On episode 5 we finally get confirmation of something I was suspecting and gets me very skeptical for when real danger arrives because Robert Sims finally becomes more than the angry enforcer who spent two seasons wanting the power Bernard would never hand him, and only kinda did when they were out of options and turn Sims into his shadow but this was a desperate move that not even the algo took as a close deal, because when the time arrive it was his wife chosen as head of IT. Keeping Bernard alive gives the episode a strong center because its not one clean motive, its resentment, fear, curiosity and worry for Sim's son mixed together, and the episode never pretends one good decision wipes out what he has done. He has hurt people for years telling himself he was protecting the Silo and now Camille has him doing that same dirty work while keeping him in the dark, exactly the position Bernard always kept him in, except now he refuses to stay useful and uninformed. Saving Bernard is still risky, the man has lied to him, killed people and used him for years, but Sims gets that killing the only person who has read the Order just makes him useless to the system and at the same time hands Camille and the algo all the leverage. There is nothing heroic about saving Bernard, Sims always works on this best interest but this time might be noble, he needs Bernard to predict Camille, needs Juliette alive for what she learned in Silo 17 and needs the people he used to hunt down to pull this off. He is not joining hands with everyone asking to be forgiven, he is building a plan with people who hate him because everyone in that room has found something worse to worry about and its not anymore about if they going out of the Silo, its already known there are others so now it seems that the series is pivoting into how we going to get to those other Silo.
- IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt14688458/
- Platform: PRIME VIDEO
Bernard is now a beacon of knowledge so its just obvious he gets a lot more interesting once the episode leaves him burned, weak and depending on people he gave every reason to hate him, still they take every oportunity they can get a cheap shot. Shirley, Knox, Walker and Carla have zero reason to trust him, especially after he threw Shirley and Knox under the bus over Judge Meadows and turned the Silo against them and this is something I really like because it never feels like they are just this happy team, instead the episode never makes you believe or tells you to forget that just because he now admits he spent years following orders he believed would protect the Silo, all of the sudden this is a pure change of heart. I still do not forgive the guy, you really get to grow at least some dislike of him and I am not really sure how much of his help is regret versus just wanting to survive. He was ready to die before learning Juliette might know how to stop the safeguard, so staying alive gives him a reason to keep going, would he be on this position if he didnt got into the fire?, got to give it to Tim Robbins because the guy sells that uncertainty well. Bernard is in real pain, scared and out of control for once the Silo doesnt rusn around him, but he still knows more than almost anyone living in it, its just all the unconfirm knowledge of the Order that he has, the forgetting drug, the relics and the radio channels gives the group what they need and still he is not the one calling the shots, this drug and the relics now make so much sense why they never wanted them out in the wild on Season 1. Its alsmot like Bernard has to ask for trust after years of making trust him impossible, which is a much better use of the character than just killing him off, they flip the script and it gives his scenes with Sims real weight since both men now understand what it feels like to protect a system.
Juliette finally getting her memory back is the other reason this episode feels like the season moved past its slowest episodes, something that has always hunt this series but same as the relics the missing memory idea had a real point in here, at the end made this five episode so much worth, because the truth is that five episodes of waiting for her to remember the safeguard was starting to hold everything else hostage and this episode gives the answer room to breathe instead of dragging it into another long mystery. Sims and the rest gather relics tied to her life, some bring back pieces of George, her dad, and people she used to know, but at some point it felt useless like trying to solve a math problem they have no clue what the formula means, none of it gets her to remember the thing that matters. The Pez dispenser is what finally breaks through and its not just some random relic, it carries Sims own fear that the forgetting drug could wipe out his son and leave Anthony unable to remember him, such the irony almost like they kept a character alive for this three seasons waiting for this moment, imagine if you would know that realic would make it all the way to this episode and be what triggers her memory. Juliette used that same dispenser against his family once, so there is still anger wrapped up in it, but he gives it back anyway because her memory might save everyone, a real change for both characters, its just like that moment call for a white flag without apologizing to each other. Once Juliette remembers Solo, the poison and the pipe that can be capped, the episode gives the group an actual direction, she does not get every answer back which stop from it feeling too easy, but remembers enough to act. At the same time there are some other key factors like Walker figuring out the radio channels, Bernard knows how the Order responds, Sims built the hidden network and but there is still the missing supplies that even though Bernard does not demand that much, might be related to someone plan on their group.
[Source](https://www.amazon.com/gp/video/ detail/0GKY3CQGOYOPDSE76BWMJN5CK3)
As any other episode it aint perfect and my biggest worry is that the series keeps piling on urgent problems when the safeguard should be the focus so Im not sure if the entire episodes is trying to grasp too many problemsa the same time or will they be able to make the best out of each one. The second most important one aside from Jules getting back her memory is supply, where Billings finally learn why Orla was digging into Critical Supply and this matters a ton because the missing light bulbs are not some small theft, Carla explains the Silo used to have decades worth left and now there may only be enough for two years and the gardens depend on them, so stopping the poison will not mean much if the food system collapses right after. I like that consequence, it makes the theft feel bigger than someone stealing stuff to trade, whoever took those supplies stole years off the future of everyone living down there and Orla probably died getting too close to the answer, but she could have discover they were keeping Bernard so could be that someone fat finger and kill her on the spot. My real problem with it is timing, not the idea, there is already Juliette with the pipe memory, Camille moving against Sims, Bernard hiding below, Lucas and Patrick joining up, Walker testing new radio channels and the before times footage stacking on another mystery; making a pause here did you notice how good the episode was because they focus on the Silo only?, so yeah the supply case risks becoming one more thing that gets a few minutes a week while the show juggles which danger matters most. Billings has felt cut off from the main story for too long, he was key on season 2 and now feels like doing his cop thing in the background tying his murder investigation to the survival of the whole Silo could finally make his part in the season way bigger, I just need the show to commit to it. Two years sounds far off next to poison that can go off any minute, but an underground society running out of the lights it needs to grow food is not some side plot and now it has to keep the theft from getting buried under everything else, I just hope they give it the importance it should.
Episode 5 gets none of the second timeline, just a short scene with Daniel and Helen that says the obvious, but I care a lot less about who is controlling their vehicle than about the present day story moving forward. Their conversation about the people connected to Charlottes mission gets cut off when the vehicle changes direction without them touching anything, which backs up the idea that whatever controlled the before times might be the very same thing controlling the Silo, I wonder if they going to turn this into an Ai overlord story, I hope not and that there is a real group of people pulling the strings. The only purpose of this short scene is to work as a setup and as an ending because it creates danger without over explaining it and the current plot is finally strong enough that I did not need a bigger cliffhanger to close the episode. The best part of this episode is that none of the cooperation erases the damage between these people, Walker can use Bernard and still despise him, Sims can protect Juliette and still remember what she did to his family, Juliette can take help from both men without trusting either one, and even Bernard can explain the pressure Camille is under and might even predict her moves since its all based on a protocol, he has been on that kind of heat before so he knows the role. That is exactly the kind of conflict this show needs, power inside the Silo has never been simple and swapping out whoever sits at the top would not fix what controls everyone underneath. This episode finally lets its characters share what they know and make real choices that makes the story move forward instead of feeling stuck but there are still too many secrets fighting for space, best part is that it moves forward without pretending old enemies becoming useful to each or that they have become friends.
#silo, #memory, #juliette, #sims, #bernard, #camille, #walker, #billings, #orla, #relics, #safeguard, #poison, #pipe, #supplies, #lightbulbs, #gardens, #mayor, #judicial, #order, #radio, #mystery, #survival, #distrust, #rebellion, #television
Rating: 80/100
Originally posted through scrobble.life/tv.