Mark Scout is proving to be even more dangerous than Helly. While Helly has always been the rebel of the team, Mark’s actions against Lumon come from a different place. He’s been reading Ricken’s book and using it to question his existence in Lumon and the purpose behind it.
The book nudged him to defy Ms. Cobel’s orders and take the entire MDR team to the O&D department. He asked the department what they were working on, and, as expected, they didn’t know.
So he used Kier’s principle, “Illumination above all”, as an example and told everyone that they should work together to find out what their jobs were and what was Lumon. Just as everyone started agreeing, Milchick appeared and took Mark to the break room.
Next thing we know, Mark is outside Lumon, on a date with Alexa, and his knuckles seem to have a red mark. So what exactly happened to Mark in the break room at Lumon?
Mark’s hands are red because he probably would’ve been punished in the break room for disobeying Ms. Cobel’s orders. They would’ve tried to make him feel sorry while investigating his mind and understanding why he defied them.
The company told Mark that he got his hand stuck while moving the water cooler, and Mark seemed to believe it. After all, his outie doesn’t know what’s happening inside the company.
We all have seen an instance of what happens in the break room. This is the second time Mark is going in, and we didn’t quite see what happened the first time. Besides him, Helly has been once, and we know exactly what went down.
Milchick tended to her wounds and made her read the company-generated apology note more than a hundred times. Whenever she read it, Milchick said she didn’t mean it and made her reread it.
It was almost this slow torture meant to break the spirit of the people within Lumon so that they don’t question anything and just follow Ms. Cobel’s orders. So, it is safe to assume that Mark has been tortured in the break room.
His crime was far worse since he defied Ms. Cobel’s orders and even involved so many severed employees. The effects of his actions are more far-reaching than Helly’s. As a result, he would’ve been tortured.
Besides just making him apologize and breaking his spirit, Ms. Cobel would surely want to know where he got the guts. Everyone in the MDR department is scared of Milchick and Ms. Cobel, so how did Mark disobey her immediately after she yelled at him and gave him an order.
So, there’s a chance that they would’ve investigated him in the break room to understand his current mindset. There’s also a great chance that the investigation will continue even when he goes to Lumon the next day.
Whatever happened to Mark in the break room will most likely be revealed in the next episode. Even if it is not shown explicitly, we will get a sense of how severe the torture was. Only three more episodes remain in this season, and I think with the introduction of Regabhi, we will get to know more about Lumon industries soon.
About Severance
Severance is an American science fiction psychological thriller streaming television series created by Dan Erickson and directed by Ben Stiller and Aoife McArdle. The plot follows Mark (Scott), an employee of Lumon Industries who agrees to a “severance” program in which his non-work memories are separated from his work memories.
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