Another week, another sus death to investigate, on Apple TV’s Silo!
In the wake of Sims pitching Trumbull over a railing, Juliette and Billings in Episode 6 searched the Judicial grunt’s apartment, after the sheriff forced her way in with a crowbar. There, Billings discovered inside a kitchen cabinet the odd relic that we at home in the year 2023 know to be a duck-headed PEZ dispenser — just like the one George gave Juliette. Hmmm.
Juliette wants to use this discovery to launch what is called a relic investigation, but The Pact says that she needs Judge Meadows’ OK to do so. Securing some face time with the enigmatic (and sickly? Uh-oh…) judge, Juliette made her case, suggesting that the trade of illegal relics may lead them to understand why Trumbull killed Mayor Jahns and Deputy Marnes, and possibly prevent other murders. It’s a flimsy pitch, but Meadows gave her blessing — provided that Billings is stuck like glue to the new sheriff’s side.
Juliette took her and Billings to see Patrick Kennedy, the painter who for a hot second looked good for Marnes’ murder. Kennedy is involved in the relics trade, so Juliette leaned on him to cough up a contact. He eventually offered up a “Regina Jackson,” and when Juliette and Billings went knocking on the woman’s door, Regina recognized the watch on Juliette’s wrist — because she is George’s girlfriend. Or, she was, seeing as she was unaare that George died months ago.
Regina explained that George got what he wanted from her (the hard drive from the pilot, which George hid in the underground cavern) and then “moved on to the next thing, the next person,” down in Mechanical. Regina insisted she is no dealer of relics, she instead was tasked by George to buy things for him. It then became clear that there are no flies on Regina, who had gleaned what she and the clearly shook sheriff have in common. “When he told you he loved you, did you believe him?” she asked Juliette, cuing Billings to abruptly cut the awkward tension and exit them both stage left.
The PEZ dispenser then took center stage, as Sims summoned Juliette and Billings for a heated talk, with him and Bernard the interim mayor. Per Judicial’s own super-secret database, that odd plastic thingamajig, Sims notes, is on record as having last been in the possession of George Wilkins. And Juliette, everyone knows, is wearing George’s relic watch. So the question becomes, did Juliette also come into possession of George’s [PEZ dispenser] and then plant it in Trumbull’s home?
Juliette pleaded not guilty, and before Sims could press further, Bernard 1) compelled Sims to begrudgingly allow that Trumbull may have come across/pocketed the silly relic when searching George’s place months ago, and then 2) declared the investigation closed, lest silo residents come to suspect that Jahns and Marnes didn’t die of heart issues. “Some mysteries… are best left unsolved,” he said.
Afterward, Billings in private confronted Juliette about planting the relic for him to find, and how her actions are putting his career (and family) at risk. The two had a back-and-forth about trust issues, during which Juliette says she will “try” to be more honest with her deputy. She then flipped the table on Billings by pointing out that she knows that he has the Syndrome (an as-yet-undetailed neurological condition) and has been hiding it. Billings then retreated to his home, to literally cool down with his wife and child.
That night, after entertaining more sweet memories of George, Juliette radioed Martha to say that she plans to turn in her badge and head back to Mechanical. Martha, though, winningly argued that George never asked Juliette to pick up this mantle, that she instead chose to do it for grander reasons. “Let go of whatever it is you’re wrestling with, and finish the job,” Martha advised.
Juliette paid another visit to Regina Jackson, to ask what it was of great value that George gave her in trade for the clearly damning hard drive. Regina unzipped a secret lining to her front doormat, and pulled out something flat wrapped in leather — something that was given to George by an aunt, and had been handed down for generations, from pre-silo times! Regina firmly and conspicuously cautioned Juliette to not say anything aloud when she regards the package’s contents. We then saw Juliette at home, opening the leather to find inside a book, about the state of Georgia, resplendent with photos of nature, animals and such in the outside world.
But as Juliette processed the pages before her, the camera pulled back to reveal to us that she was being secretly surveilled by a hidden camera, and displayed on one of many high-tech screens inside a monitoring station somewhere.
One of the two men remotely observing Juliette’s reading of the book said to the other, “You have to wake him up,” even though it is the middle of the night. “He has to see this, now.”
What did you think of Episode 6? Who is “he”? And is it now past time for Juliette to “double the flowers in front of the mirror,” as Halston tried to tell her post mortem?
