Warning! This article contains spoilers for Severance season 2, episode 7.
Severanceseason 2, episode 7 has revealed what torture Lumon is inflicting on Gemma, and it is even worse than I first thought. Despite being a minor part ofSeverance’s cast of charactersin terms of overall screentime, Gemma is perhaps the show’s most important character. Not only was her faked death the catalyst of the show by pushing Mark towards Lumon, but the reveal that she was alive duringSeverance’s Overtime Contingency Protocoldrove the narrative into season 2.
Since then, both theInnies and Outies ofSeverancehave been centered around Gemma. Whether it be Mark’s personalities searching for her, Irving’s trying to find where she is hidden viaSeverance’s Exports Hall- or Training Floor - or Helena Eagan trying to get Mark to complete the Cold Harbor file that ties intrinsically to Gemma, the character is a centerpiece of the overall show. Finally,Severanceseason 2, episode 7 outlines exactly what Gemma is going through at Lumon, and the answer is more torturous and upsetting than I ever could have imagined.
Gemma Has Been Going Into The Same Stressful Lumon Rooms As Innies For 2 Years Straight
Gemma Is The Test Subject For Lumon’s Big Severance Plans
As revealed inSeveranceseason 2, episode 7, Gemma is integral to Lumon’s expansion of what severance is capable of. Gemma is essentially Lumon’s guinea pig, being placed into different rooms on the Testing Floor to trial new severance barriers.These barriers need to be strong enough so that one person can have multiple different Innies, depending on the room they are in, with Gemma being the main test subjectfor Lumon. This alone is bad enough, as Gemma has been forced to spend hours in each room every single day for two years without going outside or seeing her loved ones.
Moreover, the situations in which Gemma’s various Innies are being placed are awful. One such situation is her spending time at the dentist, explaining the O&D delivery to the Exports Hall from episode 5, while another saw her Innie believe she was on a crashing airplane. Another saw her writing out endless Christmas cards while her “husband,“Severance’s Dr. Mauer, looked on.
The Christmas room is more laboriously torturous, as evident by Gemma’s Innie’s hands shaking and her writing growing increasingly disheveled…
While at first, I did not think much of these scenarios, it quickly became clear to me how horrible they truly are. No one likes going to the dentist, andSeveranceseason 2, episode 7 made it clear that the experiments Gemma underwent in this room caused her a lot of pain. Admittedly, the airplane scenario is straightforwardly terrifying, but the Christmas room is more laboriously torturous, as evident by Gemma’s Innie’s hands shaking and her writing growing increasingly disheveled.
Gemma Does Not Have The Brief Respite Of Regular Outies
Image via Apple TV+
Another element highlighted inSeveranceseason 2, episode 7 is that the real Gemma is also confined to Lumon’s Testing Floor. Gemma’s Outie simply lives in a very minimalist apartment on the Testing Floor and is not allowed to leave. This is darkly bolstered by the lies Gemma is told by Dr. Mauer, such as the fabrication that Mark remarried and had a child with someone else, made even more devastating by the fact that this episode revealed Gemma and Mark could not have a baby.
This darkness is only further highlighted when Gemma tries to escape the Testing Floor inSeveranceseason 2, episode 7. Unlike Mark and the other Innies, who are still allowed a life outside of work, the elevator takes Gemma back up to the severed floor, with her chip forcing her to become Ms. Casey once more. All of this just proves how devastating Gemma’s life truly is inSeverance, as she is even more of a prisoner and even more tortured than those above her on the severed floor.
