The. avars in the late 19th century who. practiced Sunni Islam so morat in. order to gain revenge in the story. forges an alliance with the Russians. that he had been fighting against and. maybe this is something Gemma is. considering by working with Lumen to try. to treat herself Mark gives Gemma an ant. farm which seems to be like a cute jokey. gift deliberately mishearing not liking. plants which reminds me of Danny can.

Canon and CJ Craig In The West Wing when. he gets her a goldfish thinking that her. love of the cracker goldfish was her. liking to fish goldfish but yes worker. ants all toiling in underground tunnels. feels like what the separate workers at. Lumen will be doing the camera now spins. around Mark and Gemma kissing in her. office and smoothly transition to. sometime later as a kiss at home Gemma. says I'm not here playfully which is how. Mark in the past has written off people. who have died they're not dead they're. just not here right now Mark has bought. a baby crib even before GMA is pregnant. now on the wall in his office is a World.

War I poster for the fourth National. Defense loan by the French government it. was made by the artist George Gat known. as September 1918 this must be part of. Mark's World War I collection and then. we get this Montage set to the French. song called I'm going to mispronounce. this. lavas by jacqu brell this song in. English is the Walts with a thousand. beats and it was released in 1959 the. lyrics seem to be about writing a. carousel which just kind of feels like a. possible reference to the cycle of of. life and death that these characters are.

going through the fact that this is a. Walts though totally recalls Michael. shino's Waltz the theme for pixars up. which this Montage totally feels like an. homage too especially considering where. this marriage goes we see inserts of. Gemma reading hajim MAD maybe taking. inspiration from this Rebel fighter as. she too has to succumb to aligning with. Lumen to get what she wants stacks of. books and papers to grade rise and fall. as Gemma Waters her plants and she and. Mark catch moments to dance they host. Devon and ricken who are talking about a. recent strenuous hike which Devon. compares to Everest and says you mean. like chomolungma which is actually the.

local name for the world's tallest. mountain in Nepal similarly Gemma in. this episode later mentions Denali which. is the indigenous name for Mount. McKinley in Alaska so I don't know maybe. just calling mountains by their proper. names could be like a pet political. cause for Gemma and I'm also reminded of. the Kier animation when heli finished. her file in season 1 and we saw Kier. Egan standing a top that Everest Peak. Mark jokingly asks Devon if they saw any. frozen bodies referring to the real. Frozen hikers bodies that morbidly line. the trail to the summit of Everest but. frozen bodies maybe also a possible hint.

at gemma's corpse status ricken says. that outdoorsmanship courses through his. veins now there's a theory out there. that ricken might be connected to the. goat H herter and mamalian nurtur B. since he used a cowbell app to summon. his followers in season 1 and remember. Lauren used the cowbell to summon her. people I don't know about that this is. not a hot take but my favorite part of. going out to eat is the food I've never. cleared time out of my calendar just to. go to a restaurant and soak up the. Ambiance what I really want is a fresh. highquality meal made by someone who. knows knows more about food than I ever.

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pregnant but if you listen closely to. Mark and Rick's ongoing conversation. ricken in the background says that you. can purify urine into drinking water and. Mark asks why he wants to do that so. badly I think it was just improvised. with the actors but this moment of Joy. shifts by just staying on Jim's face as. a light shifts from natural sunlight. into like a kind of fiery flicker as we. realize she's now in the bathroom having. a miscarriage Mark finds her sitting in. the shower and there's this insane shot. in Reverse as a water drop let's fall. back up her face as if her memory is.

trying to will these tears back up into. her eyes now the reaction shot of Mark. at first seems like it's in the same. space but we realize that Adam Scott is. back in the MDR set and he turns back up. to miss Casey as they recreate the scene. from the season 1 episode when she was. observing heli after hel's attempted. self. harm Casey I'm hater observe hel R oh no. one told me told me Miss coel's orders. I'm to watch her for signs of sadness. and verbally encourage to the ceiling.

lights now flicker out and we transition. through this wiry coaxial cable as if. we're inside of a spinal cord of a. nervous system within a body and this. transition totally reminds me of the. macroscopic tracking shots that David. finer would do in movies like Panic Room. and Fight Club but now we find ourselves. in a new room that I'm going to call the. observation room another man is watching. Mark through his computer screen the. credits called this guy Mark Watcher. there are three others here who kind of. look like older versions of Dylan Irving. and heli but they're all wearing very. vious like Community Theater type wigs.

and their desks are all faced away from. each other while the mdr4 are arranged. to face each other kind of so it's kind. of like these four observers are sort of. inside the shared space between the. cornered computers of MDR if that makes. sense they observe how on Mark's. computer his drainville file progresses. towards complete so this would be taking. place sometime in early season 1 when. he's still working on that and now we. see that the four tempers are labeled on. this screen wo for wo FC for Frolic Dr. for dread and Ma for malice pass. completed files include allent town that.

was his first one Trinity Toto Santos. atoria Lucknow s Pierre Coleman. Waynesboro cork mold kons Boda Zurich Co. pepper Bellingham Billings Yakima. Loveland Merida sa chapy vilnus rhs. Wellington and then drainville and then. we get to Cold Harbor and fast forward. through that and then after this rapid. Montage in the same shot the camera. Glides past the computer to now reveal. Mr Drummond and Dr Mau in costume as a. gym coach Drummond asks about the. severance barrier. presumably the new room by room barriers.

that Jimma transitions through for each. room and the two men talk about mau's. probably unhealthy crush on Jimma and. how she once tried to break his fingers. Ma's gym coach outfit seems to. correspond to gemma's goofy 50s exercise. outfit so this would be some other wo. triggering scenario that gemma's in in. has to go through but we don't see it. because Gemma goes through this Lumen. door match cutting with Gemma in a. flashback entering the doctor's office. waiting room but there's crazy stuff. going on here with this insane detail as. they walk in Dr Mau passes right by them.

with this menacing stare at Jimma I know. wao because this is supposed to be a. flashback right this would be long. before Gemma became a trap test subject. for Lumen so what's going on here I. think this is yet another clue that. Gemma from the very first time she. donated blood that Lumen had harvested. became a Target by the company and Dr. Mau is here in this Clinic standing by. to continue working this target this. poor struggling woman to get her into. their program and just seen M here in. this flashback very much freaks me out.

so Gemma fills out the intake form where. we can read this is the buterman. fertility center with a Lumin droplet. logo in the upper left so they're not. even trying to hide their involvement. here this form explains how this process. will help their fertility journey and. requests that quote each person who will. be involved in this process complete a. separate form which is interesting and. it could indicate that Lumen has a. separate questionnaire that Mark fills. out that could be the beginnings of. their recruitment of him and this is. going to sound dumb but I'm also now. wondering is serman some word play there.

like they might be saying but her man is. also an important part of the equation. of this experiment and you'll notice. down at the bottom instead of a state it. has a space for province aha some had. speculated that the PE in K PE could be. for Prince Edward Island one of the. Canadian provinces but I'm not convinced. that this is in Canada rather I still. think that it just lists Province as one. of the options of a Lumin owned. sovereign state PE could stand for. province of Egan or maybe Providence of. Egan if we're going to get real. religious about this and I absolutely. love this match cut from the waiting.

room to gemma's living quarters and they. are the exact same set just redecorated. the same diagonal lines the same. cupboards on the right and Jimma is. seated in the exact same spot of the. room just with different Furniture but. while the show clearly just redecorated. and relit the set I don't think this. means that this Clinic waiting room is. an actual room that trapped Gemma is. living through because her living. quarters are like a neutral zone but I. do think this show used a match cut this. way to call attention to it just to mess. with us and for Gemma to be blurring the. lines between her present and her past. now director Jessica Lee gang who.

totally deserves all the awards for this. episode goes wild here at this point and. progresses with a series of still. photographs flashing down the hallway. and intercutting with other Stills the. corridor ceiling lights flicker into. outdoor trees at dusk or maybe at dawn. and then as we move down the exports. Hall we see flashes of close-ups of. Mark's hands molding the white clay tree. that was from his Wellness session in. season one with Miss Casey and then we. see the season one shots of Mark. revisiting the site of Jemma's car crash. the roadside tree but we also see clumps. of snow on asphalt and headlights on a.

snowy road at night and with the upward. looking shot of the trees I'm just. wondering if some of these might be. among the last images that Gemma saw as. part of her car wreck like I see this. moment as gemma's mind just trying to. riece together various dropped frames. and snapshots of this path back to Mark. and part of that return journey is just. figuring out how exactly that car crash. really happened which remains really our. biggest question coming out of this. episode another awesome practical. transition of Mark pulling a sweatshirt. from a drawer in the quarter and then. opening a door back into their kitchen.

and we're in a flashback now as the. scene's color temperature smoothly. shifts now gemma's mind architecture is. structuring her memories behind the. doors of this Lumen floor maybe because. these memories with Mark are also. triggering the tempers Mark in this. flashback says that Gemma hates writing. thank you notes setting up her miserable. chore with Dr Mau later Mark has to give. Gemma injections I assume these are. shots provided by Lumen but it seems. like they are now doing a kind of IVF. treatment because the woman having to. get shots is often part of that journey. and they say they're on their third.

round of it so the past two rounds have. not worked Mark says there's a kid out. there just waiting for us just kind of. reach out and grab her that is such a. beautiful and sweet sentiment and is a. far more Cosmic and spiritual type of. language than we're accustomed to. hearing Mark say but this also the same. guy who says that someone isn't dead. they're just not here right now so. there's a side to mark That's not just a. pure realist that this is a guy who has. a capacity for Spiritual belief and also. he says her he defaults to female and if. Miss Swang is their daughter if that.

theory is true this could be a clue for. that Gemma finds herself back with Dr. Mau scanning her head with an x-ray but. this is not the Wellington room where he. pretended to be a dentist this is just. the side nursing station that's part of. her living quarters the screen showing. her face is the same angle of her face. that ended the season 2 premiere and the. image of her school shows her severed. chip in the same part of her brain where. we saw Mark's chip but this exam must be. the end of the workday that started with. the nurse at the top of this episode. because Gemma reports that the. Wellington room made her mouth hurt she. had visited Billings now St Pierre. Karens and Wellington and Wellington in.

addition to being the capital of New. Zealand it's worth noting that a beef. wellington is a multi-layer dish a beef. loin wrapped in like Pudo and wrapped in. like a mushroom P wrapped in a puff. pastry and this could be included to the. various layers of Gemma in this episode. this might be the most like important. scene when it comes to the information. we learned from this episode Dr Mau asks. if she felt anything after leaving the. room's despair fervor gayety and with. gayety there's like a sense of hope like. did you enjoy your time with me you're. captor we learned in season 1 that there. are residual traces from emotions that.

can stay with you on the other side of a. transition through a severance barrier. and that's kind of what he's hoping for. here Gemma mentions that there's one. room that she hasn't been to and that. today it had a name on it meaning that. this was previously an unlabeled room. and only recently did it acquire the. label of Cold Harbor Gemma asks what. happens when she's been to all the rooms. you will see the world again and the. world will see you and Jemma asks if she. will see Mark and Mau responds Mark will. benefit from the world your.

siring Kier will take away all his pain. just as Kier has taken away yours H what. does this mean it's ominous at least it. sounds like Lumen might be putting Gemma. through some kind of refining process. like reincarnating her soul by forcing. it through these different temper. inducing scenarios but the way ma talks. about Kier like he would be the second. coming of Jesus Christ and the ultimate. goal would be to resurrect and. reincarnate Kier Egan as some kind of. immortal being that can wash away all of. our sins it seems like that's what. they're aiming to do right but they need. to use Gemma as like a canary in the.

coal mine a test case and apply the. lessons that they learned from her and. that Gemma and Mark just because they. had such a strong true soulmate. connection is the reason why they've. been the Breakthrough trial honestly I. walk away from this episode really. believing in the power of their. connection because you could argue that. only because these two Souls were so. emotionally intertwined and synced is. why Lumen has been so successful by. taking them through this process weirdly. this show has been a Testament of the. power of true love love so I just love. whenever the show can Channel what is in.

the viewers heads in a moment can you. please just talk like a normal person. and Ma responds good night. JMA dream sweet dream sweet come on man. you know that sounds weird it's sweet. dreams but clearly Mau just. intentionally inverted sweet dreams just. to kind of match her Defiance and. another flashback Jim's pregnancy test. turns out negative meaning the third. time was not the charm and then Devon. asks rabi about the any cabin remember. where Gabby Arta delivered her baby. while she was severed referring to the.

Demona birthing Retreat and we should. remember that in season 1 a Kier. Chronicle article talked about the. health violations at the center. suggesting that within the town of kpe. there is some free media for them to. talk about that Devon tries to call. Harmony coel which makes rabi leave Mark. begins to utter the title of this. episode chai Bardo so in the flashback. Mark picks up one of the laminated cards. that had been sent to Gemma as a sweep. Stak mailer apparently but this card is. the same card 7197 G that Dylan stole. from o d back in season 1 episode 6 that.

he hid behind the toilet that milch got. grilled for in his performance review. and remember this pose was even an icon. on his performance review paperwork. while we assume that these might be. combat training and the purported. battles between o and MDR now in this. context they are really the six stages. of life and death that I broke down at. the top of this video and this card. refers to the fourth stage chai Bardo. which Gemma says is the same man. fighting himself defeating his own. psyche ego death obviously that points. to the central conflicts of the series. the battle between the different layers. of the psyche within a single soul but.

Jimma says that she got on the mailing. list at the clinic and part of the sweep. Stakes is to draw a rabbit or a duck or. whatever this is just like Mr milch's. statue in his office a figurine on the. desk behind him that looks. simultaneously like a rabbit and a duck. depending on how you look at it but we. got to say this mailer is very confusing. because Gemma is filling out a form that. mentions a cash prize what's the point. of the cards it just seems like Lumen. has ond to 3D print these props both for. used internally at the office and for. whatever propaganda campaigns they're. running for prospective recruits Mark. and Gemma argue and we get a closeup of.

this plant as it darkens this plant. looks like dried thistles episode. director Jessica Lee G posted an image. of these on her Instagram it looks as. though Jemma has also just stopped. bothering to water her plants just a. reflection of her and Mark giving up on. trying to conceive anything we see. Jemma's morning routine in her quarters. with Lumen branded hygiene products and. now she suits up in this 80s blue. business suit with a new wig which is. her costume for this insane scenario a. highly turbulent flight where she's. alone on the plane and Dr Mau is playing. the flight attendant who is insisting on.

bringing her her food now we should say. if they were able to simulate this. setting and sensation it just now feels. even more likely that the seemingly. outdoor Oro could have also been an. indoor simulation again though I think. we're looking at another common anxiety. situation for some people anxiety is. going to the dentist for some people. anxiety is having a ton of thank you. notes to write and obviously for some. people especially in recent weeks flying. commercially is pretty anxiety inducing. then we see Gemma stretching in her room. and you'll notice she does that same. chai Bardo ego death pose as the figure.

on the laminated card back in the. observation room we learned that Mark is. stuck at 96% with Cold Harbor the screen. also shows that this is the 25th file. Drummond says that the nose bleeds at. the back so that means we are now caught. up with the timeline of the second half. of episode 6 now there's this drawer. filled with Lumen mush food in these. teardrop shaped pucks the labels that we. can make out include a column for. protein on the far left liver pay corn. beef rendered marrow and then to the. right of that a column for I guess. veggie options including mated kale. candied carrots and then next to that a.

column for a side option including. tender cassava flaky dinner roll and. macaroni and cheese and can I say. macaroni and cheese makes sense to be. mushed into a puck like this but flaky. dinner roll how are you going to retain. the texture of a puff pastry and then on. the far right a column for a separate. garnish that you can place on the top of. any of these and we see chives crispy. chip wheel and apple blossom honestly I. would love for all of my lunches to be. this easy I don't care about texture. Drummond is also capable of channeling. the viewer again why are you wearing.

that stupid sweater we soon learn it's. for this very haunting Christmas gift. thank you note writing session the music. on the stereo is Baby It's Cold Outside. a song Sometimes mocked in the modern. age for some sexual ass saly undertones. which befits mau's very creepy Obsession. here but we should note that Baby It's. Cold outside's lyrics are really just a. playful interaction of a woman with a. good reputation having to abide by the. Norms of the time and just pretend to. protest a man's advances even though she. really did Welcome them I just feel the. need to say that because every time it's. Christmas and we hear that on the radio.

someone in the room has to point out hey. this song is pretty messed up and it's. not it's not it's supposed to be fun and. playful anyway Gemma dressed in a red. Christmas robe like she's Rosemary. Clooney in White Christmas writes dozens. of thank you notes using her left hand. though when she filed out the intake. form and the sweep Stakes form she was. definitely right-handed the stationary. of course has a goat in the corner of. course it does she scratches these thank. you notes to Mr Tisdale for this. electric grouter while Gemma is the only. source of red in the scene everything. else in this room is once again a. certain seafoam green kind of making a.

Christmas color palette including an. array of bizarre 3D printed gifts we see. a hair salon warmer we see traffic cones. a 1950s vacuum cleaner a trombone sauce. pots a pogo stick a hard hat and a. picnic basket and cooler I'm kind of mad. at o for just printing all of this crap. for Dr Mau to force Gemma to write all. of these thank you notes but Dr Mau says. that she's done for now but Christmas. has a funny way of coming back around. each year to which Gemma says it's. always Christmas a reminder that in any. Gemma condenses time room to room so she.

has been through this thank you note. session before and from her point of. view pretty recently also considering. it's always winter time and the present. time of the series it is essentially. always Christmas time Gemma is the pany. of the story trapped in the Underworld. with Hades AKA Mau when pranie is gone. it is winter but in the flashbacks of. Gemma above the ground I think that's. why it's spring Mau prees Gemma into. returning his creepy I love you on the. way out which hits deeper later when we. realize on her final night with Mark she. left him with an I love you and had to. double back to get him to return it to.

her so the lingering woe of that moment. plus her Petty hatred for writing thank. you notes seems to be designed by Ma to. trigger maximum anxiety and Trauma here. especially since he makes her dress up. with a wedding band reminding outside. hallway Jimma who has to put this on of. her marriage with Mark that she's. longing to get back to and we later. learn that this room is called allent. town which again was the first file that. Mark worked on it was his freshman fluke. it's what got him that Crystal figure. GRE on his desk and now we know why this.

Christmas memory was such a perfect. storm of the tempers that Mark batching. the numbers from this up above felt all. that trauma so sharply when he saw the. numbers on the screen that of course he. slam dunked the allent toown file Billy. holidays I'll be seeing you plays on. gemma's tape deck this is the third time. we've heard this track on the series. first in Mark and Alexa's date in season. one is a song that played in the. background of that restaurant and then. playing over the scene when Mark piece. back together the torn pieces of the. photo of Gemma Gemma flashes back to a. memory of her sitting at the top the. stairs while Mark drunkenly disassembles.

the baby crib and I say drunkenly. because yeah that is a cocktail glass on. the floor by the lamp and you don't put. a cocktail glass on the floor unless you. know you're just pretty sloppy about. this and I got to say guys this. completely wrecked me I was getting you. know Vibes of for sale baby shoes never. worn it was everywhere and we realized. in this moment that it's not just Mark. and Gemma who miss each other with the. longing of Billy holiday's Melancholy. voice it's also the daughter out there. that they both wish that they could. reach out and grab and God what an. episode right and we see Mark and Gemma.

on the couch at Christmas and this is. what happens with couples you know they. they need each other after they go. through this and we see the Decor on. their tree with the tensil and the bell. ornaments all of that was garishly and. cruy recreated in the Allentown. Christmas room with Dr Mau even the. furniture here you'll notice was. exaggerated with bulging uncomfortable. looking cushions in the Lumen room so. again the Allentown file right Mau. visits Gemma and her quarters Gemma says. she wants out and ma says Mark remarried.

last year and has a daughter now and I'm. so proud of Gemma for not believing him. for one second like even if Mark did. remarry in the previous year wouldn't it. be super soon for him to already have a. daughter also I think Gemma has wisened. up to Mau using specific details of her. and Mark's life probably supplied by the. questionnaires from both her and mark. the detail that they specifically wanted. a daughter she now knows that he's just. using all these specifics to hurt her. and to trap her Mau goes to her book. shelf and we see that there are all tol. sto's works I could spot Anna Corina.

there and he selects The Death of Ivan. ilich and what a great call back here. let me guess he dies at the. end after Mark's goofy spoiler alert. joke the first time they met and talked. about this during the blood drive Mau is. clearly trying to steal their meat cute. bit and that is just a step too far and. she brains him just like rabi did to. grener with a plastic chair that's how. hard she hit him Jimma snatches his card. and escapes now we saw before how after. hours these corridors are darkened and.

illuminated only by motion sensor floor. lights kind of like the overhead motion. sensor lights in the severed floor on. their way to maman's nurtur B and Gemma. uses that to see the nurse surounding. the corner like Mark smoothly shot run. through the severed floor in the season. 2 premiere gemma's run now is also a. long take without any Cuts Gemma mix it. to the elevator and goes up and another. set of Bings and a zly effect on her. face signal another Severance barrier. and we flash back again to Gemma on her. way out to game night and Mark is typing. on typ for an assignment that he says. has to be in tonight a typewriter.

written document after hours what are. you going to send it by Owl I also got a. Vibe of like Wendy walking up to Jack. you know the alcoholic when he was. typing and that's the moment when he. like first really snapped on her in The. Shining and for me was like the scariest. moment at that point Jemma asks Mark to. look at the Denali thing and we talked. earlier the connections between Denali. and McKinley and Everest and its local. name I think they were planning to climb. the Alaskan Summit maybe inspired by. Devon and Rick's mountain climbing and. she leaves with the I love you that she. has to come back and get him to return.

to her we cut back to the exports Hall. on the severed floor Gemma curiously. makes her way to the door where milch. greets her as Miss Casey and you'll. notice he's a bit out of breath and he's. still in his motorcycle jacket your Audi. came in for a public art exhibition and. found herself in the wrong elevator so. the last time we saw milch he was in the. storage room growling grow into the. mirror and we can assume from Drummond's. nose bed observation that we are now. caught up with where episode 6 left off. in the timeline so presumably episode 8. will show us where exactly Seth was.

running from before this as Miss Casey. we see how Gemma is severed want to. create the Miss Casey identity on the. severed floor with the other MDR people. and another as the inin in each of the. file rooms to absorb the tempers and. then that just kind of leaves her. sandwiched in the middle trapped as her. oute self in the living quarters in the. halls of this floor below even still. miss Casey is left with the residual. longing of her love from gemma's. desperation moments earlier and that's. why she hesitates when milch tells her. to go back down the hall she knew that. there was a reason she would be here. Jimma transitions again back down on the.

lower level and we are reminded of heli. trying to escape through the South. stairwell only to from her perspective. end up right back from where she left. Mark goes to his door to find two cops. removing their hats and steps back in. shock as another stunning. superimposition frames him face to face. with Gemma as she realizes she's trapped. in her underworld yet Starcrossed and. then as the nurse leads Gemma back down. the hall the shot superimposes again to. frame Gemma directly in the part of the. back of Mark's head where the hole was. drilled for his brain chip recreating. the season 2 opening credits final shot.

that showed Gemma boring out of this. hole in the back of his head so jakai. Bardo is the fourth stage fighting one's. own psyche having the chance to Glimpse. the light of reality and if you fail you. have to move on to the fifth stage and. that's what happened to Gemma here. tragically Mark awakens to see his. sister Devon now we have to ask is Mark. fully reintegrated now does he have all. the memories of both his inie and his. Audie we don't know yet for sure but. based on him just breaking down crying. it's safe to say he might like the nurse. asking Gemma at the top of the episode. his sister now asks him where'd you go.

riabi had said that Mark was journeying. and Mark now flashes back to this shot. of Jimma in the Gan College library. perhaps the first time he ever got a. glimpse of her and he breaks down crying. our final shot is gemma's eyes in. closeup but unlike this Frame showing. her forced smile to the nurse at the top. of the episode in which her eyes did not. change at all now we can tell just from. her eyes alone that this is a true smile. so coming out of this episode our. biggest question is did Gemma suffer a. real car accident and actually died and. due to gemma's treatment with buterman. and whatever paperwork she filled out.

that Lumen now had her remains declared. company property and seized the corpse. for this resurrection and reincarnation. experiment or did gemma's charade. tonight not really exist was that all. charade and maybe she voluntarily. admitted herself into Lumen for. treatment and Lumen could have faked the. car accident with a fake body and Gemma. never actually died I don't know I I. could see an argument for either. situation I'm just not sure the Gemma. who left Mark that night was deceiving. him in any way it seemed like their love. is pure and I just don't want to live in. a world where Gemma was manipulating.

Mark throughout that marriage for now. the theory sphere that I am within is. telling me that whatever Lumen plans are. they are chasing immortality and for. Cold Harbor to be that important to the. history of the world Gemma would have. needed to have died first for it to be. so miraculous right okay uh big thanks. to Noah chin and Brandon baric for all. their research help with this breakdown. comment down below with your thoughts. and theories and you can support us by. joining the channel as a member for. adree versions of Select videos please. grab a great nerdy gift option from our. merch store nerd rot. shop follow me at. EOS And subscribe to all the channels in.

the new Rockstar Network for in-depth. coverage of everything you love thanks. for watching and I'll see you next time. bye. [Music]. [Music].