S2E23 - REWATCH07-PT01 - Chikhai Bardo - Severed: The Ultimate Severance Podcast

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:03):
Severed The Ultimate Severance Podcast.

Speaker 2 (00:14):
Hey the Refiner, Welcome back to the Severed Floor. Our
full rewatch of season two continues. We're seven episodes into
a ten episode season, but I'm still going to give
you the spoiler warning. You must have seen all ten
of the season two episodes before you begin this podcast.
There are spoilers everywhere. This is Severed, the Ultimate Severance Podcast.

(00:35):
I'm your host, Alan s. We're starting a unique journey
this week. This chapter of our story is an entirely
unexpected look at the beginnings of Mark and Jemma's love affair.
It also documents their attempts at starting a family. That
would be a pretty full episode right there, but we're
just getting started. After experiencing the early days of this
great love affair, We're also going to journey for the

(00:56):
first time ever to the testing floor. We'll find that
Jemma Scout is alive. She's not injured or brain dead
or half burned up on life support following her car accident.
You'd almost think that car accident thing is a lie.
Jemma is not only alive, but she's also healthy and
aware of everything, except for those times when she activates

(01:17):
her very unique Severance chip hybrid. This episode also spends
time in Mark Scout's living room, where Mark is still
unconscious flooding. Ragabi's latest attempt at reintegrating his chip resulted
in Mark having some kind of a health episode, possibly
a stroke. He passed out in his kitchen in front
of his sister Devin. She is now trying to take

(01:39):
care of her very sick brother. Regabi is also there
to assist. You'd think it would be a good thing
to have her around, but I'm honestly starting to wonder
about the value of her involvement. Episode seven, Cheeki Bardo
was released for download on February twenty seventh of twenty
twenty five. It was written by Dan Erickson and Mark Friedman,
directed by Jessica Gannie. This is Mark Friedman's only writing

(02:03):
credit on Severance. Mark, you might remember, was the showrunner
who was rumored to have a run in with Dan Erickson.
Regarding the direction of the show, Ben Stiller said the
rumors of civil war were blown out of proportion. Nothing
more was said about it, at least publicly. Although Mark
is listed as executive producer for all ten of the
season two Severns episodes, He is familiar with the word processor.

(02:27):
Mark has nine writing credits in his career. They include
seventeen episodes on the two thousand and nine series The
Forgotten and thirteen episodes of the twenty fourteen series Believe.
Mark was also one of the credited writers on the
twenty fourteen movie Night at the Museum Secret of the Tomb. It,
of course, starred Ben Stiller. Weird aside. In Mark's resume,

(02:49):
one of the known four titles listed under his name
was Shakespeare in Love from nineteen ninety eight. IMDb randomly
generates the known four lists drawing from those items the
performer's resume, since it is a Best Picture winner. I
was curious as to what mister Friedman had done on
Shakespeare in Love. It took some clicking through his various

(03:09):
crew positions to find it. Mark Friedman acted as assistant
to Harvey Weinstein during the production of Shakespeare in Love.
It would be more than twenty years later when Weinstein
is accused of rape and sexual assault. He was convicted
in twenty twenty. I understand why Mark has that one
kind of buried in his resume to bad. IMDb highlighted

(03:30):
it here. It looks like Mark and Dan have done
some collaborating on the writing. If you remember from my
WGA rules discussion last episode, this writing credit would indicate
Ericson did most of the writing. Listing his name in
the second position indicates Friedman has a lesser percentage of
responsibility for the contents of the up, although in some
of the interviews regarding this episode, the stars and crew

(03:53):
people referenced Mark as being the writer on this episode.
The name of our director, Jessica Lee Guy, should sound
very familiar to you. She is the visionary cinematographer who
has made Severance such a visual treat throughout the last
season and a half. This is her first ever directing assignment.
Directing seems like it would be a natural progression in

(04:14):
her career, but Jessica fought getting here at every turn.
Fate stepped in at several points to guide her. Jessica
or jailg first worked with Ben Stiller on the twenty
eighteen TV mini series Escape at Dana Mora. It also
starred Patricia Arquette. I watched the summer of twenty twenty
two just after starting work on this podcast. It is

(04:34):
very entertaining and well done. Check it out if you
get a chance escape at Dana Mora streams for free
with a subscription to either Paramount Plus or Netflix. When
Severance landed on Ben's desk at Red Hour, he recognized
the need for a visionary cinematographer. His first call was
to Jessica. After reading the available scripts and show treatment,
she declined JLG loves to work with natural light. She

(04:58):
likes to shoot outside and during the day. Most of
Severance happens inside when we aren't down on the severed floor.
The Oudi world is both night and winter. Since the
outside world is cold and dark, everyone pretty much stays
inside after hours too. This whole Severance situation was Jlg's
nightmare as a cinematographer. It took a lot of convincing

(05:21):
on the part of Ben Stiller to get her to agree.
As we discussed in season one, she also found photo
books depicting interesting shots of modern office settings. These photos
inspired Jessica to make the look of Severance something really
interesting and uniquely her own, even though it was almost
entirely an inside shoot. She dug into the project with

(05:42):
enthusiasm and the backing of lead director and executive producers Stiller.
After a season of white hallways. Jessica was done with
the whole inside shooting thing. Sure it was artistically stimulating
and a challenge, but she felt she'd done everything she
could with the severed floor environment. She told and then
she would be quitting Severance at the end of season one.

(06:03):
Ben's response was basically no. He tried to entice her
with a big carrot. If you come back for season two,
you can direct an episode. Jlg is a cinematographer, and
a very successful one, but that wasn't always the dream.
When she first attended film school, she was there to
be a director. Before she could get too deeply into

(06:24):
the directing curriculum, cinematography got her attention. She changed course
professionally and has always worked as a cinematographer. Her desire
to direct came flooding back when Ben handed her the
outline of the second season. She read it during a
plane ride. The seventh episode. This one really stood out,
she said. It spoke to her close friends had just

(06:45):
experienced the stress of the IVF procedure and the heartbreak
of a miscarriage. Ganya said she knew she could tell
this story with the sensitivity and respect it required. As
she said in an interview about the episode. Quote, I
wanted to make sure a woman was going going to
tell this story because it's the first time in Severance
where we're fully in a female perspective. The episode is

(07:07):
Jemma's episode. I wanted to accompany her through that story,
and I felt like I was suited to tell it. Unquote.
After not wanting to take the cinematographer job in the
first place, then preparing to quit after the first season,
JLG grudgingly agreed to come back for another season of Severance.
She would sign on for the entire season a cinematographer,
but the chance to direct this episode was what really

(07:29):
brought her back. Did she make the right choice even
though she fought it at every turn? Did fate take
her to the right place in her life and career? Oh? Yeah.
Not only was this episode Harold, it is one of
the best of the season, it was also described by
a number of noted television reviewers as possibly being one
of the best episodes of television ever made. Ever, it

(07:51):
is truly incredible. No surprise. At the time of this recording,
the Emmy Awards nominations were just announced for twenty twenty five.
Severance picked up a feel leading twenty seven nominations. One
of those, and one that is considered to shoe in,
is for Jessica Lyganie as Best Director for the episode
Cheek I Bardo. She's even going up against friend and
mentor Ben Stiller in the same category for his work

(08:14):
on the episode Cole Harbor. The rookie Jessica is heavily
favored to win. And if that's not enough winning for you,
how about this. J lg is the first woman to
ever be nominated for both Best Cinematography and Best Director
for a drama Series in the same year. Her cinematography
nomination is for the episode Hello mis Kobel. She did

(08:35):
act as her own cinematographer on this episode as well.
After all of the hype, you'd figure nothing can live
up to that, right, I don't agree. I consider this
episode to be just as good as everyone says it is.
It's a standout for the season and the series. It
just might be my favorite of all time. Volunteer research
of NNP still considers the finale of season one as

(08:57):
his favorite ep of the series, but he's got this
one listed is a very close second. So if you're ready,
Refiner it's time to open the incredibly cool file called
Cheekai Bardo. We open on the back of a woman's head.
She's walking briskly through a college campus. We're following along
with a handheld shot. The woman is Deechin Lockman, playing

(09:18):
the character of Gemma. We never get a last name,
just Gemma. The campus is supposed to be Gan's College
in the state or province or territory of Pe, where
she works as a professor of Russian lit. The campus
is actually the Nassau Community College in Garden City, Long Island.
It was built in the nineteen sixties and seventies, so
it features a great mix of brutalist and mid century architecture.

(09:41):
It's a perfect match for everything else in Pe. We
reverse to Jemma's face. She pushes back a lock of
black hair. This is a professor, but she has a
youthful look about her. She almost blends in with the students.
Gemma has an expression that says she might be a
bit overworked. This episode is going to be very Gemma heavy.
We see her in flashbacks as her love affair with

(10:02):
Mark Scout Rose. Plus, we're going to see her extensively
down on the testing floor. Deechen Lackman is everywhere in
this episode, which was a total shock when she found out.
She told Vulture. As the s two scripts started coming in,
she was getting concerned. Mss Casey slish. Gemma was appearing
in almost every episode, but not for more than a
flash or a frame. She didn't have any lines. Deechen

(10:26):
was thinking, did I do something wrong? Then Dan Erickson
let her know how the Gemma's story was going to
play out at the end of the season. Deechin said
this sudden reversal of fortune was exciting, but at the
same time a lot of pressure. She didn't want to
let severans fans down. Meeting Gemma is something we've been
building to for a long time. We know so much

(10:46):
about her, but most of it has come through Mark's
recall of their relationship. This is the first time we've
had a chance to see Gemma on her own without
the rose colored filter of Mark's memory. Speaking of rose
colored filter, are you noticing a different quality to these
shots when compared to the rest of the series. Hopefully
you are, because a lot of time, effort, and budget

(11:09):
was expended getting this look. These flashback scenes are being
shot on film. Most TV productions, even a lot of
movie productions have made the move to high quality digital
video for primary shooting. Film is quickly becoming a relic
of the past. We'll get into the differences between film
and video in just a minute. Right now, you need

(11:30):
to grab another cup of coffee. Refiner Severed will be
right back. Hey, this is Ben Stiller. Thanks for listening
to Severed, the Ultimate Severance Podcast. For nearly one hundred years,
the movies and a lot of TV shows were shot
on film. In the early aughts, high quality digital video

(11:51):
became a serious quality contender. Once directors and camera people
were convinced of the quality and reliability of digital, a
lot of productions moved away from film. There are a
lot of negatives pun intended to shooting on film. First
and foremost, film is expensive. It's not just an upfront
cost either. Digital cameras can be expensive, but they're a

(12:12):
one time cost. Stock and processing fees pile up for
every minute shot on film. It's also hard to work with.
You can run out of a film reel in the
middle of a take. You can't see what you've shot
on film until it's been processed. Anyone with knowledge of
the cinematography of film is almost considered a high priest
in the black arts. Yes, film does look cool and nostalgic,

(12:37):
but the long list of negatives outweighs the positives. For
most productions, there is a graininess and warmth to film.
Some directors claim you can't duplicate on video, even with
filters and enhancements. All of Severin's who shot on high
quality digital video cameras. It's all we've been looking at
for fifteen episodes. Now. I think throwing film into the

(12:58):
mix for the flashbacks was a great choice. It does
give us this nostalgic look at the happy couple, kind
of like home movies. An aerial overview of the quad
shows us how busy the Gan's college campus is. The
drone shot also acts as a transition into the library.
There's a cut to bearded history professor Mark Scout flipping

(13:18):
through some papers. Would you check that facial hair? Adam
Scott said the hair on his head was pretty much
always his throughout these flashbacks, the facial hair was almost
always phony. Adam can grow a nice beard and quickly,
but not so fast as to have one ready for
each of these various flashback scenes. The faux hair he's
wearing was created by Academy Award winning makeup artist Judy Chen.

(13:42):
How good is this fake beard? Detchen Lackman shot with
Adam all day for these scenes and never knew it
wasn't real. It's not a hair appliance that get stuck
on his face. We'll see some of those with doctor
Mauer down on the testing floor. What Judy did for
Mark is a far more tedious price, says. Each hair
was added to Adam's face individually. You've got to stick

(14:05):
them on one at a time in order to achieve
that realistic look. Mark has the cap of a red
pen in his mouth as he shuffles through a huge
pile of loose paper. The long shot gives us a
better idea what's going on here. The Gan's College Library
has been turned into a blood drive donation area. A
line of chase recliners has been set up to make
donations comfortable. The woman we met on the quad is

(14:27):
being set up in the chase right next to Mark.
As Mark continues shuffling papers, he does a double take.
The studious professor Scout has just noticed the woman in
the seat next to him is very attractive, thanks and polite.
There's a cut to a wide shot of the room.
The up angle allows us to see the banner in
the rafters. It says donate blood in large letters. Next

(14:50):
to that it says Gan's College Annual Blood Drive. See
the white haired male blood drive worker in the background.
None of our blood drive folks is officially listed in
the cat but Daniel Siffiletti has added himself to the
cast list as an uncredited blood drive worker, and I
think that's him. Out of curiosity, I clicked on Daniel's
name to see his IMDb profile. Sometimes background people like

(15:13):
this will have other recognizable roles in their resume. I'm
glad I checked on Daniel because he has the most
bizarre IMDb listing of any performer I think I've ever seen.
Daniel lists twenty six credits dating back to two thousand
and five, where he was an uncredited refugee in the
Tom Cruise remake of War of the Worlds. Although he's

(15:34):
been doing this for twenty years, most of Daniel's credits
are from twenty twenty four and twenty five. Every credit
on Daniel's profile except for one, is shown as uncredited.
He was identified as a juror in a twenty twenty
four episode of the series Kill or Be Killed. Aside
from that, Daniel is showing twenty five entries for performances

(15:55):
in movies and TV shows where he was not in
the official cast list but did appear as an extra.
In Daniel's bio, he acknowledges he is a background character actor.
It's his thing. He claims to love blending into the
background and creating authentic characters. I say, go, Daniel, we
need background players just as much as we need stars.

(16:17):
The bearded and disarming doctor Scout can't help but try
to strike up a conversation with the lovely woman sitting
next to him.

Speaker 3 (16:24):
What do you get there?

Speaker 2 (16:26):
So maybe he's not the most silver tongue devil, but
I give him credit for being brave enough to say anything.
She is gorgeous, so he wasn't strong out of the gate.
It sounds like Mark had to get some conversational momentum going.
He tries again, Sorry, what do you got there? Really?
That's your second attempt. Thankfully, Jemma is not annoyed by

(16:46):
this somewhat shy gentleman who is also giving blood. How
creepy could he be he's a blood donor.

Speaker 1 (16:52):
Themes of religious conversion in Tulsoy's The Death of Yvan Jet.

Speaker 2 (16:57):
Something light for the beach. Mark is pretty with his comeback.

Speaker 3 (17:01):
Oh my god, spoiler please.

Speaker 2 (17:03):
I guess when it comes to the charm he needed
to get warmed up the title Jemma mentioned. The Death
of Ivan Ilyitch is a novel by Russian author Leo Tolstoy.
It's considered a masterpiece of Tolstoy's later fiction. It's also
considered one of the finest examples of a novella ever written.
He wrote it in eighteen eighty six, shortly after he

(17:23):
had experienced a religious conversion. In nineteen ninety seven, the
psychologist Mark Friedman offered an observation regarding Ivan Ilyitch. This
is a different Mark Friedman than the one who wrote
the episode. This one spells his name with an ee R.
Scriptwriter uses ie so anyway, ee Friedman said, the Death
of Ivan Ilioch quote is about the consequences of living

(17:45):
without meaning, that is, without a true and abiding connection
to one's life. Interesting that someone who is about to
be taken so far out of her life is reading
about this book. It was creaky at first, but Mark
may have successfully launched conversation with this lovely woman.

Speaker 4 (18:02):
What about you?

Speaker 2 (18:03):
Mark fumbles a bit.

Speaker 3 (18:04):
Oh god, this is a real treat.

Speaker 2 (18:06):
He's flipping through papers, trying to get to the title
page of a student's theme.

Speaker 3 (18:10):
All quiet on the Western blunt drug use by enlisted
soldiers during World War One.

Speaker 2 (18:16):
Gemma smiles. She tells him to stop it.

Speaker 3 (18:18):
No, that's what it is.

Speaker 2 (18:20):
It is pretty funny. What a great way to tie
your personal hobbies into your history assignment.

Speaker 1 (18:24):
It's a genius.

Speaker 4 (18:25):
You should flunk every other child.

Speaker 3 (18:27):
I couldn't agree more.

Speaker 2 (18:28):
They both have a laugh and pause for a deeper
look at each other. It's like Mark just truly noticed her.
Patron refiner kat R pointed out here that Mark fell
back on his standard opening question.

Speaker 3 (18:40):
I'm sorry, who are you?

Speaker 2 (18:42):
Yeah? And what's your phone number? And where do you live?
And whatever other information I can get out of you
while you are still in this flirty good mood. She's
not super forthcoming with the deats, Gemma, but hey, it's
a start. She offers a hand, but Mark is tied
up with the blood paraphernalia as he tries to free
at least one of his hands. Notice his watch. Mark

(19:03):
wears his watch on his right hand because he is
a lefty. Mark is a lefty because the actor Adam
Scott is naturally left handed. Oh and a quick aside,
did you know there's a world class golfer also named
Adam Scott? I did not. When I asked Google if
Adam Scott was left handed, I was told he plays
golf left handed, even though he is naturally right handed.

(19:24):
This left me confused. What do I care how Adam
golf's I couldn't get the answer I was wanting until
I amended my search to specify the actor Adam Scott
volunteer research of NYP and I are also both left handed.
We discussed this wearing your watch on the other hand thing.
Then he said someone told him in high school that's
how left handed people do it, so he started wearing

(19:47):
his watch on his non dominant hand. Adam Scott must
have been given the same kind of watch wearing advice.
I never had anyone tell me, so I continued wearing
my wristwatch on my left wrist, where it's easiest to use.
You might not realize it, but almost all wristwatches are
made for right handed people. The stem is always on
the right side, like a lot of people. Since I

(20:08):
started carrying my phone with me everywhere, I don't wear
a wristwatch anymore. I haven't for years. Finny's the same way.
Since wristwatches are an important part of a severed worker's wardrobe,
Adam has chosen to wear Mark's watch the way it
feels most natural for his leftiness on his non dominant wrist.
Mark finally frees himself enough to shake hands.

Speaker 4 (20:29):
Mark.

Speaker 1 (20:31):
Nice to meet you, Mark, you too.

Speaker 2 (20:34):
Wow, this is going very well. They are both all smiles.
As the introductions continue. There's a cut to close up.
We're looking at one of the small plastic hoses delivering
blood to the vacutainers. This hose is snaking over a
round chrome piece of equipment. A RAQ focus brings this
chrome piece into view. On the side. Stamped into the
metal is a droplet. It's clearly the same droplet we

(20:56):
see in the Lumen logo. This means Lumen made this equipment.
Just making the stuff isn't a problem, but a lot
of viewers had the sense this was a blood drive
being run by Luman. If Luman is using the blood
drive as a cover for their own purposes. It becomes
far more nefarious. Is Luman searching for someone specific to

(21:16):
use in their testing? Could they be reviewing blood samples
in a search for their perfect testing floor subject or subjects.
We're never told for certain how Gemma was selected, or
if she was the only one selected for whatever it
is that's happening to her. That's why this blood screening
and what it means is still a hot topic with
a lot of people. There's a hard cut to a white,

(21:38):
nondescript frame. The camera starts a pan to the right.
Blurred out stray hairs become visible from the right of frame.
They allow for a sense of movement in the pan. Finally,
we're looking at someone's eyes. It's Gemma, but not the happy,
relaxed Gemma we just met at the library. This Gemma
is haunted and depressed. Her eyes are fixed and staring.

(21:59):
We crossed as own to a close up of a
hand inserting a blood collection needle into somebody's arm. This
shot got dinged in the goose section of IMDb. According
to the post, that needle isn't merely far enough into
her arm. A continuing cross dissolve takes us from blood
flowing through another piece of tubing, much like what we
saw during the blood drive. Revealed to the left of frame.

(22:19):
As the camera continues to pan, we see Gemma seated
in a chair. This is not care free Gemma of
the Gang's campus. This Gemma is docile in a mint
green body suit. Her eyes are fixed and staring. Everything
about her expression and body language says this is a
person who has lost hope. She's sitting in a chair
in an exam room on the testing floor. You'd think

(22:42):
something as simple as this lounge suit Gemma's wearing would
be an easy get for wardrobe. Right, Oh if only
Alice b, the head tailor on Severance, explained it's the
simple costumes that are the hardest. Alice's job is to
take the designs created by Sarah Edwards and turn them
into reaction. Alice says, these simple outfits don't leave any

(23:03):
room for error. You can't cover up a mistake with
a bow or a belt. Gemma's mint green lounge suit
is a great example. Getting it to this casually elegant
state was a huge job. This suit started out as
undyed virgin wool. It was sent out to be dyed
mint green. That dye job did not produce the desired results.
Alice turned to their in house aging and dying expert, Catalina.

(23:26):
It are all day. Catalina's listed crew job is ager slashder.
She found the right color for the fabric and redyed it.
Then it was set out to be manufactured. What came
back was too big and shapeless. Alice said, it most
certainly did not exude a severance vibe. I don't know
why they waste time with these outside vendors. They wind

(23:48):
up redoing everything in house. Anyway, Alice took the incorrectly
sized suit apart, reblocked it on a dress form, and
made it what costume designer Sarah Edwards had intended all along.
Alice said it took a couple of fittings with Deechin,
but since Jemma spends so much camera time in this suit,
getting it to fit perfectly was worth it. As the
camera pans further to the left, we can see a

(24:10):
nurse tending to Jemma. She's collecting blood samples. Whatever is
happening with Jemma and her interaction with the testing floor.
The measurable results of this interaction are somehow contained in
her blood. Well, talk more about blood retrieval and meeting
our testing floor nurse in just a minute. Refiner, right now,
you need to go wash your hands. Severed will be

(24:32):
right back. Hi.

Speaker 3 (24:36):
I'm Adam Scott. I play mark s on Severance, which
you likely already know since you're listening to sever the
Ultimate Severance Podcast.

Speaker 2 (24:47):
Let's talk blood collection, shall we? Volunteer researcher Vinnie P
and I both knew we were out of our element
when it came to proper methodology for blood collection. Vinnie
consulted nurse refiner Carrie Age for some According to Nurse Kerry,
our testing floor nurse here is not doing much right
according to AMA guidelines. With all the hand sanitizer bottles

(25:09):
lined up outside O and D, you'd think they could
do a little hand hygiene before blood collection. Nope, none
that we could see. At least. Nurse Carrey also would
like to see some gloves on our testing floor nurse's
bare hands. Contrary to what you might consider logical, these
gloves do not need to be sterile. They only need
to provide a barrier between patient and nurse. After retrieving

(25:30):
the sample, the needle should go in a sharp's collection bin,
and of course more hand hygiene. Nurse Carey says those
clear vials that collect the blood are called blood collection
tubes or other generic names. The receiver the blood collection
tube is inserted into is called a vacutainer. Surprisingly, the
vacutainer we're seeing on screen is not a lumin branded item.

(25:52):
It was produced by the Becton Dickinson medical device company.
You can see the BD on the side of the vacutainer. Becton,
dick and Sin has been producing medical equipment in Franklin Lakes,
New Jersey since eighteen ninety seven. The vacutainers usually contain
a preservative. Also, in a real hospital, the colored bands
on the collection tubes have meaning. Different tubes are used

(26:14):
for different procedures or tests. There's an over the shoulder
shot that allows us to see the face of Gemma's
nurse clearly for the first time. This is legendary actress, singer, comedian,
and author Sandra Bernhardt. Ms Bernhard just turned seventy years
old in June of twenty twenty five. She's had an
amazing career with one hundred and one credits that covered

(26:34):
dozens of episodes of TV. Her first television appearance was
as an uncredited extra in nineteen seventy seven's Richard Pryor Show.
Most of Sandrew's performance credits are on TV, but for me,
her signature role was in the nineteen eighty two movie
King of Comedy. Deechin Lackman said Sandra on set was
a calming presence. She brought incredible warmth to the role,

(26:57):
even though she was playing both Captor and gold Titchen
said there was almost a motherly field to miss Bernard's performance,
even though it's cold, controlled and oppressive down there on
the testing floor, Where did you go? Jemma blinks as
though she's waking up. She looks over at her nurse
and gives her a wan smile. The scene dissolves to

(27:18):
a flashback. Gemma is recalling an intimate moment with doctor Scout.
It's a lazy morning in bed. There's a bridge transition
here that draws us into another timeline. We see a
close up of Jemma's eyes, then there's a closeup of
Mark's eyes. There's a transition in the closeup of Mark's
eyes changes. Now there's a light shining in one of
his eyes. It scans off the eyeball, then back the

(27:42):
cut to a wide shot reveals Regaby, Devon, and Mark
in Mark's living room. Regaby and Devn have somehow wrestled
an unconscious Mark up onto his sad orange couch. We've
now visited the three timelines we'll be following in this episode.
We're tracking the Mark and Gemma love affair from the path.
We're watching Devon and Regabi, who are tending to an

(28:03):
unconscious Mark in his living room in the present. Finally,
there's the Testing Floor Gemma timeline. It's taking place somewhere
between after the car accident and current time, although it
seems to be loaded towards more recent events. Both the
love affair and Testing Floor timelines take jumps forward from
one major event to the next. Devon is standing behind

(28:24):
the couch, looking worried. Regabi is kneeling down next to
Mark with a small flashlight. She's checking from Mark's pupil
reaction to light okay, with no vital signs and no
other way to monitor how he's doing. I don't know
if she can really make that statement with confidence. He
does not look good and.

Speaker 1 (28:42):
There might be some deficits.

Speaker 2 (28:44):
Which is just below. He's not gonna make it on
the top ten list of things you don't want to
hear from your doctor.

Speaker 1 (28:49):
Hopefully nothing long term.

Speaker 2 (28:50):
Hopefully. Devin is curious about something and I have the
same question.

Speaker 1 (28:55):
Are you a doctor?

Speaker 2 (28:56):
Yeah, Asaul, what exactly are you? You seem to know
what you're doing doing with a severance chip, but I'm
worried about your overall patient care regimen. Jamming large needles
into the brain freehand, doing brain surgery in a dirty
and poorly lit basement, none of it, screams, I'm a
doctor who knows what I'm doing, So how about it? Regaby.
We know you're some kind of severance chip engineer, but

(29:18):
are you a doctor? She doesn't answer. This causes me
great concern. She silently holds up one finger.

Speaker 1 (29:25):
Do we need an ambulance?

Speaker 2 (29:26):
Regaby doesn't answer. She does like to play the silent sage.
Devon isn't putting up with her mystical behavior.

Speaker 1 (29:33):
Can you answer one of my questions? Please?

Speaker 2 (29:35):
Devin asks again, if they need an ambulance. I like
Devon's instincts. It's time for medical professionals who don't measure
the tempers to step in although this is Keir, who
knows what brand of medicine they practice around here. Regabi
not surprisingly says no to the ambulance. She probably doesn't
want to raise a red flag for anyone who might
be watching. I think it would be hard to explain

(29:58):
to an ambulance crew what's going going on with Mark.

Speaker 1 (30:01):
He's going to sleep for a while.

Speaker 2 (30:02):
Oh, come on, I could have told you that.

Speaker 4 (30:04):
Okay, how long?

Speaker 2 (30:05):
Yeah, let's get some detail here. How long will he
be out?

Speaker 1 (30:08):
Hard to say?

Speaker 2 (30:09):
Regaby can be maddening sometimes she's like a magic eight ball.
Is it going to rain today?

Speaker 1 (30:15):
Hard to say?

Speaker 2 (30:15):
Regaby says they're going to need some equipment from downstairs.

Speaker 5 (30:18):
Are you clumsy?

Speaker 2 (30:19):
Devin wants to know why this weird and mystical person
has equipment in Mark's basement.

Speaker 5 (30:24):
Your brother's reintegrating.

Speaker 2 (30:25):
This is news to Devin. Last she knew he was
trying to blind himself with a floodlight. No, he's not.
Her reaction is exactly why Mark failed to mention it
on the phone yesterday or was that this morning? Devin
is adamant about putting a stop to this reintegration nonsense.
She acknowledges Regaby is probably a lot smarter than she is.
But she wants to make something very clear here.

Speaker 3 (30:47):
If you give one solitary thought to messing with my
brother again, I will throw you off a fucking bridge.

Speaker 2 (30:52):
That was pretty clear. Regabby grimaces a bit at this statement, Devan,
we don't do that again, I don't think again. Is
the worry? What she's done already should be your concern.
This also seems to be Regabby's thought.

Speaker 5 (31:05):
Well, disgust it later.

Speaker 1 (31:06):
No, it's settled, fucking law, lady, Okay.

Speaker 2 (31:09):
As Devin made herself quite.

Speaker 3 (31:10):
Clear, just accept it the end.

Speaker 2 (31:13):
I'm really surprised these two are taking the time to
argue over Mark's unconscious body. That's what he wants, Devin says, No,
what he really wants is to know whether Gemma's alive
or not. He doesn't want somebody taking an egg beater.
He to his brain. Oh, hey, would you listen to that.
I'm doing my own egg references. I may have been
hanging around lumin too long. Regabby cuts off Devin's statement

(31:35):
about whether Gemma is alive or not.

Speaker 3 (31:37):
She is.

Speaker 2 (31:38):
This causes Devon to.

Speaker 1 (31:39):
Pause, Please don't mess with me.

Speaker 2 (31:41):
Oh she's not. I've seen her Gemma is alive and
she's down on the testing floor. Gobby says it again
with conviction.

Speaker 1 (31:48):
She is alive.

Speaker 2 (31:50):
Regabby is done with this conversation. She abruptly heads off
to the basement to retrieve her equipment. Devin is left
standing by the said orange couch, wondering if she should
be trusting this woman with her brother's life. She's also
wondering if she should believe that Gemma is alive. Devon
is forced to take a knee under the weight of
it all. We kiss Black that are launched into the
extra wag animation with Theodore Shapiro theme music Enjoy Refiner.

(32:14):
We'll check back in with Gemma on the other side.
Coming up from Black after the opening credits, we see
a hand holding an infrared thermometer. This is our testing

(32:35):
floor nurse using a Conair Infrared forehead Thermometer Model ITH
ninety one. There are a lot of infrared thermometers out there.
Most of them have a triggered gun look to them. Also,
they aren't just for health issues. Infrared thermometers can monitor
everything from engine manifold tempts to a fry pan on
the stove. Many of them are industrial with holsters and

(32:57):
soft cases designed to prevent breakage. This one works the
same as those others, but it's been made specifically for
use on a patient's forehead. It also has a large,
oversized LED readout, which is great for low light situations
like in patient rooms. This is a commercially available product,
rated for both home and professional use. You can find
the Conair ITH ninety one on eBay for anywhere from

(33:19):
ten to fifteen dollars. It may be out of production
because I could not find this particular model on Amazon.
I did find the same unit on a couple of
medical equipment specialty sites for as much as fifty dollars each.
The Home Shopping Network had a two pack of this
item for ninety dollars, so forty five dollars each. Beware
if you're shopping for one of these things, don't get

(33:39):
ripped off. Gemma is registering a low but acceptable ninety
seven point six degrees fahrenheit. The old ninety eight point
six degrees standard for human temperature is no longer the benchmark.
The ninety eight point six number was set by a
German physician all the way back in eighteen fifty one.
It's an average he developed based on hundreds of patient measurements.

(34:00):
These days, doctors say humans are cooling down. Thanks to
various factors. We have less inflammation in our bodies than
ever in history. This translates to lower body temperatures. The
commonly accepted range for a healthy human temperature is now
ninety seven point two degrees on the low end, up
to ninety eight point four degrees on the high end.
The old ninety eight point six standard is now a

(34:22):
low grade fever. More close ups. The nurse opens a drawer,
revealing a white stethoscope and a white sphigmomanometer. The close
up on the blood pressure gage reveals a lumin logo.
Of course, it looks like we're in an exam room.
On the testing floor. Gemma moves over to the scale.
She's standing with her back to the camera. As she's weighed,
we can see a couple of eye charts on the

(34:44):
wall to the right of the scale. The one on
the left looks like what you'd expect to find in
an optometrous office. It has the big E on top
than FP than TZ. The one on the right is
new to me. The big E chart is called a
Snellen chart. They've been used by eye doctors since Dutch
eye doctor Hermann Snellen invented this chart in eighteen sixty two.

(35:08):
Patients read the chart from twenty feet away. If you
can read the chart clearly down to the twenty line,
this means you have perfect twenty twenty vision. Outside of
the US, it's known as six to six vision because
the equivalent distance is six meters. The chart to the
right of the big E chart doesn't have any letters
on it. It's laid out like a standard Snellen chart,

(35:30):
but instead of letters, this one contains the silhouette of
a baby goat at each spot where you'd find a letter.
As you move down the chart, the goats get smaller.
The goats are all rotated, with their legs pointing in
different directions. Volunteer research of NNYP and I were stumped
by this goat chart, but patron refiner William A recognized

(35:51):
it right off. This goat chart is a riff on
another Snellen chart. He called it the Tumbling E. Snellen's
version turns the legs of the big E in different directions,
and they get smaller as you go down the chart.
He created this alternate charts to small children or illiterate
adults could be tested. The patient doesn't even need to
know left versus right. They could just point in the

(36:13):
direction each letter is facing. The chart test isn't about
whether you know the alphabet, It's about whether you can see.
In Snellen's time, he would have dealt with a lot
of illiterate patients. I'm guessing this lumin variation of the
tumbling each chart exists because many of those folks we
met working in the goat department are illiterate. This does
raise the question, when are any of the goat people

(36:33):
making their way to this exam room. This ritual of
examination continues, a drawer is opened and close up inside
this drawer is a lumin specific creation. This is a
woe meter. You will not find a woe meter for
sale at your local Walgreens or right Aid. Neither will
you encounter any health professionals in any hospital or clinic
who have access to a woe meter. We'll discuss how

(36:56):
you create a piece of medical equipment out of thin
air in just a moment. Right now, now here's a
vending machine. Token refiner severed will be right back.

Speaker 5 (37:06):
This is Mark Geller kier Egan on Severance. When I
want to hear the latest details about the company I founded,
I listened to Severed, the Ultimate Severance Podcast.

Speaker 2 (37:20):
So how does one go about creating a piece of
medical equipment that doesn't exist? This is where professionalism meets magic.
Production designer Jeremy Hindle called in Catherine Miller and her
props team to make this thing a reality. First up
meet with the creative team and production crew, it was
necessary to determine just what a woe meter does. They
were also wanting a rough description of what it should

(37:41):
look like. Also, this one is really important. How is
the woe meter going to be used on camera? If
it really has to do something that's quite a bit
different than leaving one sitting on a shelf. After pinning
down the creatives on a look for the woe meter,
it was time to turn those descriptions over to Severance
concept artist Eric Felberg. Eric created some cool looking woe

(38:03):
meter designs. Once they were approved by the creative team,
those designs were handed over to specialty fabrication house Make three.
Make three took Felberg's illustrations and translated them to CAD
and three D modeling. Programs. What Make three fabricated is
this gorgeous, sleek, retro looking medical device. The main body
was milled out of aluminum. The side caps are solid titanium.

(38:26):
This unit was designed for precision and flexibility. It really
does register things with the needles and count things with
the LEDs. The functions are wireless, so the woe meter
can be activated remotely when it's on camera. It has
a seven segment vintage LED display. There are even multiple
custom programmed motion options for the needles, depending on what

(38:48):
you want them to do during a scene. A performer
really can turn it on and off. Every knob and
switch is functional. They all have a retro cool look
because the knobs and switches were salvaged from an eighties
era in naugraa four D audio recorder. I take a
fence at a description calling this recorder vintage. I remember
reading reviews of this thing in stereo magazines when it

(39:09):
first came out. The original version of the lumin woe
meter produced by Make three included a clear anodized aluminum finish.
Shortly before delivery, director Jessica Iganie decided this needed to
be changed so it would blend with the esthetic of
the testing floor. She wanted a uniform look for the
device in light green. Of course, Make three powder coated

(39:31):
the entire shell and sides to match the production aesthetic.
Just how insanely detailed is Make three When it comes
to on screen fabrication, they should probably be committed. For example,
inside this Woe meter there's a small circuit board will
never see. Printed on the circuit board is a lumen
logo along with the words Woe Meter and Severance Season two.

(39:56):
If it didn't say Severance Season two on it, this
device would really confuse future archaeologists. Hopefully they'll figure out
it was created for a TV show. I'm curious as
to why Woe is the temper that seems to get
all the attention here. We're looking at a Woe meter.
We've been to Woe's hollow, we even met Woe herself
in Earth's dream. Where is the frolic meter? Where's dread

(40:19):
point or the malice lagoon? Woe seems to be somehow
more important than the other tempers. I wonder if this
is intentional or just a coincidence. Jemma is handed the
two sensors used by the Woe meter. They look like smooth,
greenish rocks about four inches across. One is held in
each hand. During the test, the nurse is quizzing Gemma

(40:40):
as we watch the woe meter get fired up today. Yes, Wow,
doesn't that thing look cool on camera?

Speaker 4 (40:48):
Then you're reading.

Speaker 1 (40:51):
Fifty pages?

Speaker 2 (40:53):
What is she reading? The books in her apartment seem
to be titles from her old life. Maybe she's being
forced to read the handbook. There's a great two shot
of Gemma and her nurse In the background. You can
see the sink and vanity in this exam room. Check
the white sink and fixtures, which fit in beautifully with
the white countertops and drawers. The nurse continues.

Speaker 3 (41:12):
Her quiz calistatics.

Speaker 2 (41:16):
Yes, they do keep Jemma busy down here on the
testing floor, don't they. The nurse dials up the intensity
of the questions. I know this because the shot goes
in tighter on her face as she asks them. We
get theoretical if you were caught in a mud slide,
would you be more afraid of suffocating for drowning? First
time I heard this, I thought, aren't they kind of

(41:38):
the same thing. I did a bit of research to
parse out the differences. It's a Venn diagram. All drownings
are suffocations, but not all suffocations are drownings. Both kill
you by cutting off your oxygen supply. In the case
of suffocation, this could be due to anything, whether you're
strangled by an enemy or you get your head stuck
in a dry cleaning bag. If you die due to

(41:59):
a lack of oxygen, that is suffocation. If you die
due to a lack of oxygen caused by inhaling water
or being submerged in water, that's a special type of
suffocation called drowning. What is the importance? A lot of
viewers thought this question referenced the trials of Helena and
Helly R. When she attempted suicide by hanging, that was suffocation.

(42:19):
When she was attacked by IRV at woes Hollow, that
was drowning. Why these questions apply to Jemma is a mystery.
Some theorists believe the term cold harbor, used for both
the filename and the room, was alluding to death. The
theories say these questions about death were narrowing down what
would actually happen to Gemma When she entered the cold

(42:40):
Harbor room. Gemma pauses briefly. Her reaction indicates she may
have heard this question before drowning. The nerves is watching
the woe meter. Drowning elicits a big movement out of
the needles. It also looks like she pegged intensity on
the left side. In the wide shot, we can see
a couple of cool pieces of set deck. Here in
this exam room a nurse who is sitting in a

(43:00):
vintage Siemens seronas wovel chair. This heavy duty unit was
built in West Germany. It was designed specifically for the
medical profession starting back in the nineteen sixties. It's extremely rugged,
with a steel frame and five swivel casters in the base.
You can still find these in use and clinics in
the US. The website mid Age Vintage lists a beige

(43:22):
version of this chair in good condition, priced at nine
hundred and fifty dollars. Jemma is sitting in our first
piece from Deeter Rams. Rams was a famously influential German
industrial designer. He's credited with leading consumer products company Braun
to the forefront of cutting edge electronics design in the
nineteen sixties. We're going to see one of his most
famous pieces, a wall mounted stereo system. When we get

(43:44):
to Jemma's apartment. Rams would become head of design at
Braun starting in nineteen sixty one. He held this position
until he retired in nineteen ninety seven at the age
of sixty five. And yes, Rams is still alive at
the time of this recording, He's currently ninety three years old.
Based on Gerald Luss and Dieter Rams, it sounds like
designers lived some long lives. Rams design edict was less

(44:09):
but better Deeter Rams, who's had a significant influence on
modern design as well as twentieth century esthetics and culture.
The chair Gem is sitting in is called the six
twenty chair program. Rams was thirty years old when he
designed this chair in nineteen sixty two. It's made using
a combination of traditional upholstery materials and techniques married together

(44:31):
with what we're pioneering materials at the time. This is
a chair without compromise. It was designed to be incredibly
comfortable and so durable it will outlast its owner. Instead
of foam, the material in the seat pads is a
type of shredded coconut husk that's been used for centuries.
This material is so durable and long lasting. It's the
same stuff they use in the storage of spent nuclear

(44:54):
fuel rods. Rams actually has three of these chairs in
his home in Cronberg, Germany. It is a two seater,
which is really just two of the six twenties joined together.
The chair was made to be modular. One high end
furniture dealer called it a lego kit for grown ups.
A three seater six to twenty program sofa is just
three of the six twenty chairs joined together. They're elegantly

(45:17):
designed so you can unbolt arms and add seats easily.
Since the six twenty is so modular, it's easy to
move in and out of places like upstairs apartments. Vitsu
Furniture has reintroduced the original nineteen sixty two design of
the six twenty. They also have parts and pieces for
six twenty program chair owners. Since this chair is a

(45:39):
significant investment that can easily last fifty years or more,
it's important to be able to get parts or replace
upholstery if you'd like to purchase a new six to
twenty program chair of your very own. Vitsu has the
original nineteen sixty two design available starting at three three
hundred and forty dollars per unit. Gemma is passive and compliant.

(46:01):
The nurse juts down some notes on a chart.

Speaker 3 (46:04):
How many rooms today?

Speaker 2 (46:06):
We don't know what she's asking here just yet, six
we're going to discover. Gemma's days are filled with visits
to various rooms on the testing floor. Each one of
these rooms includes a severed barrier at the entrance. Gemma
has been outfitted with what can only be described as
a hybrid severance chip. When she passes through one of
the doorway barriers, she has switched over to an any

(46:28):
that exists for that room only. This chip is like
nothing we've ever seen before, but it builds on technology
we're already familiar with. After hearing the room count j Gemma
sighs and gets out of the six twenty chair. The
exam room is part of a living space. Gemma walks
past a vanity, a built in twin bed, a shower,

(46:48):
and various cabinet and shelving units. This appears to be
what Gemma calls home. Gemma steps to a back wall
and opens a closet door. A red sleeveless dress is
hanging there. Shoes, a blackwig, a purse, and other accessories
designed to finish the look are sitting on a shelf.
Below the dress. We get a glimpse of another piece
of set deck in this shot with the closet. This

(47:10):
item caused a lot of people to lose their minds.
It's the round piece with the mirror on top of it,
sitting just right of the center of frame. That's the
Dilly Dally vanity, designed by Luigi Massoni for Italian furniture
brand Pultrona Frau. That Dilly Dally is highly prized by
collectors because it offers a unique level of functionality in

(47:32):
a compact and cool design. The barrel shaped Dilly Dally
includes a built in chair with leather upholstery. That table
and chair fit together elegantly to create a unique space
saving design. Both chair and vanity include casters so you
can roll the unit into position before using it. There's
storage under the folded down mirror. If you'd like to

(47:53):
add the Dilly Dally to your bedroom or dressing room,
get ready to pay for it. Design enthusiasts love these things,
and the demand drives up the price. A used one
in good condition is currently being offered by interior design
reseller cherish dot com for eleven thousand, five hundred and
ninety four dollars. Cherish knows the market. They'd never ask

(48:14):
that price if they didn't think they could get it.
The shot reverses to Jemma's face. She is expressionless at
first while looking at the red dress, than under her breath.

Speaker 3 (48:24):
Shit.

Speaker 2 (48:26):
The first time we all saw this episode, we had
no idea why she'd have this reaction to this outfit.
Now that we've seen how the testing floor works, it's
more understandable. She knows what outfit goes with what room.
Some rooms on this floor have a specific outfit she's
expected to wear when she enters the room. She has
no idea what goes on in the room, but she

(48:46):
knows how she feels after she gets out. This red
dress is her Wellington outfit. I don't want to spoil
the surprise, but Wellington is no fun. I'll tell you
more about it when we get there. We cut to
Gemma's kitchenette slice living room space. Look on the wall
to the right during the establishing shot. That is a
Deeter Rams design for a very cool wall mounted stereo system.

(49:08):
We'll see it again a little later in the day.
We can talk about it then. Right now, I'd rather
get out to the rooms We've got six to get
to today. Jemma, now dressed in the outfit from the closet,
enters the room from the far door. She looks like
a stereotypical housewife from the nineteen sixties who is heading
out to run some errands. Her expression is just as
grim as when she first found the dress. She's in

(49:31):
every piece of the closet outfit, including the black wig
and small purse over her left shoulder. Jemma stops at
the exit door. Pushing a button on a control panel
causes the door to pop open out in the hall.
Her nurse is waiting for her as we move out
into the hall. A big welcome to you, Refiner. This
is our first time as viewers to be on the

(49:52):
testing floor. This is an entirely new set. It had
to be different than the Severed Floor, but it also
had to retain the lumin esthetic. Jeremy Hindele knows a
little something about creating lumen hallways. He did a pretty
impressive job last season when he created the Severed Floor.
It's no surprise he was instrumental in the creation of
the testing floor. At first, there was a discussion about

(50:14):
making this floor dark and dank. Upon further reflection, everyone
came to their senses and realized Lumen would never do
dark and dank. They like to make their hauls in
common spaces look bright and clean. It tells the world
everything is fine. The vibes might be dark and dank
to the point of rot and evil, but the actual

(50:34):
hallways are always polished, pristine, and brightly lit. Hindal and
his crew had a blank canvas when it came to
building the testing floor Gemmis Suite, which we just left.
This hallway and the Allentown Room were all built on
one twenty five thousand square foot soundstage. Three other testing
floor rooms, the control room, the Dentis's office aka Wellington,

(50:56):
and the Airplane Room or Drainsville, were built on a
second twenty five thousand square foot stage. Extended hallways and
additional rooms were added via CGI. You know what's really
weird about this set, I'll tell you after you go
wash your hands, refiner. Severed will be right back.

Speaker 5 (51:16):
Hello, Refiners, It's Mark keller ker Egan on Severance. Don't
let your dreary, dead end job get you down. Do
what I do for a workday, pick me up. Listen
to Severed. The Ultimate Severance Podcast.

Speaker 2 (51:34):
Okay, so what is really weird about this set? Look up,
see that ceiling. Normally you don't see ceilings on TV.
Most television sound stages don't even make a provision for ceilings.
Think about Jerry Seinfeld's apartment or Monica and Rachel's place
on Friends. You've never seen a ceiling either place. The
general consensus is if you don't see them, why build them.

(51:56):
They also get in the way of the light grid.
Jeremy Hindle told the hollywo Reporter he is a hard
disagree when it comes to ceilings. He admits creating ceilings
and a light grid is a bit of a fire hazard. Okay,
it's a huge fire hazard, but Jeremy doesn't care. Hindal
says the only way a room can be properly lit
is if it has a ceiling. He attributes the very

(52:16):
physical feeling of the show too ceilings. Ceilings can make
a set feel like it's a real place. Ceilings also
add to a feeling of claustrophobia in the series. This
is another positive in Hindel's mind. Hindal is a big
picture thinker when it comes to the design of the
major sets. He says the testing floor is a prison
slash medical facility. It was designed accordingly. He also refers

(52:40):
to it as a kind of a spaceship, with hallways
and rooms like what you'd find on the Enterprise or
the Nostromo in the Alien movies. The white hallways and
lighted low ceilings in Stanley Kubrick's Discovery One from two
thousand and one, A Space Odyssey, We're also a huge inspiration.
Hindal has even said this whole set was intended to
be very Kubrician as homage to the influential British film director.

(53:04):
You can see the aggressive angles in the hall as
Gemma and her nurse walk away. These rooms were designed
on a triangle. The doors don't lead squarely into the halls,
they are intentionally at an angle. Even the fluorescent fixtures
in the hallway intersection areas are angled to match the doors.
As they're walking, we can see room names they pass by.

(53:24):
Allan Town. This was the name of Mark's freshman Fluke file.
It's the one that earned him a crystal headcube. Also,
it's not mentioned within the show, but Dan Erickson has
mentioned Mark's style of refining on this first file changed
the way Mdr worked on future files. He didn't go
into detail, but Mark's work was groundbreaking. We passed by
a room named Cairns. We don't necessarily know about Cairns,

(53:46):
but it is on the list as one of Mark's
twenty four completed files. It was his eleventh finished file.
As Gemma and her nurse turn another corner, you can
see the very angled insets of each room this hallway,
the second one they turn into, is only a stub.
The extension to the hallway is being created via CGI.
This is why the shot cuts in close on Gemma

(54:08):
so we can transition to another section of real hallway.
We passed by a room named Drainesville, which was marks
twenty fourth completed file. We'll be visiting Drainesville with Jemma
a little later in the episode. There's a glimpse of
a room named Sienna. This was the first file Helly
worked on as a new refiner. It's also the one
she completed when we saw the one hundred percent here animation.

(54:30):
It's basically the only file Helly's ever worked on. I'm
not sure why this completed file became a room. It's
not a part of Mark's list. There is some murkiness
as to what files become rooms and what rooms impact Gemma.
We never see her enter this Heena room, so maybe
it's not one she has to deal with. Could Helly
be working on rooms for someone else. We don't know

(54:52):
for certain that the other refiners aren't working on the
brains or psyches of other testing floor subjects. It's possible
there's a test subject down here somewhere who's visiting rooms
created by other refiners they pass by Loveland. It was
the eighteenth file Marks completed. Oh and a random bit
of trivia about Mark s the name Mark was selected

(55:14):
for the main character's name as an homage to Dan
Erickson's dad, Mark Erickson. That's right, three years and sixteen
episodes in, and there's still some new tidbit to throw
in about Mark. As Gemma continues down the hall, we
glimpse a room for Tumbwater. This was the file Dylan
g was working on when we first met him on
the Severed floor. It's the one he was adamant about

(55:35):
completing when Helly r. First joined the MDR crew. This
is another file that generated a room, but it doesn't
seem to be a room Jemma is forced to enter
based on what we'll see this episode. Gemma only enters
Mark created rooms. Gemma's nurse stops in front of the
Wellington room. Wellington was the twenty third file completed by

(55:55):
Mark s. Jemma steps up to the door, but with
some hesitation. This is Outygemma on this side of the door.
She has no idea what's really in this room, but
she does know how she feels when she leaves this room.
These thoughts appear to be causing her to hesitate at
the door. Jemma doesn't respond. She looks at the nurse

(56:17):
with a haunted expression. The nurse places her hand in
a biometric security device. There's one of these mounted next
to every door here on the testing floor. The function
of this device becomes very important in the finale. When
I first saw it in action, I thought they were
checking the user's handprint along with the blood draw. That
is not the case. The device is only using a

(56:37):
blood sample to identify the user. The handprint is there
to properly orient the user's hand for the blood test.
There's a slight needle prick to the middle finger and
a sample of blood is drawn for comparison to what's
on file. Blood and The use of blood is a
huge theme for this entire episode. We started the whole
thing with a blood drive at Gann's college. Jema's nurse

(56:58):
flinches as the device cause her blood. Her sample is approved,
and the door opens. We're looking at a close up
of Jemma's face as she passes through the door. There's
a Zalie effect and a ding. Gemma has most definitely
made a severance transition as she passed through the barrier.
Techen Lockman said her any transitions were more challenging than

(57:19):
the ones that happened on the elevator. She was usually
in motion when they would do the Zalie. She's right,
a Zali effect on a moving subject is much more
difficult to shoot than with someone who is standing still.
Jemma's hybrid severance chip has now accessed what we'll discover
is a unique Innie. This Inni only appears when she
enters the Wellington room. Each room Jemma enters causes her

(57:42):
to access a unique Inni who only exists within that room.
To this point in a series, we've seen that passing
through a severed barrier causes a switch to flip. I've
always considered it to be a very binary operation. The
only two options are OUTY an ANY. If you pass
through the barrier as an AUDI, you transition to your
ANY and vice versa, unless, of course, there's a Glasgow

(58:05):
block in place. This is not the case with Gemma's
hybrid chip. My theory is differences in frequencies or how
they access the different innis. I've always said the chip
is a switch accessed to via some sort of radio frequency.
In my head, I equate it to the limited broadcast
range of Bluetooth. If you were to take the broadcast
band of Bluetooth and break it up in various frequencies

(58:27):
over a range, you could access specific devices using the
discrete frequencies. It's like tuning in a radio station within
the FM band. Gemma is tuning in to her Wellington
INNI with the Wellington chip frequency. When she goes into
another room, the barriers are set to different frequencies which
have the ability to activate different innis. Whenever she leaves

(58:49):
a room, the chip is shut off and she accesses
her OUTI the same way a regular severed worker would.
This is just my theory. It's not confirmed. Anywhere Gemma
is Wellington any is visibly not happy. She looks distressed
and hesitant as she enters the room. The shot reverses.
We're following Gemma's Wellington any into this room. A whistled

(59:10):
rendition of the wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald can be
heard echoing as she enters. Even the walls inside this
room are angled. Nothing is square and true here on
the testing floor Wellington, Gemma slowly approaches a dentis's chair.
Both the chair and the denis examination throne are upholstered

(59:32):
in a dusty rose color. The rest of the room
is Surprise, Surprise, done all in white. There's something off
about this dentist's chair. As Jemma sits, it becomes more
obvious there aren't any arms on this chair. No arms
would make it uncomfortable. It would also mean Jemma doesn't
have anything to grab when she's in pain. I would
imagine that's why there aren't any arms. We can hear

(59:55):
the wheels of a cart grinding along the floor. This
is the continuation of the o d visit we saw
during the cold open of Trojan's horse entering the room
is the same man who collected those dental instruments that
had been created by Owen d This gives us a
very rough timeline for this scene. There she is, Oh,
this guy is creepy. This is the evil, scary and

(01:00:17):
a bit dumb doctor Mauer being played by Robbie Benson.
I know Robbie Benson is beloved. How can he be
playing evil and scary? He was a floppy haired teen
heart throwback in the seventies with roles like Nick and
Ice Castles from nineteen seventy eight, where the title character
in odea Billy Joe from nineteen seventy six. These days,

(01:00:37):
he's matured into a much beloved adult performer. Robbie has
done voice work. He's also directed numerous episodes of TV,
including six episodes of Friends and twenty five episodes of Allen.
Robbie's a composer, a lyricist, a filmmaker, and a novelist.
This modern day renaissance man also has a robust theater career,

(01:00:58):
both as a performer and composed. If that's not enough,
doctor Benson is a professor of film. One of Robbie's
most high profile performances as an adult was his voice
work as the Beast in Disney's animated Beauty and the
Beast from nineteen ninety one. Robbie has eighty two actor credits,
thirty two director credits, and sixteen soundtrack credits on his

(01:01:20):
IMDb profile. We'll get to enjoy Robbie's demented weirdness as
doctor Mauer for four episodes here in season two. As
with many of the names we encounter on Severance, Maers
has meaning. Mauer is a German word which means bricklayer.
It can also reference the wall being built by a bricklayer.
The Berlin Wall was known as Berliner Mauer. They don't

(01:01:41):
explicitly explain, but I think it has something to do
with doctor Mauer laying the bricks of any Gemma's new personality.
Any Gemma is very meek. It's a departure from her
more self assured audi personae. Get a break, Remember the
perception of the Inny. Inny's experience in this room abruptly

(01:02:02):
stopped the last time Jemma exited. The Innie's consciousness picks
up without a break. When Jemma re enters the room,
just for a little while, She's calmly pleading surely someone
will let her have a bit of peace. It has
been six weeks, six real weeks in actual time, sure,
but no time at all has passed for any Wellington. Gemma,

(01:02:24):
I was just here. Ah, honey, that may be true,
but he doesn't care.

Speaker 5 (01:02:30):
I know. Nobody likes the dentist.

Speaker 2 (01:02:33):
Especially when the primary aim of the dentist is torture.
He may be an evil torturer, but Mauer does like
to keep things chatty and light.

Speaker 5 (01:02:42):
I should have been an accountant like my mom wanted.

Speaker 2 (01:02:45):
Mauer's personality is entirely inconsistent with his role as torturer.
He reminds me a lot of Michael Palin character from Brazil.
He was also an oddly bubbly person whose job involved torture,
even to the point of killing his clients. Our guffaws
at his little joke. Jemma does not smile. She continues
to look terrified. Please have a seat, he indicates the

(01:03:08):
dentist chair. Gemma slowly and hesitantly makes her way over
to the dentist chair. As Maur positions himself for his examination,
She's hugging her purse, not wanting to sit down. As
she lays back. Our turns on a head mounted light.

Speaker 5 (01:03:23):
Excellent.

Speaker 2 (01:03:25):
The lights in the room go off as he turns
on the big positionable overhead light. Let's see how we're
doing iny. Jemma is quietly panicking. She knows what's coming.
Jemma keeps her mouth closed with her head turned to
one side, folding wife Please, our's hand enters the frame
holding one of the sharp pick instruments. There's a close

(01:03:47):
up on Jemma's mouth, then, thankfully, before we witness anything horrible,
another Zollie effect OUTI. Gemma is back in the hallway
with her nurse. She rubs her very sore jaw.

Speaker 3 (01:03:57):
How long was I in there?

Speaker 2 (01:04:00):
No wonder any Gemma was so terrified to have a
seat in the dentist's chair. The nurse heads down the
hall as Jemma follows. She pauses to again read the
name of the room which caused her mouth to hurt
so badly, Wellington. As the two continue down the hall,
we can see the room marked Roads. This is another
of Mark's twenty four completed rooms. This room was the

(01:04:21):
twenty second he completed. It was just before Wellington. Are
the rooms sitting in the same order as they were
created for these two? They appear to be As Gemma
and her nurse are making their way through the halls.
Jemma pauses, she's looking at something up ahead. When we're
given the chance to see what she's seeing, the camera
pans over the room. Name Cold Harbor. It's the name

(01:04:42):
of the finale episode and the name of the file
Mark is currently working on. It's the one Drummond is
obsessed with. The camera does a push in on the name,
leading us into a dissolve. The dissolve takes us back
to Mark's living room Audie. Mark is still unconscious on
the couch. His sister Devin and chip wrangler Regabi are
tending to him. Before we continue without e Mark's timeline,

(01:05:04):
It's time for us to take a break, Refiner. This
is the end of our work on this file for today.
We'll pick up again next time with Cheek I Bardo
Part two. For now, you can shut down the file
and prepare to depart for the day. You've done some
good work, Refiner. We're starting to gain a bit of
understanding about the testing floor. Sure, it's raising a lot
of new questions, but I love the fact we're moving

(01:05:25):
forward with at least some explanation regarding the whole refining process.
Quick reminder before you leave, get to the Severed Patreon page.
Support the Severed podcast by pledging five dollars a month.
Signing up is easy. Go to patreon dot com slish
Severed Pod. That's patreon dot com slash Severed Pod. Patron
refiners have access to commercial free versions of the podcast,

(01:05:48):
and you get to proof it as I'm making it.
We'll talk more about Cheek i Bardo next time. We've
got a lot more to unpack down here on the
testing floor. We also need to figure out if Agabi
has fried Mark's brain or not. Make sure to join me.
Until then, it's time to shut down your workstation and
get to the elevator. Refiner. Thanks for being here, and
as always, as you're leaving, please stagger your exits.

Speaker 1 (01:06:09):
You've been listening to Severed, the Ultimate Severance Podcast. Severed
is written, produced, and hosted by Alan Stair.

Speaker 4 (01:06:16):
Severed is not endorsed by Red Hour Productions, Endevor Content,
or Apple TV Plus. This podcast is intended for entertainment
and informational purposes only.

Speaker 1 (01:06:26):
Severance, the Severance logo, and all video and audio of
Severance and Severance characters are registered trademarks of Red Hour,
Endeavor Content, Apple TV Plus or their respective copyright holders.

Speaker 4 (01:06:38):
Please make sure to leave a five star rating and
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S2E23 - REWATCH07-PT01 - Chikhai Bardo

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