Severance Season 2 Could Simply Have Revealed Lumon’s Weird Endgame

This text comprises main spoilers for “Severance” Season 2, Episode 7, “Chikhai Bardo.”

“Severance” Season 2, Episode 7, “Chikhai Bardo,” focuses on Gemma (Dichen Lachman), Mark Scout’s (Adam Scott) supposedly lifeless spouse. The truth that she’s nonetheless alive and in Lumon Industries’ custody is revealed in Season 1 after we discover that Lumon wellness counselor Ms. Casey is her innie, however the remainder of Gemma’s unusual Lumon existence has been largely unknown … till know.

“Chikhai Bardo” replaces the present’s ordinary technique of drip-feeding clues with a sudden and violent information dump. The episode unspools the horrible mysteries surrounding Gemma, whose mind hasn’t been severed as a lot because it has been completely shattered. The true Gemma is successfully imprisoned within the secret Lumon Testing Ground, and she or he has a number of innies who should commonly spend time in rooms which are named after the recordsdata Mark’s Macrodata Refinement Crew is engaged on. The innies are room-specific and caught in a loop the place they should undergo duties that appear customized to elicit explicit feelings. These are all however confirmed to be the identical ones MDR makes use of to refine the recordsdata — and are very seemingly related to the 4 Tempers, a vital idea in Lumon’s company mythology about its founder, Kier Eagan.

By now, it is apparent that Gemma and Mark are intrinsically related to Lumon’s global-scale objectives, and if we unpack the clues on this episode, it might simply have lastly revealed what mentioned endgame is: The corporate is attempting to stage a second coming of its messiah, Kier, to be able to have him lead Lumon’s worldwide innie cult/faith. Does that sound like a far-fetched principle? Earlier than you say so, take a second to keep in mind that Kier-faced child within the “Severance” Season 2 opening credit and skim on.

The fever dream opening credit and “Severance” composer Theodore Shapiro’s eerie theme play a big half in placing the viewer within the present’s claustrophobic temper. Nonetheless, the creepy child with Kier Eagan’s face on the finish of the Season 2 credit sequence is even stranger than ordinary as a result of it appears so completely unconnected to every thing else.

The factor is, the infant would possibly truly be very related to the bigger story. “Chikhai Bardo” drops trace after trace that Gemma’s tragic miscarriage is the rationale she ended up with Lumon within the first place. Not solely does her overseer Dr. Mauer (Robby Benson) inform her that Mark “will profit from the world you are siring,” however the flashbacks additionally reveal that her quest to have a child put her on Lumon’s radar within the first place. Whereas she does not get pleasure from her state of affairs anymore, it appears that evidently she initially agreed to vanish and go together with the corporate as a result of it promised it might assist her out with the state of affairs. However why would Lumon accomplish that?

To get their beloved founder and prophet again, that is why. The ending of “Severance” Season 1 reveals that Lumon is planning to go international with the severance process, and the frilly nature of the Kier cult that Lumon imposes on the innies suggests that they will roll that out in a big scale as properly. Since cults want frontmen and the Eagans are clearly deathly critical about Kier, it is smart that they solely see one prophet that is appropriate for main a worldwide Kier-based faith: Kier Eagan himself. Because it occurs, Lumon Industries is particularly acknowledged to be a biotechnology firm, which signifies that the Eagans are uniquely suited to convey again Kier — both by bioengineering a child clone of the founder or by in any other case recreating him.

So, if Gemma is being positioned because the Holy Mary determine for a bioengineered Kier messiah baby, what’s the entire take care of the rooms her numerous innies are visiting and their connection to the Macrodata Refinement Crew’s recordsdata? If this principle is right, Gemma’s experiments revolve round Kier’s 4 Tempers — his essence, if you’ll. Because the rooms she visits correspond with the recordsdata the MDR workforce is fixing, the information being refined would possibly simply be the genetic code that is wanted to both convey again Kier as a clone or assist Gemma carry a Kier child to time period. Because of Mark’s emotional connection to Gemma, he would naturally be adept in fixing among the recordsdata, which explains why he cracked the Allentown file (which corresponds to the testing room the place a Gemma innie has to put in writing numerous thanks letters) in a mere day.

Which brings us to the ominous Chilly Harbor file/room. Since Mark fixing it and Gemma getting into it appears to be essential to Lumon’s plans, it is fairly seemingly that it is related to the Kier child. Maybe the room is the place he might be born as soon as the Chilly Harbor macrodata has been refined, or possibly there is a child in there already, simply ready for that Kier persona to be bioengineered into him. Both method, this may clarify why Mark appears to seek out the file comparatively troublesome. “Chikhai Bardo” reveals that Mark reacted to dropping their child by rising indifferent and able to abandon parenthood, whereas Gemma held out hope. Because of this he could have a tough time totally cracking Chilly Harbor: on this explicit case, he and Gemma merely do not align properly.

The thought of a bioengineering juggernaut that tries to recreate its founder to move a worldwide faith of severed individuals might sound staggering, however the one factor Lumon has at all times been open about is that its severed employees are doing extraordinarily important work. Contemplating the messianic significance the corporate locations on Kier, bringing him again would little doubt be an important work the corporate might probably conceive. The plan to convey Kier again might additionally clarify the non secular reverence an unsevered supervisor like Concord Cobel (Patricia Arquette) appears to have towards him, and it would be greater than necessary sufficient for the Eagans to maintain sending their very own scion Helena (Britt Decrease) within the Macrodata Refinement combine.

The newborn Kier principle is, in fact, nonetheless unconfirmed. Even when it proves to be right, “Severance” will seemingly take its candy time revealing the subsequent step in Lumon’s plan (as a result of, let’s face it, in fact there’ll a subsequent step). Would the brand new Kier’s true function be to lock all of humanity’s innies in unusual workplace complexes whereas being force-fed non secular Eagan propaganda? Or is the actual endgame one thing even greater — like, say, bringing the resurrection expertise the Severed Ground could also be creating to the general public, making the Eagans not solely a strong cult however masters of loss of life itself?

As for what all of this probably means to the MDR members who’re unconnected to the Eagans or Gemma, it stays to be seen. Maybe Dylan (Zach Cherry) and Irving (John Turturro) are merely good employees who’ve proven they will refine properly sufficient to hold with the mission, or possibly in addition they have a mysterious connection to the better proceedings. Now, if solely the present would reveal what Mammalians Nurturables is all about …  

New episodes of “Severance” drop Fridays on Apple TV+.