Severance Season 2 Episode 7 Ending Explained: What Does “Chikhai Bardo” Mean and How Does it Relate to Gemma?
Severance Season 2 Episode 7, delves into Mark’s past and his relationship with Gemma, revealing key memories of his marriage and tragic story. At the same time, in the present, we see Gemma try to escape from the mysterious basement of Lumon, where she has been trapped and subjected to strange psychological experiments. As the plot progresses, it is hinted that Lumon has been using Severance technology to divide workers into Innies and Outies and to conduct even more sinister experiments, manipulating memories and emotions at extreme levels. The episode raises questions about the true nature of the relationship between Mark and Gemma and what role Lumon plays in his destiny.
Severance Season 2 Episode 7 Ending Explained: What Does “Chikhai Bardo” Mean and How Does it Relate to Gemma?
In the narrative of a television series, it is, to a certain extent, frequent to find chapters that work by themselves. A narrative island that helps advance the plot of the series and, in turn, tells a story with a start, knot, and outcome by itself. We have seen it in the mythical Game of Thrones battles (as in The Battle of the Bastards) or in one of the chapters of the second season of Westworld, to give some examples. This time it was Severance, who takes advantage of Mark’s condition during the reintegration process to return to the relationship between Mark and Gemma, of which we only knew his pain after her death; and to give us the greatest argumentative revelation of what we have been doing as standard: what has become of Mark’s wife since “died”. Based on an earlier period in the characters’ lives, the aesthetics of the series change. The colors become warmer, and the scenes seem to be recorded with an analog camera. We are not only in the past but in a happier time. We see just a different, happier Mark. And we understand why he fell in love with Gemma, a woman who is nothing like the cold and distant Mrs. Casey.
We contemplate different periods in the relationship, from an idyllic start to the progressive deterioration related to Gemma’s infertility and the pressure to be a mother. And Lumon is always present, both in the blood donation in which both are known and in the monitoring of pregnancy and subsequent abortion. The shadow that the company has conditioned the relationship is long. Although Lumon uses the Severance process for more than just increasing productivity at work. The determined bet that Severance has made for the narrative more focused on the secrets that Lumon hides could be a small “but” since it is obvious, except at times, everything focused on trying, by all means, Macrodata members focus on working. As for Gemma, it seems clear that she agreed to enter Lumon, maybe because of something to do with her fertility. He lives on the lower floor than the separate one, where he spends the most time exposing himself to different situations of Severance from which we see a continuous visit to the dentist or writing christmas under the gaze of “her husband”, Dr. Mauer, the only person who interacts with all versions of Gemma and who seems to have feelings for her. Namely, what could have happened between them that Gemma does not remember… Each of the situations Gemma is exposed to have names that correspond to the files Mark has been working with. There is only one room left to access, the aforementioned Cold Harbor, of which there is only 4% left to complete it.
Can Gemma Escape?
The episode’s great revelation is that Gemma has been trapped in a secret area of the Lumon building, probably the export department, where she is subjected to psychological testing. She is taken to different rooms, each with a different setting, and a doctor named Dr. Mauer observes her reactions, trying to erase her identity as Gemma and completely turn her into Ms. Casey, his Innie. In her escape attempt, Gemma hits the doctor and runs to the elevator, but just as it appears she will escape, Milchick steps in and forces her to return. This moment suggests that, despite all her efforts, she remains trapped under Lumon’s control and that her fight for freedom is not over.
Mark and Gemma’s Past: What Was Their Tragedy?
Memories of Mark and Gemma show that their relationship began idyllically, but over time, it was affected by Gemma’s infertility and the pressure of trying to start a family. This conflict led them to a state of emotional tension, in which they never considered divorce, but their relationship began to wear out. The big unknown is what happened next. We see that one night, Mark receives two policemen at his door, apparently informing him of Gemma’s death in a car accident. However, we now know that Gemma is still alive within Lumon, suggesting that her death may have been false or that her consciousness was somehow transferred or manipulated by the company.
What Does “Chikhai Bardo” Mean and How Does it Relate to Gemma?
The episode title refers to a concept of Tibetan Buddhism that describes a state of transition between life and death. This fits in with the situation of Gemma, who appears to be in a “limbo” in which her identity as Gemma has been progressively replaced by Ms. Casey, but her love for Mark still lingers. The episode also introduces symbolic elements such as the duck-rabbit illusion and cards with two identical figures fighting, suggesting that Lumon is manipulating Gemma’s perception to make her forget her past.
The Theory of Divorce by Severance
One of the episode’s most disturbing ideas is that Lumon could be using Severance technology as an extreme divorce experiment. Rather than allowing Mark and Gemma to separate conventionally, the company could have stepped in to “erase” their feelings for each other, ensuring that their love faded through psychological manipulation and alteration. Of memories. Mark, unknowingly, could have been helping in this process in his work on MDR, eliminating “data” that were emotional fragments of his relationship with Gemma. If this theory is correct, Cold Harbor could be the last phase of this procedure, in which both would be completely “emotionally unrelated”.
What is Lumon looking for? And What Does Mark’s Activity Have to Do with the Rooms GEMMA Is Exposed to?
Gemma is trapped by the Separation mechanism itself and, trying to elope, ends up on the separate floor as Miss Casey, being intercepted by Milchick, who forces her to return to the lower floor. Knowing what has become of Gemma all this time, It remains to be seen what will come in the last episodes. With Mark recovering, we witnessed a confrontation between his sister and the one who has reinstated him, who leaves when he sees how his sister intends to contact Cobel to access the delivery shelter, a place where the fueis and dentris contact in some way. . I already said that Cobel will be part of the fall of Lumon and time seems to prove me right.
Conclusion of Chikhai Bardo
This episode of Severance offers one of the most shocking revelations in the series so far: Gemma is not dead, but caught in a psychological nightmare in Lumon. His failed attempt to escape and the persistent connection to Mark make it clear that many mysteries remain to be solved. As the series progresses toward its conclusion, the big question is whether Mark will be able to remember enough to save Gemma or whether Lumon will end up separating them permanently. With the company’s conspiracy getting darker and darker, their fate remains in the air.
