Severance season 2 episode 7 ending explained: What's Lumon doing to Gemma?

The episode also delved into Mark (Adam Scott) and Gemma's past, revealing how they met and some of the events that happened on the night Gemma "died", with Devon (Jen Tullock) also finding out that she's alive.

So, as we finally get closer to some answers, here's everything you need to know about Severance season 2 episode 7, what's happening to Gemma, and what the episode revealed about what Lumon actually does.

Severance season 2 episode 7 explained: What's Lumon doing to Gemma?

Lumon is sending various versions of Gemma's Innies into different painful and traumatic situations, seemingly to examine how she copes and to see if she remembers anything afterwards.

It's not clear how many different Innies Gemma has - but it seems she has one for every single room and scenario she's faced with.

Gemma is being kept in a clinical basement floor of Lumon with various different rooms leading to different scenarios (often with her doctor, played by Robby Benson, playing a role in them).

The first one sees a severed version of Gemma at the dentist for two hours. When she's told it's been six weeks since her last visit, she says she was just there, indicating that this Innie is literally only ever brought into existence for this purpose - and the same must be true for all the others.

Another room shows Gemma on a plane with terrifying turbulence. Another shows her being forced to write endless amounts of Christmas cards, with her fingers wearing down and bleeding from writing so much.

It's possible that these events are taken from Gemma's actual memories - her doctor telling her "I love you" and repeating it after she doesn't say it back in the Christmas card scenario is unsettlingly similar to a flashback scene later on in the episode where she does exactly the same thing to Mark.

So, to make matters even more terrifying, is Lumon actually playing on Gemma's worst fears to see how she reacts?

There are countless different rooms with different names, including Allentown, Cairns, Dranesville, Loveland, Billings, St Pierre, Zurich and Wellington - and, of course, Cold Harbor, which Gemma asks about.

They can only be opened by taking a blood sample, presumably for security purposes.

During the episode, we also see a flashback to the night of Gemma's "death". While it's not revealed exactly what happened, she was on her way to an event alone. Could Lumon have kidnapped her?

Has Lumon's mysterious work been revealed?

In showing us what's happening to Gemma, Severance might have just revealed Lumon's work - an experiment to remove pain and trauma from people's lives by having Innies for each traumatic and painful scenario.

When Gemma asks about when she'll be able to see Mark again, Mr Drummond (Ólafur Darri Ólafsson) says: "Mark will benefit from the world you’re siring. Kier will take away all his pain just as Kier has taken away yours."

It would make sense for Lumon to be experimenting with further severance treatments - they clearly have the technology, considering their severed workers and the Glasgow block technology, which can seemingly change an Innie to an Outie and vice versa outside of Lumon.

Why is Lumon lying to Gemma and why didn't her escape plan work?

We can only speculate here, but it would make sense that Lumon is lying to Gemma to keep her captive and to prevent her from attempting to escape (not that it's worked very well so far).

Throughout the episode, we see flashbacks into the past, with Mark and Gemma going through a miscarriage and then struggling with IVF, with a particularly heartbreaking scene showing Mark taking apart a crib.

So, when Gemma is falsely told that Mark has moved on, remarried, and has had a daughter, it's all the more cruel.

Clearly, Gemma has tried to escape before, with it being mentioned that she previously broke her doctor's fingers.

In the episode, we also see another escape attempt, as she makes it into the elevator and up to the severed floor.

As she makes her way up, her Ms Casey Innie automatically takes over. Ms Casey, unsure of why she's there, is intercepted by Milchick (Tramell Tillman), who hurriedly tells her to go back down the elevator.

As she turns back into Gemma and regains her memories of what just happened, she's left weeping in the elevator.

Severance season 2 is airing weekly on Apple TV+. Season 1 is available now.

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