Silo S2E5: Descent

In our last episode, Sims, resentful that Judge Meadows had replaced him as Mayor Holland’s right hand, started a campaign to impeach the judge. But he isn’t a tenth the operator Holland is. Holland, knowing Meadows is only grudgingly helping him and won’t do so for long, kills her. He blames Juliette’s friends in Mechanical for her murder, thereby solving two problems at once, at least in the immediate term. And he puts Sims in his place in an unexpected way — he puts her in Meadows’ place. Sims is the new judge, meaning he’ll continue to serve Meadows and keep order, but like his predecessor, will have no real power. With Meadows dead and Sims neutered, Meadows is out of allies. But at this point he seems confident he doesn’t not need them, as he ties up loose ends and continues exerting control over what’s left of the silo’s power structure.

Meanwhile, Juliette’s friends are on the run. They can’t make it all the way back to the lower levels without being accosted by an angry mob or arrested for murder. But there are a surprising number of places to hide in the silo — the porters who carry things up and down are sympathetic, and give them temporary shelter. But with a bounty on Knox and Shirl, the porters aren’t that sympathetic. Our foursome from mechanical end up splitting up — Knox and Shirl are more wanted, but they’re younger and can move faster. Carla is hurt and doesn’t want to slow down the others. Martha, having been holed up in her workshop for 25 years, is unrecognizable and therefore relatively safe. From their perspective, splitting up makes some sense. From ours, it means three different stories to unfold and three different ways things can go wrong. Which, of course, they do.

Over in silo 17, Juliette’s still trying to repair her hazmat suit so she can return home, but Solo gets distracted by a different problem — the water level in mostly-flooded 17 is rising. He’s got about ten months until his control center is flooded. Juliette suggests getting power to a water pump on one of the flooded levels, and in doing so, asks how Silo even has power, given the main generator isn’t working (we’ve been wondering that too). He lets slip that I.T. has a separate power source that comes from “outside.” He either doesn’t know more than that or won’t tell, but we’re sure that’s a plot point that will become relevant at some point. 

Solo also tells Juliette his real name — Cole. Solo was a nickname from well before he was stranded on his own in the empty silo. Except she learns neither of those names are real — Cole/Solo is the long-dead second-in-command of 17, and it’s not clear who our Solo actually is.

We also get a team-up between Sheriff Billings, and Deputy Hank who polices Mechanical. They’re still looking for Patrick Kennedy, the smuggler who may or may not have been behind the firebombing of Hank’s office. They track him down without too much effort, but get more than they bargained for. Helping Juliette (and being set up to take the fall twice now by Judicial) has turned him into a full-on Juliette truther. He tells Billings, “everything is a lie.” And Billings, who still has the drawing of the outside, torn out of a forbidden book, is inclined to agree.

Secrets don’t die, not even in an environment as hermetically-sealed as the silo. And while Meadows might be a smarter operator than Sims, that doesn’t mean he’s smart enough. The more he tries to control events and people, the more they spiral away from him.

Stray thoughts:
• Holland and Juliette make an interesting contrast, given both of them at heart want to solve problems and keep things running smoothly. The difference is that she wants to fix things, and he wants to fix (in his mind, at least) the population. And people are a lot harder to control and predict than things. 

• Everyone who confronts Holland seems to get teed up for a big acting moment; this week’s was Iain Glen as Dr. Nichols, who’s quite moving asserting some quiet dignity to protect his daughter’s memory rather than join in Holland’s schemes.

• After Lukas Kyle impressed Meadows last week with working out how the Earth moves around the sun. Holland decides to put Kyle’s brain to work rebuilding the forbidden hard drive Juliette found and Holland smashed last season. Unlike Juliette’s father, Kyle has no reason to say no, when the alternative is being worked to death in the mines below the silo.

• It’s hard to find new characters to introduce in a closed environment like the silo. But we still get a new player in the game, as Sims’ wife Camille, who’s largely been a background player so far, reveals some previously-unseen savvy and her own agenda.

• The Mechanical crew’s escape attempts make very good use of the cramped physical space of the silo, something the show has done consistently well.

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