Each week Joe and Terry discuss the most recent episodes of Apple TV’s Silo Season 2, alternating between our respective sites. This week, we’re wrapping up the season with the finale.
Catch up on Season 1: 1.01-1.02 / 1.03 / 1.04 / 1.05 / 1.06 / 1.07 / 1.08 / 1.09 / 1.10
Catch up on Season 2: 2.01 / 2.02 / 2.03 / 2.04 / 2.05 / 2.06 / 2.07 / 2.08 / 2.09
Spoilers follow for Silo S02E010 “Into The Fire”: The rebels make their move — and so does Juliette.
JOE
Alright Terry, it’s finale time, which will finally answer the question: was all of the S02 build-up worth the pay-off?
The short answer? …Sadly no. Although “Into The Fire” has several solid moments, it’s still an overstuffed episode that struggles to balance its myriad of storylines. On top of this, there aren’t enough answers to justify several of the weird tangents this season, and – most disappointing of all – there’s too much time dedicated to setting up S03. Aside from Juliette (Rebecca Ferguson)’s return to her home silo and that ‘left field’ last scene set in <checks notes> Washington, D.C. (we’ll get to it!), this doesn’t even really play like a season finale.
Let’s start with Jules and the children because it’s narratively simplest. Juliette is essentially ready to leave when Jimmy/Solo (Steve Zahn) tells her about the ominously named “Safeguard Procedure” which is eventually revealed to be a failsafe that would kill everyone in the silo with poison from a pipe. Presumably this would be enacted in the event of a rebellion, which only spurs Juliette to get home even more. But first we need to have a rallying cry with teens Audrey (Georgina Sadler), Rick (Orlando Norman) and Sara Hazemi’s Eater aka Hope.
I quite liked Juliette losing her patience with Audrey. It’s essentially a “get your shit together” speech but considering how much of a loner Jules was in the first season and how much she’s been missing her friends and father, this rang true. Plus Aubrey just sucks, so it’s a gratifying moment to see an adult put her in her place.
Back home “war” is in full bloom. Knox (Shane McCrae) and Shirley (Remmie Milner) execute a complicated secret plan wherein Martha (Harriet Walter) dupes Bernard (Tim Robbins) using a secret non-verbal code. This allows all of the Raiders to be lured to the Lower Decks and then the stairs are blown, trapping them below. It’s a little obvious, if only because the barricades and the capture of Mechanical is so easy, but the action (once again directed by Amber Templeton) is solid.
There are brief flashes of greatness here: Martha’s gloating countdown to Bernard which leads to…nothing when the explosion doesn’t go as planned. Dr. Nichols (Iain Glen) sacrificing himself for a cause with a message for his absent daughter. Even Knox’s “Let’s fucking go!” as he rushes slow-mo into battle after Shirley promises she’s “always” with him. It’s good, solid stuff.
And yet, because we’re trying to keep track of a billion characters, that hardly scratches the surface. There’s Lukas (Avi Nash)’s struggles to relay a silent message to Bernard before quitting as his shadow and then heading home to his mother. There’s Martha’s 2x reunion with Carla (Clare Perkins) – once where her ex rejects her for betraying the rebellion and another when she forgives Martha. There’s Paul Billings (Chinaza Uche)…caught in the middle but kinda doing nothing?
There’s just too much going on and too many characters to check on, so no one truly gets more than a few brief moments. Kudos to writer Aric Avelino for trying their best to give everyone a MOMENT, but even with a full 60 minute episode, everything feels rushed and slightly unsatisfying.
And that’s before we get to all of the red herrings and cliffhangers. What did the AI say to Lukas to make him quit? Why was Lady MacBeth…ahem Camille (Alexandria Riley) allowed to stay in the vault, but not Sims (Common)? Why is there an oven room at the entrance to the silo for Bernard and Juliette to get caught in? And how does the rainy Washington coda with the Congressman (Ashley Zuckerman) and Post reporter Helen (Jessica Henwick) tie into everything?
The obvious clue is the Pez dispenser, which was, of course, the Relic that George gifted Juliette way back in S01 (thanks Silo fandom wiki!). But Terry, I’m curious about what you think the implications of this time jump means for the show? (According to showrunner Graham Yost in an interview with TVLine, we don’t have to fear that Rebecca Ferguson will be MIA).
Other issues I’m curious to read your thoughts on: was the drama with Jules’ hole-y suit unnecessary? Why did we see so much of Lukas’ mom? Did you actually think Mechanical would blow up the generator? And does the show need to scale back its cast of characters in S03?
TERRY
It seems like you and I had different reactions to this episode, Joe! For once, we’re not (mostly) on the same page with this season! Because After 8 episodes that stretched my patience, were shoddily Frankensteined together to try and include every single character, and lacked the narrative cohesion and tension that made us fall in love with Silo to begin with…these last two episodes felt like the original show.
I agree that screenwriter Avelino had his hands full trying to send this season off and tie up all of the loose ends–bad, ill-timed or decent–that the season introduced. I also agree that “Into the Fire” was absolutely stuffed to the gills because it had to pay off checks that the rest of the season wrote.
As you mentioned, the number of characters we’ve been following is ridiculous–hence my complaint when the whole new set of characters were introduced in the last episode–but some shows have been able to balance a ton of characters spread across a variety of locations. For all of its faults, A Game of Thrones handled the many disparate storylines, locations and characters fairly well. And while the characters kept piling up in Season 1 of Silo, it still managed to balance them fairly well. For whatever reason, this season has done a terrible job of creating meaningful storylines to support the number of characters it follows.
“Into the Fire” is the first time that I felt that the writing, editing and scene construction managed to balance the number of characters with scenes that continued to ratchet up the tension. I think back to some of the earlier episodes and how scenes would simply play for a second or two before whisking us off to a different silo for a brief scene, only to return to another scene in the other silo, etc. etc. It never built tension to shift between those scenes and characters. But here, all of those scenes built to individual climaxes that really worked for me.
An example of this would be a moment you already mentioned, when Knox yells, “let’s fucking goooo!” while the action then cuts to a panicked Sheriff Billings attempting to barricade himself and his family in their apartment before the door explodes inward. The action then goes to Jimmy and Jules’ conversation about the safeguard procedure before transitioning to the cafeteria where our main group of heroes are rounded up and carted away.
The way this sequence was edited to give us plot information (Jimmy and Jules), as well as a number of quick action set pieces, worked because the new information added to the action. It built like a continuous sequence that throws in a shade of dramatic irony for the viewer because we know all that’s going on while each individual group of people does not.
So much happened in the early parts of the episode that I was shocked when I hit pause and saw there was still 20 minutes left. In some cases, that could feel like a negative, but here I think I’ve been waiting for something exciting to happen for so long that I didn’t want it to end. The action set pieces this season have mostly been lacking, so it was a joy to have such a dense episode with both character bits and also satisfying action.
Was it perfect? No. But as a screenwriter, Aric was given a huge order and, for me, “Into the Fire” saved the show. Or, at the very least, helped right the ship, so to speak.
We have to talk about that ending, though. When the action first cut from Bernard and Jules’ encounter with flamethrowers (?!) to a rainy street in D.C., I gasped. I thought, at least initially, that it was happening at the same time as the rest of Silo. I was happy with the Pez reveal, that this was the past and was probably showing events that would lead to the creation of the silos. Dirty bombs, bouncers with radiation detectors, a Senator from Georgia–where the silos are heavily hinted to be–and a meet cute. It’s an intriguing scene and I like the narrative possibilities it suggests.
But I’m also anxious about another season splitting its time between two different locations, while balancing the characters we know and love with potentially new ones set in a different time period. Because season 2, as we have noted many times, did a terrible job of balancing two separate locations, let alone two different time periods and potentially a whole host of new characters.
I will say that there was one little detail that I noticed that may or may not be important. On the wall of the pub that the senator and Helen meet at, there’s a newspaper poster saying “Nixon Bows Out.” I’m curious if that poster is to suggest that Silo takes place in an alternate version of history…or if that’s simply just an old newspaper on the wall of a pub in a very political city. The camera focused on it a little too long for me to think it’s simple set dressing.
A few other minor mentions to answer your questions. Yes, the holey suit was unnecessary. It only seemed to exist so that Jimmy could be reinforced as a good guy. That said, I do love that it led to a genuinely moving pair of moments.
You brought up the fact that Jules has been a loner and that her anger at Audrey rang true. I do like that this season basically allowed Jules to realize how much she needs her friends and her family by separating her and giving her a somewhat decent foil in the socially inept Jimmy/Solo. The narrative doesn’t do the best job in connecting the dots between the two of them, but seeing a man who has been bereft of friends, family or anyone for decades finding his humanity at the same time that Jules realizes the importance of her friends at the other silo worked for me.
So when Jimmy flinches from Jules’ hug when she realizes he was testing the suit for me, only for him to full-body hug her at the end was a nice coda to their rocky relationship. And that wouldn’t have happened without the holey suit. Was it completely unnecessary? No, but I did like the result.
But back to you, Joe. You’ve been railing for a number of episodes at the character assassination of Martha Walker. Did this episode redeem her at all? Did her subterfuge and the fact it’s tied to their identity as members of Mechanical work for you? You asked about Camille and Rob and I don’t even know how to answer that so I was curious if you had any ideas? Are we to assume that the AI (?) that instructs her to stay is a failsafe like with Jimmy? Did the D.C. ending work for you at all?
JOE
I’m definitely intrigued by the D.C. scene (though I share your apprehension about dividing our time between two timelines). I like both of those actors from other projects, so if they’re promoted to regular guest stars and we spend a scene with them in every episode or two to learn more about the creation of W.O.O.L, I think I would be ok with it (see: another gently dystopian show, Fallout, for an example of how to do it well).
As for Martha…no. I fully cheered when Clare dismissed her, and then audibly groaned when she took Martha back. Sorry writers: you can’t spend an entire season tanking a character by turning them into an emotional idiot and then expect to get on board when you try to walk it all back. If there is any rescuing of this character, I need to see amends and PLENTY of it when the series returns.
The A.I./vault stuff is intriguing, if only because it’s one of the oft repeated environments that we’ve seen on the show whose function/layout hasn’t been really explored. It’s kinda bold of the series to tease us with that Wizard of Oz-esque AI face and leave it at that, so I kinda hope that we explore a bit more of that security/overlord system as we see how these silos came to be in the forthcoming season.
But that’s a next year kind of thing. Right now I’m reflecting on S02 and while I appreciate what you said about the last few episodes, overall this sophomore season has definitely fallen into a slump. Not only did the balance between the silos not entirely work, I frequently found Silo prioritizing or focusing on less compelling characters and stories. It really dampened my enthusiasm for the show, to the point where before it was renewed for two final seasons, I was unsure if I even cared about its future.
Truth be told, I do think I’ll likely watch, but I’m unsure if I want to keep up our coverage because it’s made me feel like a broken (assholish) record. With that said, I’m giving Silo S02 a C+.
Terry, back to you to wrap up. Is the luster still there for you…or are you also feeling pretty burned. What things do you want/hope to see in Silo S03? And what do you grade S02?
TERRY
I completely get where you’re coming from, Joe. It’s no fun going round and round complaining about a show, especially one where our appreciation dropped considerably between the two seasons. I’m not personally ready to completely write the series off, if only because I do think the problems stemmed from the (completely justified and needed) writer’s strike.
That said, season three has its work cut out for it to completely win me back.
My hopes for season three is that they stick to what made the first season such a breath of fresh air and focus on the characters over the need for plot to dictate how they act. Bring back more of the writers from the first season because they are the reason we fell in love with Silo 18 to begin with. And for the love of the founders, do a better job of splitting the storylines and time spent with disparate characters.
I’m with you, though, that this season sits at a C+. Even the highs of this season pale in comparison to the methodical storytelling of the first season. We both went into this season so incredibly excited and it’s a shame how quickly our enthusiasm dropped.
I’m not completely willing to drop the show, but Graham Yost and team have a lot of work cut out for them to redeem the series.
Silo has wrapped S02 on AppleTV. It has been green lit for two final seasons.
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