Sumith Prasad
The ninth episode of the second season of Apple TV+’s science fiction series ‘Silo,’ titled ‘The Safeguard,’ revolves around the aftermath of Juliette Nichols’ confrontation with three individuals who have been living in her new home secretly. She convinces the trio that she is not a threat and earns their trust by trying to help them. Her efforts to assist the group lead her to secrets concerning her friend, Solo. Back in her real home, Lukas Kyle makes significant progress with the code written by Salvador Quinn. He realizes that the encrypted message is essential to “save” his silo and its residents! SPOILERS AHEAD.
Juliette Nichols Uncovers Solo’s Real Identity
‘The Safeguard’ begins with opening a small window into the lives of the three individuals who abduct Solo and attack Juliette. They are introduced as Rick, Audrey, and Eater. The first two also have a baby to feed. The group keeps an eye on the engineer and her companion with the hope of extracting food from the latter’s vault. Their parents are the ones who Solo accidentally killed for attempting to enter the vault. They inform Juliette that she will be allowed to meet her friend, who has the suit that is necessary for her to return to her silo and stop a rebellion from materializing, only after she opens the vault for them to lay their hands on food.
Since Juliette has no other option, she teams up with Eater to look for the code needed to open the vault. Their search leads them to the nursery, where they encounter several things that once belonged to the rebels and their descendants. That’s when her attention turns to the belongings of Jimmy Conroy, who shares his name with Russell Conroy, the head of the IT department at the time of the rebellion. As she continues to spend time in the nursery, she remembers how Solo has been lying about his real identity, which is related to how his age does not align with the events that unfolded in the silo.
Juliette’s recollection of the discrepancy convinces her that Solo was a child during the rebellion. Since a young boy couldn’t have been the IT shadow, she connects the dots and realizes that her friend was able to “shadow” the head of IT because the latter was his father. With this understanding, she rushes to Solo and asks him to open the vault for everyone. She convinces him that Russell asked him to shut it down for good to protect his life rather than to safeguard that section of the silo from others. Through Juliette, Solo understands that the people who hurt him don’t mean any harm, as they are only trying to feed themselves and their baby.
When Solo learns that there is a baby among them, he opens the vault to the rest of the group. He introduces music to the other survivors with the preface that it is better than ice cream. After the predicament is resolved, he gives Juliette her suit back. He realizes that the engineer hasn’t disappeared from his life only because she cares for him. As this realization sinks in his mind, he shares an affecting moment with his friend, who has to return home to save the lives of 10,000 residents.
The Rebellion Brews Stronger Than Ever With the Help of Paul Billings
While Juliette Nichols resolves a life-threatening conflict in her new home, Paul Billings tries to do exactly the same in his establishment. He meets with Shirley and Knox and offers his support to their cause. They are unsure about how much or to what extent the sheriff can help them, but they are happy to have him on their side. Knox even shares the update with Martha “Walker” Walker, only for Bernard Holland to listen to the same through the camera placed inside the old woman’s chamber. The mayor then fires Billings and starts to consider him as an enemy.
Meanwhile, Billings tries to garner the support of Robert Sims through the poster of a captivating outer world. The image stuns the current head of the Judicial, who becomes clueless about what he should do. Since the mechanical department sees him as an enemy, he cannot join them out of the blue. Having said that, if they win the war against Bernard’s authority, he will get an opportunity to replace the latter. Camille Sims, his wife, decides to join the rebels on behalf of her husband. Since she has already helped Knox and Shirley escape from Bernard, she has their trust to be one among them.
It does not mean that Sims is utterly useless. He informs Camille that Bernard can be brought down if he discovers what is inside the server room, which is a highly secretive chamber. When he served as the current mayor’s ally in the past, he noticed how the latter always rushed to the same room whenever an unsettling development occurred. These recollections make him embark on a mission to unravel Bernard’s secrets.
Lukas Kyle Finds the Tunnel and Learns About The Safeguard
After partially decrypting Salvador Quinn’s code, Lukas Kyle learns that there are fifty-one silos in the world rather than just one. When he informs Bernard of the discovery, the latter replies that every IT department head knows about these underground establishments. The analyst then continues to decrypt the message, which guides him to a secret tunnel at the very bottom of the silo. According to Quinn’s code, Lukas will find the answers everyone has been looking for in the tunnel. This message motivates him to go to the lower levels of the silo. He even tells Shirley that Juliette is alive in return for her help.
Lukas and Shirley go to the lowest level of the silo. Using a rope, the analyst reaches the bottom and notices a tunnel. When he enters the same, he is welcomed by “The Algorithm,” who informs him that only a few people reached the destination like him. Lukas is prepared to explore the tunnel, but The Algorithm informs him that he will have to make use of “The Safeguard,” a phrase mentioned in Quinn’s code ambiguously, if he decides to proceed. After listening to the warning, he replies that he knows all about The Safeguard, indicating that he cracked the code completely.
While what is “The Safeguard” remains a well-guarded secret, it is associated with what lies ahead in the tunnel. This particular tunnel must even be connecting two different silos, which is significant evidence to back Quinn’s claim that the establishment is filled with secrets and deceit.
Read More: What Book is Apple TV+’s Silo Based on?
