Silo keeps dragging its feet

The chances of Silo creator Graham Yost or the writers’ room knowing “Order” would air the same day as Wicked’s wide theatrical release are incredibly slim, but there’s a random connection anyway. In this season's second episode, the underground bunker’s unofficial mastermind, IT head Bernard (Tim Robbins), is indirectly compared to the Wizard—that is, his former mentee calls him a fraudulent ruler hiding behind cheap tricks to get the job done. 

Bernard visits Mary Meadows (Tanya Moodie) for help after Juliette’s unsuccessful “cleaning.” He senses a rebellion brewing because many of the citizens have seen Juliette survive and walk over the hill. They’re bound to demand answers and might even want to go out, assuming that it’s now safe to exit. Bernard believes that Mary, who used to be a judge, could sway the people in his favor with her authority. Instead of agreeing, she picks up her copy of L. Frank Baum’s The Wonderful Wizard Of Oz. Mary implies that both she and Bernard are like the Wizard: They don’t know the whole truth and keep lying about what it is. Thankfully, we get an idea of why Mary feels this way and how it led to her distancing from Bernard and the IT and judicial departments decades ago.  

The episode begins with Bernard standing alone in a hidden vault made of what looks like white marble. It’s much, much nicer than the rest of the grimy silo. Through secret cameras, he sees what we saw in the premiere: Juliette walking over hundreds of dead bodies to enter another bunker. Naturally, he’s freaking out. Bernard then flips through a Bible-esque-looking book called The Order for guidance. All it says is: “In the event of a failed cleaning, prepare for war.” Mary later tells Bernard she isn’t shocked about the lack of clear instructions. Yet Bernard is convinced she can help, possibly because Mary also knows communication tactics and a way to win over the mid-level floors. He’s willing to bribe her with whatever she desires. 

So I guess Mary is right with her analogy. Bernard is blindly following rules written by “the founders,” and now, he has no idea how to keep a bubbling rebellion in check, pacify those who are perturbed, and keep his power intact. He cannot keep the charade on for long on his own. And he surely doesn’t trust his head of security, Robert Sims (Common), enough to confide in him. That’s why he turns to his former protégé, claiming that Mary is the only person he will listen to. Eventually, she agrees on one condition: Just as the Wizard was able to fly off in his hot-air balloon, Mary wants to leave and head outside—no matter what lies up there—and escape this prison. 

Another reason Mary is willing to aid him now is because she sees his world-class deceit in action. He openly and loudly lies during a big speech to the residents, so hey, maybe he does have it in him to be a professional political leader. In a false rally cry to the public, Bernard addresses Juliette’s situation and calls her a hero. (That latter part is true, even if he doesn’t mean it.) He fabricates a story that Juliette had volunteered to wear a new type of tape invented by IT to test its efficacy against the hazardous air. That’s why she was able to walk a longer distance. But Bernard tells the residents that she is dead. He gives others false hope that one day they might be able to venture outside and survive with this advanced sealing tape.

Of course, only a few people know he’s partly making this up. In reality, it was Juliette’s maternal figure, Martha (Harriet Walter), who slipped her the strong tape her suit needed so she wouldn’t die outside. To ensure Martha doesn’t reveal this information to anyone, Bernard gets her locked up during his speech. That way, by the time she’s free later, nobody will believe her. Or so he thinks. Martha quickly teams up with a tiny but mighty crew, including Shirley (Remmie Milner) and Cooper (Matt Gomez Hidaka), all of whom believe Juliette is alive. 

Shirley is charged up to confront Bernard, Robert, and the other higher-ups. She wants to gather a large group of people and demand answers. Has a plan like that ever worked? Thank goodness these youths have Martha to guide them. She convinces them to be smart because there’s no way Bernard will give them answers. He won’t hesitate to use brute force, either. So what should Juliette’s friends do to save her and bring her back? The “JL”—“Juliette Lives”—graffiti popping up all over makes me (and Martha!) think a lot more people will be on their side than they realized. Bernard’s fear of a revolution is warranted, and I can’t wait to see it play out. Hopefully, it goes down better than it did in the other silo community. 

The rest of “Order” is relatively average, and it should’ve aired right after episode one last week. Its purpose is to establish the uneasiness spreading like wildfire in the silo, which, duh! Not even folks like Robert or Paul Billings (Chinaza Uche) can escape it. Robert is mostly agitated because Bernard is shutting him out, while Paul—who takes over Sheriff duties—is starting to find the gaps in the story his superiors keep telling him about Juliette. Meanwhile, Juliette’s dad is still fairly clueless, but Bernard is keeping a close eye on him. With all this catching-up out of the way, Silo has seven episodes left to get into high gear. 

Stray observations

• • This episode is a great reminder that Rebecca Ferguson is what makes Silo truly tick, huh? I missed her. 
• • Some day, I’ll get used to Harriet Walter’s American accent. Today is not that day. 
• • As much as Mary knows about the vault and The Order, she doesn’t know that IT purposely sent people out in the past wearing suits with weak tape. She’s quite in the dark even if she doesn’t realize it. 
• • That makes me wonder why Bernard approaches her. I hope Silo explores more of their past because there’s some romantic tension, right? At least from his side. 
• • So the man Juliette bumped into at the end of episode one, played by Steve Zahn, was also hidden behind a similar vault that Bernard is in during this episode, yes?