‘Silo’ Season 2, Episode 5 Review
In the fifth episode of Apple TV’s ‘Silo’, things come to a head in Silo 18, while Juliette encounters more problems as she struggles to find a way back, as the season hits the halfway point.
In Silo 18, things are going from bad to worse, as Holland does everything he can to deal with the fallout from Juliette going out to clean. The thing is, it looks like he’s actually setting the stage for a war in the silo, by pitting the levels against each other. The inhabitants of mechanical and the lower levels have been set up as the villains, with Knox and Shirley accused of murdering Meadows, and the people from the mids scared into a panic by all the uncertainty. This doesn’t seem like a good idea, and is likely to do more harm than good to the entire silo.
Likewise, Sims’s attempts to become Holland’s shadow came at a bad time, only adding to the fear and confusion, and he’s lucky he’s only been relegated to the position of judge, rather than being taken out of the picture entirely.
The question now is what will happen to all these various factions? Billings has found Patrick Kennedy, so he’s likely to soon learn how he was set up by Sims to firebomb the sheriff’s station, which could test his loyalty to both Sims and Holland, and mean the sheriff’s department doesn’t support them when they need it most.
Meanwhile, over at the other silo, Juliette is having more problems as she tries to get back home. It’s clear that Solo isn’t who he says he is. He was meant to be the head of IT’s shadow, but was only a kid when the war broke out, and it seems like he’s stolen the name. Was he a relative of some important figure, or did he just find a way into the vault and seal it behind him? Who knows, but he’s definitely not stable, and with the water level constantly rising, it’s unlikely he’ll let Juliette leave without fixing the pump first. On top of that, the wound on her arm is infected and she has a fever, so she’ll only get out alive if Solo provides her with medical supplies.
I think this season of ‘Silo’ suffers a bit from not having a clear protagonist in Silo 18. Last season, after the first couple of episodes, it was clearly Juliette leading things, and we got to see everything through her eyes as she uncovered the truth. Now she’s stuck in the other silo, there isn’t a clear figure to lead the story, and it’s kind of divided between characters like Billings, Knox and Shirley, though none of them have as clear a purpose as Juliette did. Also, a lot of the main characters could now be considered antagonists, like Holland. It’s still a great story being unravelled here, but it misses out on not being told through one particular hero.
Regardless, this was still an intriguing episode. Not as strong as the past couple, it didn’t feel like it had the same kind of purpose, more like it was just leaving breadcrumbs to be picked up later. Even so, they are leading somewhere interesting, and there are enough trails laid out to keep things turning over for the second half of the season.