In episode eight (“Hanna”) of AppleTV’s Silo, people are revealed for who they truly are. This is a recap and a review of the episode.
Spoilers to follow!
The episode contains several flashbacks to Jules and her mom, Hanna (Sienna Guillory). I’ve recapped that section here as a whole, followed by the segments that occur in the present.
When Jules is a kid, Hanna brings her to an illegal trade in a cornfield. In exchange for pills, they take a box with a rabbit in it. The rabbit is sick, and Hanna uses an illegal magnification device to look for and mend a hole in the rabbit’s heart.
Later, Judicial is tearing up their house in search of the machine. Jules overhears her mother arguing with her dad about the magnifier and how her goal was to help kids with disorders like Jacob, Jule’s deceased brother.
Hanna agrees to give Judicial the device, blaming Pete for snitching. After she puts it together for the squad leader, he smashes it. He then asks for the rabbit, but Hanna says it’s dead.
After they leave, Jules goes to her room and brings out the live bunny.
The next flashback takes place at her mom’s funeral, with Jules claiming her mom was a coward. She lets the rabbit go free in the corn.
Back in the present, Gloria gets a visit from Sims. She mentions how she remembers helping him and his wife conceive again after a miscarriage. He promises to let her get back to her daydreams if she tells him what Jules took from the vent. She admits that it was a bag Holsten had hidden in there.
Sims tells one of his guards that Jules has a red-level relic. Meanwhile, Jules, having evaded Judical, hooks the hard drive to a computer in the nursery. Unfortunately, the computer doesn’t have the clearance to open it.
Billings calls her to the office. Judicial is tearing it up under search from Meadows. It reminds Jules of when this happened to her house as a kid, but this time she’s hidden the relic beforehand (in a crib in the nursery of those constantly-sleeping babies. Honestly, where you do get a baby like that?).
Jules declares that Meadows wasn’t behind the raid but Sims. She storms off to Judicial and arrests Sims for breaking pact investigation protocols.
Once everyone leaves, she roots through Sims’ office, finding files hidden in a secret compartment. One of them is about her mother.
Jules goes back to her father and asks why Hannah killed herself. Pete claims it was because Hanna was depressed over the loss of Jacob and reacted outwardly by trying to help others. When the agents crushed her machine, she lost all hope. He explains how he let Jules stay in Mechanical because he thought it would keep her safe.
Jules explains how Judicial has devices to spy and that she used to think Pete had ratted her mom out, but now she believes him. They finally reconcile and hug.
An assistant arrives to say that Maintenance is waiting to fix the vents. Jules claims they’re here to install a spy device. She reveals the drive and says she’s going downstairs.
As Jules is late, Harriet waits nervously, then takes a few tentative steps towards leaving her room but cannot do it.
Lukas receives a note from Jules about the “W” in the sky. When he arrives, she asks him to help her get into the sysop hard drive. When he disagrees, she smashes the mirror and yanks out the camera. She tells him they have to leave, and she takes off.
Bernard gets Jules past a Judicial checkpoint, and they head to the cornfield to talk in private. Bernard reveals he knows about the hard drive, further revealing he led her there and right to Sims (who is waiting behind her). They claim she said she wants to go outside. Bernard explains he’s the one who knows and is in control of everything, not Sims. Jules takes off through the corn. She almost beats up Judical’s guards, but they apprehend her, and Sims takes her bag.
On the stairs, after Jules tries to plead with Billings for help, Sims loses his temper and punches her in the gut. Pretending to be winded, she breaks free of BIllings, grabs the backpack, and leaps over the railing with it.
Overall Thoughts
Despite knowing about Bernard’s duplicity from the books, Tim Robbins’ performance still managed to make this turn of events surprising to me (I’d honestly thought maybe they had altered things a bit for the show). The pacing of Silo so far is excellent, unveiling mysteries and deepening questions at a speed that ensures nothing is drawn out too long or seems rushed. And, thankfully, it was revealed that we are getting a second season!
The next episode airs June 23 on AppleTV+
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