Each week Joe and Terry discuss the most recent episodes of Apple TV’s Silo, alternating between our respective sites.

Missed a review? 1.01-1.02 / 1.03 / 1.04 / 1.05 / 1.06 / 1.07

Spoilers follow for Episode 7, “The Flamekeepers”.

Episode 7 “The Flamekeepers”:

TERRY

Last week you asked me what I thought about all of the priceless “relics” that are simply toys or things we’d use on an empty basis. So I found it funny, Joe, that an Etch A Sketch is proudly displayed, behind a glass dome, in the middle of Judge Meadows (Tanya Moodie)’s apartment. It’s a slightly comical moment, seeing the reverence shown to a device kids use to doodle weird art.

It’s also probably the only comical thing about “The Flamekeepers”, an episode that continues to slowly build tension and paranoia to the absolute breaking point as Raiders from Judicial descend upon Jules (Rebecca Ferguson).

Backing up, though, “The Flamekeepers” opens with the familiar face of birth advisor Gloria (Sophie Thompson), standing in sand and tracing the ridges of a shell with her finger. Her reverie is quickly broken and it’s revealed that she is in a medical facility, being constantly sedated. It seems as if she is being hidden away after giving Allison (Rashida Jones) important information concerning her desire to have kids, way back in episode 1.

After Gloria gets another dose of the sedative, Silo swings us over to Jules, still looking at the Chattanooga National Forest brochure, where, in the front of the book, names of the former owners are scrawled, including Gloria at the top. A search in her computer shows that Gloria is being held in a medical facility, so Jules packs up her things and sets off to find her.

Our Sheriff has a new lead.

Of course, as she leaves her apartment, the camera switches to the control room where Sims (Common) watches, instructing his lackeys to follow her. Jules finds Gloria, but she is so sedated she’s not making sense, telling no one in particular that she “left them by the water” that they don’t want us to know about. The nurse isn’t any help, aside from saying Gloria’s being kept here by Meadows and, like that, Jules is careening off to the Judge’s office where she is told Meadows is home sick.

While all of this is happening, Paul Billings (Chinaza Uche) gets a call of a riot breaking out on Level 26. Jules has turned off her radio, leaving Billings and some other deputies to charge into the fray and break up the fight. When Jules returns to the police station, empty handed, she finds the station filled with arrested people and Billings loses his temper at her, telling her that he had to cover for her with the Mayor. He’s owed a little bit of trust, he says, and wants to know why she’s neglecting her duties and “dishonoring that badge.” Jules tells him that George Wilkins was murdered, he comes up with a Pact-friendly way of reopening the investigation and Jules is off again, only to be accosted by the ever-charming Lukas (Avi Nash) who completely misreads the room and leans in for a kiss.

As if that’s not complicated enough, Jules gets an earful from Interim-Mayor Bernard Holland (Tim Robbins), who warns her that Judge Meadows isn’t happy he intervened on Jules’ part. “If I were to obstruct her efforts again,” he muses, “she would use some contortion of the Pact to remove me.” Even worse, he talks about the importance of the IT servers that take the energy created by the generators to fuel everything, from watering the crops to transmitting messages and circulating the air. If someone malicious were to get their hands on that, he suggests, “think of the damage that could be done.”

It’s one complication after another, Joe. It’s these little details and moments that really make the silo feel like an authentic and real place, as petty squabbles and power plays behind the scenes continue to fuel the detective story aspect of Silo. And we’re just scratching the surface of this fast-paced and short episode that is full of revelations and tension.

What do you make of Judge Meadows, her sickness, her tears and the idea that she might not actually wield much power? And speaking of revelations, did you like how close to home the conspiracy gets as Jules goes to her father, Dr. Pete Nichols (Iain Glen) for help? Or how about the biggest revelation of them all, involving Gloria, Jules’ mother and the titular The Flamekeepers?

JOE

You can tell that we’re closing in on the end of the season, Terry, because the secrets are coming out and the tension & paranoia are ratcheting up. There’s a surprising amount going on considering this episode is ostensibly just about Jules and her father breaking an elderly woman out of a medical ward to ask her questions about a brochure. Yes, that’s underselling the “meat” of the episode, but all things considered, this isn’t exactly an action-packed episode by any stretch.

And yet it’s hard to shake the idea that the walls are closing in. Even when Billings tries to keep the peace during the fight, the atmosphere feels like a powder keg; when he yells at Jules later, there’s both a sense of cathartic release (I actively yelled “Get her, Billings!”), as well as a sense of inevitability. The pair had to get to this point and work out their shit because they’re running out of time.

I did think it was curious that this episode apparently takes place after the national holiday that was referenced last episode. In hindsight it makes perfect narrative sense, though: there is no release valve for these people. Not any more.

We’re barreling towards the truth alongside Jules and nothing can derail this now.

And that means discovering things about her father and her own backstory that Jules may not be ready to face. When she finally confesses to Billings why she’s not doing the job, it’s clear that Jules is still upset by the revelation that George used her and discarded her.

But that’s nothing compared to the revelations she learns from first Gloria, and then her father, about how the silo effectively tries to breed dissent (aka Flamekeepers) out of the population under the auspices of keeping the gene pool clean. When Jules claps back at her father whether he ever questioned why this was occurred, you could feel the years of pent-up frustration and blame in her words.

I appreciated the judicious, but highly effective interplay of adult Jules and her young self (played by Amelie Child-Villiers, seen in “Truth”). It visually codifies how being near her father and assisting someone seizing reduces her back to her childhood experiences, and also prepares us for the big reveal that another aspect of Jules’ life was a fallacy.

I’ll confess that I’m unsure if the revelation that her mother’s death by suicide was either murder or directly tied to the Flamekeepers would have landed more strongly had we known more details before now, but this wound up being a bit ho-hum. It works to confirm that the conspiracies of how the silo operates have been in place for decades, and that it touches everyone (even when they don’t realize it), but between this and the reminder that Dr. Nichols’ lied about removing birth control (which we knew from episode 2), the family secrets in this episode didn’t hit as hard as they could.

Of course there’s only a dozen or so other secrets, lies, and mysteries waiting in the wings. Judge Meadows was one surprise: the woman not only admitted she lacks the capacity to make certain decisions, but she seemed terrified of Jules’ inability to stop asking questions. The “He” in question who is pulling the strings likely refers to Sims or, if we’re being honest, Bernard (that “good guy”persona is clearly a masquerade), but it was unexpected to see the woman “sick” with booze during what Billings makes clear is a period of continued high tension.

The question now, Terry, is whether it’ll be a letdown if Sims or Bernard (or both) are the ones in charge and pulling the strings. Both men are clearly liars and the ease with which Sims calls in Raiders confirms how urgently he wants to keep a lid on Jules’ investigation. But Jules now has more intel and the hard drive with the silo blueprints in her possession.

Terry, do you think Judge Meadows is merely a figurehead and, if so, is Sims or Bernard really in charge? Were you surprised to learn that Jules’ mother and George’s mother were working on a magnifying glass? Did the family secrets pack enough oomph for you? And what’s worse: living in a society where every mirror is potentially a camera or being sedated for the rest of your life?

TERRY

Listen, I’m a homebody for sure, but I don’t think I’m cut out for life in the silo and, honestly, being sedated is probably the bleak route I would want to take if I’m being honest. Whew. When you break down the situation like that, Joe, it’s incredibly nihilistic.

As for who’s really in charge, well you’re right that this episode suggests that Judge Meadows is simply going along with whatever giant conspiracy is happening in the silo. It doesn’t sit well with her, particularly recently with all of the deaths starting to make people question long-held beliefs, but it probably started as a “better of two evils” situation. She obviously lives a life of relative luxury and all she had to give up was her soul.

So of the two characters you put forward, Joe, Bernard would make the most sense since he controls the IT and even gave Jules that quiet suggestion that IT in the wrong hands would be disastrous for the silo. The dramatic irony of him saying this is that IT is in the wrong hands if he is the mastermind behind everything.

I am curious, though, if neither of them are fully in charge and we’ll find out that there is someone else holding the reins and Bernard, or Sims, or both, are simply doing the same thing as Judge Meadows: accepting a horrible bargain for their positions of power.

I wouldn’t be surprised if we find out that none of the characters truly know the extent of the lies and that it is simply small town politics instead of something more on the macro level. But if that’s not the case, and we really are dealing with the actual people in charge, my money’s on Bernard.

As for the family reveals for Jules, you’re right that we knew all about the birth control mechanisms and that for us, these reveals are kind of muted. But I kept thinking about how much the last few episodes have rocked Jules’ world on a personal level. To think that George might have been using her to get more information, that her own father was complicit in the eugenics-style approach to birth control, that her mother was seemingly friendly with The Flamekeepers, and the realization that Jules is pretty much all on her own would be a lot to deal with.

It makes me curious to see how these revelations will affect Jules and spur her search forward.

But, Joe, we have three episodes left of the season. Do you think Bernard or Sims are in charge? And what would you like to see in these final three episodes? How is Lukas involved in this and do you think there might be a romantic future for him and Jules?

JOE

I definitely think that the series is hinting at a romantic future for Lukas and Jules, but given how much political intrigue is going on, I’m unsure whether the show - or Jules, for that matter - will have time to pursue it. Things are escalating quickly, so while the daily hang-outs to stargaze has plenty of romantic potential, these potential lovers might be…star-crossed (insert “Yeaaaaaah” opening from CSI: Miami).

As for who is really in charge, I’ve been suspicious that Bernard and Sims are in cahoots ever since Mayor Jahns was poisoned. I’ll confess that I don’t know if it’s something that I’m remembering from the book, or if it’s just the way these two men operate around each other, but they both control very significant pieces of the puzzle that controls the silo. Independently either of them could make it happen, but together they would be virtually unstoppable…which is exactly how this totalitarian regime appears to be operating, between the murders and the surveillance equipment and the re-writing of history.

All this to say that the truth will (obviously) need to come out before the finale. As for what’s coming in episode eight, “Hanna”? Ummm…well, I don’t know that we’ve met a character by that name yet, though considering some of the revelations that Jules discovers here, I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s somehow tied to the Flamekeepers. Aside from that, Jules will likely pay for springing Gloria from her sedation coma, so she may need to go into hiding to avoid Sims’ wrath.

I guess we’ll find out when we hop back over to Queer.Horror.Movies next week!