Silo – Season 2 Episode 9 “The Safeguard” Recap & Review

The Safeguard

Episode 9 of Silo season 2 starts with us looking over at these scavengers. Turns out they’ve been here all along, and have been watching Juliette since she arrived in the Silo. They have a child too, and in the background have been fixing up armour and weapons, believing her to be dangerous.

Funnily enough, these guys have been sabotaging Juliette this whole time, including cutting the rope earlier in the season to make her fall in the water. One of the guys, Rick, actually threw her an empty container, which she used as a flotation device to stop herself drowning. The others, when they find out, are not happy.

The trio see Solo head out from the Vault and decide together that they need to kill him. Apparently he’s a killer and this catches us up to what happened last episode.

Solo held his own against Rick, but he’s saved by one of the women, who shoots Solo in the back with an arrow. After knocking him out, and leaving him for dead, Rick decides they should keep him alive. He has a whole stockpile of food in the Vault and they need to get in there.

Leaving him bleeding, Rick and the women head upstairs and take Solo, needing to get the code for the Vault from him. Audrey is not happy though, especially when she finds out that the blood trail could lead Juliette right to them. Well, as we know, it leads to the stand-off at the end of the previous episode.

The group decide to bargain, needing the food from the Vault. Audrey decides that Juliette has as much time as it takes for her babe to cry again and if she hasn’t worked a solution by then, fake-Solo is going to be killed and with it, all of her stuff gone.

Juliette unwittingly has the help of the girl called “Eater”, and together they work to get the code to the Vault. Juliette does, however, find something inside a bag in a closet, which we find out later in the episode is actually another suit to make it outside.

The real answers though appear to be found in the classroom, where all those numbers up on the blackboard now make perfect sense. It turns out this was left behind by those trying to get into the vault. Furthermore, the truth around the rebellion in this Silo now starts to take shape. This happened a long, long time ago and Solo (whose real name is actually Jimmy) was just a kid back then.

This gives Juliette reason to speak to Jimmy, who’s at least lucid and awake. He brings up that Russell was the one who entrusted him with keeping the Vault safe. He swore an oath but he wasn’t the Shadow – he was Russell’s son.

Understanding this, time unfortunately runs out as Audrey’s child begins crying. However, Rick stands in the way too and makes her stand down, knowing that there’s more going on here.

Jimmy was asleep the whole time, where people broke into the Vault and he trapped them inside, destroying the inside handle. In order to prove the validity of his story, he shows off the scar on the side of his chest. Jimmy has been haunted by the death of his father, who was killed right in front of his face for not opening the vault.

Eventually they manage to get inside, where we see how beautiful the inside of this Vault actually is. There are pictures up everywhere, along with paper birds, old Relics and a separate room full of food like ice-cream. Interestingly, there’s also an old Relic room, just like in our Silo, full of various trinkets.

Jimmy shows off a suit he’s been keeping safe all this time, and apologizes for not telling her sooner. Despite finding a suit, Juliette decided she didn’t want to leave because she found solace with Jimmy and wanted to help him.

In our Vault, Lukas realizes that there are 51 different Silos in total. He speaks to Bernard about this, who admits that yes, Juliette did make it to another Silo. Apparently all IT heads and their shadows know about the Silos, but this isn’t what Quinn was hiding. So as a result, he needs to continue.

Lukas does just that, and finds further evidence that he needs to investigate, stemming from the tunnel at the bottom of the Silo. He’ll “get his confirmation there”. Before he leaves, he heads back to see his mum and tries to get her to hide the Pact.

Paul realizes he was used as Sheriff and not put into that position because of his credentials. He decides that he needs to help the rebels and it could well be that all deputies will join the ranks, but Paul isn’t sure. Knox though, knows that there is someone up top they can use on their side – Camille Sims.

Unfortunately, Knox shows up and spills everything they have so far, including the Sheriff being on their side, right in view of the camera, which Bernard is watching. He wants to know the extent of Mechanical’s plan, and that puts Martha in a tricky position, especially if she ever wants to see Carla again.

Bernard continues his tirade, speaking to those in IT and spinning the tale that the latest raid from Mechanical was not for medical supplies, but actually to obtain gunpowder to blast open the vault doors. Bernard spins this to pin the plan on Paul Billings and Bernard strips him of his sheriff badge. Not only that, but they’re also going to be turning the cafeteria into a jail cell.

Lukas heads down to Mechanical and pleads with Shirley to let him pass. He thinks Juliette is still alive and promises to show her – if she works with him to find out the truth.

Meanwhile, Paul speaks to Sims and tries to work with him, explaining that the line for what’s right and just has moved. He hands over the old Relic (the slip of paper) and explains that he has no choice but to trust him to do the right thing. He speaks to Camille after seeing the old Relic and they realize the answers they seek could well be in the server room.

Knox returns to Martha and reveals that he’s figured out who the traitor is. He believes it’s Teddy’s mum. He’s going to change the game and part of that stems from using the rest of the gunpowder. Of course, he’s completely unaware that through all of this, Bernard is listening to everything.

Elsewhere, Shirley and Lukas head down to the depths of the Silo. Just before they dive into the water, Lukas brings up that Juliette could still be alive, given her helmet showed her make it to the other Silo.

The thing is, the water is only up to his knees, and nowhere near as deep as he initially thought. Chuckling in relief, Lukas heads into the tunnel, determined to find out the truth. As he steps inside, a voice booms that he will need to follow the directives, otherwise the Safeguard will be initiated. He agrees to play along and as he utters the words “I do”, the episode comes to an eerie end.

The Episode Review

Things are really starting to get interesting now, and the battle lines are well and truly being drawn. Whether Bernard is going to lose control of the Silo this season or not is still unclear, but given the show has already been renewed for seasons 3 and 4, it’s clear that Apple have put a lot of faith into this project, so it must be doing good numbers for the platform.

The drama involving Juliette in the other Silo is a lot more interesting this episode too and understanding how everything slots together like a puzzle is incredibly satisfying. The show has done a great job with that, and giving a satisfying pay-off to the way everything has turned out.

When it comes to the situation involving our Silo though, it’s clear that Sims and the others are starting to understand that all is not what it seems, and as more and more people start to believe the outside world is not a complete wasteland, it sets up a pretty tense ticking clock thriller, even if the show has taken its sweet time to get to the good stuff! Still, next week’s finale promises to be quite the wild ride.