[Ed. note: This post contains small spoilers about Reghabi’s time during “Chikhai Bardo,” the seventh episode of Severance season 2.]
Severance viewers got a mind-scrambler of an episode with “Chikhai Bardo,” which offers new insights into Mark and Gemma’s past; reveals what Gemma’s life has been like in the intervening years since her “death”; and poses new mysteries for viewers to try to unravel.
“Chikhai Bardo” is also an episode that will likely make the Severance faithful ask another question: What the hell is up with Reghabi?
After a brief appearance in season 1 of Severance, in which former Lumon employee Asal Reghabi (Karen Aldridge) icily murders head security for the severed floor Doug Graner, she makes a surprise reappearance in season 2’s third episode. Strangely, she seems to have closely surveilled Mark, popping up as he’s trying to burn a temporary message into his retinas to communicate with his innie. After Reghabi confirms that Gemma is still alive, she promises to “sew together a version of [Mark] that loves her” with another version of Mark’s consciousness — though Mark cuts her off before she can explicitly say what the end result of his reintegration will be.
Regardless, she and Mark quickly get to work on her brand of homegrown brain surgery.
Here’s the strangest thing about that procedure, though: Reghabi’s clearly doing it right under the nose of Lumon, which has been shown to carefully monitor Mark’s outie behavior. She may be hiding out in Mark’s basement, and may ultimately have nowhere else to stash her reintegration equipment, but a carefully monitored Lumon employee’s home seems like a bad spot to lay low. (It’s unclear where Reghabi performed Petey’s reintegration; possibly at Ganz College.)
In “Chikhai Bardo,” when Devon proposes phoning Harmony Cobel to consult on Mark’s condition, Reghabi goes ballistic. That’s understandable to a degree; Reghabi doesn’t want Lumon on her tail. But rather than negotiate with Devon and compel Mark’s sister to defer to her reintegration expertise, Reghabi instead capitulates and runs off. Her quitting in the middle of Mark’s recovery would certainly seem to put him at risk. That’s after scolding Mark for his recklessness during reintegration proceedings, claiming that she’s “better at” reintegration now, and desperately trying to get him to proceed with the process in previous episode “Attila.”
We know little about Reghabi beyond what she’s told Mark. We don’t know exactly what her official role at Lumon was, or how she would have had access to Gemma. But after seeing where Gemma has been and what she’s being subjected to in the depths of Lumon, I’m starting to question Reghabi’s motives. I’m also questioning what Lumon’s role is in allowing severed employee reintegration to happen. Based on how the company is mistreating Gemma, why allow someone like Mark the degree of freedom he has?
In any other show, a character like Reghabi coming and going, and being responsible for major disruptions to the plot — only to seemingly disappear again at the drop of a hat — would feel like haphazard writing. But this is Severance, and nothing about this show feels ill-considered or sloppy. Every piece of dialogue, every prop, and even how a character walks or dresses is a clue to the show’s larger mysteries. Reghabi’s erratic and desperate behavior is clearly intentional.
Gemma’s current state has been a longtime mystery for Severance. “Chikhai Bardo” offered unprecedented insight into her character, and gave us some answers about what her role might mean for the show. After Reghabi’s strange behavior and unclear motivations, I won’t be surprised if the show will soon explain more about who she really is and the truth about her relationship to Lumon.
