S02.E04: The Harmonium

[AnimeMania]

Juliette sets out on a dangerous quest to retrieve a suit so she can return home and save her silo. Mechanical plans a meeting with Judge Meadows.

Premiere Date: December 6, 2024         Apple TV+    

[tired and hungry]

Bernard out there playing 5D chess🤯

[Zaffy]

Of course this episode was really interesting, but  I hate the pace of this show. A whole episode almost in real time while ppl from the mechanical are climbing upstairs. Which I wouldn't mind if the season was 15 episodes long.. aaaargh, it is like if they film it page by page from the book or something. And they want to end it in 4 seasons? yeah right!

there is also something that is really bugging me (I quote myself from the Reddit sub):
ok, I just don't get it: why is convenient to "blame the mechanical"?
These people basically keep the Silo running. But it seems everyone treats them like they are expendable. Jules is gone, her shadow is dead and now Bernard wants to get rid of the head of the Mechanical and two of the best mechanics. Who on earth is gonna fix the generator if things go wrong? And who is gonna stop the people from the Mechanic to barricade and stop the generator again? What the raiders will do? kill them all and run the generator by themselves? I have no clue how this is addressed in the books, but for me it is a huge plot hole.

 

[ofmd]

12 hours ago, Zaffy said:

Of course this episode was really interesting, but  I hate the pace of this show. A whole episode almost in real time while ppl from the mechanical are climbing upstairs. Which I wouldn't mind if the season was 15 episodes long.. aaaargh, it is like if they film it page by page from the book or something. And they want to end it in 4 seasons? yeah right!

 

Same here!

Also, I already find mystery box plots for one seasion daunting... and more often than not, the resolution disappointing. The big mystery spread across 5 seasons... I'm not sure I want to watch it. Maybe I'll quit and come back when it's all finished. Or maybe not because I really start to get bored.

Even though we got the answer to a relatively big question: Silo Gov have no clue why the silos were built and what initially happened. Also, was it just confirmed that Solo was the little boy we saw briefly?

As for your other point... Well, that's not unlike in society as a whole: The working class have the lowest status even though they could theoretically make everything stop and break down if they refused to work. Even today, with all the mechanization and robots, but more so in the past. 

I'm also a bit tired of the factg that they kill off all the interesting characters (except for Juliette and Romeo, I mean Lucas, I'd bet). I suspect our little delegation of four are toast, too. At least one or two of them. My money is on Knox at the very least, because he had an anvilish moment of sharing.

 

Edited December 7 by ofmd

[Zaffy]

19 hours ago, ofmd said:

As for your other point... Well, that's not unlike in society as a whole: The working class have the lowest status even though they could theoretically make everything stop and break down if they refused to work. Even today, with all the mechanization and robots, but more so in the past. 

I get what you say, but the circumstances are different in Silo.
In our societies there millions eager to take the place of rebelling workers. There is a big pool of people in the lowest status to replace them.
But not in Silo. 
And I think this is a big plot hole in the story and very poorly written.
I guess they want to do parallels with our society but it is not realistic.
When the survival of the Silo depends on everyone doing his/her job, you can't just treat whole groups of people like this. 
It is not that if the Mechanics go on strike are others ready to come in their place.
The Silo existence relies on a very delicate balance with  human resources   extremely limited.
Actually I find it weird that the Mechanical does not belong to the privileged classes of the Silo.

Edited December 7 by Zaffy

[ofmd]

Yes, it's definitely not exactly the same.

But legal punishment is draconic, and in my headcanon, whoever rebels will be sent to the mines (or cleaning).

I have more trouble with the whole premise. If it is simply that there was a catastrophy (war/ enviromental/ whatever) and humanity made the silos so some could survive, it makes no sense that there are such rigid laws for every micromanagement thing. Or that there is no communication between the silos. At the very least, you could join forces in terms of entertainment!

Or why are there exactly 50 silos... etc etc.

[Zaffy]

3 hours ago, ofmd said:

Yes, it's definitely not exactly the same.

But legal punishment is draconic, and in my headcanon, whoever rebels will be sent to the mines (or cleaning).

I have more trouble with the whole premise. If it is simply that there was a catastrophy (war/ enviromental/ whatever) and humanity made the silos so some could survive, it makes no sense that there are such rigid laws for every micromanagement thing. Or that there is no communication between the silos. At the very least, you could join forces in terms of entertainment!

Or why are there exactly 50 silos... etc etc.

Well, we do not know the bigger picture, like how people ended in the Silos, what kind of disaster happened, etc etc.
But still,  you are right, if you think it well, the whole thing is not realistic.
As the "Judge" said, people are not meant to live in such  places without horizons, so I can only guess they believe that ruling like this will keep them from trying to escape and have the Silo collapse.
But still, applying draconian rules never managed to last long and at one point people will rebel.
Since everyone's cooperation is needed for the Silo to survive, having a class system of upper levels and down deepers makes no sense. Rebellion is inevitable. And as you wrote, why not keep people up to date? Why they shouldn't know that there are more people out there patiently waiting for the air to clean? Why not allowing communication between the Silos, that would definitely made life a bit more tolerable?
The whole thing seems more like an experiment of some kind (once?) lead by a lunatic or a cult leader. 

[jacehan]

In terms of it making sense, “the purpose of a system is what it does.” If something doesn’t make sense for the long term survival of humans, perhaps it’s not the point, but rather replicating a strong class system is?

[tennisgurl]

I'm sad to see the judge gone so quickly after she was introduced again, this show is often a bit too quick to kill off characters, but it was interesting how it all played out. Bernard clearly wasn't thrilled, and he did try to make her passing peaceful, but that's still pretty cold. 

I get the feeling that something like what's happening now is how things started out at the dead silo, where I am assuming Solo was a kid when everything went down. I get that Juliette has a lot going on and is trying to figure out a lot, but talking to him and trying to parse what's he's talking about is probably going to answer quite a lot of her questions. 

My guess is that the whole "blame mechanical for everything" is more about controlling the populace via class system than anything else, although its just one of many questions I have about The Pact and why the silo's are run the way they are.

[AnimeMania]

[Charlemagne]

On 12/7/2024 at 5:04 PM, Zaffy said:

I get what you say, but the circumstances are different in Silo.
In our societies there millions eager to take the place of rebelling workers. There is a big pool of people in the lowest status to replace them.
But not in Silo. 
And I think this is a big plot hole in the story and very poorly written.
I guess they want to do parallels with our society but it is not realistic.
When the survival of the Silo depends on everyone doing his/her job, you can't just treat whole groups of people like this. 
It is not that if the Mechanics go on strike are others ready to come in their place.
The Silo existence relies on a very delicate balance with  human resources   extremely limited.
Actually I find it weird that the Mechanical does not belong to the privileged classes of the Silo.

But, the thing is that - in the context of Silo - if the goal is to foment war by demonizing a group of people... it pretty much *has* to be Mechanical.

It's why they are specifically chosen every time.

Precisely because they are so critical.

It is easier to turn all the others against them because needing someone that much breeds resentment. As does Mechanical having specialized skills.

It's an age-old story that goes like this:

Those who we need and who are able to do or provide what we cannot, we learn to fear - for what happens if they take their stuff/skills away?

And what we fear, we come to resent.

And what we resent, we come to hate.

And what we hate, we want to destroy.

All it takes is a spark from someone who wants to burn things down.

[Zaffy]

3 hours ago, Charlemagne said:

But, the thing is that - in the context of Silo - if the goal is to foment war by demonizing a group of people... it pretty much *has* to be Mechanical.

It's why they are specifically chosen every time.

Precisely because they are so critical.

It is easier to turn all the others against them because needing someone that much breeds resentment. As does Mechanical having specialized skills.

It's an age-old story that goes like this:

Those who we need and who are able to do or provide what we cannot, we learn to fear - for what happens if they take their stuff/skills away?

And what we fear, we come to resent.

And what we resent, we come to hate.

And what we hate, we want to destroy.

All it takes is a spark from someone who wants to burn things down.

with that logic/attitude/mentality the Silo(s) should had been destroyed/collapsed many many years ago. You resent what keeps you alive and you go after it, well then you die. 
So, in our story/universe, still doesn't make any sense.

Edited December 11 by Zaffy

[Charlemagne]

19 hours ago, Zaffy said:

with that logic/attitude/mentality the Silo(s) should had been destroyed/collapsed many many years ago. You resent what keeps you alive and you go after it, well then you die. 
So, in our story/universe, still doesn't make any sense.

It makes perfect sense in the context of the Silo. The mistake you seem to be making is taking an "all or none" approach to it when that's not the intent in the Silo game plan.

It's a periodic culling.

Like when people do controlled burns in the woods. The goal is not to get rid of the entire forest... just a part of it.

The whole fabric of the Silo's hierarchy relies on fear. Including the fear of the uprising/rebellion. They use it as a tool to control the population. "Remember the stories of the uprising? Yeah, well, if you don't want that to happen again... you had best follow our laws."

But, the thing with such threats - a Boogie Man, if you will - is that if the Boogie Man never actually appears, the power of the threats diminishes. Therefore, every 140-150 years (depending upon how many Silo members get too curious and start to question too much), an uprising is orchestrated.

And every time, Mechanical is chosen as the Boogie Man who appears. For reasons I already stated. They are the easiest to get people to turn against them.

Think about how Immigrants are a target every US election cycle. And then, after the election, no one seems to talk about invading caravans. Replace "Immigrants," with "Mechanical," and there you have it.

[Zaffy]

On 12/11/2024 at 10:19 PM, Charlemagne said:

It makes perfect sense in the context of the Silo. The mistake you seem to be making is taking an "all or none" approach to it when that's not the intent in the Silo game plan.

It's a periodic culling.

Like when people do controlled burns in the woods. The goal is not to get rid of the entire forest... just a part of it.

The whole fabric of the Silo's hierarchy relies on fear. Including the fear of the uprising/rebellion. They use it as a tool to control the population. "Remember the stories of the uprising? Yeah, well, if you don't want that to happen again... you had best follow our laws."

But, the thing with such threats - a Boogie Man, if you will - is that if the Boogie Man never actually appears, the power of the threats diminishes. Therefore, every 140-150 years (depending upon how many Silo members get too curious and start to question too much), an uprising is orchestrated.

And every time, Mechanical is chosen as the Boogie Man who appears. For reasons I already stated. They are the easiest to get people to turn against them.

Think about how Immigrants are a target every US election cycle. And then, after the election, no one seems to talk about invading caravans. Replace "Immigrants," with "Mechanical," and there you have it.

I think like we are beating a dead horse here... but IMHO, the mistake   you make is that you compare what has been happening to our society with the one of Silo, where the needs and the conditions are very peculiar. What happens in our world, cannot happen in Silo without having the later self-destruct. You cannot blame and punish people you  desperately need  to survive and you have no one to replace them with. The Silo has a history of at least 140 years.  It is simply impossible to have lasted that long with treating the Mechanical this way. Silo cannot just be a microcosm of our current society.

Edited December 13 by Zaffy

[Charlemagne]

On 12/13/2024 at 3:21 PM, Zaffy said:

I think like we are beating a dead horse here... but IMHO, the mistake   you make is that you compare what has been happening to our society with the one of Silo, where the needs and the conditions are very peculiar. What happens in our world, cannot happen in Silo without having the later self-destruct. You cannot blame and punish people you  desperately need  to survive and you have no one to replace them with. The Silo has a history of at least 140 years.  It is simply impossible to have lasted that long with treating the Mechanical this way. Silo cannot just be a microcosm of our current society.

The whole point of Silo - as a story - is as an allegory/commentary on our real world. That's its purpose as a work of art.

It's just another iteration of Plato's Cave. Like The Matrix was - which also featured periodic cullings.

It is 100% meant to be a microcosm of not just our current society but our past and our future societies because that's how Human Nature works... in cycles.

The Silo = Society. It's a literary stand-in

And you can absolutely blame and punish people you desperately need if A) the people in power fear them and worry about them getting too organized and b) if the people in power feel that those they desperately need can reasonably be replaced in a reasonable amount of time.

If people who are desperately needed were never blamed or punished... there would never have been things like Slavery. Or a need for things like Unions.

It's a very old tale. And Silo is simply re-telling it in a slightly different package.

Edited December 14 by Charlemagne