Silo Season 2 Episode 10 - Into the Fire

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 season 2 finale episode is the best of the season and wraps things up nicely as it relieves season long tensions regarding rebellion, reconciliation, redemption and finally deliverance. The Silo17 story is wrapped up and hopefully resolved as Jules gives a stern talking to the surviving members on the need to get along in order to survive. Everyone is more or less a happy band as they help Jules to get her suit put together so that she can head back to Silo18 to save it from self-destruction.

And in Silo18, the path to self destruction is apparent as mechanical plots to force IT's hand by hatching a plan to threaten to blow up the generator. Explaining this plan in full detail while in Walker's workshop, under the complete view of the security camera. Bernard takes this as his opportunity to strike and sends the complete raider team to arrest everyone. During the course of events, we see Pete Nichols volunteer to aid the ever apparent war effort and give his life so that the stairs at level 90-92 can be demolished, trapping the raiders from the rest of the up top. This allows the mechanical team to march up to the very top and open the door if they desire. The beauty of this episode as with this season is in the way the plot has been delivered and the story telling has promoted character investment so that you really care about them, for love or for hate.

We see Lukas make his way back home to his mom, who he neglected for most of the show, even after he was freed from the mines. Making peace with what he believes is the end. 

We see Walk and Carla reunited after some double handed trickery. The same trickery that got Bernard to send all his radiers down into one location. 

We see the chaos in the Silo after the down deep rises up, which is common among all mob logic as the door to the outside was about to be stormed and forced open until Jules shows up at the last minute and cleans. Not only does she clean but she then holds up a sign that tells everyone not to go outside because it is not safe. During this whole time there is the looming specter of a potential AI overshadowing and listening and the threat of the safeguard protocol being initiated which may kill all the inhabitants of the silo.

Jules attempts to enter the SIlo as Bernard leaves and after a small confrontation she runs inside the Silo, Bernard runs after her warning that she may be burned alive. Of course she happens to be wearing the fire suit and as the flames turn on it is not clear if she tries to jump onto Bernard to save his life or if she is pushed down from the force of the flames.

The season ends with by far the best episode to date and it could be this good because of the set up from the earlier episodes. As we meander through the lives of several different inhabitants, the beauty of the show is the presentation of almost everyone act rationally to the environment they were brought up in. 

However, everything in the show seems to point to the greater questions...

What is the Safeguard really?

IT appears that the Safeguard is a protocol to pump poison into the Silo, from outside through a pipe located on level 14 where Judicial is. Silo17 had figured out that this pipe could be blocked and people could safely go outside even. However at some point the silo17 inhabitants still died from going outside. Jimmy Conroy had said earlier in episode one that everyone lived after going out for a little bit until a wind or cloud came which then killed the Silo inhabitants. Jimmy's parents believed they had made it safe outside by blocking the pipe.

The bigger question is why does such a protocol exist? And if it is needed, is this simply part of a larger set of protocols that can exterminate the inhabitants on a whim?

The Walker Double-Cross

Walker who had broken my heart in episode 8 redeems herself in this episode as it turns out placing the cameras in her workshop was nothing more than a grand double cross that led to Bernard's downfall as he believed the plan on the generator destruction.

Juliette Nichols and Solo (Jimmy Conroy)

Lukas Kyle

The emblematic genius who hangs out in the cafeteria and watches the stars who overplays his hand and tries to make a move on Jules only to get caught up in the middle of something way over his head. What a turn his life took and quickly, as he went from apparent death sentence in the mines to one of the top positions possible. He solves the difficult riddle of the Solomon code and figures out the inner workings of the Silo, only to tell Bernard who does not take it well. I am glad he decides to go back to his family in the end.

Dr. Pete Nichols

And so ends the story of Dr. Pete Nichols who finally had redemption in season one, reconciling with Jules, only to see his daughter sentenced to death by having to go outside. He is well played by actor Iain Glen. He again plays a tragically said character who sacrifices and gives everything (the other being Sir Jorah Mormont in Game of Thrones). My only wish was that he would be able to have seen Jules on the view screen again and possibly in person. 

Robert and Camille Sims

What an interesting story arc this family has. Completely and blind loyalty to Bernard Holland while his wife plays both sides, Robert Sims seems the ultimate "company man," so to speak. He seems to be a controversial character due to the portrayal by Common, people seem to love to hate him. His wife seems to have a good pulse on the mood of the Silo and seems to have several shady connections as she helped Jules escape in season one and helped Knox and Shirley escape in episode 5 - Descent. 

In the end, the AI in the vault choose Camille over Robert when the Sims family enters the vault.  As much as Robert has wanted to be the shadow and eventual head of IT, it appears Camille was calling the shots from behind the scenes anyways.

Bernard Holland

He is as main a character in this show as anyone and the superb acting of Tim Robbins really drives this show into your heart and soul. He is a tragic hero, in a sense as he truly acts in the best interest of the Silo with knowledge he has available, which coincidentally is the most in the Silo. The only moment Bernard appears relaxed and at ease this season is when he believes he has quashed the rebellion. He is my favorite character in the series. I am confident that if he were played by any other actor, he would not be may favorite character. He does an excellent job of portraying a man who slowly unravels as his world is crashing around him.

Washington DC

The scene shifts at the end of the show to a bar in downtown Washingotn DC where a young Georgia congressman of the 15the district is meeting with a female reporter working for The Post, named Helen. There is talk of a dirty bomb that had bone off likely due to Iran and there is wonder if the United States had plans for a retaliatory strike.  The show ends with the same dispenser seen throughout the series. This is our clue that the scene is a flash back to before the Silo times.

Trivia

The code to the vault is 552039 

According to the cdc.gov website, a dirty bomb is a mix of explosive with radioactive ingredients. It's explosion does most of its damage while the radiation is minimal and only serves as a fear and terror mechanism. Most who are affected by the radioactive aspect would not know their exposure unless very close to the explosion. Hence the geiger counter in the show.

Georgia Congressional District 15

In season 1 episode 10, the city distance can be seen and was hypothesized on various internet sources as the city of Atlanta. The Washington DC scene does provide the foundation for the back story of the Silo.

Per ballotopedia, Georgia Congressional District 15 is just northwest of Atlanta.

Remaining Mysteries

The Order is a book of how to run the Silo and it is something Bernard strictly follows religiously. He even sacrifices Judge Mary Meadows as part of the solution to always blame mechanical. It is not clear that this exists in the other Silos or if it is a concoction created by Salvador Quinn to keep order. Silo18 had frequent rebellions until Salvador Quinn created a system to keep things in check. So the mystery is how similar are the other Silos in comparison to Silo18?

Another remaining mysteries is the thousand foot view of why the Silo exists in the first place. It appears from the Washington DC scene that there was some type of dirty bomb that detonated in Washington DC which may have triggered a retaliatory response. We are left to ponder this and several scenarios arise. 

The most apparent seems to be the silos were built so that people can survive until whatever happened outside clears up. However the existence of such tight control on the population via a computer AI and a secretive camera based totalitarian society tends to make you think it could be something far more sinister such as human experimentation. However if this were the case, there would not be the existence of "relics" which appear to be illegal only in silo18 due to Salvador Quinn's ideas to prevent rebellions. There would also not be a vault that preserves information about the past.

Regardless, the answer appears to be in the next season as the Washington DC scene sets it up for continuity.

Review of previous episodes:
Season 1

Season 2 Episode 1 - The Engineer
Season 2 Episode 2 - Order
Season 2 Episode 3 - Solo
Season 2 Episode 4 - Harmonium
Season 2 Episode 5 - Descent
Season 2 Episode 6 - Barricades
Season 2 Episode 7 - The Dive
Season 2 Episode 8 - The Book of Quinn
Season 2 Episode 9 - The Safeguard
Season 2 Episode 10 - Into the Fire