Life in Silos 17 and 18 isn’t getting any easier as we enter the sixth episode of Apple TV+’s “Silo” titled “Barricades.” And this is an apt name for this chapter as all the traumatized denizens of the bunkers suffer restrictions from barricades, both physical and emotional, as their unnatural subterranean life seems to be cartwheeling out of control since Juliette took a stroll outside.
We kick off this shorter installment than last week with the Down Deepers highly pissed off at the Raiders on the stairs, yelling and chanting through an imposing barred partition on Level 130 with a chaotic chorus of “Let them through.” Their regular food deliveries are being intentionally held back since they’re harboring Knox and Shirley who’ve been framed for Judge Meadow’s death.
Over in Walker’s pad, Shirley tends to Knox’s wounds as they pledge to get Carla back, the Head of Supply that’s being held in detention and interrogated for being a part of Mechanical’s rebellious coalition. Knox and Shirley visit the forge, where some of his friends reveal a small arsenal of homemade pikes, spears, clubs, and armored chest protectors. Time to ante up and kick in!
To add to their misery, the Down Deeper’s current food supply is being tainted by someone within, as their lettuce, fruit, meat, and eggs are being laced with powdered rat poison. Shirley addresses upset Mechanical residents in the cafeteria and swears they didn’t murder Meadows.
Up top with Bernard and Lukas, the devious IT Head revels in his plan to starve the accomplices out. In a killer line, he relates an interesting human truth that “Only nine missed meals separate a functioning society from chaos.” Watching his massive bank of video screens with the angry mob clashing with the Raiders, there seems to be more than a hint of veracity to that intriguing statement.
Meanwhile, Sheriff Billings messages his wife and orders up a doctor for Kennedy, who still has a bullet lodged in his chest. Juliette’s dad, Dr. Nichols, makes his way down past the barricade under false pretenses, past the Raiders, and administers aid to Kennedy by safely plucking out the offending projectile and bandaging the wound.
With the enforced barricade on Level 130 stopping their food supply, Shirley suggests that they try to reposition that barrier on Level 120, which would give them access to one of the Lower Midst agricultural farms on Level 122. Walker agrees to help Billings and Deputy Hank regarding the Meadow’s homicide but only if they determine the condition of her beloved Carla.
Over in IT, control-crazed Bernard consults with Lukas who is hard at work trying to decode Salvador Quinn’s cryptic letter by shifting some of the letters backwards or forwards, but it’s a stubborn problem.
Facing certain starvation, the Down Deepers march up the stairs to the barricade with their hand-tooled weapons, an industrial drill, and a concrete-cutting saw. It’s swiftly determined that they’re up to no good! A cable and winch are used to rip down the steel barricade and a surge of rebels storm up the stairs as the Raiders fall back. They reach Level 120, their objective, and there’s a tense standoff. A new boundary is established and agreed upon by overmatched Security Head Rick Amundsen.
As promised in exchange for medical attention, Kennedy spills the beans to Billings on what he knows about the outside world, including what was broadcast by Juliette onto every computer for ten seconds before everything went dark and citizens were told it was a systems reset. Only a handful of people saw the image of a verdant untarnished outside world before Bernard pulled the plug. But Kennedy wrongly believes that this image is not fabricated, which it obviously is.
Then in a creepy unsettling scene, Bernard has a candid one-sided conversation with Judge Meadows’ corpse in the morgue. He’s worried that over 140 years of stability might instantly crumble under his watch, and he breaks down crying, apologizing for what he felt he must do to restore order.
Billings finally gets the truth from Walker about what Knox and Shirley told her on the specifics of the Judge Meadows frame job. He has them swear on The Pact that this is 100 percent true and when they do, Billings radios Bernard to let him know he has the fugitives. But he won’t reveal their location until a complete investigation into Meadow’s death is ordered. Bernard responds by cutting all communication as he now realizes he’s lost the Sheriff.
Finally, Lukas has made a breakthrough with the confounding Quinn letter, figuring out that it’s much more sophisticated than first thought. To have any chance of deciphering it, Bernard swears Lukas in as his official shadow, and mentions that he needs to see The Legacy. Before we’re shown the secret area, we cut back to Silo 17.
In the last minute, we see that Solo rescued Juliette after she passed out just when she found the helmet. He’s mixed her up some antibiotics for her infected arm, but he’s not going to give her back the safety suit and helmet until she helps him fix the groundwater pump that’s flooding the silo!
While the majority of “Barricades” took place in Silo 18 surrounding the clash between Bernard’s Judicial Raiders and the Down Deepers, it was nice to drop in on our favorite pair of bickering survivors over in Silo 17 to remind ourselves of the entertaining chemistry these two characters display. This installment was on the brief side, but as we ramp up the action toward the final episodes the plot pieces are being maneuvered into position promising an explosive finish.
Until then, kudos to the Down Deepers for their temporary victory!