Regardless of many months having previous since Severance‘s third season was arrange by that heartbreaking Season 2 finale for Gemma and Mark, I nonetheless cannot fairly cease interested by every part that these characters have skilled. (And am not complaining one bit.) Right here these days, I have been questioning an increasing number of about Gemma’s trials and tribulations on the testing flooring, which had been showcased within the gonzo seventh installment.
One of many darkest TV episodes to cross my eyeballs in fairly some time, “Chikhai Bardo” can also be among the many most complicated and narratively dense eps of any fictional sequence, thanks partly to its spread-open timeline, its new areas and characters, and a slew of beforehand undisclosed particulars. It is each improbable and traumatizing from one finish to the following, and nonetheless manages to depart viewers with as many questions as solutions.
So let’s hone in a single maybe my greatest curiosity that did not appear to be immediately addressed in any approach, however that may have been teased all the best way again within the very first episode. (Rewatch the entire sequence by way of Apple TV+ subscription to jog these reminiscences.)
My Huge Query: How Did Dr. Mauer Particularly Tailor The Testing Flooring Rooms To Match Gemma’s Experiences?
Whereas viewers did not get to see the complete gamut of disturbing Testing Flooring rooms that Lumon’s Dr. Mauer arrange for Gemma to endure via, it might be logical to assume that almost all had related objectives of pushing the character to a sure restrict of discomfort and displeasure, based mostly partly on her personal private fears and traumas. However contemplating the mysterious occasions behind Gemma being roughly kidnapped and compelled into such servitude, it stands to cause she did not overtly focus on all of the issues that trouble her.
So then, how would Dr. Mauer & Co. be capable to, for instance, embellish a number of the rooms with particulars and props that audiences themselves already witnessed being inside Mark and Gemma’s residence? As nicely, how was Lumon capable of pinpoint so many issues that Gemma hates for the sake of crafting the completely different rooms? Did she fill out a large questionaire when she was first introduced in, with “Writing thanks notes” on the high of the listing? Uncertain.
In that approach, Mauer’s psychological trickery goes nicely past simply set ornament. He is aware of that Gemma hates writing thanks notes, however in contrast to viewers, he wasn’t current when Mark particularly said that truth in an earlier scene from the identical episode. Positive, Lumon is at all times listening, however merely listening to or seeing one thing would not robotically lay out the complete context in the best way that, say, a remedy session will.
The Principle: Devin Was Referring To Dr. Mauer As Mark’s Therapist In Severance’s Sequence Premiere
All the best way again in Severance‘s mind-expanding sequence premiere, “Good Information About Hell,” Devon requested Mark a caring, however seemingly innocuous, query after they had been away from the remainder of Ricken’s feast friends. On the time, it essentially could not have meant all that a lot to the story, however all this time later, that query may have large implications. As he began to eat his half-sandwich, she requested:
Hey, how’s the nice physician remedy man with that bizarre little mustache?
It is indicated that, after an unknown period of time seeing this therapist, Mark determined that working at Lumon in Innie-mode was doing sufficient, and he opted out of continued periods. By and enormous, that admission did not appear to tell very a lot on the time past implying that Mark was nonetheless troubled in methods. However after “Chikhai Bardo,” there are extra notions to think about.
Throughout Season 1, Devon’s “bizarre little mustache” remark had some followers speculating that both John Turturro’s Outie Irving or Trammell Tillman’s Mr. Milchick was dealing with Mark’s remedy periods. However the occasions in Season 2 lay out a much more menacing doable situation: Dr. Mauer was Mark’s therapist.
The Connection: Dr. Mauer Used Mark’s Remedy Confessions To Inform Gemma’s Testing Flooring Rooms
As said above, Lumon makes use of all method of surveillance to maintain tabs on its workers, each on the corporate’s grounds and within the city of Kier at massive. So the corporate illegally monitoring Mark and Gemma for years virtually positively does play into how all of Gemma’s Testing Flooring rooms we all know of had been designed. However to maintain tabs on somebody’s each waking hour would take a hell of quite a lot of consideration, and it would not seem to be the workforce dealing with the refiners goes far past Mauer, Drummund and people watching the mini-monitors beneath MDR.
It is extraordinarily doable (even doubtless) that Dr. Mauer (who was seen to be strolling amongst different medical employees every time Gemma went in for IVF remedies) posed as a licensed therapist for Mark across the level when he was first recruited at Lumon. Throughout that point, Mark may have opened up about any variety of private particulars referring to the ups and downs he skilled with Gemma.
Particulars just like the frustration over an unassembled crib in the home serving as a continuing reminder of the couple’s hopes for a kid ending in miscarriage. Or the reminiscence of his closing dialog along with her, when she needed to inform him she beloved him twice earlier than he mentioned it again. That second enjoying again in his head repeatedly is probably going an element that drove him into Lumon’s open (and listening) arms within the first place, so it doubtless would have additionally come up throughout any remedy conversations that Mark would have had.
Dr. Mauer utilizing Mark’s candidness and grief in such a approach could be one of the crucial weird examples possible of doctor-patient confidentiality being damaged. Past weird, it is also creepy as a dozen fucks, given Mauer’s clear obsession with Gemma by the point she will get to the Chilly Harbor room. For him to roleplay her closing moments with Mark within the Allentown room was purely monstrous.
I guess Mauer would not even HAVE a license to carry out remedy. Would not fairly be his greatest crime right here, however nonetheless.
A Unfastened Thread Or Two
To make sure, this is not probably the most air-tight concept or reply to my query, since each may very well be defined in different methods. If Lumon actually has been monitoring Mark and Gemma’s lives since across the time of that preliminary blood take a look at (or prior), the folks reviewing every part would doubtless be capable to cull a listing of issues that scare and trouble Gemma, in addition to what pisses her off, with out the necessity for Mark to delve additional into issues.
Plus, chipped-up Mark has never come throughout as probably the most open individual even in shut firm, even with Devon, so it isn’t extraordinarily doubtless that he would reveal a bunch of treasured reminiscences to a weird-mustached man.
Nonetheless, I do not assume any line on this present is a complete throwaway, and nothing Lumon-related occurs by probability. There’s just one semi-medical professional on this present who’s recognized to roleplay. So till Dan Erickson or Ben Stiller personally tells me in any other case, whereas additionally praising me as a viewer and customarily nice man, I am now going to consider Dr. Mauer was Mark’s therapist, and I will really feel icky about it.