Severance recap: All quiet on the western blunt
Season 2, Episode 7: Chikhai Bardo
Whaddup macrodats? I’m one behind so this is actually a recap of last week’s ep as a refresher before you watch episode 8.
We begin with a flashback to simpler times with a younger, bearded Mark rizzing up his future wife Gemma, as he discusses arguably the greatest term paper ever written, “All quiet on the western blunt.” If I was a professor, that’s an auto-A for the semester. Don’t even have to come to class. Auto-A.
I’m changing up the format this week. Instead of writing sequentially through the episode, I’m going to cover the various locales one at a time.
The testing floor
The title of this episode is a Buddhist phrase referring to the concept of bardo, the cycle of death and rebirth *cough, Gemma, cough.* However, Chikhai Bardo is the 4th stage of this cycle in which the body can sense death is near.
That is about as fore as shadowing gets.
Speaking of death, Gemma is back! We get our first glimpse of her on the testing floor, as she gets a medical workup and does one of those flashbacks in movies where a couple is cuddling in bed but then it pans out to reveal it’s a hospital bed and the wife actually died.
She also does some sort of Scientology-esque woe testing. Pretty appropriate comparison for Lumon tbh (don’t shoot me Scientology).
Gemma’s circumstances on this floor are, unsurprisingly, mysterious. She has a different outfit laid out for her every day and is brought to different rooms named after a random assortment of global cities.
It also appears she’s uniquely severed for each room on this floor. The first room is a dentist’s office where we see our whistling friend from last episode. This guy is easily the creepiest looking motherfucker I’ve ever seen. He looks embalmed.
He has that look of a cult member where you can tell there’s nothing behind the eyes. He looks like Seneca Crane’s dad (Hunger Games).
This actor was well cast because he’s one of those guys who could portray a pediatric cancer doctor giving lifesaving care to children and I would still think he’s evil. Just a sinister, unnerving looking guy.
My girlfriend can attest — every time he came on screen I pantomimed shooting a gun at him. Truly don’t like the look of him.
As Dr. Creepy is doing a workup on Gemma, it’s revealed that Cold Harbor is the only room on the testing floor she hasn’t been to yet. Once therein, he says, “she will see the world again and the world will see her.”
When inquiring if she will see Mark again, Gemma receives a totally not ominous response: “Kier will take away all his pain, just as he has yours.”
Seriously, can we shoot this guy?
Other rooms
One of the more random rooms in the testing floor is a simulated airplane experiencing severe turbulence. Gemma’s hair and dress are of the 1980’s and dentist guy, who is the star of every floor, appears as a vaguely gay flight attendant, also with 1980’s hair.
Gemma drinks what I assume are her rations, little spongey cakes in water that presumably contain whatever nutrients she needs (did one of those say reindeer marrow?).
Dr. Dickhead and giant Icelandic guy look on as Icelandic guy mentions that the doctor will have to say goodbye to her upon Mark’s completion of Cold Harbor. The doc clearly has some sort of creepy infatuation with her and should be shot repeatedly in the face.
My desire for this guy to die is only affirmed in the next room, which features a 1960’s Christmas scene. Gemma is forced to repeatedly write the same letter thanking a made-up person for a de-grouter, while creepo sits idly by.
Might be nothing, but is she writing with her off hand here? The writing is illegible and she doesn’t look natural holding a pen lefty. Also in the opening scene where she’s getting her blood drawn in a flashback at the university, the needle is in her left arm. Generally with a blood draw, you have them use your weaker side so your dominant side can still write/punch shit. Probably nothing but stood out to me.
The creep then makes Gemma say she loves him before she’s allowed to leave never-ending Christmas.
Back in her room or whatever the hell you call it, the doctor comes in and lies telling Gemma that Mark is remarried with a daughter. His incel ass is obviously lashing out over her clearly not having feelings for him despite him forcing her into some of the worst dates imaginable.
She responds by smashing him over the head with a chair, WWE style. Wrestling bitch! Eat shit you freak! A hopefully dead amount of blood begins pooling around dickhead’s head and Gemma escapes with his key card.
The severed floor (sort of)
Gemma manages to escape up to the exports hall on the severed floor. Unfortunately, her severance chip kicks in up there and she becomes Ms. Casey, passively unaware of the peril she’s in a floor below.
She meanders maddeningly slowly down the hall before being intercepted by Milchick who offers her the worst lie imaginable, “You came here for a public art exhibit and got lost in the wrong elevator.”
This is like a pharmaceutical company right? In what world would that lie make a lick of sense. Learn to improv dude.
Reluctantly, Gemma is sent back down to hell where she crumples in a defeated ball, crying for Mark.
The matrix?
We get another intriguing reveal into a small room reminiscent of the macrodats setup, only inverted. There are four computers, behind each of which sits a near clone of each of the four (now 3) refiners. In all likelihood, these are the doubles we saw at the ORTBO who somehow aren’t robots.
It seems as if they’re almost on the other side of the macrodat’s computers, tracking their progress from the back end.
Mark’s house/brain
While Mark is passed out on the couch following his basement brain surgery, we’re delighted with a journey into his reintegrating brain. We find out that he and Gemma tried to get pregnant, only for her to suffer a miscarriage. The couple then turns to IVF with no success.
Back in reality at Mark’s house, his sister comes up with arguably the stupidest plan ever — she’s going to call Ms. Cobel to see if she can help Mark against Lumon.
Good call, I’m going to hit up the Yankees to help me stop being an insufferable douche.
This proposed plan backfires as surgeon lady, whose name I STILL have not learned, opts to leave rather than deal with Ms. Cobel’s drama.
Back in Mark’s brain, he’s looking at a card on the concept of, you guessed it, chikhai bardo. Gemma’s interpretation of the concept is not one of physical death, but of ego death. As such, the card depicts a man, who looks strikingly like Mark I might add, fighting himself. About as on the nose of a metaphor as you can get for severance.
Btw I admittedly didn’t catch this in real time, but that’s the same card Dylan G. swiped from O&D a while back.
Later on in his memories, Gemma heads out to a party without Mark who is working late. This turns out to be the fateful night of the car crash. Never a good thing when cops show up at your house. Even worse when they take off their hats.
The episode concludes with Mark awaking from his mental journey and Devon repeating the question Gemma was asked at the beginning of the episode: “Where did you go?”
Get these two star-crossed lovers back together already!
Quotes of the episode
“Can you please just talk like a normal person?”
Great fucking question, Gemma. How bout it Dr. Creepy?
“Goodnight Gemma. Dream sweet.”
Got it, so that’s a no on talking normal.
Sidenote: Dream sweet reminds me of an expression from that Mormon cult down in Texas — keep sweet. Some subtle cult allusions potentially here.
Theories
I’ll be honest — I got nothing. Maybe it’s because I sleep about 4 hours a night but I truly just don’t know. I’m just gonna enjoy the ride.
Lingering questions
What’s up with the city names on the doors? Do these refer to Lumon outposts?
Is this Gemma her authentic outie, kidnapped in a sub-basement? Or is it a clone implanted with her outie’s memories?
Who’s going to die? Feels like someone is going to die.
Dammit, where are the goats?! I need the goats!
Today’s episode description is just “Discoveries are made.” I fucking hope so.
