Severance – Chikhai Bardo Review

If anyone was harboring any illusions about just how utterly fucked up Lumon is, I’m hoping this episode was enough to disavow you of them. Because Jesus Christ, that was horrific to watch. Seeing Lumon torturing Gemma – and that’s what it is, torture – over the course of years? That’s horrific. It’s fun to watch someone like Milchick throw dance parties and use far too large words when short ones will do, but to see him run in, at the last moment, to send Gemma back down the elevator into her prison? There aren’t words. Of course, it’s not like any of this should be a surprise. We’ve seen evidence that Lumon was an awful company doing very awful things to people from day one. But having the monstrosity of their actions clearly laid out in front of us for the first time? I was so broken down watching all of that play out that I sat in stunned silence while the credits rolled. I can usually watch an episode of TV then immediately sit down and churn out a review – get my initial reactions down in a draft while things are still fresh. But for this episode? I needed to sleep on it. And then watch it a second time before starting. Because I wanted to do this sensational piece of work justice.

Before getting into the narrative meat of the episode, I wanted to take a moment to heap praise on Dichen Lachman. As someone who has been a fan of hers since her time on Dollhouse*, I had been waiting to see just when Ms. Casey/Gemma would get her moment in the sun, allowing everyone who wasn’t as familiar with Lachman’s incredible range the chance to see what she can do. It was well worth the wait, as this episode not only filled in our gaps about Gemma – creating a fully-formed person for us to see and making it clear why Mark was so despondent after losing her – but it also allowed Lachman the opportunity to act her ass off. Not only was she playing Gemma from the past (and showing us the ups and downs of her courtship and marriage with Mark), she was also portraying Gemma of the present (a prisoner, trapped below ground, forced to complete experiments, yet still not losing hope that she might see her husband once more) as well as the various severed personalities Gemma is forced to inhabit in a cruel twist on the severed principle.

*For those who missed Dollhouse back in 2009-2010 when it aired, I’ll give you a quick primer. The series, from Joss Whedon (before everything came out about, well, everything), followed several individuals who signed over the rights to their mind and body for a set time frame to avoid having to deal with their personal trauma. In doing so, their memories were wiped and they, ostensibly, couldn’t recall anything about who they were or what happened to them. Rich clients would then pay to have personalities implanted in their minds, allowing the clients to act out fantasies with the “dolls,” and then they would again have their memories restored to the blank slates once the “mission” was done. And yes, there are a host of issues with that premise and no, most of them aren’t adequately addressed in the series – at least until the final episodes. And yes, there are certainly some parallels to Severance, especially in this episode. On Dollhouse, Lachman was one of the dolls, meaning she got the chance to play a variety of characters, all implanted over the mind of a distinct individual. So, she was definitely ready for this episode.

A series like Severance captures the zeitgeist with its various mysteries – which were deepened even more this episode – and while there have been some stellar performances on the series thus far, Lachman’s work this week was nothing short of extraordinary. Taking on all of those different characters, showing us with her measured delivery Gemma’s anger, frustration, suffering without once raising her voice, and then showing us the layers of just who Gemma was in the past – the professor, the wife, the friend (that sequence with her and Devon did so much to underscore that her “death” was, in fact, devastating to people other than Mark), the woman longing for a child but dealing with infertility issues, is hard over the course of a season of television. But pulling all of that off in a single episode? I’m plain in awe of Lachman’s work.

As for the story itself, well, for every question the episode answered, there are a host more it spawned. For one, we know what those dental tools were for – and I’m happy we didn’t actually have to see just what the dental procedure performed on Gemma was, because I don’t know if I could have handled that. But Drummond and Doctor Mauer (which, for those keeping track of name meanings, is “wall” in German) watching not only Mark, but Gemma and the rest of MDR through their computers? That’s creepy, but it also speaks to what Raghabi was saying – Gemma is essential. So is Mark. So is Cold Harbor, the only room Gemma hasn’t been in yet. And the statement Mauer made when Gemma asked what happens when she’s entered all the rooms?

“You will see the world again and the world will see you. Mark will benefit from the world you’re siring. Kier will take away all his pain, just as he has taken away yours.”

Well, if that’s not terrifying on a number of levels, I don’t know what is. For starters, “the world you’re siring?” Perhaps it’s as simple as the pair of them are working together, albeit apart, to complete Cold Harbor. But siring, of course, tends to refer to having children. Which of course brings us back to all the theories about cloning, about the goats, about Ms. Huang maybe being related to Mark and Gemma. But what really sent a chill down my spine was Kier taking away Mark’s pain, just as he’s taken away Gemma’s. I think we can all agree that Gemma is absolutely in pain – deep emotional pain – in her current situation. Outie Mark is also in pain, while Innie Mark isn’t exactly having a great time at the moment. Yeah, I worry that this removal of pain is a permanent removal, a la Gemma’s time in each of the rooms, where she’s a wholly different person, not simply her Innie.* Manipulating the minds of people on that level is truly despicable and clearly something that Lumon is hoping to pilot out into the wider world. One wonders just how much Helena knows and how much she’s willing to go along with – Drummond is certainly all-in on it. As is Mauer (played by Robbie Benson so creepily) and the nurse (played by the great Sandra Bernhard), whose cold stare at the end of the episode upon catching Gemma was chilling.

*There’s also the possibility that the “taking away of pain” is a reference not simply to making their lives livable again, but signaling that once Cold Harbor is completed, their pain will end because their lives will end. Perhaps because they’ll have a new personality implanted in them permanently. Perhaps they will become vessels for the consciousness of someone else (Kier?). I’d be remiss for not mentioning two references in the episode to death, or rather, contemplating the edges of death. Chikhai Bardo, the episode’s title and the title of the card Gemma is looking at that Mark mocks refers to “a transitional state of consciousness that occurs when someone begins to die.” Which isn’t ominous at all, with the references to removing pain and Gemma living essentially a half-life underground. And then there’s The Death of Ivan Ilyich, Gemma’s favorite book. Written by Leo Tolstoy, the story follows Ilyich as he is diagnosed with a terminal illness, contemplates how to approach his impending death – to fear it or accept it as inevitable, thus allowing him to live in the moment and enjoy life whilst awaiting an eternal reward in the next life. There are no coincidences on Severance, and two clear references to contemplating death and what is to come after in a single episode where a character is living in limbo? Yeah, I think there’s something to this, whether it is Gemma doomed to die or Cold Harbor marking something of a transition for our characters.

But there are still so many questions to be answered. We can guess at how Lumon got Gemma – whether it was voluntarily or by force, we don’t know for sure – but it appears it was through the IVF clinic and those mailers she got. The ones Mark was so dismissive of. Perhaps the tension in their marriage was enough to sway her over to Lumon under the guise of some experiment – temporary, of course. But what struck me was how Mauer would say or do something (asking Gemma to tell him she loves him, making her write thank you cards) and we’d see that same thing mentioned or play out in Mark and Gemma’s past. Mark tells Gemma she hates writing thank you cards, and then she’s forced to write them for hours. Mark doesn’t remember to tell Gemma he loves her until she prompts him at their last meeting, Mauer does the same at the end of the Christmas role play. And then there’s Mark saying that there’s a kid out there for them and she’s waiting to meet them – which, of course, hits the Ms. Huang mystery bell one more time. Did Gemma tell Mauer or someone else these things? Did Lumon comb her memories and find them when they were implanting her chip? Were they spying on Mark and Gemma for years?

The torture Gemma is being subjected to is awful. But the one glimmer of hope in it all is that she hasn’t broken. She’s still defiant in the face of Mauer. She’s still willing to play along with the nurse – whose trust she’s clearly won, until her escape. (I also was intrigued that the nurse must accept pain in the form of a finger prick before Gemma can enter a room – some form of bonding her to Gemma, or just another sadistic Lumon game?) And she still believes that Mark is out there, waiting for her and that she will get back to him some day. And perhaps Mark will be able to find his way to her sooner rather than later. Maybe the reintegration will work, he’ll get to that elevator and see her. Maybe that’s all wishful thinking and Cold Harbor will be something truly devastating. Mark’s only 4% away from completion. Although, he didn’t look too good when he came to at the close of the episode. Hopefully Gemma can hold on just a little bit longer.