A full-on war brews inside the silo in this week’s episode, titled ‘Barricades’. Here’s our Silo season 2 episode 6 review.
As usual, this review will be spoiler-free for this week’s episode, but will discuss previous episodes in detail. You have been warned.
Things have been a bit chaotic in Silo 18 after Juliette ventured outside, wouldn’t you say? Mayor Holland literally poisoned the judge, Mechanical are planning a rebellion and there are double-crossings aplenty. It makes for excellent TV though, as Silo is once again among the best shows of the year – and not just because of its plot or impressive production design. More on that later.
This week, Mechanical find their food supply spiked with rat poison. The class divide inside the silo is getting bigger by the day and clearly someone is trying to put a stop to Mechanical’s attempts at finding out the truth about the place. As you’d expect, rat poison in the food brings more anxiety and disarray to the lower levels, but surprisingly, Walker (Harriet Walters) steps up and pulls everyone back together. Her encouragement to not let the literal higher-ups drive them apart is the most sincere we’ve seen the character since we were introduced to her in season 1.
So far, Walker has been the silo grump who prefers to take of herself and those very close to her, so seeing her step up and be a leader of sorts feels monumental for the character. Walters has been one of the highlights of Silo, a series full of great performances, but she’s always been on the sidelines of the narrative so I’m hoping this will make her more central to the plot.
While Mechanical are trying to find something that won’t melt their insides to eat, poor Lukas is still trying to decipher Salvador Quinn’s letter found on the hard drive Juliette had. Mayor Holland’s desperation is also growing by the minute, and his staff are already suspicious of him. Holland’s inherited power as the mayor is the only thing keeping him afloat, but his days do feel numbered at this point, which is probably why he makes a surprising decision in the final scene of the episode.
And what is Juliette up to while her old silo is slowly descending into chaos? Glad you asked. Juliette isn’t doing very well, you see. As we discovered last week, Solo has lied to her about his identity, making her realise she’s trapped in the silo with a potential madman, but now her arm is also infected.
What Silo does very well is giving you that sense of constant danger. Every scene is coloured by the fact that rebellion or violence could break out at any moment. Silo 18 is on the brink of war and Juliette is toeing the line of not angering Solo, potentially making him a threat and asking him to help her. After all, Juliette isn’t able to navigate and escape Silo 17 on her own. Now she desperately needs antibiotics, and guess who knows where they are? Solo. Figures…
If Silo season 1 was all about the mysteries of the silo and what really happened to the world, season 2 is about politics and freedom. Season 2 is a much more politically charged season, and while Silo has always been interested in class differences, the show is now much more critical of governments. If films and TV shows tend to reflect the public’s anxieties of the time period they were made in, Silo says an awful lot about the current state of affairs, particularly in America. And it’s precisely this that makes Silo one of the most powerful shows on TV right now.
We reported earlier this week that Silo has been renewed for two more seasons, with season 4 to conclude the series. It’ll be interesting to see not only where season 2 ends, but where seasons 3 and 4 will take us. Will the people of Silo 18 break out, only to die outside? Are there more survivors in other silos? We’ll likely be waiting a while, but they say good things come to those who wait.
Silo airs new episodes every Friday on AppleTV+.
