Episode 6 is what we have been waiting for all this time, to pick up the pace and I've been waiting for season 2 to get here, even though there are still some things that could have been handled better, the story moves along with some real momentum. This episode is all about the increasing tension between Bernard's authority and the rebellion raising up on the mechanical levels, as the "Down Deep" people rise up against the oppressive measures being used to keep them in line, in such close space this feel even worst, the isolation increments and feels more like punishment rather than trying to keep control.
- IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt28100084/
- Platform: AppleTV+
Key strategic move from Bernard happen, at level 130 raiders set up a barricade to stop the mechanical levels from receiving food by controlling levels that have close access to farms. Bernard watches from his security screens as his plan goes as expected and he believes that only nine missed meals stand between order and anarchy, a psychology study of some sort that actually got me thinking about so I look it up, Alfred Henry Lewis in 1896 made this concept public and its true, once shelf are empty is a matter of time before madness. Things got worst for Bernard when Mechanical find their food poisoned and the people start to get worry by the hour, turning this situation in the perfect setup for what turns into a game of cat and mouse between the rebels and Bernard’s raiders. I have mention before how the season have so many thread plots that might be confusing and boring because it feels under develop, this time it shows Knox and Shirley as leaders, we already know how brilliant they are just as Juliette so they look into a more practical and smart solution to get rid of the barricade without going into direct confrontation at first.
Through season 2 production has not disappoint and shows more of the mechanical levels, this are particularly interesting to me because of how they capture the claustrophobic atmosphere, specially how clear is that there is no where to go once you get to the flooded area where the massive digging machine is, so you would expect why Bernard not send his raiders down their and keep everyone locked up, most likely because they are out number and dealing with the lower levels is not easy at all, they for sure are less passive that others on top, less social. Clear example is how they were dealing with the barricade situation to the point that they were ready to die on the spot.
This episode truly shines in focusing on the rebellion story line and how the mechanical level residents are not just fighting against authority in the silo but are using their engineering technical to their advantage, executing their plan to take control of levels beyond level 122, so they can keep food on the table of the lower levels and keep them on their good side. Episode 6 touch on in an interesting story as we discover more about his supposed illness, The Syndrome, and how it might be linked to the control system of the Silo, or not just control but stress and the fact that they are always on lock down, its a Silo, it comes to attention when Billings wife notes his tremors fade even when he hasn't taken his medication. Billings is the one that is going to push all the way he needs to figure out what happen with Judge Meadows as he is starting to find some inconsistency in others reports and even rebels to Bernard's orders as he, Billings does follow the Pact rather than Bernard who only use it on his best interest.
Juliette’s scene at the very end is the weakest part of the episode to be hones, I would understand they wanted to give more screen time to Silo 18, but Juliette is still the reason why all this is happening, there is this brief cutaway to her waking up while Solo take care of her feels a bit unnecessary and breaks kinda pause what was going on on Silo 18, I know its a breather for the episode to eventually build up more tension but if its not relevant probably just don't or let it all happen at the end as a cliffhanger, also this could have been a scene saved for the next episode.
Episode 6 ends with lots of threads that need to be solved, but the most important is when Bernard loses Sheriff Billings support something he never expected and was key for his plan, a huge blow to his authority, Bernard's careful planning begins to fall apart. It's neat to see Billings finally stand up and say he will investigate Judge Meadows death and that forces Bernard to cut radio communications throughout the silo to keep things from getting even worse, I think this time around it is not only about following the Pact but the fact that he is not feeling weak or less when ever his hands were shacking.
The only way to keep Mechanical under his oppression was to keep them away from level 122 but they make it to 120 as their new common ground with the raiders, with a cement saw cutting through each floor until a good amount of them make it to higher levels before they were tip off and couldn't sandwich the raiders, this would have been very bad for Bernard. Knox and Shirley's victory is even sweeter because of their shared moment and kiss, all of which illustrates how their relationship has grown throughout the rebellion.
As Bernard feels his plan might fail and now he is on survival mode he goes to visit Judge Meadows body, he try to apologize for his plans having to include her death, in his mind this was a necessary sacrifice as she always was falling away from the Pact. This scene doesn't make for his tyranny but also showing that he isn’t just a one dimensional villain trying to make things right, but he actually believes he is doing the right thing in order to keep things in order, at then end of the day he is a two face character with zero remorse, in my opinion this scene was specifically because he had some affection or even love for Meadows.
If I have to give a score I would say 7.5/10 is fair enough since it was entertaining but nothing impressive, but finally the season delivers on its promise to keep developing the story in meaningful ways, especially for the rebellion story. While I can't stand all that Juliette's story line that has gotten no where to getting sick and finding a helmet, and the fact that bigger mysteries aren't progressing, this episode proves that Silo can be great when it's all firing on all cylinders and the machine keeps moving, hopefully the remaining episodes can keep this momentum going and begin to answer some of those bigger questions we've been waiting to have answered since the series started, very similar to what just happen with Dune Prophecy Episode 6.
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