Reviewer Rating: 4.25/5.0
4.25
The Silo Season 2 Episode 2 is more about consequences than order, although we’ll get to the latter in due course. Season 2 Episode 1 begins and ends with Juliette Nichols and her discovery.
The second episode follows what she left behind and her reaction after she disappeared on the mountain, an event that never happened in series lore.
It is also an interesting study of a reactionary bureaucratic dictatorship cloaked in controlled democracy. There is reason to sympathize with IT chief and mayor pro tem Bernard Holland.
For one, he knows something the audience doesn’t, some of whom struggle out from behind the veil of secrecy to tell us that everything Juliet does doesn’t necessarily lead to heaven and never-ending happiness.
Whatever these things were, Bernard was terrified of them and visited Judge Meadows to ask for her help in quelling the turmoil and growing anxiety within the silo. There’s obviously a history (romantic in nature?) between Bernard and Meadows.
For both of them, absolute control was slipping from his fingers. As long as there is one element (Juliet Nichols) beyond his reach—whose wooden threads lie just beyond his fingertips—Bernard will never become a truly settled man.
It’s easy to despise him, but it means ignoring history and the human condition. Malicious tyrants often believe that they or their cause is righteous.
Bernard is no exception. Behind the madness there is a method, and it has worked for at least a century and a half.
We also learned a few things, some of which were carried over from last season. For example, we know that Bernard can see everything Juliet sees, at least until the connection is lost or when she breaks the visor glass.
We know that Bernard was aware of the existence of the other silos, but he was not aware of Silo 17’s demise, at least from the surface of his projection.
We know that Solo is in the same room as the Silo 17 version, where Bernard looks through Juliet’s goggles.
We now know that Juliet’s views sent Bernard into a panic, forcing him to see Judge Meadows because he feared a rebellion.
Readers know that there is much more going on in Bernard’s world than meets the eye. Above all, Robert Sims is a total political tool, deftly balancing his own cost-benefit and working his way up the ranks.
While Bernard and Meadows pursue reconciliation through scattershot speeches and subsidies, Sims works alongside his equally ambitious but more quietly analytical wife.
Sims is resourceful, but also jealous and confused because he’s not Bernard’s shadow – which is why and how he’s driven to chart his own course.
If Bernard loses Sims, his list of allies will become increasingly smaller, especially considering what Judge Meadow demands in exchange for her help.
In many ways, silos are microcosms of national politics, whether democratic, authoritarian or somewhere in between.
The ideological perspective on which Silo 18’s society operates has nothing to do with the fascination of watching it unfold on a smaller, more restricted scale.
It’s also an encapsulated version of “the greater good.” Are Bernard, Judge Meadows, and Robert Sims evil? Or are they guarding against something so destructive that, from a more palatable perspective, it requires their control?
If this is the case, then who is the villain? Is it the person who doesn’t believe in the power of knowledge in the hands of civilians, or the person who breaks through the barbed wire fence of Area 51 and rushes in?
Meanwhile, rebellion is brewing in the belly of the beast, and Bernard is desperate not to pay the price. The politics at the bottom are more intense and cruel.
“It’s a challenging role because it’s a role in a position of authority and there’s a huge burden that has to be placed on his shoulders in order for the silo to survive.“
– Tim Robbins on his role as Bernard Holland
Knox plays a tepid voice of reason, while Shirley is a moody teen with raging hormones unable to see the potential consequences of her wild, thoughtless charge.
This diametrically opposed force is poison in the lower levels. As The Silo Season 2 Episode 1 revealed, the rebellion in The Silo doesn’t have a long history, and this one didn’t have a coordinated beginning.
With Knox and Shirley’s personalities so opposite, it’s hard to imagine this alliance moving forward, especially with brains like Sims and Bernard doing their best to thwart it.
Let’s not forget, there are cameras, microphones and spies everywhere inside the silo. As IT continues to dominate, Knox’s approach appears to be holding everyone back. Shirley would doom them all to an early grave.
The first episode is about Juliet Nichols. Episode 2 is the opposite, with most of the residents of Silo 18 believing she is dead. This is especially true after Bernard’s big announcement.
Even her closest friends could only guess, believing in their hearts that their worst fears were indeed true.
Juliet’s departure over the mountains resonates with everyone, for better or for worse. Screenwriter Cassie Pappas and director Michael Dinner do an excellent job of conveying the resonance of Juliet’s death to the residents of Silo 18.
It also doesn’t require tons of dialogue and lots of references to Juliet. The impact is felt in the behavior of those she leaves behind, as well as in the melancholy tone behind her father’s (Iain Glen) movements and intonations.
The raw panic in Bernard’s eyes, the anger in Shirley’s eyes, and the pious and determined measures Knox is willing to take all echo Juliet’s brief existence and loss.
But “The Silo” reflects the human condition – moving forward in the face of great loss and near despair in the face of something bigger, more coordinated, more informed.
At this point, Silo felt it needed to step up. Juliette first stepped out at the end of season 1 and has only made little progress since then, with the entire plot straying away from her character.
There’s certainly a lot to build up to in Season 2, but it feels like this is going to be the case for a while.
These are two episodes that set the stakes in both silos. Hopefully episode three will open things up a bit more.
Watch The Silo Season 2 Online
