Ryan Kirksey
The following recap contains spoilers for Silo S2E9, “The Safeguard” (written by Jessica Blaire and directed by Amber Templemore)
This Salvador Quinn mystery message is quite the large onion, it would appear. Every time we peel back pieces and layers of this mystery onion, it just keeps on going, with no end in sight. Now that we know what (most of) Quinn’s message says, we still don’t know what it means.
In Episode 7 of the second season of Silo, the idea was introduced that Salvador Quinn’s message could be deciphered with the right cipher or right combination of code-breaking capabilities. In Episode 8—frustratingly called “The Book of Quinn”—we learned what book acts as the cipher, and what the first line of the message says.
Now in Episode 9, “The Safeguard,” we understand what most of the message says and even what it prompts Lukas Kyle to do. But we still don’t know what it means. More on that in a minute.
Silo 17 actually seems like a better place to start. It’s a better place to start because the majority of the revelations and the question-answering occurs in this silo, but I’m not sure much of it matters. We are introduced to no fewer than seven new characters and character names, but will they matter after this season?
Silo 17 is a better place to start because it’s where our “main” character resides, but that character is now running out of precious time this season to make her way back to Silo 18.
“The Safeguard” actually begins way back in a moment from Episode 1 (“The Engineer”) where we see a different perspective of the moments when Juliette (Rebecca Ferguson) finds her way into Silo 17 for the first time. It’s the perspective of one of the rebellion survivors introduced in this episode, and we spend just a minute reorienting ourselves with scenes from throughout the season that prove someone was watching Juliette the entire time she has been in Silo 17.
The “someone” is Rick (Orlando Norman), Audrey (Georgina Sadler), young Benny, a baby, and “Eater” (Sara Hazemi), whose real name is not given. We also hear about Chase, who was Audrey’s father, and Tess, who was Rick’s mother. When Chase’s wife and Tess’s husband died, the two of them joined their families together and had Benny. From the best I can tell, the baby appears to belong to Rick and Audrey. “Eater” was an adopted daughter of Chase and Tess, but Rick and Audrey now consider her “just another mouth to feed.”
Rick and Audrey were left orphaned after Tess and Chase tried to take over the vault during the rebellion. The Sheriff (Ross McCall)—seemingly the leader of the rebellion—shot Solo’s (Steve Zahn) dad, who was the head of IT. That truth unveils the other big reveal in this episode, that Solo’s name is Jimmy Conway and he was the son of the head of IT, and not his shadow.
(This reveal that was teased four episodes ago was quite underwhelming for me, but far from the biggest sin in Silo’s second season.)
Solo/Jimmy was attacked by Chase and Tess but was able to lock them in the food vault, where they seem to have been suffocated. The reason why Rick and Audrey call Solo/Jimmy the “Killer” in Episodes 8 and 9 is because they believe he killed their parents. He technically did cause their death, but only they shot Jimmy in the stomach.
Juliette convinces them that the blood on both sides of the ledger is equal, so Solo/Jimmy shows them the vault he has lived in for approximately 40 years. He also gives Juliette her suit and helmet back, though Juliette had also found a second suit that apparently was available for the head of IT to use in case they ever got trapped somewhere in the silo and the air became unsafe.
If all this sounds complicated, that’s because it is. It’s further compounded by the fact that none of this new information and none of these new people might matter heading into Episode 10, the finale. Let me explain.
At this point in the season, there are a couple of certainties for Juliette and the people in Silo 17:
- She is going to go back to Silo 18
- There are, at most, two suits and helmets available
- Juliette is likely going to invite Solo/Jimmy to go with her
- Rick, Audrey, Eater, Benny, and the baby simply can’t go with them unless Solo/Jimmy gives up a suit to one of them
That means there were a whole lot of characters and and a whole lot of history revealed in this penultimate episode that probably don’t matter after the first few episodes of Episode 10. Solo is likely going to allow them to stay in the vault while he and Juliette go to Silo 18.
Is this a major problem? No, it just seems like a very complex way to get from one available suit to two. Is there a chance that we see these people again who will inevitably be left behind in Episode 10? Certainly, but we are clearly going to leave them for a while beginning next week and there were likely many other ways we could have discovered Solo/Jimmy was Russell in IT’s son and found out about the second suit.
In the end, we did get a large chunk of history about Silo 17, and Juliette will surely use that as a cautionary tale as she makes her way back to 18, her home silo that is still simmering on the edge of its own rebellion.
Over in Silo 18, Lukas Kyle (Avi Nash) reveals to Bernard (Tim Robbins) that he has uncovered Salvador Quinn’s message: There are 50 silos! But Bernard is like, “Actually, it’s 51 and every head of IT already knows that. Give me something I don’t know, bro.”
That sends Lukas back to Quinn’s copy of The Pact where he finally deciphers another large chunk:
“We think we’re the chosen ones but we’re just one of many. The founders didn’t build a single silo, they built 50. And they created the safeguard…
… reason be damned. If you don’t believe me, go to the very bottom of the silo. Find the tunnel. You will get confirmation there.”
I swear this thing is like one of those Christmas presents where no matter how many boxes you open, there are smaller and smaller boxes inside to inspect. That missing piece of the text must be the explanation of what The Safeguard is, but we aren’t privy to that information yet. Only Lukas Kyle seems to be at this point.
How do we know? When Lukas convinces Shirley (Remmie Milner) to let him explore the depths of the silo, he does find the tunnel where he encounters some kind of smart AI algorithm, similar to the one Bernard introduced him to in the Silo 18 vault. The AI asks Lukas if he knows what The Safeguard is, and he says that he does, implying that it was in Quinn’s message after all. We just couldn’t see that part.
There is one more quasi-Inferno, “Abandon all hope ye who enter here” warning from the AI saying only Salvador Quinn, Judge Meadows, and George Wilkins have made it this far. Is Lukas sure he wants to continue? What lies beyond this tunnel will surely, finally, reveal this secret of Quinn’s that caused Meadows to leave IT and caused George’s death as revealed in Season 1.
At least part of Lukas’s motivation is that he believes that Juliette could still be alive somewhere in the other 50 silos. Even Bernard confirmed that Juliette reached another silo but her suit transmission eventually cut out. I still believe Lukas is on the side of “good” in this whole endeavor (whatever “good” is in the silo) and is not just doing all of this for Bernard’s benefit. He wants truth, and the clearest, cleanest version of the truth seems to lie past that tunnel.
Bernard doesn’t realize it, but Lukas is about to potentially discover secrets of the silos that not even IT is aware of. That’s harmful enough, but elsewhere throughout the silo, things also aren’t working out so great for Bernard.
Knox (Shane McRae) seems to have figured out that the only person who would have been able to get Bernard a message past the barricade is Walker (Harriet Walter), so she must be the spy. He starts sharing what is likely false information with Walker so that she will throw Bernard off their scent.
Sheriff Paul Billings (Chinaza Uche) has fully committed his resources, including Deputy Hank (Billy Postlethwaite), to Mechanical and their cause. Knox and Shirley are skeptical but aren’t in a position to be picky about who they bring to their side of the rebellion.
Billings’ wife Kathleen (Caitlin Zoz) discusses the contraband page of the book with Patrick Kennedy (Rick Gomez) and the two discuss how IT has been lying the whole time. Then, Billings shares the page with Robert Sims (Common) who then shows it to his wife Camille (Alexandria Riley). These two seem to have also fully pivoted away from what Bernard wants and the episode ends with them discussing how they can get Bernard’s key to the server room so they can find out exactly what secrets he is hiding.
All of this leaves plenty of strings left to pull as we head into the Season 2 finale next week, but Kathleen Billings does a nice job summarizing and pulling it all back together when she is talking to Paul about the contraband page.
“Whatever happened, this was our world. We deserve to know where we came from, no matter what the Pact says. I know that makes you uncomfortable, but I also know it’s true.”
Well said, but I think the only thing that makes me uncomfortable is that the “whatever happened” part is unlikely to come this season. With two Silo seasons to go after this one, we are likely a few years away from learning that information.
But for now, let’s get Juliette and Solo back into Silo 18 and start that long journey all together.
