Summary
Silo trades intensity for character depth and careful build-up in “The Drive”, limiting the “Before Times” sequences again to instead focus on the burgeoning tensions underground.
As we move into the back half of Silo Season 3, there are still plenty of mysteries that we need answers to. Episode 6, “The Drive”, isn’t inclined to give them, though. It’s an hour of careful character building and plot development, allowing tensions to simmer in Silo 18 while Daniel and Helen become even more confused in the “Before Times”. There aren’t any massive developments here that are the equivalent of Juliette getting her memory back, but those are coming, and the setup for them is all here.
Let’s break it down.
A Rescue Mission
The bulk of the goings-on in Silo 18 revolve around Juliette’s efforts to facilitate a rescue of Jimmy/Solo and the kids from Silo 17 now that she remembers they exist. This is also doubly useful, since Silo 17 has some blueprints that will reveal where the Safeguard pipe feeds into Judicial, since the Silos are constructed identically. According to Bernard, whom Knox and Shirley transport to Martha’s workshop to hang out with Kennedy and Lukas, the hard drive showed two lines going into Silo 18: one into IT, which carries power from Silo 1, and one into Judicial, which carries — or can carry, in the event of emergency — enough gas to kill everyone inside.
Juliette’s play is to tell Camille that she remembers everything and petition the Algorithm directly for approval to travel to Silo 17 and bring the kids back to Silo 18. But the Algo isn’t having it. The numbers don’t work; on the contrary, they predict disaster. Juliette offers a string of compromises, including taking the memory suppressants again, allowing the Algo to drug the kids when they get back, and sending two people in her stead to make the journey.
Juliette’s first choice for the mission is, naturally, Knox and Shirley, who are more than capable. According to the Algorithm, though, they’re a bit too capable. Overall risk of survival in Silo 18 plummets in their absence. Request denied. This is probably good news for Knox, who was worried about Shirley going on account of her being pregnant, but it’s bad news for Juliette, who has to offer two more expendable citizens in their stead. In a calculated play, she volunteers Lukas Kyle and Patrick Kennedy.
This, the Algorithm approves. To Camille, though, it reiterates that Kyle and Kennedy will never reach Silo 17. It’s all a con. The Algo wants to take Juliette off the board by flooding the water system with Vitamin D+ and ensuring that nobody remembers her, preventing her influence from spreading virus-like through the populace. Camille, in what feels like a tantrum, already pumped the D+ into the water two hours previously. So, that’s pretty bad.
Trouble in Paradise
Camille’s paddy is on account of her new responsibilities as Head of IT and Murderer in Chief putting undue strain on her responsibilities as a wife and a mother. She knows that Robert is up to something, and that she’ll have to do something about it when she finds out what, and to make matters worse, Anthony has started stealing from school and lying about it (I wonder where he gets that from?)
To Camille, the Algorithm has become a kind of ally, someone who will listen to her and give her necessary respect by not leaving her out of the loop. But the power is definitely going to her head. I don’t see her marriage lasting the season, and if she carries on the way she’s going, she’s unlikely to survive. Anyone willing to drug an entire populace just because they’re sulking at their husband — her claims that Juliette represents an existential threat to the Silo really don’t hold much water — isn’t conducive to a good atmosphere if you ask me.
Where’s Glenda?
Elsewhere in Silo Season 3, Episode 6, Billings gives Hank the bad news about the lightbulb theft. On balance, “The Drive” is a pretty terrible episode for Billings, since it turns out everyone really, viscerally hates him. Mark gives him a lashing when he tries to ask a few questions about Orla Kent, since apparently he didn’t show a great deal of interest when Mark’s friend was thrown to his death by two Raiders during the rebellion. Desperate, Billings offers to provide the names of the Raiders in exchange for some information, so Mark reluctantly provides it — Knox’s father used to sell diamond drill bits as jewelry on the black market, so if anyone would know about a theft operation, it’d be him.
When Billings goes to see Knox, though, he’s just as hostile as Mark was. Knox has a pretty fraught relationship with his father, which he later explains to Shirley, but she manages to convince him that his daddy issues don’t really outweigh the importance of finding out who killed Orla. When Knox goes to track down his dad in the mines, though, he’s told that he apparently died two years previously, so I don’t imagine he’s going to be much help.
In the meantime, Billings goes to Emerson and forces her to pull up the camera feeds from the day the mines were gassed. Orla isn’t anywhere to be seen, but Glenda is visible disappearing into the mines. However, at the same time, or at least within a ten-minute span, she was also caught on camera in Supply. How can she be in two places at once? The answer to that question may help to reveal who killed Orla — and, perhaps more importantly, who’s stealing lightbulbs.
Backseat Driver
In the “Before Times” scenes, Daniel and Helen remain trapped in their hijacked van, which is being driven entirely autonomously by persons unknown. This gives Daniel and Helen time to bond even further, establishing their romantic chemistry. Helen might still be adamant that they haven’t been on any dates, but surely hiding out in the back of a van for hours qualifies?
Helen’s bright idea to hide out and hope that someone reports the driverless vehicle to the authorities doesn’t work quite as expected. The police do turn up, but only to provide an escort — led by the creepy fixer dude who tried to buy them both off earlier in the season — to wherever the car is going. That turns out to be a private airfield, where they’re greeted by Senator Thurman, who asks them if they’d like to help out in saving the world.
Who could say no to that?
