Chikhai Bardo

Take a bow Jessica Lee Gagné! Everything about this episode - the plot, the pace, the sets and most importantly, cinematography is 10/10.

I have never seen better 50 minutes of television - and rarely 50 continuous minutes of any motion picture.

It has the dead wife montage. But it blooms in a way that we feel like the honeybee flying around in anticipation.

It opens up the Severance lore more than any other episode (barring S1 finale). But it makes it even more eerie.

We see more of the sterile Lumon but with georgious aesthetics. It is menacing with a friendly facade. Its clinical precision is handled by steely grip. It takes you to a prison of hope - that you volunteered into but cannot escape.

This episode should be (and I hope, will be) studied in art schools for ages.

It's kind of insane to think this was originally inspired by the backrooms. Almost every scene leaves you mind blown with the camera work, set design, color grading. Everything is phenomenal. The transitions are so constantly creative you are siting there wondering how did they do that nearly every other scene. As far as story telling goes this is easily the most abstract and non-linear severance has ever been. It's unclear who's memories we are looking at half the time and who's perspective we are watching, and yet it still makes senses. We see more of lumon and what they are doing but there is still pieces missing, everything is there but it isn't quite connecting yet. I think most importantly this episode effectively sells Gemma as a character and it sells Mark and Gemmas relationship as something we should care about. This show continues to push television as a median forward and I'm on the edge of my seat to what comes next.

This show just went from amazing to a completely whole new level. I really can't remember the last time I watched an episode of any tv show and felt this intrigued. Each scene seems so well crafted it really seems like every single line of dialogue has had tons of thought and consideration behind it. Also, the way the show stays totally unpredictable is actually incredible. I genuinely watch every scene with no idea where it'll go next. And the more I watch the more I realize how much planning and attention to detail has been put into the whole story. Best episode of the season and maybe the entire series.

This is the most powerful, emotional, and arguably lore filled episode of the series so far. Out of all the backstory episodes in television, considering how bold and layered this series is it's no surprise how this one sticks out compared to the rest. The constant back and forth of learning so much about a character and the torturous things they've been accustomed to, to getting emotionally gut punched by the history of the most emotional dynamic of the series that we didn't get to see until now. This is my favorite of the season so far and considering the title of the final episode I'm assuming the climax is going to be a similar but more chaotic and grand finale from what we witnessed with season 1. Gravity Falls had a chokehold on many people episode to episode in terms of theorizing and plotting, and I'm glad it's being brought back with Severance. Dan Erickson impressed yet again, but given the dynamics of this episode Jessica Lee Gagné was phenomenal in the direction she took. Putting aside shows that concluded and were already on-going, so far this is the biggest accomplishment of TV this decade.

Wow, episode 7 of Severance deserves an Emmy!

It's nice to see that they gave their cinematographer, Jessica Gagnea, a chance to direct this episode and ended up delivering the best episode of the season. I was so intrigued the whole episode - the camera work, the transitions and the emotional journey was truly a work of art.

This episode also givesDichen Lachman (Gemma) the spotlight she deserves and she proves how talented she is. She perfectly shifts between her innie, outie and past self, showing her incredible range. It's also wonderful to see more asian actors getting more screen time.