S02.E01: The Engineer

[AnimeMania]

Juliette finds sanctuary in a silo long ago destroyed by war, thinking she’s alone.

Premiere Date: November 15, 2024         Apple TV+    

[marinw]

Silo and Cobria Kai drop on the same time! Where do I start?

 

[Zaffy]

I found it kind of meh... From one point, I loved the whole "engineering part" but dunno, there was something lacking and  I am also not a big fan of the flashbacks. I think this show is "stalling" for no reason. It is like having way too much filler time, which is annoying when they show an episode per week. I guess if we could binge watch it would be different.

[Straycat80]

I only wanted to see if outside was ok. Apparently not. I don’t think I want to see Juliette McGyver her way around another silo. This series is too dragged out and you can’t binge watch it. Plus it’s so dark I can barely see what’s going on. I’m out. 

[Quickbeam]

I’ve read the books for which I am grateful because I don’t know if I’d been able to figure out what was going on in this episode. I love the lead actor, she’s great. This episode was so dark I had to sit in a dark room right on top of the TV. I thought the walk to the next silo was so creepy. 

[Mindthinkr]

I get it. Juliette is resourceful, but for that usage of energy I wonder why she didn’t try to find some nourishment. At least she found water. 

Why ever would the guy at the end try to bait her with the music (Moon River) only to tell her that he’d kill her if she tried to open the door again? 

I agree with everyone who has stated that this is so dark (in brightness) to watch. I get that they have no natural sunlight, but we watchers clearly need to see more than odd bits and pieces to put together what’s going on. 

[ofmd]

18 hours ago, Mindthinkr said:

Why ever would the guy at the end try to bait her with the music (Moon River) only to tell her that he’d kill her if she tried to open the door again?

If he has been alone in that silo for decades (or years, depending how long someone else was with him before he died), I have no problems believeing he's just... a bit crazy. Many people go psychotic after a few months of solitary confinement - and they see wardens on a daily basis. This guy has been all alone.

So he probably wants contact, but is also confused and scared and maybe thinks he's hallunicating or whatever.

I wonder if this is the young boy we saw at the beginning of the episode, or if not, then this Russell someone mentioned.

I am still confused about why, if they were not lying about the outside, the silo government(s) resorted to lies, and no contact or even knowledge about the other silos. (I'm assuming that is the same in all the silos, if they are still populated.)

I'm back to one of my earlier theories: This is all a grand-scale experiment. Maybe there is just one different variable in each silo. And someone wants to see what happens in each of them, which one will revolt first, or whatever.

And yes, it is too dark!

Edited November 18, 2024 by ofmd

[HerkyJerky]

2 hours ago, ofmd said:

am still confused about why, if they were not lying about the outside, the silo government(s) resorted to lies, and no contact or even knowledge about the other silos. (I'm assuming that is the same in all the silos, if they are still populated.)

Same!

[Mindthinkr]

I almost think there is communication between Bernard (Tim Robbin’s character) and the head of the other Silos. I inferred that when Juliette went to scrub and he stated that “ she knows” (paraphrased). There must be an important reason that they keep them hidden from their societies. Have no idea why…other than they were trying to keep them from sharing germs (spreading diseases). If they’d all been interbreeding for 140 years you’d think they might do an exchange for new genes. Just thinking 🤔 

[tennisgurl]

That opening was a gut punch, that other silo did the whole big revolution, waving flags for freedom, all of that stuff we love...and they all died because the management of the silo really weren't lying about the outside being deadly. Juliette stepping over all those skeletons, including the rebel lead with the flag, followed by his wife and young son, was a hell of a way to start the season. 

The rest of the episode was pretty slow, especially for a season premier, but it felt eerie watching Juliette explore this dead silo, and Rebecca Ferguson is so great that its easy to follow her around for a whole episode. Good news, she found someone in the silo. Bad news, he seems pretty unstable, which makes sense if he's been along in a dead silo for probably years. 

There have to be a lot more secrets to be revealed, starting with why all of this secrecy to begin with. Why keep the existence of of other silo's a secret? Why the fake perfect outside world if they want to keep everyone inside, and for good reason? 

[Zaffy]

I dunno how it is in the books, but the thousands of dead bodies outside the Silo do not make sense. Since they seemed to have died in the Silo's perimeter, it means it only took a few mins. The stairs leading out are narrow and each Silo contains aprox 10000 people. So, the vast majority of the people should had seen that the ones outside started dying and had the time to close/seal the doors, stay inside and try to figure out if there was something they could do to survive. Except if they were all suicidal.

I guess there must be a Silos government or something. The heads of each Silo and maybe a central Silo that coordinates everything.

the biggest mystery though, is how/why the Silos were built?
An experiment (as someone already suggested) or a series of catastrophic events that worked as a warning? Cause it must had taken a  LOT of time to build all the Silos. We are talking about at least 18 of them. Or maybe a kind of James Bond villain trying to destroy the earth? 

[diebartdie]

1 hour ago, Zaffy said:

I dunno how it is in the books, but the thousands of dead bodies outside the Silo do not make sense. Since they seemed to have died in the Silo's perimeter, it means it only took a few mins. The stairs leading out are narrow and each Silo contains aprox 10000 people. So, the vast majority of the people should had seen that the ones outside started dying and had the time to close/seal the doors, stay inside and try to figure out if there was something they could do to survive. Except if they were all suicidal.

Check the scene again, you'll see there were many bodies crammed in the big out-door doors. Watch the flash-back. The revolutionaries were jubilant, full of the knowledge that thy were right and righteous, they flew open those big doors and took off outside, more and more comrades right behind...and then, people started dropping fast, literally just dropping dead where they stood. Others saw this, panicked, turned to go back inside causing a jam up, they dropped and then there was a crowd stopping the doors from shutting.

The visuals of all those skeletal bodies was probably an exaggeration but tv is a visual medium so it makes sense.

[Redcookie]

When did Juliette cut and color her hair?

[Zaffy]

1 hour ago, diebartdie said:

Check the scene again, you'll see there were many bodies crammed in the big out-door doors. Watch the flash-back. The revolutionaries were jubilant, full of the knowledge that thy were right and righteous, they flew open those big doors and took off outside, more and more comrades right behind...and then, people started dropping fast, literally just dropping dead where they stood. Others saw this, panicked, turned to go back inside causing a jam up, they dropped and then there was a crowd stopping the doors from shutting.

The visuals of all those skeletal bodies was probably an exaggeration but tv is a visual medium so it makes sense.

this would work as you described if we talked about a couple of thousands. The stairs are narrow and create a bottleneck. Imagine 10000 people trying to come out. Even without poisonous air this would take a lot of time. At one point they would be able to close the door and at least a few hundreds would had survived.
 

[Anela]

23 hours ago, Redcookie said:

When did Juliette cut and color her hair?

I thought it was different. 

[Joimiaroxeu]

I was mostly stunned by all those dead bodies and skeletons Julliette had to walk on to get inside the other silo. She has an excellent ability to compartmentalize.

[pasdetrois]

Too damned dark. I tried the Brightness command on my smart TV for the first time, to no avail. So for an hour I listened to thumps, crunches, bangs and curses without knowing what the hell was going on.

Agree with too much Mcguyvering. Wasteful episode.

[endure]

On 11/15/2024 at 8:22 AM, Zaffy said:

I found it kind of meh... From one point, I loved the whole "engineering part" but dunno, there was something lacking and  I am also not a big fan of the flashbacks. I think this show is "stalling" for no reason. It is like having way too much filler time, which is annoying when they show an episode per week. I guess if we could binge watch it would be different.

You CAN binge watch, just wait until the episodes are all up.

[endure]

On 12/3/2024 at 8:53 AM, pasdetrois said:

Too damned dark. I tried the Brightness command on my smart TV for the first time, to no avail. So for an hour I listened to thumps, crunches, bangs and curses without knowing what the hell was going on.

Agree with too much Mcguyvering. Wasteful episode.

I watch it on my iPad with the lights off, seems to  help.... (but falling asleep is the biggest risk 🥹)

[Natalie25]

On 11/18/2024 at 8:43 PM, Zaffy said:

this would work as you described if we talked about a couple of thousands. The stairs are narrow and create a bottleneck. Imagine 10000 people trying to come out. Even without poisonous air this would take a lot of time. At one point they would be able to close the door and at least a few hundreds would had survived.
 

It's not necessarily 10000 people trying to escape. There was a war prior to this - who knows how many died in that, or due to other failures (loss of power, lack of food). And there's dead bodies inside the silo who probably died in other ways. 

[mjc570]

Love the show, but this episode was a COLLOSAL waste of time.  Also, as other have mentioned, too dark.  I don't see any point in having Juliette flashbacks at this point, we know she is an engineer/tinkerer.  

I'm giving the show the benefit of the doubt, at least until the next episode, because I really liked how S1E10 really tied things up, in terms of relating to the clues (so to speak) we were given throughout the season.

[Rahul]

On 12/3/2024 at 11:53 AM, pasdetrois said:

Too damned dark. I tried the Brightness command on my smart TV for the first time, to no avail. So for an hour I listened to thumps, crunches, bangs and curses without knowing what the hell was going on.

Agree with too much Mcguyvering. Wasteful episode.

This is why I will never get rid of my Panasonic plasma sets. I could see everything just fine.

LCD TVs have terrible black levels. Anyone who had issues with the darkness should look into getting higher end OLEDs as it’s the only technology capable of rendering acceptable black levels now that plasmas are all but defunct.

I found this episode to be a bit dull and I was really irked by the obvious change in Rebecca Ferguson’s hair from last season to now. She did not have a blonde bob. Do better, Apple.

[seth]

Latecomer here, didn't see S2 E1 till last night (Jan 13,2025.) Appreciate the above comments, but I have to ask the most OBVIOUS question that I don't see posted here yet.

If all "Silo 2" inhabitants rushed outside (except for Steve Zahn) and died, leaving an abandoned silo with no one inside running the generators, fans, etc. how could there still be breathable air for Juliette after removing her sealed air suit, and where is the electricity coming from to power the scattered lighting we see?

Judging by the skeletal remains at the door, virtually the entire population of Silo 2 has been dead a loooong time. Even if the "inner door" stayed well-sealed, preventing the so-called 'poisonous air' from contaminating the inner silo, without a running generator and air source, the inside would have no fresh air to breathe, nor the electricity for the few visible lights and Mr. Moon River's music loop.

Come to think of it, even in the first season in Silo 1, what is the air source?? If all outside air is poisonous, and you can only regenerate the same air in an enclosed space for a few weeks at best, how was there decades worth of fresh, breathable air for the 10K in Silo 1? And if you can't go outside and find liquid fuel or some other combustible agent to power the generator, what powered all the lighting and other electrical needs in Silo 1.

Edited January 14 by seth

[Mindthinkr]

@seth Although your question may not be answered specifically, you will gain a lot more knowledge of what’s really happening in Silo #2 when you get to current episodes.