Warning: This article contains spoilers for Severance season 2, episode 7, “Chikhai Bardo.”

Severance, the cerebral sci-fi series on Apple TV+, can sometimes flirt with the worst qualities of post-Lost “mystery box” shows, seeming to introduce more mysteries than it could possibly answer. But then you get a powerhouse episode like “Chikhai Bardo,” which reassured viewers that creator Dan Erickson and executive producer Ben Stiller know exactly where this story is going.

The seventh episode of Severance season 2, “Chikhai Bardo” finally offers some concrete answers about Gemma (Dichen Lachman), also known as the severed floor counselor Ms. Casey. In the process, episode 7 shed a bit of light on Lumon’s goals for its severed technology, the folks pulling the strings, and Gemma’s pre-severed life with Mark (Adam Scott).

Read on for an in-depth look at Severance season 2, episode 7 explained, plus some analysis on its major revelations.

What happens in Severance season 2, episode 7?

In Severance season 2, episode 7, we learn the truth about Gemma, Mark’s wife who he (and we) previously thought was dead. Though she supposedly died in a car accident, it turns out that she’s alive inside Lumon.

We already knew that, of course — it was the big reveal of the season 1 finale — but what we knew then was that Gemma was Ms. Casey, a counselor on the severed floor who seemingly has have no recollection of Mark or their life together. What we know now is that Ms. Casey is just one of many severed Gemmas and that Gemma herself — the one who married Mark in the world outside of Lumon — is alive on the testing floor.

In this episode, a captive Gemma is forced to enter a series of different rooms. She’s severed anew in every room, with each of her severed personalities forced to endure an unpleasant experience. Some of them are truly frightening (a plane in extreme turbulence). Others are painful but necessary (a trip to the dentist). And some are just annoying (writing Christmas cards).

These experiences are intercut with flashbacks to Mark and Gemma’s first meeting, their struggles conceiving a child, and the night she supposedly died.

In the end, Gemma fights back against Lumon’s doctors and escapes the testing floor by stealing a key card and taking an elevator to the severed floor. Of course, she’s severed again, emerging from the elevator as Ms. Casey. She’s met by Mr. Milchick (Tramell Tillman), who tells her she arrived by mistake. “Your Outie came in for a public art exhibition and found herself in the wrong elevator,” he says. He sends her back to the testing floor. The episode ends with her collapsing and whispering Mark’s name.

Who are the doctors in Severance season 2, episode 7?

We see two different Lumon staffers interacting with Gemma in episode 7. The first is Cecily, who’s played by actress and stand-up comedy legend Sandra Bernhard. She seems to operate more as a nurse than a doctor, conducting routine tests, blood work, and inquiring as to whether Gemma has done her reading and calisthenics. She also asks her strange questions: “If you were caught in a mudslide, would you be more afraid of suffocating or drowning?” Gemma answers drowning.

The other is Dr. Mauer, a malevolent and shapeshifting man played by actor Robby Benson, who’s perhaps best known for voicing the Beast in Disney’s animated Beauty and the Beast. We first caught an obstructed glimpse of him in season 2, episode 5, when he whistled Gordon Lightfoot’s “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald” with dental supplies in tow. He whistles the same song when we see him as Gemma’s dentist in one of the rooms.

But he’s more than just a dentist to one of Gemma’s many severed personalities. In other rooms, Dr. Mauer appears as a flight attendant and, quite tellingly, as her husband during Christmas time. (Anyone else getting Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind vibes?)

On the testing floor, he proves himself a liar, telling Gemma’s present-day self that Mark has “moved on” and had a child with another woman. And in a scene with Mr. Drummond (Ólafur Darri Ólafsson), he claims Gemma is “fond” of him, which is clearly untrue.

Interestingly, Mauer even appears via flashback in the fertility clinic that Mark and Gemma visit.

This particularly intrigued Lachman, who shared her own (unconfirmed) idea about what it means with Variety. “They’ve definitely been watching [Mark and Gemma] for a long time,” she said. “My theory is that they picked something up with Gemma’s blood work when she went to the fertility clinic, and that’s got something to do with why they picked Mark and Gemma.”

What are the rooms Gemma is forced to enter?

Each of the rooms Gemma is forced to enter have a different name: Allentown, Cairns, Dranesville, Loveland, and Wellington. Observant viewers will recognize these as the names of the files completed by Mark and the Macrodata Refinement crew.

That connection between these rooms — each of which represents a different kind of painful or unpleasant experience — and MDR’s work provide some clarity to what, exactly, Lumon is up to.

It seems plausible that Lumon wants to develop its severance technology so it can be utilized to sever oneself from any situation they’d rather not experience, whether it’s a painful dental procedure, a long flight, or a tedious task. Think of it as “Sever On Demand.”

How is MDR involved? Well, that’s still unclear, but when we visit the “control room,” as Severance cinematographer and episode 7 director Jessica Lee Gagné referred to it in a recent interview, we see that Lumon is monitoring live feeds of both Gemma and the MDR crew simultaneously.

All of this suggests that MDR’s “refinement” is directly related to Gemma’s experiences in each room.

Why Gemma and Mark are so important to this project remains a mystery, though the flashbacks to Gemma and Mark’s past (and the truth of their inability to conceive) may provide some clues.

What happened to Mark and Gemma?

Since the beginning of Severance, Mark and Gemma’s relationship has been the mystery behind his ongoing grief over her passing. It’s been easy to overlook, though, since we’ve been invested in the romance blooming between Mark and Helly’s Innies.

In season 2, episode 7, we get a good chunk of backstory. Mark and Gemma met during a blood drive (sponsored by Lumon, of course), bonding over papers written by their students at Ganz College, where she teaches literature and he teaches history.

After a montage of their idyllic courtship, we learn that Gemma is pregnant. Unfortunately, she suffers a miscarriage, leading them to try IVF. Finding no success, their relationship begins to suffer, with Mark especially radiating anger. One night, she leaves but never comes home. Instead, Mark is met on his doorstep by police officers who inform him that Gemma has died.

Since we know she’s alive, the question is: Did Lumon kidnap Gemma, or did she willingly choose to partake in their experiment?

So, what’s the deal with Ms. Casey?

We’ve yet to receive an explicit answer as to why Gemma was directed to interact with Mark and the MDR team as Ms. Casey. This likely has to do with Lumon’s interest in what management calls the “severance barrier.”

A key part of Lumon’s experiment seems to concern whether or not feelings or sensations transfer between a severed individual’s Innies and Outies. Erickson touched on this topic when speaking with Mashable. “I will say what’s interesting here is that she’s going through these painful or unpleasant experiences and then she’s leaving, and the question that’s being asked throughout the episode by Dr. Mauer is, to what degree is anything leaking through? Is she walking out of that room with any emotional echo of what she was going through in that room? So far it seems that she’s not, so that’s the throughline that I think is happening with what’s going on in those rooms.”

Ms. Casey, it would seem, was a way for Lumon’s management to see if there would be any recognition between Gemma and Mark if they interacted on the severed floor.

What is Cold Harbor?

“Cold Harbor” is a phrase that’s come up often this season. It’s the file Mark is currently working on, and it’s one Lumon considers quite important to its work. But it’s also the only room that Gemma has yet to enter.

In response to her queries about the room, Gemma is told she “will see the world again and the world will see” her once she goes in. And as for whether she’ll ever see Mark again, she’s told, “Mark will benefit from the world you’re siring. Kier will take away all his pain just as Kier has taken away yours.”

All of this seems to be pointing towards how Lumon’s technology could be used to sever one’s experience with death, thus the ominous responses to Gemma’s questions. That’s just speculation, though — we assume more answers will arrive in the coming weeks.

Where can I watch Severance?

Both seasons of Severance are streaming on Apple TV+.