S2E26 - REWATCH07-PT02 - 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. It's
time to get into part two of our full breakdown
of the season two episode Cheek I bardow a quick
spoiler warning just in case 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.

(00:34):
I'm your host, Alan s. Last time, we just followed
Jemma into one of the unique rooms down on the
testing floor. Gemma introduced us to painful dentist doctor Mauer
in the Wellington room. We also got an idea as
to how this new chip of Gemma's works. She creates
a new inny in every room she visits. We were
just about to switch back to unconscious Mark in his

(00:56):
living room, so if you're ready, Refiner, it's time to
reopen the file called Cheekai Bardo. The cross dissolve from
the cold, harbored door sign takes us to a very
unconscious Mark laying on his sad orange couch. Devin is
looking at him with tears in her eyes.

Speaker 3 (01:13):
Oh book, did you back me?

Speaker 4 (01:16):
Lady?

Speaker 2 (01:17):
Devin puts a hand on his chest. And sits beside him.
There's an interesting transition sequence happening here. We cut to
Devon and move away from her in an almost reverse
Zollie move. The background falls away as unconscious Mark comes
into view. In the foreground, we cut back to a
close up on Mark's eye. Very cool move here, It's
a transition indicating we are going into Mark's un conscious dreaming.

(01:41):
The camera moves back away from Mark on the sofa
and does a one hundred and eighty degree roll. Once
we pass through a blackout, the shot reveals another close
up on an eye. This one is open and the
owner of the eye appears to be conscious. A digital
zoom out from the eye reveals this is Mark Scout,
but it's not present day Mark Scoute. This is Professor

(02:01):
Mark Scout from the Gans College History department. Back before
carrecks and severance chips and OTC's there was Professor Scout,
mild mannered historian who specializes in the Great War. We've
caught up to him on an elevator, but this elevator
doesn't have anything to do with a chip in his head.
It's an elevator in a campus building at gans College.

(02:22):
It's a bit odd seeing Mark ride an elevator where
he doesn't get his head distorted. The door is open,
and Professor Scout ventures into a new department. You can
tell by the way he's looking around this is not
familiar territory for him. Mark is wearing a brown corduroy
suit coat with a dark blue knit tie. His wardrobe
is screaming nineteen eighty six. But I don't think it's

(02:42):
really that early, just more of the effects of the
cure area's delay when it comes to all things electronics
and fashion. I also think we're seeing a bit of
the unique fashion sense you sometimes find among college professors.
Something activates in the brain of a prof along about
the time they get ten. They start wearing rumpled dress
shirts under pretentious sports coats with those patches on the elbows.

(03:06):
The clock above the elevator says it's about five after three.
Doctor Scout is doing a bit of personal business. At
the end of the school day. The young lady from
the blood drive made quite an impression. Mark sees the
office he wants just down from the elevator. He opens
the door and goes on in. As he does, Gemma sneezes.

Speaker 5 (03:23):
Hey.

Speaker 3 (03:26):
Go bless you excuse.

Speaker 2 (03:28):
Me, it's not just one sneeze, because as we know
from last season, that's not how Gemma does it.

Speaker 5 (03:34):
And when she sneezed, she always sneeze twice.

Speaker 2 (03:38):
Doctor Jemma looks busy. She's gathering up photocopies of double
page book spreads. Her table is piled with books, and
the walls are lined with bookshelves. Jeremy Hindle and David
Schlessinger are both quite proud of Gemma and Mark's offices.
They are jammed with actual books that would be used
by a Russian lit and World War One college professor.

(03:58):
Mark says that was fun last night. Jemma agrees, but
she does not look like a person who has the
time for a lengthy conversation.

Speaker 3 (04:05):
Sorry, I have a lecture three on Jijimurat and he.

Speaker 2 (04:08):
Hooks her all over the keeper, considering it looked like
it was five after three at the elevators. Yeah, she'd
better get to her lecture. There are a couple of
mugs in the middle of the table where Gemma is sitting.
Check the one closest to camera. The artwork on the
side is of thistles. This is going to start a
run of thistle references throughout this episode. Why thistles, Well,

(04:29):
they have to do with the books she mentioned. The
Hajji Marad is another Tolstoi book. Got to admit, until
I met Gemma, I never knew how prolific Tolstoi was. Anyway.
A symbolic theme in Hajji Murat involves thistles. Thistles represent
tenaciousness and grit. They hang around even when things get bad.
They can endure hardship. They also symbolize defiance against Russian oppression.

(04:53):
Substitute lumen for Russian or consider Gemma as her tenacious
self down on the testing floor. Can see why thistles
fit so perfectly into our narrative. She's almost panicking a bit,
with her notes all over the place. Mark doesn't want
to get in her way, but he has come bearing gifts.

Speaker 3 (05:11):
I'd probably something.

Speaker 2 (05:13):
He quite proudly sets two plastic canisters on her table,
just to the right of the thistle mug. They are
tied together with a gift ribbon. Gemma says, oh, but
you can tell she's not sure what's going on. It's
a name farm interesting and doctor scout. Why would you
be bringing this lovely woman and ant farm this night.

(05:34):
You said you liked dance, so I wasn't even there
last night. But I'm pretty sure that's not what she said.

Speaker 3 (05:40):
I said I liked I like plants.

Speaker 2 (05:43):
The camera is doing a steady cam swirl around these
two potential lovers. We can see potted plants lining the
ledge in front of Gemma's vertical blinds. The lady likes plants.

Speaker 3 (05:54):
I hate dance.

Speaker 2 (05:56):
Seriously, how on earth did Mark win this woman over?

Speaker 3 (06:01):
But I love farms?

Speaker 2 (06:03):
Oh good, I see she's already won over. He just
has to make sure not to mess it up. Think
about the challenges In this episode, JLG is introducing the
legendary character of Mark's dead wife Jemma to us for
the first time in the series. Not only do we
meet Jemma for the first time ever, she also has
to meet doctor Scout. That you need to fall in love,

(06:25):
get married, and go through the pain of trying and
failing to get pregnant. Sound challenging, Sound like a full
season of This Is Us? It sure does. Add On
top of all that, it's got to happen in the
space of about eighteen minutes between two people who've never
been on screen together in these roles, Hey, Adam Deechen
generate a little instant chemistry. Why don't you no worries?

(06:49):
As for the Adam Scott Deechin Lackmann chemistry check, these
two crackle together. All deference to Amy Puhller and Reese Witherspoon,
who have also played Adam's on screen wives, but Deitchen
and Adam could not be more perfectly matched as husband
and wife. The failed ant farm delivery turns into a
bit of smooching.

Speaker 3 (07:09):
I love farms. Oh good.

Speaker 2 (07:11):
At this point in a relationship, everything turns into smooching,
doesn't it. The smooching leads to a subtle and very
cool time wipe. The camera is doing a smooth, steady
cam pass around the couple. As the camera moves, there's
a wipe that jumps us forward. In this relationship, Mark
is going through papers there at home, and now he's
the one who is pressured by works fucking Jemma doesn't care.

(07:38):
She's all over him with more kissing. No timeline specifics,
but this might be after these two are married. While
they're making out, Let's have a look at this beautiful home.
It includes wide open windows with suns streaming through beautiful
woodwork and casually cozy places to read and study. Surely
some advanced person for severance located this place out of

(07:59):
dozions of potential homes for the happy couple. Right. Nope,
it so happens. This is the house Jessica leg Gangne
rented for herself in Nayak, New York. This is where
she lived while they were shooting the series. Jessica is
gone now, but the owners of the home have decided
to maybe cash in on its fame. This house is
available for nightly rentals on verbo. It's fifty four hundred

(08:23):
square feet with seven bedrooms and four baths. Right now,
it's going for around one thousand dollars US per night.
Grab a few friends to share the cost, and you
could be enjoying your own overnight at Mark and Jemma's place.
What would prompt a director to want to shoot in
their own home? In interviews, Jessica has admitted one of
the most common reactions held by producers and directors is this,

(08:47):
no one will ever get to shoot in my house,
she said. Production management people normally avoid allowing a production
to shoot in their homes. They know how upsetting it
can be allowing all these people into your living space.
It's not just where they shoot. They also use bedrooms
as dressing rooms and green rooms. Bathrooms become makeup stations.

(09:08):
People in Jailg's position, No, it's best to not let
work happen where you live. There are people who will
gladly turn their homes over to a production for the
right fee. Producers and directors normally prefer to pay these
folks and keep things away from their own homes. But
this house was so perfect. Jessica was going over what

(09:28):
she wanted from Mark and Jemma's house with production designer
Jeremy Hindle. As she was running down the specifics for
the scouts perfect abode, Hindel said he couldn't help but
tell her, you're describing your house. This was the last
episode shot for the season. Jessica decided, against her better judgment,
she had to let them in. These scenes are Marx

(09:51):
recollections of his marriage at a time before life events
would push him to choose severance. We went into his
unconscious subconscious while he was laying on this said orange couch.
There are periods of time laps used for transition in
these scenes. We'll see seasons changing along with trees, leaves,
and flowers all blooming. These time lap shots were not

(10:13):
in the original script. They were taken by Jessica le
Ganie because she lives there. She was worried no one
would completely grasp the links of time. Gemma and Mark
were together. Since this was all happening in a few minutes,
she wanted a lot of footage to cover these periods
and show the passage of time. When she would notice
different light in the house due to the changing seasons,

(10:35):
she would shoot footage to be used in the transitions.
For this episode, sun is streaming through the window. This
was well into spring. At the end of the second
seasons one hundred and eighty six days shoot. Mark is
pretending to work. This time, Jemma is the one getting handsy.
Truth be told. Mark's loving the attention. Suddenly, Jemma is

(10:57):
distracted by something across the room. He says a couple
of words here when she's looking over Mark's shoulder. In
the US version, we don't get any captioning for this phrase. Thankfully,
native Russian speakers were watching who also have Reddit accounts,
and we're willing to share this phrase. She said, sap

(11:17):
is Russian for what's that? We're never told specifically, but
it follows. If you're a professor of Russian literature, you
probably speak Russian. Jemma is looking past Mark's shoulder at
a large cardboard box sitting over by the wall. We
haven't had a chance to see it yet, but whatever
it is fully distracts Jemma from kissing Mark's neck. She

(11:38):
steps across the room. The box is leaning up against
a file cabinet. Jemma looks back to Mark as she
approaches it.

Speaker 1 (11:45):
Oh, no, it's on sale.

Speaker 2 (11:48):
The graphics on the side tell us it's a baby crib.
Don't go looking for this one at your local version
of Babies r us. This crib is very unique and
quite rare in the real world. This crib would never
have a mass produced consumer box. Since it needed a
box for the episode, Cat Miller and her crew created
a very costco looking cardboard packing box. It has a

(12:08):
line drawing of the crib on the front, with promo
lines about its convertibility and who's.

Speaker 4 (12:14):
Putting it together as sand new An here.

Speaker 2 (12:17):
The stock number in the corner under Jemma's hand is
formatted like a severance chip number. The name of this
particular model of crib is called a arbor. That's col space,
then a lowercase D and apostrophe, and then arboer. This
has been simplified to the two word title cold Harbor

(12:38):
for testing floor purposes. This crib is actually the product
of architect, designer and furniture craftsman Charles Webb of Cambridge, Massachusetts.
It was provided to the production by rare furniture dealer Rarefy. Ideally,
the production team needed two of these cribs since they
would be pulled apart in various scenes. Rarefy only had

(12:59):
one oak example of this very unique item. They were
able to locate a second version just before shooting began.
Pricing a Charles webcrib can be a tricky business since
they are custom. He seems to set prices based on
the project. I did find a Charles webcrib design being
offered on furniture retailer first Dibbs. It's showing a list

(13:20):
price of one thousand, nine hundred and seventy five dollars,
but they are currently unavailable. Website Archived Auctions and auction
site bid Square are both showing Web design cribs selling
in the four hundred dollars range. Gemma isn't really questioning
the crib so much as she's questioning Mark's ability to
put it together. Mark is very confident.

Speaker 3 (13:43):
I happen to be quite handy.

Speaker 1 (13:45):
You're not.

Speaker 2 (13:46):
There's maybe a misunderstanding here. Jemma has a different word
from Mark's abilities.

Speaker 3 (13:51):
What how dairy as hands z.

Speaker 2 (13:54):
We see ample proof Mark is handsy, but very few
indicators he's handy.

Speaker 5 (14:00):
Ap coming in set.

Speaker 2 (14:02):
The camera does a slow pan to the right, moving
away from the couple. Make sure to check out this
very full and detailed corner of the room, the books,
the chochkeys on the shelves. It's all saying this is
a well established household inhabited by intelligent people who may
also be in academia. Check the tube shaped items arranged
on top of the barrister's bookshelf just to Mark's left.

(14:24):
They look like they might be candle holders. These are
examples of what was known as trench art created during
World War One. Soldiers would use the materials they had
at hand to make decorative or functional pieces of art.
They were using shell casings, bullet casings, and shrapnel to
create their masterpieces. Trench art has become highly prized by

(14:45):
collectors because each piece is so completely unique. You can
find numerous examples of trench art on eBay. Interesting pieces
in good condition can bring anywhere from two hundred and
fifty up to five hundred dollars per item. A close
in shot the headshell of a tone arm gently bobbing
along with a slightly warped record acts as a transition.

(15:06):
The music is mixed to the forefront. This is Jacques
Brel and a French tune called la valse amilli temps.
The name means a waltz in thousand times, or one
that can be played a thousand times. It's a song
that celebrates passionate love, but it also acknowledges the transient
nature of happiness and the illusion of permanence. The song

(15:28):
takes us into a montage of life at the Scout home.
A lot of books are being flipped through. There's a
close up on the interior pages of the Hajji Murat.
We see Mark with various hairlinks and beard growth. I
would like to offer a retraction and apology here. Last episode,
I mentioned Adam Scott's watch being on his right hand
just like a lefty. I even called Adam left handed.

(15:51):
I'm not sure where I got that info, but I'm
thinking it was the bing Ai. This is not the
first time I've been burned listening to Ai. Mark is
great papers and writing in this montage, and he's not
doing it with his left hand. He does still wear
his watch on his right wrist, so no idea why now.
Volunteer research of NYP identifies Mark as a fooler lefty.

(16:15):
One thing I did discover while searching through the lists
of left handed actors. Both John Noble and a Leah
Shocket from season two are left handed. Let's take a break, refiner,
this is a good time to wash your hands, paying
special attention to your left hand. Severed will be right back.

Speaker 4 (16:35):
Hey, this is Ben Stiller.

Speaker 1 (16:36):
Thanks for listening to Severed, the Ultimate Severance Podcast.

Speaker 2 (16:40):
We're launched into a time lapse montage here and it
gets a bit frenetic. The moon whips by in the sky.
Mark and Jemma are outside putting flowers in each other's hair.
Ben Stiller is shooting the outdoor scenes with the second
camera crew. These are some of the only scenes in
the entire series where you'll see green vegetation. This was

(17:00):
well into the spring of twenty twenty four. Right at
the end of shooting, time is whipping by the bookstacks
on the desk rapidly pile up, then go back down.
There appears to be a cannon ball in the middle
of the desk. No word on whose or where it
came from. By World War One, most artillery had gone
to shape projectiles, rifled barrels, breech loading and exploding ordnance.

(17:22):
The old iron ball fired from a ground mounted cannon
had gone out of fashion on the battlefield about the
time of the Civil War. We are whipping through the
life of these two in a rapid fire fashion. There's
a close up shot of Jemma's hands spraying water on
a hibiscus plant. Deechin Lackman talked about this scene in
an interview. Diechen is a plant person with a bit
of a green thumb. She learned from her grandmother. You

(17:45):
aren't supposed to spray water on the leaves of a
hibiscus like this. There is shade plant with delicate leaves.
Dachen knew from her grandmother that sunlight can be focused
by the water drops and actually cause burns on the leaf.
The high biscus should only be watered at the base,
So why are we seeing her spray water on the

(18:06):
leaves because it's so cinematic. Seriously, it looks good on camera.
That's the only reason they're doing it. Beechen made a
character choice here. She decided her character loves plants but
doesn't really know that much about them. She's gotten lucky
with the one she has, but she doesn't have any
deep nohow when it comes to plant care. Claiming plant

(18:27):
ignorance is a character Trait was a lot easier than
stopping production to school everyone on proper horticulture methods. In
some of these scenes, we can see Gemma dancing with
Mark while wearing a red dress. Red is the color
of love. On Severance, even in flashback, we do also
see Gemma in blue standing in the study. Even here,
long before anybody rode a severed elevator, we've got Severance colors.

(18:50):
There are a couple of hand close up showing Gemma's
wedding and engagement rings. At some point, these crazy kids
made it legal, yet it continue use. At a frenetic pace,
there's a baby deer laying out at the edge of
the lawn, more flowers being picked, Mark in a tan suit,
looking pensively out the window of the study, papers, books,
more dancing. Life at the Scout House is a constant

(19:13):
swirl of wholesome, uplifting activity. The montage ends with Mark
and Jemma dance hugging. We're looking at them through the
windows onto the sun porch. The scene transitions. The shot
doesn't change, but the scene transitions to evening. The Hails,
Mark's sister Devon and her husband Ricken, are over for dinner.
This is a flashback, and it's the first time we've

(19:34):
ever seen the Hails go anywhere. They tend to hold
up in their giant house and not get out unless necessary. Sure,
Devin took a walk with her baby at the park
and picked up Mark at his house. They did also
drop a copy of Rickens's book by Mark's house. But
as for socializing, their last two social activities involved inviting
people over to their house. We joined the dinner in

(19:57):
the middle of a conversation about rock climbing. Ricken, it
turns out, is an accomplished climber. Devin says he can
scale walls like a gecko. This is new information for us.
And an unexpected side to Ricken. Devon is relating a
recent story about the two of them climbing. Ricken was
just fine, but Devon was having some trouble.

Speaker 3 (20:18):
It was like half a mile of just exposed rock
face fine, I mean there were a few boulders.

Speaker 2 (20:25):
Devon is exaggerating a bit. She says this climb was
like being in the death zone of Everest. Gemma chimes
in here.

Speaker 3 (20:32):
By Chemalona, it's unpacked.

Speaker 2 (20:34):
Shall wait? First off, Mount Everest is the tallest mountain
above sea level in the world. It stands twenty nine
thousand and thirty five feet. In nineteen fifty three, a
Swiss doctor declared any elevation above twenty six thousand feet
or eight thousand meters as the lethal zone. Climbers quickly
adopted the term death zone instead. Well, of course they did.

(20:56):
It sounds way cooler above this elevation. There is not
enough oxygen in the air to sustain human life. It's
so intense climbers are forced to use bottled oxygen. Still,
even with supplemental oxygen, their bodies tend to shut down
in this region. Their thinking gets muddled and they lose
both brain and muscle. Mass. Only fourteen peaks in the

(21:16):
world are tall enough to have a death zone. I
doubt Ricken and Devon were on one of them. And
what was that word, Jemma.

Speaker 3 (21:24):
Said by Chemaluma, No surprise.

Speaker 2 (21:26):
Everest is not a traditional name for the mountain, claiming
there were too many traditional names for them to pick
just one. The mountain was dubbed Everest by the British
in eighteen sixty five. It was named in honor of
George Everest, who had recently retired as the British Surveyor
General of India. This name, Gemma used chum Alungma, is
the traditional Tibetan name for Everest. It means goddess, mother

(21:51):
of the world. This name was first written down in
seventeen twenty one in a Chinese transcription. The actress Dietchen Lachman,
who was born in k at Mandu and whose mother
is Tibetan, lived within fifty miles of the base of
Everest for the first ten years of her life. She
would know this name easily. This use of the name
by her character might be indicating the character of Gemma

(22:14):
also has Tibetan roots.

Speaker 3 (22:16):
Any frozen bodies now, I love it.

Speaker 2 (22:18):
This is another Everest reference. Because conditions are so harsh
on Everest. When climbers die above Camp four, their bodies
can't be moved. It's incredibly difficult and dangerous for climbers
to get themselves up and down in the death zone.
It's impossible to climb while carrying a human body. Why

(22:38):
not fly them out? Well, there's no runway for a plane,
and helicopters are useless above about sixteen thousand feet because
the air is so thin. When someone does die on
the trail in the death zone, others in their party
might attempt to move them out of sight. Even this
is usually too physically demanding, and the body is pushed

(23:00):
just off the trail. More than two hundred frozen bodies
are up there, and many of them have become trail
markers with nicknames. Everest has the most, but there are
a few unretrievable bodies on the other eight thousand meter
peaks as well. Devon's having a little fun. I'm very
sure she's not finding any frozen bodies scattered around where

(23:20):
she and Ricken were climbing. Climbing any eight thousand meter
peak requires far more than a day trip devon flish
is an action pick from the climb. The others are appalled.
It looks so dangerous, Mark s Ricken, what's wrong with him?

Speaker 3 (23:35):
Hey? I belayed my first cool wa in middle school.

Speaker 2 (23:38):
So whoa? This is soul patch and mustachioed Ricken. He's
gone to a full beard with longer hair by the
time we see him on the cover of the u
U are Less facial hair makes him seem quite a
bit younger. What was that word he used. It's spelled
couloi r in the closed captioning. I figured it was

(23:59):
some kind of climbing equipment. Nope. A cool war refers
to a narrow gully or steep gorge. A cool war
has rocky sides, making it popular for climbing. There's a
relaxed and fun dynamic to this group. Remember how Devin
said Gemma used to make them all better. I think
we're getting a taste of what she meant here. The

(24:20):
rest of the group is also stemied by Rickens' reference
to a cool.

Speaker 3 (24:24):
War and what that sounds painful.

Speaker 2 (24:27):
He's still a big personality, but this seems like a
different Ricken than the weird author who hosts No Dinner
dinner parties for academics and other bizarre hangers on. This
version of Ricken claims outdoorsmanship courses through his veins. I
make no apology for it. I'm curious where this scene

(24:47):
falls in the timeline of Rickens writing. Has he already
produced a couple of his early titles by this time,
or has Ricken yet to discover his inner No it all.
Mark wants to know how Devin got down from this
precarious peak. As a photos of that no, Devin says
it was a no photo zone.

Speaker 3 (25:07):
And that photo death zone.

Speaker 1 (25:08):
Exactly.

Speaker 2 (25:09):
Thank you, so happy, so relaxed. Don't you want to
just sit down with this group for a bite and
a couple of laughs. Such a subtle but important move
happens here. Have you heard people talk about how they
need to put their phone down to watch Severance? It's
very true. You have to put your phone down and
keep your attention on the screen or you're fully missing

(25:29):
two thirds of what's happening. This story is being told
through visual elements, even more so than by what is said.
We can go for long minutes without hearing a word,
but huge amounts of information is being relayed through the images.
The words add to our understanding, but the full message
created by severance is coming through our eyes as well.

(25:50):
I know there are listeners to this podcast with vision impairment.
They've told me they listen because I describe the very
important visual components of the scene. Don't take being able
to see these things for granted. Put your phone down.
Devin has poured herself a glass of wine. As she's
holding the bottle, she waves it in Gemma's direction. Would
she likes some? Without a word, Gemma casually waves her

(26:13):
hand over the top of her glass to indicate no.
This is accompanied by a tiny little smile that speaks volumes.
Conversation around the table continues. No one notices this little
vignette being played out by Devon and Gemma. Okay, so
Devn does make a comment just in case you do
happen to be checking your email.

Speaker 3 (26:33):
Are you're not drinking?

Speaker 2 (26:34):
It's in Aside the main conversation rick and claiming he
and Mark are going to go hiking someday continues. In
the background, Ricken is saying something about purifying urine. Devon's
moment of realization is hilariously Devn fuck right off Gemma's
wordless little smile continues as Devon is working out what's
going on. Her face lights up when Devon is fully

(26:56):
realized Jemma is pregnant. She's still in those earlies days
when you can't drink alcohol, but you aren't so far
along you're showing or you've told anyone outside of immediate family.
This little aside was such a great personal moment between
two women who are obviously close as sisters in law.
In an interview, gen Tolic discussed acting in these scenes

(27:17):
with Beechen. Specifically, she talked about creating chemistry. These two
real people didn't know each other. Sure, these characters are
sisters in law, but as an actor, Jen said, you're
trying to build a lifetime's worth of love and backstory
with someone you've never even seen in person. She said,
it becomes really interesting when you get to finally sit
down with this stranger to play these close and intimate exchanges.

(27:40):
Even though it's a weird situation to be in, Jen
said it felt very natural sitting down with Deechen doing
these lines. You can tell they're both pros. Plus they've
got chemistry. A buzzing sound becomes more intense. It's the
background sound of crickets and bugs in the garden. We
don't really notice it until it's turned up behind the
closeup of Jemma's eyes. A lot is going to happen

(28:04):
in the next couple of screen minutes. We will move
through several venues and pass through quite a bit of time.
Jessically Ganie said this episode is not driven by time.
To put a finer point on it, JLG does not
believe in the concept of time as it applies to
this episode. The moves the characters make through space go
in different directions, but the feelings they are experiencing transcend time.

(28:27):
We're looking at the closeup of Jemma's eyes. The light
changes along with her expression. Her face goes from light
and happy to grave and drawn. The color of the
light changes from warm gold to dark and cold. There's
a chilly, bluish overlay, and finally we go to complete black.
When we come up from Black Refiner, we're going to

(28:49):
be experiencing a painful episode with Gemma. If you'd rather
not relive these scenes, this is your opportunity to skip ahead.
After the commercial break. When you hear Mark Geller say
the name of the podcast, skip ahead by five minutes
and fifteen seconds. That's five minutes and fifteen seconds from
when you hear Mark. After the break, Severed will be
right back.

Speaker 5 (29:13):
Hello, refiners, it's Mark Keller kier 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 (29:31):
When the light comes back up on Gemma's eyes, the
quality of the light has changed. We're seeing a bit
of undulation in the gold hue. One of the patron
refiners mentioned this lighting choice might be hinting at a fire,
as in the fire that was supposed to have killed
Jemma in her car. I don't think that's it, but
purely because of timing, I get the sense we are

(29:51):
still at least a few weeks, if not months, away
from Gemma's supposedly fatal accident, although this undulating vision Gemma
appears to be might be some sort of premonition. We
hold on this close up for several seconds. Jemma's face
fills with pain and sadness. She grimaces and moans. Cutting
to a wider shot, we can see we aren't no

(30:12):
longer at dinner. Gemma's now in the bathroom and in distress.
She's unsteady leaning on the sink, wearing a light gray slip.
This is another one of those points where time is
not an issue. Was this the morning after the dinner
later that week? It doesn't really matter in the greater
context of the story. What matters is we know Jemma's situation,

(30:33):
and now we know this is happening. Gemma's slowly and
unsteadily makes her way to the shower. We can hear
the waters start as she climbs in. When Gemma's ankle
enters the frame, obvious blood has dried on the inside
of her lower leg. She kneels and hugs her legs.
She's in the running water while still wearing the gray's slip.
You never really get away from work when you work.

(30:56):
For the Severance television show, Jessica Lee Ganya got the
idea for this shower scene while she was using this
shower herself at home on her own time. The camera
slowly tilts up to Jemma's face. She is hugging herself
with a far away stare. You can tell by her
expression and body language that she is devastated. By what's happened.

(31:18):
What's happened is commonly called a miscarriage. It's the spontaneous
end to a pregnancy within the first twenty weeks of conception.
Most miscarriages, more than eighty percent, occur within the first
thirteen weeks of pregnancy, or the first trimester. Miscarriages are
far more common than you might imagine. Reporting can be inconsistent. Also,

(31:38):
many women will have a miscarriage before they even know
they're pregnant. Based on available data plus a bit of guesswork,
healthcare professionals estimate about one in five pregnancies will end prematurely.
There is absolutely no way to predict or prevent a miscarriage.
I have some personal experience with miscarriages in my life.

(31:59):
I can tell you with certainty they are emotionally devastating
to everyone involved. Knowing it's not unusual and it really
does happen to a lot of couples doesn't help much
when it's happening to you. I realized as I started
to write this section. Although I knew the emotional side
of a miscarriage, I didn't know much about the clinical side.
I consulted with the Male Clinic Cleveland clinic and the

(32:21):
database at Johns Hopkins for more information. The reason for
more than half of all miscarriages can be found in
the chromosomes. When the eggensperm joined, two sets of chromosomes
are brought together. If the chromosomal number in the fetus
is abnormal, the fetus stops growing. The mother's body has
assessed the fetus and determined there's an issue affecting development.

(32:41):
Gestation stops in the mother's body attempts to clear the
now non viable tissue from the uterus. It's a healthy
response from your body, and it's something that happens all
the time. Calling it a miscarriage makes it sound like
somebody did something wrong. This is not the case. Most
miscarriages are far beyond the mother's control. There is no

(33:02):
scientific proof that stress, exercise, sexual activity, or prolonged use
of birth control pills can cause a miscarriage. Whatever your situation,
it's important to not blame yourself for having a miscarriage.
Gemma is experiencing some of the most common signs of
a miscarriage. Although what we're seeing here is very common,
it should be noted some miscarriages can happen with no symptoms.

(33:26):
Gemma is experiencing bleeding that progresses from light to heavy.
There is pain, including abdominal cramps that are described as
being worse than menstrual cramps. These symptoms are usually accompanied
by a low backache that can range from mild to severe.
In our story, Gemma and Mark are going to seek
out other fertility options. This is the next step for

(33:46):
some couples, but it should be noted a miscarriage does
not necessarily mean a fertility problem. Nine out of ten
women who experience a miscarriage do go on to have
normal pregnancies and full term births. Although it's not possible
to prevent a miscarriage, doctors do recommend maintaining a healthy
weight and cutting out negative lifestyle factors like smoking or

(34:07):
drinking alcohol. As with most other health issues, these may
be risk factors. Mark is getting ready for work. He
comes wandering into the bathroom while buttoning his shirt sleeves.

Speaker 3 (34:19):
Hey, Han, do you know where I put the keys?

Speaker 2 (34:21):
As soon as he turns the corner, he realizes Jemma's
in distress and rushes over to her. Mark kneels down
and hugs Jemma in the rushing water. As Jemma slowly
raises her face to Mark. Make sure to note the
action of the water droplets. Look along Jemma's nose and cheeks, especially.
The droplets are going to move in some odd ways.

(34:43):
It might even look like the water drops are going backwards.
This would be because they are. We're about to experience
an elaborate practical effect. Mark is going to turn his head.
He starts out in the rushing shower water. When he turns,
he will move from the wet shower to being dry
and seated in his work chair on the severed floor.
Why isn't he soaking wet in his chair, because in reality,

(35:07):
that's where he began. Industrial light and magic could have
created this move by stitching two scenes together, but that's
not how Jessica wanted it. She wanted a more visceral
tie between the Mark we see in the shower and
Mark s down on the severed floor. Adam Scott started
this move while seated in his workchair. As he turned
towards the shower, the water came on to soak him

(35:30):
from above. Once he had turned fully into the water,
the move was complete. For the edit, this move was
run backwards. When you run at reverse, it starts with
Mark in the shower under the rushing water. This is
where we first cut to him. If you look at
the drops in motion next to Mark, you can see
they're going up. When you run the footage backwards, Mark
turns away from the shower towards his work chair. The

(35:52):
water shuts off and Mark appears to end the move.
Now drive.

Speaker 3 (35:58):
This Casey.

Speaker 2 (36:00):
He is standing by Marc S's desk in MDR. She's
wearing a gray suit with water drop pin and holding
a lumin notebook.

Speaker 1 (36:07):
This is a.

Speaker 2 (36:07):
Recreation of the scene in the first season episode Grim
Barbarity of Optics and Design.

Speaker 3 (36:13):
I'm here to observed, Hew.

Speaker 2 (36:14):
You are check Mark's hands in the long shot. In
the full scene, he had just pulled his copy of
the u R out of his desk. He was headed
to the reading room seeking some Rick and Hale motivation.
You can see Mark trying to hide the corner of
the book under his suit coat. This long shot is
a new angle. IRV is visible at his workstation next

(36:35):
to Mark. We didn't see this view of Mark during
the original scene in the original episode. The shot stays
with the up angle on Miss Casey throughout the conversation.
This is the segment where she concludes her talk bit
by offering a hug available upon request. Dylan pops up
almost immediately.

Speaker 1 (36:51):
Now I've been exhibiting signs of sadness?

Speaker 6 (36:54):
Could I get one of those?

Speaker 3 (36:55):
No?

Speaker 2 (36:56):
Sorry, Dylan. We don't actually see it, but I'm very
sure that season two flashback answer is still no. In
this new view, instead of allowing her to get to
the end of her talk bit, the camera does something crazy.
While Miss Casey is talking, the square ceiling light panels
start to turn off. The shot pulls back, the camera
floats up and away from Mark and ms Casey. It

(37:19):
turns all the way over, so we're looking straight up
at the lighted ceiling panels. The panels are switching off
as the camera swirls down into something you can't tell initially,
but we are making our way down a previously unknown
cable run that goes through the diamond desk, then down
through a hole in the floor. This cable run ends

(37:40):
up on an entirely different floor, located below the refiners.
We're going to find people here who are tasked with
watching the refiners above. Before this sequence, we had no
idea this watcher level was even here. There have been
volumes written about the execution of this sequence. First and foremost,
this is not a digital effectig you're a shot this type,

(38:01):
moving down through a harness of cables could only be
accomplished with digital animation. Not so, and new director Jessica
Lyganne decided to prove to everyone this scene could be
done as a practical shot. JLG claims this was the
biggest side project of the season based on how many
people participated. That's saying something considering we opened the season

(38:22):
with the ten segment Hallway Run side project. Jessica has
also called this transition the most laborious thing she's ever
done as a director of photography. A special rig was
built to hold an oversized version of the spinning cables.
A Pulley system allowed a camera with a special lens
to go down through the cables. We see the cables

(38:42):
swirling around the camera as we descend. ILM stitched some
shots together and at the bottom of the cable run,
ILM did have to step in for a bit of
a CGI effect. When we get to the bottom of
the move you can see vented horizontal loovers. These are
events stamped out of the metal, probably half an inch high.
They look like what you'd find on the side of

(39:03):
a desktop computer housing. Sorry JLG, but there are no
cameras or lenses small enough to go through one of
these vents. Still, the shot manages to move right through
the vents. This is where ILM is so valuable. There
were no vents in the original shot. The camera was
allowed to move out to the side of the housing.
The events were drawn in later as a part of

(39:25):
the animation overlay. The room we exit into has the
same green carpeting as the severed floor. The chairs at
each workstation are the same. Even the mats protecting the
carpet are the same. The camera tracks along the floor,
going under one of the workstations. A heavy man's dress
shoe is idly tapping on the floor as the camera
makes its way by. There's as subtle dissolve cut as

(39:48):
the camera raises up in front of the workstation. Eventually
we can see eyes over the edge of a monitor.
The person behind a monitor is credited as Mark Watcher
in the rundown. For this episode, he is being played
by American actor, director and writer Eric J. Carlson. Eric
has thirteen actor credits on his IMDb profile. He's also

(40:08):
not sixteen additional cruise slots. Plus he is listed as
director on eight different shorts going back to twenty fifteen.
Interesting to note in Eric's acting resume, he is listed
as being a corrections officer in thirty four episodes of
Orange Is the New Black. Plus he was the character
officer Walters in eleven episodes of the twenty twelve TV

(40:31):
series n YC twenty two. The weird thing about both
of these recurring parts neither was credited. Usually with a
named character, you get a credit. Eric had to go
into IMDb and add these multi episode credits to his resume.
Another fun part I noticed Eric played the hot dog
contest referee in a twenty fourteen episode of the TV

(40:55):
series dead Beat. We get a reverse look at Mark
watchers monitor. No surprise, he's watching Mark. This is the
same kind of through the monitor's shot we saw Miltchick
checking at the end of last season when Helly was
about to make quota. MS Casey is standing dutifully behind Mark.
Property master Catherine Miller told us these watcher monitors are

(41:15):
very different than the monitors we find on the severed floor.
These are designed to look like banks of security monitors
with multiple views. In other shots, we will see a
line of smaller five inch monitors located below the main CRT.
Mark Watcher is about to take us through Mark's recent
refining history. Before he does, this would be a great
time to get a refill on that coffee refiner. Severed

(41:38):
will be right back.

Speaker 5 (41:42):
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 (41:56):
Mark Watcher hits a key on his keypad. The main
display rapidly takes us through Mark's recent refining history. The
first viewer shown is Drainsville at fourteen percent complete. Mark's
face is intercut with various work and status screens. Drainsville
jumps up to twenty percent. We can see the animation
of the file selection rolodex more Drainsville now up to

(42:16):
fifty two percent. Some screens break down the distribution of
refined numbers in the individual bins. These scenes are all
whipping by Mark's face. Deep in concentration is intercut with
shots of file completion screens. The Drainsville progress bar is
filling up fast in the time lapse. When Drainsville is
at ninety six percent, we are shown a glimpse of

(42:37):
a screen that lists twenty four total files. The twenty
fourth file listed is Drainsville. The first file listed is Allentown.
This is Mark's list of completed files. There's Wellington and Loveland, Waynesboro,
and Coleman. Check the Facebook page. I'll post a screen
grab of the entire list there. You will not find

(42:57):
Tombwater or Siena on this list, even though we have
seen both of these as named rooms on the testing floor.
Dylan completed Tumwater and Helly are finish Siena. I believe
this list we see of mark completed files is also
the list of rooms Gemma is forced to visit. There's
been a lot of discussion and back and forth about

(43:18):
this topic. It's never explicitly stated, but I get the
feeling Gemma is only required to enter rooms created by Mark.
We can see the other named rooms they have been
created and are sitting on the testing floor, but Gemma
does not enter these rooms as far as we know
or are shown. Gemma will mention later that she's been

(43:39):
in all of the named rooms on the testing floor.
This contradicts the idea that Mark is the only one
who have worked on her rooms. It might also indicate
they weren't sure what would happen when she entered rooms
created by the other refiners. Could Gemma have entered a
Dylan created room but she had no connection to it,
so she wasn't forced to return. This is all new

(44:00):
technology they're working with here on the testing floor. I'm
sure there have been hits and misses as they figure
out the specifics of whatever it is they're doing, So
maybe we have to come to some sort of a
theory compromise. Jemma may have visited all of the rooms
on the testing floor at the same time. Mark's list
of twenty five completed files, along with the rooms we

(44:21):
see her visit, would indicate the only important rooms to
Jemma are the rooms created by Mark. Through what must
have been trial and error, Luhmann has identified some important
connection between Mark s and Jemma. No confirmation, but I'm
guessing it's because they were husband and wife as audies.
I know that sounds basic, but we've got Mauer running

(44:43):
this show and he's a dufus. How these created rooms
are ultimately used opens up a lot of new questions
about the work of the other refiners. Is Dylan possibly
creating rooms for another person who is locked away somewhere
down on the testing floor. Is some to be deceased
person from Dylan's oudy life being forced to enter tumwater.

(45:05):
It could be happening, but we aren't allowed to see it.
Mashable asked Dan Erickson directly, are the other refiners refining
for different people or maybe doing things we don't know
about yet? Dan's answer was maddening. His entire answer to
that question was, quote, that's a really good question, A
really good question. Unquote. I've got another really good question.

(45:29):
What about the files completed? Before we met Dylan? He
was a hotshot refiner with multiple caricatures when we first
met him. A caricature indicates a one hundred percent completed file.
Where are those rooms? Or is it possible the mission
was something else before the Mark and Jemma experiment came along.
The Lexington letter indicated files might be refined for other purposes.

(45:53):
Whatever power or control is contained in the refining process
seems to still be evolving. I don't think Luman knows
entirely what they have here or how to use it.
Drainsville completes in the flashback, and we get a new
screen listing completed files. This one shows Drainsville as the
twenty fourth file at one hundred percent. The new file

(46:14):
on the screen showing progress is Cold Harbor. It sits
seventeen percent the first time it comes up in this
time Labs flashback. The Cold Harbor completion bar is filling
up as fast as the Drainsville bar was earlier. I
did not realize Mark was actually putting in this much
time working. We cut away from this recent history of
Mark's refining efforts with Cold Harbor's completion percentage in the

(46:37):
high eighties. Random aside here. As they cut to Mark's
face between file completion screens, I could just swear his
part changed. Mark parts his hair on the left side
in some of these intercut shots of Mark's face, his
part is definitely on the right side. We cut back
to Mark Watcher's face. He is moving in a jerky
fast motion. This is a time lapse view of the

(46:59):
entire ya. Just as the camera starts to pan to
the left, you can see Irv's face in the monitor
position to the left of Mark Watcher. This must be
a flashback to a period before the ort Bow. We
can see our Dylan Watcher is sitting back to back
with Mark Watcher. The Watchers don't necessarily look like the Macrodats,
but they do all have physical traits or props that

(47:23):
mirror the Macrodat they're watching. IRV Watcher has a mustache.
Helly Watcher is a woman with red hair. Dylan Watcher
is a heavy set man with a beard. Mark Watcher
is even wearing his watch on his right wrist the
same way we've seen Mark do it on the severed floor.
We've got some uncredited listings for our Watchers. Jennifer Stepanyik
is the uncredited Helly Watcher. She lists six total acting

(47:47):
credits standing back to twenty seventeen. Three of those credits
are in shorts. Mitchell Hockman is uncredited as IRV Watcher
for this episode. Remember our uncredited Blood Drive worker Daniel Siffletti,
who is a dedicate background player. Mitchell has a similar resume.
He's showing twenty actor credits dating back to twenty eighteen,

(48:07):
when he appeared in an episode of Billions. Every single
one of Mitchell's resume items is uncredited. The Severance team
didn't have to go far to find Mitchell. Mister Hockman
is also listed in the Severance cast as John Taturo's
stand in and photo double for all nineteen Severance episodes.
As the camera starts to make a crane move to

(48:29):
frame left, you can clearly see the additional bank of
five inch monitors positioned below the main monitor at IRV
watchers workstation. These are real CRTs being fed as signal
downgraded from digital to analog. Property master Cat Miller told
us in an interview the usual workaround for a situation
like this is to build the housing you make it

(48:49):
look like real CRT video by mounting an iPad in
the housing and covering it with a curve piece of glass.
Kat said this is a common workaround and no shade
to anyone who is using the iPad trick, but this
is Severance. We as the audience, are looking at these
monitors a lot. It was decided they all had to
be real CRTs, no faky monitors. Kat said. It was

(49:13):
a challenge, but she was able to locate enough monitors
to get all the watchers set up. The watchers don't
have traditional keyboards either. Look at the control pads in
front of each monitor station. They look to be about
the size of the number keypad you'd find on a
traditional keyboard. These controls allow the watchers to switch inputs
to the main monitor with the macrodat watchers moving in

(49:35):
time lapse fast motion, the cameras starts a trek all
the way around the room. The only problem in order
to do the time lapse effect, the bolt arm is
being used for this shot. This move happens over a
long period of time so we can get the time
lapse motion of the watchers. They are also probably shooting
at a much lower frame rate since most of these
frames will be dropped. For the time lapse effect, the

(49:57):
bolt arm can do this creeping move repeating and make
it identical each time. Unfortunately, the bolt arm is too
big to fit all the way around this room. Of course,
there was a work around. There's always a workaround. The
camera could only move one fourth of the way around
the watchers area. It had to stay to the one

(50:17):
open side of the set. They compensated for the lack
of camera movement by moving the subjects instead. The room
is symmetrical so they could get away with it. Each
time the camera completed a sweep from right to left,
the watchers would physically get up and move. They would
all move counterclockwise by one workstation. The camera would be

(50:38):
reset to the far right and the move was run again,
going from right to left. After the second move was complete,
the watchers rotated again. Once all four watchers had made
it to all workstations, there was enough footage to fake
the full move around the room. The four sides were
pieced together by ILM. Since the watchers are moving in
a jerky time lapse fashion, it was easy to stitch

(51:00):
the pieces of footage together seamlessly. The result is a
very believable swirling move that appears to go all the
way around the interior of the watcher's workspace. As the
swirl move is completing, we can hear Drummond in voiceover are.

Speaker 5 (51:15):
The Severance barriers holding.

Speaker 2 (51:17):
The camera slows to a stop next to the mark
watchers workstation. The voice we hear answering is that of
doctor Mauer.

Speaker 5 (51:23):
Yes, the technology is working.

Speaker 2 (51:26):
They must be discussing this new hybrid chip being used
by Miss Casey, right, I mean Gemma. Regular old Severance
tech has been around for quite a while. They know
it works and it is in heavy use. This new
chip with multiple switches must still be in the testing phase.
Remember Miltchik reassuring Kobel when they were spying on Miss
Casey and Mark during a wellness session.

Speaker 6 (51:49):
You know it's good right that they don't remember each other.
It means the chip's work. It's a winsh her back Tom,
there's a testing floor place.

Speaker 2 (52:05):
He must have been talking about this multi inny hybrid
chip being tested by Ms Casey. When we come around
the Mark Watcher's computer at the end of the fly
around sequence, the time lapse has stopped. The move continues
on around the monitor to reveal Drummond and Maer now
standing alongside the Mark Watcher's workstation. As Maer enters the
frame checked the hair and mustache. This is funky seventies

(52:29):
era mour with a porn stash, long fluffed up dry
look hairdoo, and a polyester running suit complete with a
whistle on a lanyard. Robbie Benson was a very good
sport when it came to wardrobe in these scenes. As
evil and frightening as Maur can be on the testing floor,
he is truly a dork. Drummond has noticed he might

(52:50):
be developing an unhealthy fixation on his testing subject.

Speaker 5 (52:53):
You like her.

Speaker 2 (52:54):
Maur is not phased by this assessment. She's easy to like, well,
sure she is. She's Gemma. She makes everyone better. Mauer
might be a little too optimistic about Gemma returning his affections.

Speaker 5 (53:07):
She's fond of me too, of course.

Speaker 2 (53:10):
In an interview, Diechin Lockman told Vulture that Jemma truly
despises Maer. Mauer refuses to see it.

Speaker 5 (53:16):
Didn't she try and break your fingers.

Speaker 2 (53:18):
She puts up with Mauur as best she can because
he controls her life on the testing floor, but there
is no soft spot for the good doctor, Deechin said.
Gemma also has the sense she and the doctor have
had private time together, which her hallway outie doesn't know about.
This is particularly creepy and disturbing for Gemma to consider.

(53:39):
The view on the mark watcher's monitor has changed as
the camera swirls around to give us a look. We
are now seeing a long expanse of testing floor hallway.
This is the view from a high upsecurity camera located
in the middle of the hallway ceiling. Gemma is following
her nurse through the testing floor halls. She's dressed in
a sporty looking tennis outfit. Her hair is pulled back

(54:01):
in a high pony, and she's out of breath, like
she's been for a hard run or an intense workout.
This outfit might be tied to Maur's seventies looking coach
we saw in the watcher room. As with his dentist character,
Mauer likes to insert himself into the various rooms as
a character within whatever vignette is being played out in
the room. Maur may have been torturing Gemma in a

(54:23):
room with repeated tennis exercises. We're never given the details
about what goes on in the room she just left.
We can only guess based on the outfit and how
winded she looks. Our visit to the testing floor is
only going to allow us to join the Innigemmas in
four rooms. We've already been to Maur's dental office. We'll
also see an inny Gemma in Allentown, which is the

(54:45):
Christmas Thank You Card Room, in the unnamed airplane Turbulence Room,
and in the finale, we'll follow another version of Gemma
into the room labeled Cold harbor. Dan Erickson said he
was ready with a few more rooms just in case.
He told Mashable he came up the list of more
than fifty different testing floor rooms, each with its own
dastardly and painful test. The writers winnowed the list down

(55:07):
to these four. Dan should probably save his other room
ideas for the eventual award winning Severance video game testing floor.
Gemma punches the button on her apartment keypad when she
passes through the door. We transition to another scene from
the Gemma and Mark flishback. I love the transition here.
The cut to the reverse of the door is in

(55:28):
the new scene, Gemma is now moving through the door
with her hair up and wearing a winter coat. Before
we head into this new scene, here is one last
chance for you to wash your hands. Refiner Severed will
be here right back.

Speaker 5 (55:43):
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 (55:56):
The cut picks up Gemma as she passes through on
the other side of the door. We have arrived at
the Botzemann Fertility Clinic. Mark is following Gemma through the door.
He's also dressed in a heavy winter coat. They stepped
to a receiving desk like you'd find in a doctor's office.

Speaker 3 (56:14):
Hie, I'll be right with you. Thanks.

Speaker 2 (56:17):
Jemma is handed a clipboard with an intake questionnaire on it.
She's looking over the questionnaire and Mark is looking around
as they search for a seat in the waiting room.
That's when it happens. Put your phone down. You're going
to miss something very important here. Did you catch the
doctor coming from the hallway frame left of Mark. He's
carrying a file folder and eyeing Gemma when he first

(56:38):
enters the frame. Not a lot of people caught it
the first time. Vulture told Deechen Lockman they missed it. Initially.
There were posts to the Severance Reddit thread the night
this episode was released saying, hey, was that doctor Mauer
at the fertility clinic. That's when everybody else did a rewind. Yes,
we are seeing Robbie Benson's doctor Mauer roaming the halls

(56:58):
in this fertility clinic flashback. Is he doing some kind
of volunteer gig on the weekends. I don't think so.
Jemma is wistfully watching some small children playing on the
floor of the waiting room. Mark shrugs off his winter coat,
revealing his very professorial corduroy sport coat. When they sit,
he tries to offer some comforting words.

Speaker 3 (57:18):
You know, that's the next step for a lot of people.

Speaker 2 (57:23):
This is true, but usually not after a single miscarriage.
I hope there's been some delay and they've tried other
options before taking this very big step. Make sure to
consult your obgyn before jumping into any serious or expensive
fertility treatments. The camera is slowly circling the seated couple.
Jemma still looks upset. I love you, Jemma says she

(57:45):
loves him too, then adds I'm sorry. Mark shakes his head.
There's nothing to be sorry about. Check this too.

Speaker 3 (57:52):
Shot.

Speaker 2 (57:52):
Did you see what Gemma's wearing around her neck. It's
the necklace Regabby finds in Mark's basement. So once she
was hoping which take some memories loose, Gemma turns her
attention to the intake form. Even if you miss doctor Mauer,
there's no missing this. Check the icon in the upper
left corner of the intake form. That would be the
very recognizable lumen water drop. It doesn't seem to register

(58:15):
with Gemma or Mark. Lumen must be somehow backing this venture.
The logo on the right side of the header is
for the Buttzuman Fertility Clinic. Remember how maur was the
German word for wall, Buttzemann is the German word for bugeyman.
Buttzeman is a word that can be used to refer
to any number of ghosts, goblins, or demons, especially those

(58:36):
that lurk among the rooms of the testing floor. The
intake form does add another confounding piece of data to
our where is Lumen located investigation. If you look under
the street address line, you can see one of the
lines to be answered is prov prov indicating I would
guess province Does pe mean the Province of Egan. Maybe

(58:59):
Canada is also divided into both provinces and territories. If
this newly founded Province of Egan is in the upper
Peninsula of Michigan, as I've previously theorized, it could also
serve patients from Canada, that would explain the need for
the prov line. On the form, it does not explain
why there wouldn't also be a state line option. According
to the intake form. The prov should also have a

(59:22):
postal code instead of a ZIP code. This is significant syntax.
Zip codes are specific to the United States. ZIP is
an acronym created by the US Postal Service, meaning zone
improvement plan. A postal code is a more generic term
used by other countries. This muddies the water as to
whether here and Pe are really in the United States.

(59:45):
The shot changes to an overview of the waiting room.
The entry door is top of frame and slightly to
the left. After a stutter cut, the room changes. We
discover the space of the waiting room is the exact
same space as Gemma's testing floor apartment. It doesn't just
sort of look like the same space. Jeremy Hindle said,
this is the exact same space dressed out differently for

(01:00:08):
the different scenes. The cut reveals Jemma in her mint
green lounge suit, seated on what appears to be the
Deeter RAMS Program six twenty three seaters sofa. It looks
like it, but it's not. The chair in the exam
area of Jemma's apartment is a true RAMS Design six
to twenty program chair. The chair and sofa in the

(01:00:28):
living room of Gemma's apartment were built by Jeremy Hindall
and his crew in a style inspired by Deeter Rams.
You can tell the difference in the arms. The arms
that roll over and out away from the chair like
small wings are the original six twenty. The units with
solid arms are the Hindle designed lookalikes. Freeze on this

(01:00:49):
wide shot for a second. There are a couple of
things we need to take a closer look at. Here
in the upper right of frame, a lone chair is
visible sitting next to a table that juts out from
the wall. Immy Hindall was very proud of this table.
He said it is skewed, so two people sitting here
wouldn't be able to look at each other. Hindle's team
designed and built nearly every piece of furniture on the

(01:01:11):
testing floor. Hindle said in an interview quote every set
has something that's fractured about it unquote. So many things
down on the testing floor are intentionally just a little
bit off. Jeremy related a fun additional backstory about this
table on the Ben and Adams Severance podcast. He said,
there's a chunk missing. It was larger, but it got

(01:01:34):
broken during a previous Gemma episode of Rebellion. What's left
is not obviously broken. They must have cut around the brake,
leaving only the smaller wedge of a table, I'm sure.
Rather than replace it, they decided to reuse the broken
piece as a reminder to Jemma about controlling herself. That
sounds like something Luhman would do. Look to the far

(01:01:56):
left of frame. Check out the rather unique item hanging
along the left wall. This is the Deeter Rams design
component stereo system I referred to the first time we
were in this room. This is an amazing design piece
with a wholly unique history. It's a wall mounted component stereo.
It's not the first of his kind, but it is
considered one of the most elegant implementations of a wall

(01:02:19):
mount ever attempted. This system was originally designed by Rams
in the early nineteen sixties. He said in an interview
in nineteen ninety five that he had installed one of
the first complete units in his home in nineteen sixty five.
He claimed thirty years later it had never been moved
and was still acoustically perfect. This wall mounted component system

(01:02:41):
remains one of the most sought after Hi Fi systems
of the nineteen sixties. Very few people ever had all
of the components for the system because they were so
expensive and difficult to get. The base rail configuration usually
included the control unit with receiver and amplifier, a real
to real module, and to use stereo speaker modules, usually

(01:03:02):
mounted with one at each end of the rail. An
original PCs five turntable could also be added. It would
sit on a Vitsu shelf also designed by Rams, that
hung below the main rail of modules. If you wanted
to go de luxe, an album shelf could also be
added below the turntable. All of the wiring was discreetly
hidden in the rails of the Vitsu shelving. Rams had

(01:03:24):
one of the most complete systems assembled in his office
at Braun, a high end stereo shop in Manhattan, has
assembled a couple of these systems for enthusiasts and collectors
over the years. The last vintage system they sold cost
thirty eight thousand dollars fully rehabbed and installed. Currently on
the website Braunaudio dot dee, you can buy a vintage

(01:03:46):
wall unit with all technical functions restored. It even comes
with a bron Audio Vintage certification detailing the unit's condition,
history and any restoration undertaken on it. No word as
to the cost of one of these restored units. You
need to submit a request for a bid. They do
ask that only serious requests be submitted. I didn't figure

(01:04:08):
getting a price for a podcast was all that serious.
Deechen Lachman looks sad but also very much at ease,
sitting in her green body suit in her apartment here
on the testing floor. Deechen's relaxed demeanor in this very
futuristic and sci fi world might have something to do
with her performance resume after her one hundred and three
episodes on Assi soap Neighbors. Deechen's first network series was Dollhouse.

(01:04:31):
This twenty seven episode sci fi series was a mid
season replacement on Fox. It was created by Joss Whedon
and starred Diechin Lackman as the character Sierra. I don't
want to spoil it, because you really should go check
it out. But in Dollhouse, Deechen is one of a
group of female agents known as Dolls, who can be
programmed for whatever assignment. They could be given false memories

(01:04:52):
and specialized skills depending on the client and the mission.
Once they completed an assignment, their memories were wiped and
they we're reset ready for the next assignment. Dollhouse definitely
has severance vibes all over it. If that weren't enough
to prove Deechin's sci fi cred, don't forget her twelve
episodes on the hardcore sci fi series Altered Carbon. It's

(01:05:14):
set hundreds of years in the future, in a time
when mankind has figured out how to digitize human consciousness.
Here would be so jealous. In order to stay young,
the wealthiest citizens are able to place their consciousness in
a new body every so often. The process was commonly
referred to as being resleeved. Again. That's Altered Carbon, two seasons.

(01:05:36):
You should really check it out. At the time of
this recording, all episodes of Altered Carbon are available on Netflix.
Deechen told Vulture these forays into the sci fi world
weren't by chance. She loves science fiction. She loves exploring
these big picture concepts, and she feels it's a place
where her creativity thrives. The shot goes from an overhead

(01:05:56):
security camera angle to a close up on Deechin's face.
The camera Dolly's left, moving away from Gemma. She is
hugging herself seated on the sofa. We might be tapping
into a bit of Gemma's subconsciousness as she lets her
mind roam. The camera moves freely a projection of Jema's thoughts.
It leaves Jemma's apartment and the door closes. There are

(01:06:17):
swirls of memory. A few upangle trees are inserted here.
Then the cameras starts a run down a dimly lit hallway.
This run is intercut with the briefest of frames showing
Mark's hands constructing the clay tree. This is Jemma's vision.
I'm curious as to how the memories of Ms Casey
are bleeding into Gemma's psyche. Maybe these new chips do

(01:06:39):
have a few weeks after all. The camera goes down
an elevator shaft. We see cut in some Mark, possibly
out at Gema's christ site. There are snips of Gemma
in flashback. Then we turn a corner in the hallway
and find OUTI Mark pulling out a drawer. It's definitely
OUTI Mark. We're seeing him in a testing floor hallway,
but he's really somewhere else taking a sweater out of

(01:07:01):
a dresser drawer that just happens to be mounted to
the wall of the hall. This is quite the layered
vision Jemma is having. We are still looking at Mark
as he's putting on a sweater in a testing floor hallway.
We can hear Gemma off camera time Mark opens a
door off the hallway. Once he passes through it, he's

(01:07:22):
in a bathroom in their house. This odd transition, starting
off by traveling through the testing floor hallways, has led
us to a Gema memory. As Mark anders, she's holding
a blister pack containing a hypodermic. It looks like they're
going through the n vitro fertilization, or IVF procedure. It's
a very expensive and involved process.

Speaker 3 (01:07:44):
Often loaded third times charm.

Speaker 2 (01:07:48):
As part of IVF, the woman undergoes hormone therapy designed
to stimulate egg production. This therapy includes daily injections of
fertility meds, which usually continue for anywhere from ten to
fourteen days. The entire IVF process can take six to
eight weeks. If this is their third time through, it's
been potentially five or six months since we saw them

(01:08:10):
at the dinner party. If you've got someone who can
help with the IVF injections, they are a lot easier.
Jemma is appreciative when Mark steps up.

Speaker 4 (01:08:19):
All right, thank you.

Speaker 5 (01:08:21):
Heat writing thank you.

Speaker 2 (01:08:22):
Next, foreshadowing the torture in the Allentown room is all
about writing thank you notes. Actually, Dan Erickson is the
man who hates writing thank you notes. He's working out
some childhood baton death March level scenario of thank you
note writing, which left him scarred all the way into adulthood.
If you ever send Dan a gift, don't expect it

(01:08:45):
thank you note.

Speaker 3 (01:08:46):
Oh I'm so nervous.

Speaker 2 (01:08:47):
Mark is the cap of the hypodermic in his mouth
and is concentrating intently. When she says this, he doesn't respond.
Maybe she wasn't just making conversation. Jemma was wanting some reassurance.

Speaker 3 (01:09:00):
Oh yeah, Well, now.

Speaker 2 (01:09:02):
Mark realizes he's failing at his comforting husband duties. He
haltingly goes into a speech that he may have used before.
It's the final step. There's a kid out there waiting
for them.

Speaker 6 (01:09:13):
It's kind to reach out and grabber.

Speaker 2 (01:09:16):
Jemma can't help but be a bit of a pessimist.
This is the third try, after all, She wonders, what
if it doesn't work. Mark won't even entertain these negative thoughts.
He diffuses the tension with a bit of a joke
turn around bend Over. The internet response to this scene
noted that Mark was looking kind of hot here. The
turnaround and bend over line has also received positive comments

(01:09:37):
for being pretty sexy. There's a cut in close on
Jemma's eyes. She winces a bit. This close up is
reminiscent of the shot we saw of her eyes after
revealing her pregnancy to Devin. It's used as a transition
in much the same way. There's a cut to another
view of Jemma's eyes. This time the light has changed.
We can tell we're in another location. This very full

(01:10:00):
episode is about to head back down to the testing floor.
Before we do that, refiner, we need to shut things
down for the day. Our breakdown of Chee I Bartow
will continue with part three next time. As always, a
big thanks to volunteer researcher VINNIEP for his contributions to
this week's podcast. I think we're gonna have to promote
Vinnie to volunteer producer. He's been doing a fantastic job

(01:10:22):
tracking down key crew members associated with the show. He's
got some exciting guests lined up for future interview segments.
Stay tuned for details. Also, a big thanks to those
of you who are leaving comments on the Facebook page,
Reddit or as an Apple podcast review. I do read
them all and your kind words and encouragement are very
much appreciated. Quick reminder before you leave, get to the

(01:10:44):
Severed Patreon page. Support this Severed podcast by pledging five
dollars a month. Signing up is easy. Go to patreon
dot com slash severed pod. That's patreon dot com slash
Severed pod. You'll be supporting the podcast and supplementing my
retirement income. Now it's time to shut down your workstation
and get to the elevator refiner. Thanks for coming back again,

(01:11:06):
and as always, please stagger your exits.

Speaker 4 (01:11:09):
You've been listening to Severed, the Ultimate Severance Podcast. Severed
is written, produced, and hosted by Alan Stair.

Speaker 1 (01:11:16):
Severed is not endorsed by Red Hour Productions, Endeavor Content,
or Apple tv Plus. This podcast is intended for entertainment
and informational purposes only.

Speaker 4 (01:11:27):
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 1 (01:11:38):
Please make sure to leave a five star rating, and
review for Severed at Apple Podcasts

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S2E26 - REWATCH07-PT02 - Chikhai Bardo

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