Warning! This article contains spoilers for Severance season 2, episode 7.
Severance season 2, episode 7 was a massive episode concerning the show’s wider story, primarily due to the reveal of what Lumon has been doing to Gemma/Ms. Casey. Regarding outright screentime, Gemma has been one of the smaller members of Severance‘s cast of characters, despite her being perhaps the main driving force of the show’s narrative. After all, it was Gemma’s supposed “death” that led Mark to work for Lumon, and the reveal that she was alive in Severance season 1’s ending that propelled the story into season 2.
The ending of Severance season 2, episode 6 saw Mark speed up his Reintegration process, which promised even more reveals about Gemma. This proved to be true in Severance season 2, episode 7, with Mark’s coma-like state inducing flashbacks of his and Gemma’s life before Lumon. To offset this, Gemma’s life as part of Severance‘s ominous Exports Hall – also known as the Testing Floor – was outlined. Finally, after almost two entire seasons, Severance has begun to peel back the layers of mystery surrounding Gemma and what Lumon truly wants with her.
Lumon Has Been Testing Gemma’s Innies In Various Rooms & Simulations For 2 Years In Severance
Lumon Wants People To Have More Than One Innie
In Severance season 2, episode 7, Gemma was shown living her life on Lumon’s Testing Floor. Each day, she would be inspected by a doctor before being sent to different rooms, each labeled with different names, such as Allentown, Cairns, Wellington, and so on. In each room, Gemma’s severance chip would activate, but, crucially, each personality would be different from the last. This meant that Gemma had several different Innies, all separate from her real personality and her Innie personality as Ms. Casey.
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Each version of Gemma assumed that the room she was in was the only place she had ever been, though this is evidently false. Instead, Gemma interacted with Severance‘s Doctor Mauer in different scenarios, with the latter roleplaying as a dentist, her husband in a Christmas setting, or a flight attendant, to name only a few. Herein lies the truth of the Testing Floor and what Lumon wants with Gemma: the company wants to be able to create strong severance boundaries that allow several different Innies to inhabit one person.
Why Isn’t Gemma Allowed To Leave The Testing Floor At Lumon?
Gemma Knows Too Much… & Not Enough
One sequence during Gemma’s journey mirrored Mark’s running scene that opened Severance season 2, episode 1. Gemma was shown trying to escape the Testing Floor. Unlike Mark, however, Gemma managed to get to the elevator and travel up to the severed floor, prompting a strong reaction from Lumon, who used Milchick to send her – now as Ms. Casey – back down the elevator. Naturally, this begs the question of why Gemma is not allowed to leave the Testing Floor, with the answer stemming from Lumon’s secretive nature.
As a means of furthering the company’s sinister goals, Lumon’s workers are masterful at compartmentalizing information, lying, and fabricating stories to keep people, who are none the wiser, placated. In Gemma’s case, she knows too much about some things and not enough about others, meaning her leaving the Testing Floor would cause many problems for Lumon. For instance, Gemma is somewhat aware of the tests she has been forced into that could lead to the discovery of the company’s more sinister plans to control the populace with their new multi-severance chips.
Gemma leaving the Testing Floor could lead to the discovery that Lumon faked her death, which, if exposed to the wider world, could bury the company for good…
Concerning what Gemma does not know, Severance season 2, episode 7 indicates that she does not know that she is “dead” to the outside world. Gemma asks when she can leave Lumon so that she can see Mark at one point in the episode, something that she would not ask if she knew that he believed she was dead. Therefore, Gemma leaving the Testing Floor could lead to the discovery that Lumon faked her death, which, if exposed to the wider world, could bury the company for good.
What Is The Cold Harbor Room & Why Will That Mean Gemma’s Work Is Done?
One Of Gemma’s Rooms Is The Key To Severance Season 2’s Main Mystery
The last element of Gemma’s story from Severance season 2, episode 7 that is worth mentioning is the one room she did not enter. This room links to Severance‘s Cold Harbor file, which Mark and his MDR team are unknowingly working on, with the two being connected by the same name. Gemma remarks that it is the only room on the Testing Floor that she has not entered yet, proving that it is not ready until Mark completes his work a floor above.
Interestingly, Doctor Mauer is shown talking to Drummond at one point in the episode, with the latter insisting that the former will have to say goodbye to Gemma once Cold Harbor is completed. As any good mystery box show does, Severance continues to withhold answers as to what is in the Cold Harbor room, why entering it will render Gemma’s work complete, and why she will never see Doctor Mauer again after. The only thing that Severance has revealed is that these answers link entirely to Mark, who is the only person who can complete Cold Harbor.
Severance
8/10
- Release Date
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February 18, 2022
- Showrunner
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Dan Erickson, Mark Friedman
- Writers
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Dan Erickson