Rebellion is in the air as Silo begins drawing its battle lines.
Each week Joe and Terry discuss the most recent episodes of Apple TV’s Silo Season 2, alternating between our respective sites.
Catch up on Season 1: 1.01-1.02 / 1.03 / 1.04 / 1.05 / 1.06 / 1.07 / 1.08 / 1.09 / 1.10
Catch up on Season 2: 2.01 / 2.02 / 2.03 / 2.04 / 2.05
Spoilers follow for Silo S02E06 “Barricades”
JOE
There’s rebellion in the air, Terry, as “Barricades” suggests another cataclysmic step towards doom for Silo 18.
This is the first episode since 2.02’s “Order” that has barely featured Jules (Rebecca Ferguson), who is essentially sidelined until the episode’s closing minutes. This makes sense considering Juliette has been unconscious and recovering from her infection and, if we’re being honest, “Barricades” is such an exciting episode that it’s hard to quibble with the decision. While she sleeps, her old silo has become a powder keg.
Things kick off with an opening volley from Mayor Bernard (Tim Robbins), who has erected barricades on the stairs, preventing the flow of both people and products. This includes food, in what is a flagrant attempt to force the lower silo levels to submit to his control and give up fugitives Knox (Shane McRae), Shirley (Remmie Milner), and Martha (Harriet Walter).
There’s basically two options: 1) Acquiesce by handing over Judge Meadows (Tanya Moodie)’s killers and Bernard will stop trying to starve them. Or 2) refuse and suffer the consequences.
It looks bad for a hot minute, until Martha delivers a rallying cry about the cooperative power of Mechanical to share and thrive together. Plus: in an unexpected show of solidarity, inhabitants from higher floors begin throwing down food to assist them, along with messages in support of the rebellion.
What’s fascinating about “Barricades” is how aware Bernard is of certain events and how caught off guard he is about others. He tells new head of security Amundsen (Christian Ochoa Lavernia) that the supportive food-throwing is happening earlier than Bernard’s anticipated and moves up the timetable accordingly. He seems more surprised by the ingenuity of the lower level to cut their way up the stairs in secret and capture key floors, like 122 where there’s a farm, which very obviously undercuts Bernard’s ability to starve them out.
Intriguingly, it doesn’t take Bernard long to suss out that Judge Sims (Common)’s wife Camille (Alexandria Riley) was essential in allowing the fugitives to escape. What follows is a deliciously tense confrontation between the two that suggests they’re both masterminds in their own right.
It’s intriguing because I’ve been a little annoyed with Sims’ wife’s serpent tongue and shadowy politics, but now that she’s been brought more into the light, in terms of both the show’s storytelling, as well as her interactions with other characters, I find Riley far more compelling. It’s unclear if she’s still acting exclusively in her husband’s best interests or if she has a separate agenda of her own, but I’m far more interested in her actions than I was only a few episodes ago.
Amusingly enough, I can’t say the same for her husband, who is caught unaware that Bernard has covertly brought Lukas (Avi Nash) back from the mines and asked him to work on a computer program to decode the hard drive. In another surprising moment that I didn’t anticipate – in part because Bernard doesn’t normally seem so frazzled – the current Mayor even goes so far as to promote Lukas to be his shadow in order to grant him permission to look at illegal Pact documents.
Considering we were debating the point of this tertiary character only a few episodes ago, all of the sudden Lukas seems to be a major player as S02 of Silo moves into the back half.
But back to the conflict: It’s clear that Knox and Shirley are pretty good together now that they’ve figured out how to plot collaboratively. There’s also some inevitable smooching here, which…is fine. As a queer viewer, this doesn’t do much more for me than Martha’s stubborn refusal to help Chinaza Uche’s Sheriff Billings and Deputy Hank (Billy Postlethwaite) until she knows Carla (Clare Perkins) is safe. While neither couple is bad or boring, Silo just doesn’t strike me as a show that inherently *needs* romantic subplots, so I’m very blasé about its inclusion this season.
But Terry, I’ll turn it over to you here. Would you have preferred if “Barricades” had kept Jules and Solo (Steve Zahn) completely sidelined? Was Kathleen Billings (Caitlin Zoz)’s sweet-talking journey past the barricades with Dr. Nichols (Iain Glen) intriguing or silly? Did you find the action exciting or are things still escalating too quickly? And speaking of romance, did you like the quiet moment of Bernard confessing to the corpse of Judge Meadows?
TERRY
This was the first episode of the season where I thought “we’re back, Joe.” Maybe credit is due to screenwriter Jeffery Wang, who has been a staff writer on all ten episodes of season one and penned episode 8 “Hanna.” “Barricades” is difficult because while I do find that the previous five episodes failed to set up this spectacular set piece, it moves with a confident precision that balances character moments with action.
Sure, some of those character moments didn’t completely land for me, like Martha and Carla and Knox and Shirley. I’m in complete agreement with you that Silo doesn’t need romantic subplots, though I did appreciate the relationship between Bernard and Judge Meadows. I was happy to see Judge Meadows get a send-off this episode that allowed Bernard to question if he’s doing the right thing. This sequence was heartfelt and allowed the paranoid and constantly plotting Bernard to have a moment of quiet introspection.
Contrast that with the other romantic entanglements, though. Maybe it’s because that relationship has been teased out quietly since season one whereas Knox/Shirley and Martha/Carla were such small characters promoted to main characters only this season. I rolled my eyes when Knox and Shirley began their makeout session over drinks. I didn’t roll my eyes for Martha and Carla, but I was annoyed that their relationship seemed to only be present to move the plot forward.
It’s because of their relationship that, in the words of Bernard, he “lost the sheriff.” But that’s the only thing that seems to be pertinent about their history because they’ve been such minor characters up to this point.
I was glad to hear that Riley’s performance as Camille has started to interest you more, Joe. I think the show has kind of failed her character by keeping her agenda a little too ambiguous. You mentioned in our last review that my writing about her character allowed you to figure out out her plans in your mind and I’m curious to see where Camille’s allegiance lies down the road. You seem to think she’s still potentially playing both sides whereas I believe she’s attempting to prop up her husband and gain power through him.
Silo definitely uses wives in contrasting fashion this season, though. On one hand, we have Camille and Sims, who are trying to gain power and position within the silo. That’s contrasted with Sheriff Billings and Kathleen. Both women use their positions/jobs and their smarts to try and outwit those in charge to further their aims. Unfortunately, as you alluded to, Kathleen’s trip to mechanical just didn’t work for me. I’ve enjoyed seeing how Camille works the system, but Kathleen’s journey this episode seems more focused on moving from point A to point B than creating the same kind of intrigue.
The season opened with a flashback, of sorts, in Silo 17 that showed Mechanical, lead by the sheriff, charging through the barricades and, ultimately, to their deaths outside. Here, when Mechanical breaks through the barricade, there’s a showdown that visually aligns with that opening. What’s missing in this current rendition?
The sheriff.
This season is obsessed with the idea of history repeating itself. At one point in “Barricades”, Bernard mentions that it’s been peaceful for 140 years and that peace is going to end on his watch. He has a book that explains how previous rebellions went down and, so far, it seems to be playing out the same on the macro level.
Unfortunately for Bernard, fractures are starting to appear in the game plan. Losing the sheriff so quickly, for example, wasn’t in his gameplan. Neither was Judicial’s forces giving up floor 120 and, consequently, the farm on the lower level.
Plot and character arcs aside, “Barricades” was an exciting episode to watch. It didn’t quite hit the highs of the first season’s standout action moments, but I enjoyed seeing the way in which Mechanical and Bernard’s forces tried to outsmart each other. Director Michael Dinner keeps the action moving from scene to scene in a way that keeps the episode tense, even among the smaller character moments. That said, it feels like the only reason the episode switched to Jules at the end was to set up a cliffhanger, which I don’t think was necessary.
But take us home, Joe. Do you have any thoughts on where Lukas’ journey is going to lead? I felt for sure he’d be killed after deciphering the HDD…but that doesn’t necessarily seem to be the case? Do you think this episode will be a turning point in the shows’ writing? It seemed like we both enjoyed it a lot more than previous episodes in season 2. And completely hypothetically, but do you have any thoughts on where the back half of the season is heading?
JOE
Lukas remains a big question mark to me. Not only was I not expecting to see him come back, his role has completely shifted. Part of me still hopes that he’ll find a way to honour his work with Jules and ally himself with the rebellion (or at least go against Bernard). But perhaps his character is intended to reflect the individuals who side with the oppressor in wartime because although their actions harm the people, they know that they can individually profit.
All this to say, I wouldn’t put it past Bernard to dispose of Lukas as soon as he delivers what the Mayor wants. But I can also see Bernard grooming him in the role of his shadow to carry on the insidious traditions of the silo.
Pulling back, I agree that this episode definitely feels stronger, which is good because we’re into the back half of the season and we shouldn’t simply be setting things up anymore. I’m not *quite* as optimistic as you, though; overall this season still doesn’t feel as cohesive or well-formed as S01, which pains me to say. I think I went into this season with too high an expectation because I was so enamoured by its first.
But where do we go from here? Well, we’ve got to sort things out with Jules and Solo, which likely means her having to do the repairs he wants (hopefully that means an exciting underwater set piece). And I imagine the rebellion in our home silo won’t be quashed any time soon – I can imagine the whole season leading to a race against time wherein Jules returns just in time to prevent Knox and Shirley from getting everyone killed by opening the doors.
Hoping (happy?) to be proven wrong, but overall I just want Silo to slow down a little and give us more of those Bernard/Meadows scenes. A little emotionality mixed in with the big action will go a long way to balancing out this uneven season.
But we’ll see when we hop back over to Gayly Dreadful next week to discuss episode 2.07, “The Dive”
Silo airs Fridays on Apple TV