Silo Season 1 episode 10 - Outside
Warning! Spoilers ahead! I have not read the book series this show is based on, so this is a highly speculative review and summary.
This week wraps up 10 weeks of wonder and amazement and world building with rich characters and complicated plot lines. Usually plot lines this complicated would go awry if told too quickly and characters with the depth of these would be unbelievable. However the slow pace of this season created a world that is believable, characters that are genuine and choices that are realistically made. There are several big reveals that we've been waiting for and this episode does not disappoint and is a smash hit out of the ball park!
Talk about a strong finish! The season finale has by far the highest ratings of any Silo episodes this season!
The last episode of the season before the 1 year wait for season 2 to finish filming and to be released amidst the 2023 Writers Guild of America Strike. While this script is reported to already be completed, this should not affect how this progresses and guarantees this to be a quality and highly rated shot by de-facto we are lucky that it is a quality one at that. This has been verified by the author despite several articles to the contrary.
Show summary and recap
Jules and her relic buddies, Danny (hacker extraordinaire) and Patrick Kelly realize that Bernard will soon track them down despite bouncing their location and escape from his apartment. They manage to broadcast the Jane Carmody video to most of the Silo before Bernard is able to shut down the broadcast. His commands are illustrative of a totalitarian like regime as everyone turns away from the information, however the seeds of damage may have been sewn. Jules is eventually tracked to the garbage chute and drops to safety when the raiders begin dumping dangerously heavy trash down. She lands down in the mechanical region of the Silo and is saved by her friends. At this point she relays information to her surrogate mother, Martha "Walk" Walker, presumably informing her of what she found on the hard drive. She is then captured by Bernard and the raiders and eventually taken back to the camera room where a video of George committing suicide is revealed. A teary eyed Jules is then taken to cell 3 where, the next day she will clean. Martha "Walk" Walker walks from her basement apartment up to the mid levels and sees her former lover (?) to give her heat tape to be used on Jules's suit. This is what allows her to survive when she eventually goes outside. When she does go out to clean, she refuses to clean and survives, discovering not only that the helmet display is false, but that there are several Silos and at the doorstep of a major metropolis.
Major revelations
- We learn that Jules was not an intended birth, that she was not supposed to have been born but was born anyways.
- We learn that going out is intended to be a death sentence and Bernard is play calling exactly how the death should go as it happens, but of course to his surprise it does not.
- The heat tape from episode 3, seemingly mentioned in passing was a major reason why Jules was disliked by Bernard as it "brought down Judicial and IT."
- We finally see the outside of the Silo, it is the wasteland in the cafeteria display after all, as the hologram of the utopia is dispelled.
- The hologram utopia is indeed there to encourage the cleaners to clean.
Tribute to Hugh Howey
Similarities to Star wars the Empire Strikes Back
Reminiscent of Contact
Character development
Jules Nichols - is becoming wiser by her experiences, she seems to know as much about the Silo and its secrets as Bernard, however they may not be the same secrets. She appears to have had everything taken away from her by Judicial, from the death of her mother, the presumably preventable death of her brother, the death of her true love and possibly her own life. Jules has the story of being continually alone, through circumstance which has shaped her to be a loner as well. The beauty of this episode is that although she is alone and even alone outside the silo, it is through the love and aid of others that has enabled her to survive. Although she is physically and may feel alone, she is not alone.
George Wilkins - faithful and ardent in his feelings for Jules, reveals he commits suicide to protect the hard drive
Bernard Holland - continues to be the all encompassing evil guy so much so that if not for Tim Robbins and his acting skill, he would probably be difficult to believe. Even when he is being subtle, it is poignant as he and Jules discuss information about the Silo. Unclear if he was aware about the massive door at the bottom of the Silo. "The founders left us with many mysteries."
Robert Sims - a lackey to Bernard Holland, presumably next in line to be the shadow to Bernard Holland. Seems to be a family man as he loves his wife and son deeply, but is willing to cross some lines to protect them and the Silo (willing to murder).
Martha "Walk" Walker - possibly had the most character development in the fewest scenes this episode. I have chills as I write this as she overcame a lifetime of misery, agoraphobia and trauma in the name of love and the love for her surrogate daughter, Jules. In doing so, the major person responsible for her survival.
Carla, who works in Supply - saves the day via Walker, enables Jules to have the heat tape that lets her live. Carla seems to know a lot about the history of the Silo.
Dr. Pete Nichols - continues to reaffirm his role as loving and dedicated father. The saddest and happiest scene for me was in this episode when he was watching his daughter presumably in the process of dying... and then surviving. After all the heartache he experienced in Game of Thrones, I can't see him get enough of his emotional due. The toughest thing you can ask someone to do is to watch the death of your so nor daughter.
Lukas Kyle - has been shown several times in the several episodes. You get the impression that he is important but not sure how. He is only being seen as someone with unrequited love/crush for Jules and who is being punished for it. I would assume he takes on a larger role next season for him to have so much camera time dedicated to him.
Deputy, now Sheriff Peter Billings - was discovered to have the Syndrome by Sims and was made the replacement Sheriff anyways. Bernard and Sims seem to not care so long as he is instrumental to them. Still, he did save the page from the Georgia travel book and he did have a major and significant catharsis last episode.
Sheriff Holston - continues to be honored and vindicated each time Jules is successful. She returns his badge to him in person, even if post-humously.
Interesting trivia
The technology in the hard drive does not match conventional hard drive technology and appears similar to optical (cd-rom technology). Conventional hard drive technology has noble gasses encased within the platters and data would be ruined from opening it at all. The smashed appearance of the disk would mean lost data as well. However if they recover data from this, I believe it will require suspension of belief, which I am ok with.
The technology in the hood/visor of the cleaner is advanced even by today's standards (think of Apple's current VR glasses selling for $3k and Facebook's glasses that are selling at a loss of profit). The computing power to render utopia like scenes in real time, especially beyond the hill would require more than our current technology in terms of fitting into a helmet. Even if the server room was used for this, the bandwidth required by the networking would be huge. If this is some suspension of belief requirement, I'm ok with that too.
Numerology?
Carla, the love interest of Walk, lives on floor 124, room 19 - Martha Walker, distraught over the impending death of Jules walks to her former lover's apartment on the 124th floor, the number 124 has the angel number reference meaning Angels are helping you to keep your faith strong and to keep your positive expectations
Themes of the season
Truth and Curiosity
- Do you want to be fat dumb and happy? Ignorantly bliss? Or do you want to know the truth even if it kills you? Sheriff Holston, his wife Allison, all of the Flamekeepers, Lukas Kyle all show a search for the truth and natural curiosity and this is highly frowned upon in Silo society
Love and sacrifice
- best exemplified by Jules's father who through great personal sacrifice allows her to leave him and Walker who overcomes her agoraphobia
Totalitarian rule and perceived freedom
- the silo government, seemingly free will although there are cameras everywhere, even in your personal quarters. People appear very happy in the first two episode but this illusion unraveled quickly
Solved Mysteries...
- Who is Jane Carmody and why was she sent out to clean?
Probably does not matter, although not answered, I'm filing it here. The significance of her video is huge and has directly involved the deaths of Allison Holston, George Wilkins and Jules Nichols. - Who is Walk's love interest?
a woman named Carla that lives in the mid portions of the silo, works for supply and who proves to be instrumental to Jules's survival - What is really outside?
not the utopia I had hoped for but the wasteland I had feared there are at least dozens of silos at the footstep of the ruins of a metropolis - Is there more to the red light fob that has number 18 on it or is it just to summon Bernard to the camera room?
it appears to be a key to the server room
Remaining mysteries...
- Who is part of the ring of people that hacks the Silo's security network?
- Who is helping Jules escape by turning off the cameras at key opportune moments?
- What was the purpose of Bernard running to the server room, was the network being hacked? Did someone save Jules again by turning off the hologram of utopia?
- Is Walker and Carla in danger now that Jules survived? Will Judicial figure this out?
- What is the syndrome?
- Is there a rebellion brewing?
I will leave you with this: There is also a facebook group that is the official fan group which author Hugh Howey frequents as well.
Review of previous episodes:
Episode 1 and 2 - Freedom's Day and Holston's Pick
Episode 3 - Machines
Episode 4 - Truth
Episode 5 - The Janitor's Boy
Episode 6 - The Relic
Episode 7 - The Flamekeepers
Episode 8 - Hanna
Episode 9 - The Getaway
Episode 10 - Outside
Episode Rankings from best to worst
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