From the start, Severance has offered a captivating take on how perspectives can change within a single story, and even within the minds of individual characters. As season two began, the show gave us back-to-back episodes that showed the immediate fallout of the season one finalein which the innies briefly awakened and experienced life as their outiesfrom different points of view, with the non-severed characters also getting space to share their reactions. As season two has progressed, Severance has continued to explore this aspect of its storytelling, giving us more time with the outies to balance out season ones innie focus, and presenting constant surprises to the audience as a result. Certain things that we believed to be true are in fact completely false, shaped by Lumon Industries unique ability to massage reality for its employees who arent able to access their full consciousness. And while the innies world is almost entirely fabricated, some of that massaging has happened in the outie world, too. This weeks episode, Chikai Bardo was perhaps Severances most poignant and wrenching to date. And a lot of that has to do with which character got to be its protagonist. Gemma (Dichen Lachman) was a peripheral character for most of season one. We first meet her as Ms. Casey, the counselor in Lumons Wellness Center. She has a stilted, almost robotic presenceand shes aware of it; I know Im strange, she says at one point. Midway through season one, of course, we discover that Ms. Casey is actually Gemma, the wife of main character Mark (Adam Scott).Gemmas death in a car accident two years prior is why Mark decided to get the severance procedure and take a job at Lumon. Shes alive, sure, but shes not living much of a life; shes somehow been absorbed into Lumon and isnt allowed to leave. How and especially why this occurred, and what it has to do with Marks yet-to-be-revealed true purpose at Lumon, have become the biggest mysteries looming over Severance season two. Marks innie knows Ms. Casey is his outies wife. And Marks outie has accepted the wonderful/horrible truth that Gemma is still alive, to the point that hes allowing his own brain to be mangled in an attempt to re-integrate its divided sides. But its all been about his pain until this point. In episode seven, we finally got Gemmas perspective on her (very grim) current state of existence, as well as her own memories of her relationship with Mark.Her different innie personas are awakened for the testing shes put through in Lumons sub-basement severed rooms; some of those we get to see, others we dont. But its Gemma herself thats the most intriguing. Before Chikhai Bardo, Gemma was a smiling woman in a wedding photograph. She was a woman her husband wistfully remembered as extraordinary, someone who made him a better person. So its startling that the first time we really meet her is as a Lumon lab rat. The precise levers that were pulled to get her there are still a mystery, but thanks to Chikhai Bardo we have an illuminating picture of her life before. Severance takes full advantage of this departure from its usual setting and style, transporting us through Gemmas memories using unfamiliar lighting (sunshine!), flowing camera movements, and even production design touches that prove stark winter isnt the only season in its world. We even hear birds chirping at one point. But that happy, gauzy montage soon spirals into something much darker and sadder: tension in the marriage that crops up as they navigate fertility struggles. This was never mentioned in season onein which Marks sister Devon gave birth to a daughterbut it was clearly and understandably a devastating issue for Mark and Gemma. The way Chikhai Bardo cuts from Gemma and Mark grieving their loss into a scene fans will instantly remember from season oneMs. Casey telling Marks innie that shes been detailed to his department to watch over the potentially suicidal Helly R.brings an entirely new meaning to their interaction. They dont recognize each other, but Ms. Caseys explanation that I am to watch her for signs of sadness is suddenly a thousand times more searing. Apple TV+ As Chikhai Bardo puzzle-pieces other aspects of Gemma and Ms. Caseys lives together (and stirs up fodder for dozens more Severance fan theories), it ends by shifting from Gemmas point of view back to Marks. Hes essentially been in a coma for the entire episode, and when he wakes up, a concerned Devon asks him where he went. He doesnt answer, and its actually unclear at first which version of Mark this is. But the camera shows us whats dancing through his mind, and theres no doubt: he was thinking only of Gemma, and we realize weve really been seeing both of their memories meshed together throughout the episode. As Severance season two heads into its final episodes, it will surely leave some dangling threads, if not a massive cliffhanger. So far Chikhai Bardo is the closest weve gotten to a flashback episode, and it feels possible that we might get more in that vein: a deep dive into Harmony Cobels psyche, or a look at Burts early days at Lumon, or the origins of Kier Eagans cult-leader aspirations. But even beyond that, this week was a vivid illustration of one big reason why Severance has hooked so many fans: its mysteries contain multitudes, with ever-changing context that somehow constantly stuffs even more layers of meaning into whats already a compelling story. Want more io9 news? 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