Each week Joe and Terry discuss Apple TV’s Silo Season 3, alternating between our respective sites.

Catch up on Season 1: 1.01-1.02 / 1.03 / 1.04 / 1.05 / 1.06 / 1.07 / 1.08 / 1.09 / 1.10

Catch up on Season 2: 2.01 / 2.02 / 2.03 / 2.04 / 2.05 / 2.06 / 2.07 / 2.08 / 2.09 / 2.10

Catch up on Season 3: 3.01 / 3.02 / 3.03

Spoilers follow for Silo S03E04 “Whatever You Do, Don’t Go Home.” The race to evade Camille leads Juliette to a shocking discovery. Daniel seeks help from a friend.

TERRY

What a difference a week can make, Joe. Just a few days ago, I was bemoaning the fact that the element of surprise seemed to have evaporated and all of the plot turns were too choreographed and, frankly, pedestrian. Then comes “Whatever You Do, Don’t Go Home” which not only ups the tension and focuses the story beats, but also ends up slipping in one huge surprise.

All the kudos goes to Jessica Blaire, an OG Silo writer (she penned the show’s second episode); she puts the focus squarely on three storylines and actually gives scenes time to breathe.

Up first: we have Sheriff Billings (Chinaza Uche) and his investigation into the disappearance of Orla Kent (Quelin Sepulveda). Last week, I bemoaned the fact that Billings wasn’t given much to work with and that the mystery of the missing person was introduced and then quickly dispatched when Orla’s body was discovered in the mines.

Turns out the missing person is the least interesting thing about Orla. Not only is she dead, but she wasn’t killed by the fumigation. Her lungs? Devoid of any mine dust. The cause of death? A blow to the head.

Orla was killed outside of the mines and then her body was hidden down a closed off tunnel in the mines. The only reason her body was found at all was due to Camille’s fumigation efforts. So now we have a murder mystery to give the intrepid Sheriff something more meaty to deal with and, there are already several suspects, including Glenda (Gemma Acosta) and Mike (Chris Fulton).

Mike because…well he’s the boyfriend and doesn’t seem too fazed that Orla is missing. And Glenda because not only did Orla take her job as McClane’s Shadow but also, well, Mike. Starcrossed lovers and upward job mobility? Maybe. But doubtful. They both seem like red herrings.

Then we have the political thriller in the past, where Daniel (Ashley Zuckerman) and Helen (Jessica Henwick) have their own missing person’s case with the disappearance of their contact Steve. Daniel attempts to use his connections to find out who Steve was playing online chess with when they talked to him. He goes to his friend in the Pentagon, who he calls Sam the Ram (Elijah Cook). Turns out that the two were in a band together and Daniel’s own nickname is Kenny G. Why? Because he played the sax in their 80s coverband.

Sure.

At any rate, Sam pretends like he’s not going to help but you know he will, Joe. Before that, though, our intrepid heroes run into the Creepy Old Man (???) who keeps popping up in the background. He was there when Helen was fired. He was at a serviceman’s funeral and I believe he was at the hospital where Charlotte was being seen.

He’s nameless (and creditless) right now, but he comes dangling an offer. For Helen, working at the Times. For Daniel, keeping his sister’s care funded. It seems like the amateur investigators have no choice but to stop pursuing the truth when Sam shows up with something so huge it causes Daniel to rent a (probably stolen) minivan from “the signpost guy” so they can remain inconspicuous. Who knows where he and Helen are off to? I guess we’ll have to wait a week to find out!

All of this, so far, is much more interesting than the previous episode. Maybe it’s because the focus is off Camille’s afternoons with AI and on more pressing, intriguing, and surprising plot developments. Maybe it’s the writer. Or maybe the show (and possibly the book? I have no idea how faithful this is so far) has finally written itself out of the corner that Jules’ return to the silo forced them into. Either way, this is a step in the right direction and I really hope it continues.

But I’ve kind of buried the lede, Joe. So let’s talk about the other storyline, which finally begins to dislodge Jules (Rebecca Ferguson) from a tired amnesia cop-out and towards some kind of truth.

But I’ll give you the honors of digging into this meaty bit of revelation and skullduggery. Did Jules and Nurse Amy (Jacqueline Berces)’s escape from Medical work for you? And now that Lukas (Avi Nash) is back and leading The Outsiders to find Jules, do you think the discussion over the outside world being a poisoned wasteland/paradise will finally be over? And, finally, what did you think about the surprising last few seconds of the episode?

JOE

We’re so in sync, Terry! I legit groaned as I hit play, thinking about another episode of Jules struggling to remember things and Camille plotting her take-over, but this episode shut my mouth real quick.

Part of it is legitimate stakes: Daniel and Helen aren’t just circling a hypothetical conspiracy, they’re literally hiding in her ex-boyfriend’s “off the radar” apartment because it’s not safe for either of them to go home anymore.

And that’s the least interesting storyline of the episode!

The silo stuff is really where the good stuff is happening. One of my favourite developments is that when Knox takes the fall to buy Shirley an opportunity to sneak into Medical, she *actually* overhears Camille and Sims discussing killing Juliette. So characters who were on the periphery/outside are now being brought into the larger storyline, which is a very exciting development! (And sure, this is a show with memory-wiping pills, so hypothetically this could all get walked back, but - for now - there’s a ton of potential!)

The other reason the silo portions work so well is that even though scenes do breathe (I agree with you), there’s a propulsive feeling to most of this. The pacing of the episode is really good, so scenes hum along for just the right amount of time to ensure we get what we need, but there’s no saggy downtime.

But we’ve delayed long enough because you’re right about the existence of a big surprise. Call me stupid, but I didn’t know who it could be hiding out on Juliette’s old shack pad down in the Void! In hindsight it’s very obvious that it would be Tim Robbins’ Bernard (who else?!) but I kinda thought the actor was just done with the show! But it makes sense now why Lukas has been so eager to prevent Jules getting down here and/or why he’s been off the grid for the last few months: he’s been caring for Bernard since the S02 finale explosion.

So yes, this is exciting, though I’ll confess that I don’t entirely know how it will move the story forward. Will Jules rely on Bernard to fill in the missing gaps in her memory? Does Bernard have more secrets to share about the AI and the silo’s history? I hope this great reveal continues to pay off and isn’t just here for a short/cheap twist.

Back to you, Terry: how dead is Sam now that he spilled those classified secrets? Why do you think Silo brought Bernard back? And is it just me or are we meant to question how much Sims actually wants Juliette dead (he was at the meeting location Mary directed Jules to). Is he secretly lying to Camille and/or working against her and the AI?

TERRY

Oh, Sam is totally wearing a Red Shirt in this show. For those who don't know Star Trek…he's in danger, girl.

I am glad you brought up Sims, though, Joe. He hasn't really been given much to work with this season so far, but when he showed up at the meeting location, it absolutely looked like he was there to help. The relationship between him and Camille has been…interesting. I never quite know where they stand between each other.

We spent a lot of the previous season comparing Camille to Lady Macbeth and their sneakiness bounces back and forth. Sims sometimes came across as an unwilling participant in all of Bernard's schemes in the first season. I kept going back and forth about his ruthlessness. At times, there's an almost resigned attitude whenever he did Bernard's dirty work.

Camille now has taken that role but I find her almost relishing the plotting. Meanwhile Sims appears to be operating with a different game plan. We're absolutely supposed to think he wants Jules dead. I mean, she threatened his child. From his perspective, he would be perfectly justified in wanting vengeance…which is why I think he actually wants to help.

Then there's the Bernard of it all. I was upset with myself that I didn't see it coming. We never saw him die last season and his alleged death was declared too quickly and easily. I would have expected a bigger ado to send off both the big bad as well as Tim Robbins in general. From a narrative perspective, I think he'll be able to fill in some of the mysteries. We're basically halfway through the season and we know Silo will end with Season 4. The show needs to start giving us answers as it careens to the end.

I hope we learn more when we go back to Queer.Horror.Movies to discuss “Memory”.