Years after we saw Mark’s crystal cube for the first time, Severance Season 2 Episode 7 has just revealed the horrifying secret of the Allentown file – and it involves Gemma.
When Mark S. began his career at Lumon as a macrodata refiner, his first task was the Allentown file – and he finished it in a single day. This was an unprecedented time frame, and it led to an evolution of the MDR department’s methods.
“The record before that was seven weeks. They still have no idea how he did it, but they were able to reverse-engineer some new process based on whatever he did,” Dylan explained in the first season of Severance, and that’s why he was given the cube.
Well, Episode 7 has just exposed the truth of what the MDR team is doing every day – and Mark’s “freshman fluke.”
Allentown was Gemma’s first testing room in Severance
In Severance Season 2 Episode 7, it’s revealed that Gemma is alive on the Testing Floor (beneath the Exports Hall), and Lumon has been using her as a guinea pig in separate severed rooms. That means she has dozens of Innies; one of them spends their entire life at the dentist, another is stuck on a perpetually turbulent plane.
Allentown is particularly insidious for two reasons: it was Mark’s first file and he completed it in record time, so that would have been her first room – and the one she’s been in the longest.
Secondly, what happens in the Allentown room is pretty disturbing: it always takes place at Christmas, and she’s forced to write thank you letters with her left hand as Dr Mauer watches from the sofa. At the end of each session, he tells her he loves her and forces her to say it back.
Apple TV+There’s another detail you may have missed: in one of Episode 7’s flashbacks, Mark tells Gemma, “You hate writing thank you notes.”
It still doesn’t explain why Mark was able to finish the file in one day (we know he’s been working on Cold Harbor for weeks). Perhaps it’s because the Allentown room has direct links to their relationship, so he was able to allocate the numbers quicker than anyone else.
“Allentown, Mark’s freshman fluke, is the thank you note room. He is very familiar with Gemma’s hatred of writing thank you notes, which is possibly why he breezed through it,” one Redditor suggested.
“I think the files are selected for refiners based on their outie’s life experience. My best guess for Cold Harbor is the experience of miscarriage, but I really don’t know.”
If you’ve watched the new episode, find out why you need to read The Death of Ivan Ilyich, why the Damona Birthing Retreat is so important, and keep our guide to the Severance Season 2 release schedule bookmarked.
You can also read our breakdowns on Asal Reghabi, the Glasgow Block, and the Lexington Letter. There’s another big theory you should read up on too: Helly might be pregnant.
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