Mechanical Rises Up In ‘Silo’ Season 2, Episode 6

Mayor Holland’s grip on Silo 18 continues to slip in Episode 6 of Season 2, which is imaginatively titled “Barricades” and finds Mechanical rising up from beneath Judicial in ways both literal and figurative. Meanwhile, Holland’s already tenuous grasp of his remaining institutions becomes even looser. At this point, it only seems like a matter of time before the whole place collapses in on itself.

And maybe that’s for the best? Sure, the earth is a highly toxic irradiated wasteland, so it isn’t like everyone can go wandering, but even that would be better than the slavish adherence to made-up scripture that justifies the powerful maintaining their power through deception, exploitation, and murder. The truth is a powerful motivator, and the citizens of Silo 18 want out. But to get there, they want up.

Man the Barricades

The episode’s title comes from Holland’s largely failed efforts to contain Mechanical to the Down Deep, hoping to starve them into surrender by suspending food deliveries while a sympathizer laces whatever gets through with rat poison. But rebellious sentiment has spread, and a care parcel from floor 122 comes with a note reading “Juliette Lives”. It won’t be so easy.

Bernard postulates at the top of “Barricades” that only nine missed meals separate a functioning society from chaos. I wonder if there’s a similar metric for lies? Just how much can a “leader” mislead his citizenry without them having enough? How much of the truth needs to be revealed to provoke an all-out rebellion? As it turns out, that chaos can’t wait for another nine meals. It’s brewing already.

This is thanks in large part to Shirley and Knox, who despite some reluctance manage to unite Mechanical against their oppressors and lead them up through the floors to ambush Judicial’s barricade and force it back. They manage to recapture ten floors, with the barricade being repositioned on Floor 120. That leaves 122, a farm level, for Mechanical. As Holland frustratedly points out, you can’t starve out a rebellion that has access to its own farm. Oops.

Holland Attempts To Fight Back

Since Holland is rapidly running out of options, he spends most of Silo Season 2, Episode 6 putting all of his eggs in Lukas’s basket. He’s still trying to decipher Salvador Quinn’s encoded love note, but it’s proving a little too complex for a rudimentary Caesar Shift (a simple substitution cipher that Holland mentions.)

We don’t make a great deal of progress here for now, but Holland and Lukas do figure out that deciphering such a complex encryption will require Lukas seeing the Legacy, so Holland swears him in as his shadow. I’m sure Robert’s response to this will be hilarious since he was already furious to see Lukas out of the mines.

Then again, Holland confronts Camille about helping Knox and Shirley, and while she has a convenient excuse about respecting the rule of law, it’s fairly obvious that Holland isn’t going to trust anything major to the new Judge. I can see this relationship being the next one to break down for Holland, leaving him even more isolated and dependent on Lukas.

Steve Zahn and Rebecca Ferguson in Silo | Image via Apple TV+

Billings Makes His Choice

I was obviously correct in my prediction that it would be Dr. Pete Nichols who ended up being recruited to keep Patrick Kennedy alive. Kathleen sneaks him downstairs to patch Patrick up, and while he’s reticent at first even after being treated, the threat of Sims makes Patrick loose-lipped. He tells Billings about Juliette uploading something to every computer in the silo. Details are scant, but it’s enough to shatter the official line about what she was doing, why, and where she ultimately went.

It’s the same thing with Martha. She refuses to talk to Billings or Hank until they find Carla, but when they can’t do that because she has been conveniently disappeared, she starts talking too. With his suspicions mounting, Billings walks in on Knox and Shirley kissing in celebration of their victory and asks them outright if they’d swear on the Pact that what they said about Meadows’ death was true. They would. And so he makes his decision.

Billings radios Mayor Holland and tells him he knows where the fugitives are—but he won’t share the information until he has conducted a full investigation into Judge Meadows’s death and the attack on the Down Deep Deputy Station. Holland orders communications to cut immediately. He knows he’s rumbled and has lost his sheriff’s department.

Juliette Lives

We see very little of Juliette in Silo Season 2, Episode 6, as much as her name is used as a firebrand among Mechanical. While Pete is in the Down Deep, he goes to visit Martha to discuss Juliette with her, asking her about the different tape she used for Juliette’s cleaning so that everyone else didn’t have to watch her collapse on the hill, and also asking her if she believes Juliette really does live. Martha doesn’t think so.

But Martha’s wrong, as we know, and as we’re reminded when we see Juliette snap awake in Silo 17. It turns out she had an infection, a bad one, which was pretty obvious. Luckily, Solo has treated her with antibiotics. Unluckily, he is withholding her suit until she agrees to fix the pump on the lower floors which will eventually flood the silo, killing Solo.

Juliette isn’t thrilled by this demand, since she’s trying to race back to Silo 18 as quickly as possible. But Solo seems pretty adamant about it, so I think we know what she’ll be doing in the next episode. I’m sure all that stagnant water will be great for her injury.