Warning! This article contains spoilers for Severance season 2’s episode 7.
One of the rooms on Lumon’s testing floor in Severance season 2’s episode 7 features a strange flight simulation room, raising many questions about what Lumon is trying to achieve. Severance has consistently reminded viewers that Lumon’s work is “mysterious and important” without explicitly mentioning what the company is trying to achieve. Even after Severance season 2’s episode 7, there is an air of mystery surrounding the company’s true purpose. However, the strange testing floor rooms might have hinted at some answers.
Before its credits start rolling, Severance season 2’s episode 7 reveals the names of several testing floor rooms: Allentown, Dranesville, Siena, Lucknow, Loveland, Wellington, St. Pierre, Zurich, and Cold Harbor. Despite revealing so many rooms, the show only discloses what happens inside three of them. While Wellington is where one of Gemma’s innies is put through painful dental treatments, another unknown room makes her experience the pains of writing thank-you Christmas letters. One mysterious room also puts her in a turbulent flight, making it hard not to wonder what Lumon is trying to do to her.
Why Did Lumon Put Gemma In A Simulated Airplane Crash?
The Room Tests Whether The Innie’s Trauma Leaks Into The Outie’s Consciousness
Each room on the testing floor in Severance season 2’s episode 7 seems to subject Gemma’s innies to a form of torture. While one of her innies is forced to experience the pain of eternal dental treatments, another bears the weight of writing an endless number of thank-you Christmas letters. The simulated airplane room makes another one of her innies experience a turbulent flight that could possibly crash, potentially making it one of the most terrifying rooms on the testing floor. Severance season 2 has not explicitly revealed the purpose of these rooms, but it might have hinted at some answers.
Related
Severance’s Horrifying Doctor Mauer Explained: Did You See How He Targeted Gemma?
Severance season 2, episode 7 introduces a disturbing new Lumon character, Doctor Mauer, who has dark ties to the central mystery of the show.
After looking at Gemma’s footage from a server room, Drummond and Mauer acknowledge that her severance blocks are holding up. By drawing this conclusion, they seemingly imply that even though Gemma’s innies are being exposed to extremely traumatic events consistently, none of their memories are seeping into her outie consciousness. As soon as she leaves the rooms and snaps back to her outie persona, her memories of the events from the rooms vanish. This suggests that Lumon is trying to test how effectively the rooms create a barrier between Gemma’s innie and outie memories.
What Is Lumon Really Preparing Gemma For After All The Rooms On The Testing Floor?
Lumon’s True Purpose Remains Ambiguous
Although Severance season 2’s episode 7 does not delve into the details of Lumon’s overarching purpose, it seems possible that the company hopes to devise a method to free humanity from all pain and suffering. Just like Gemma seems to free herself from the traumas and pains she experiences in the rooms after she transitions back to her outie, Lumon hopes that many other humans will eventually be able to avoid uncomfortable experiences by simply snapping into their innies. This would explain why even Gabby Arteta switched to her innie during her stay at the Damona Birthing Retreat in Severance season 1.
…it is horrifying how the innies are treated as lesser humans and forced to endlessly experience the unwanted situations their outies want to avoid.
The ones who feel anxious about flying and experiencing turbulence could switch to their innies during flights, which would prevent them from experiencing the discomfort it brings them. Similarly, others who hate writing Christmas letters or visiting the dentist could make their innies take on those unpleasant tasks, freeing themselves from the emotional burden of the activities. If this is what Lumon is trying to achieve in Severance through the experiments on Gemma, it is horrifying how the innies are treated as lesser humans and forced to endlessly experience the unwanted situations their outies want to avoid.
Severance
8/10
- Release Date
-
February 18, 2022