Severance has been drenched in critical and audience acclaim since the psychological thriller series premiered back in February 2022, but its latest season 2 episode is now regarded as one of the greatest of all time.
Episode 7 of Severance season 2, “Chikhai Bardo”, has not only been praised for its story developments of the Apple TV+ show, but for one particularly ground-breaking shot, and plenty of fans agree after streaming it themselves.
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During the scene in question, the camera twists and turns before moving from the MDR room through a length of cable, into a basement control room, and panning across and upwards to the man tapping his foot.
With such an intricate piece of camera work moving through such an intricate passage from one room to another, it would be easy for anyone to assume CGI was at least partly involved. That’s the case until they realize this was the work of Severance cinematographer, Jessica Lee Gagné, of whom episode 7 marked their directorial debut.
Talking to Esquire, Gagné revealed how the shot was possible by utilizing a custom-made cable specifically designed for one-shot movement. She said “We actually shot through cables. It was the most laborious thing I have ever done as a DP. It was the biggest side project of this show and so many people participated on it.”
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“You should see the rig for it: The camera goes through the internal part of the desk. There’s a pulley moving it.”, she added.
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After Chikhai Bardo entered the list of top 50 TV episodes of all time on serialzd, plenty of social media users responded to the above Reddit thread to share their love for episode 7 of Severance season 2.
Users like TimeToTank noted how Severance is an example of the medium being able and well. They said: “David chase said legacy television is dead but watching this show I hard disagree.
I get Netflix is working on ‘second screen viewing’ but good tv will still make you put your phone down.”
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Hikaru53 followed up on the initial praise of the episode saying: “And this episode, is the debut of the director, applause to Jessica Lee Gagné!”
Severance had already set itself a high bar with previous episodes, but users like donttrustthellamas emphasized how Chikhai Bardo shows that the series has outdone itself. They said: “It was incredible! We learnt so much from it yet it wasn't rushed or overfilled. It was shot so beautifully and the acting was gut wrenching.”
Gagne has previously collaborated with Severance’s executive producer and director, Ben Stiller, as a cinematographer, on Escape at Dannemora” — making it no surprise he was quick to praise her when talking to IndieWire.
He said: “[Jessica] is not thinking about it as a job”.
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“She’s thinking about it as her art and an expression of who she is and what she does. And that’s one and the same. She’s a tough audience and she needs to be sold on things. She’s picky about what she thinks is good. And once she does engage with something, she puts everything into it. That’s what I really love about working with her. She’s just so committed.”, he further stated.
Following the airing of Chikhai Bardo, there are still two episodes of Severance left for season 2. As far as its reception goes, episode 7 looks like it will be incredibly hard to top.