There’s a wafer-thin line between chaos and order and we’re about to see just how fragile that demarkation point is in Apple TV+’s “Silo” Season 2 episode 2 titled “Order” as we transition from Juliette’s big revelation that she’s not alone in the dead Silo 17 in last week’s premiere and return to her old abandoned home in Silo 18.
There, in the wake of Juliette’s accomplishment of striding over the hill and vanishing to the surprise of onlookers in Silo 18’s cafeteria, the unpredictable seeds of revolution and civil unrest are being planted. We now are in a tinder box of fear and mistrust as we witness the effect this event has had on the citizens and Bernard can feel the inevitable shift like a nest of swarming hornets (a metaphorical insect he’s presumably never seen before). But nevertheless, it’s a stressful time in Silo 18!
We kick off this chapter with Bernard in the server room observing the recorded video feed from Juliette’s helmet as she crunches across the carpet of skeletal bones left by the foolish fleeing inhabitants of Silo 17. This seemingly takes place the same day she took her shocking stroll. He’s obviously disturbed by what he sees and immediately consults his Founders bible, “The Order,” for protocols to enforce in the event of failed cleanings and the disturbing answer is… Prepare For War.
Notice also that this secure server room door is identical to the vault door in Silo 17 where Juliette discovers one blue-eyed man still alive peering through the portal.
As silo klaxons blare in the aftermath of Juliette going rogue, Bernard invokes an emergency curfew and orders Sims to keep an eye on Juliette’s father and detain two people in the Down Deep that he feels are complicit in Juliette’s suit survival. Riotous folks in the cafeteria wrongly conclude that since Juliette marched to where no one has ever gone, that it’s perfectly safe to go outside. Shirley had read Walker’s note to Juliette mentioning the safety tape and concludes that it was swapped out.
Cooler heads prevail for a moment, but the assembled mob is done with the lies and threatens to cut the power and shut the silo down. Walker arrives to end the hostile turmoil by drenching them down with a high-pressure water hose.
Deputy Billings questions reality as well and takes Sims’ statement on whether or not Juliette asked to go outside when apprehended for being in violation of the silo’s relic laws for the secret hard drive she had discovered. He presses Sims in a tense confrontation, hinting that Billings doesn’t believe Sims about Juliette’s banishment.
Meanwhile the idea that Juliette is still alive is becoming very real. The sheriff’s department comes to take Walker and Carla into custody for questioning, while in her dreary cluttered apartment, Judge Meadows is told the news that Juliette walked over the hill, causing Bernard’s former shadow to question everything and pour out her drug-tainted vitamin juice into the sink for mental clarity.
Sensing that an uprising is nigh after clashing with a severely unhinged Shirley, Knox detours down to the mines to talk to his wheelchair-bound friend to ask that no weapons be forged if anyone approaches him, along with a second silent request that will likely play into the plot down the road.
Bernard is feeling desperate and visits Meadows to obtain her counsel on the dire situation that might quickly escalate into full scale rebellion. Here we learn more about their relationship when Meadows worked in IT beneath Bernard prior to her time in Judicial. He decides that a speech to the citizens is necessary and hatches a plan to spin the incredible story into a brighter light where Juliette is a hero.
During his emergency speech, Bernard lies convincingly and tells people that the tape on Juliette’s suit was an IT prototype that was thought to allow longer exposure to the toxic elements outside, an experimental aid that Juliette bravely agreed to test out for them when she “voluntarily” exited.
A strict curfew for the silo begins, but Shirley is not backing down and begins recruiting folks to join an open rebellion that will hopefully lead to the truth, but not everyone is onboard. Visibly shaken, Bernard instinctively knows that the ugly fate of Silo 17 could easily repeated itself there as “Juliette Lives” graffiti starts to appear around the silo hastily scrawled as a cryptic “JL” and rebellion simmers further!
Finally, in exchange for Meadows’ continued help and endorsement during this brewing crisis, Bernard agrees to put aside a supply of the good tape to seal a new survival suit for her as she declares her intentions to go outside and find freedom like the Wizard from “The Wizard of Oz” in his State Fair hot air balloon.
“Silo” Season 2 streams weekly each Friday exclusively on Apple TV+.
