Silo Season 1 Episode 5 Review: The Janitor’s Boy

This is Juliette’s story, and everyone else is just living in it.

Silo Season 1 Episode 5 dug deeper into the mysteries of the Silo, but it left us with more questions than answers.

We’ll start with Marnes because it’s very difficult knowing Juliette has to proceed on this mission to unearth what is truly happening without him.

Juliette understood Marnes wasn’t all that fond of her, but they had a mutual respect for one another because they knew someone was killing innocent people inside the Silo.

Killing off Marnes so soon was another lesson that we should not become too attached to any of the characters because everyone is fair game, thanks to the cutthroat nature of the corruption in the Silo.

Sadly, Marnes went out while reeling from the death of the woman he loved, but you have to give some credit to Bernard for planning the ultimate smokescreen to keep people from asking questions.

With the rise of deaths inside the Silo, there had to be some form of answers to allow people to believe they were in a safe environment, well away from the perils of the outside world.

Bernard: I’m guessing he had his skull crushed in with the butt of his own shotgun. It couldn’t have been easy. Marnes was made of iron, anger and spite.
Juliette: Who are you?
Sims: This is Paul Billings. He’s your…
Juliette: Oh. That’s the guy you wanted to be sheriff.
Sims: He’s your new Chief Deputy.
Juliette: The old one’s not even cold.

Knowing Doug killed Marnes, it was only a matter of time before he tried to take out Juliette because she was unraveling his lies quickly.

Doug looked deranged as Juliette chased him down the stairs, only for him to pop up from nowhere and knock her off the rail.

Juliette is proving to be the best Sheriff in Silo history because she is already well aware of sketchy things happening behind closed doors, so of course, she would follow every lead.

While it was smart to use Holston’s badge to break into the apartment and find the evidence being used against Kennedy, it was hard to shake the feeling she was being watched.

Juliette: I don’t have time for messages…
Sandy: I don’t have any fսcking messages. I just… I need to know what’s going on.
Juliette: Billings went to his friends in Judicial and came back with a name. Ralf Melby. They want me to waste my time arresting Melby while they get their patsy.
Sandy: Patrick Kennedy.
Juliette: Yeah. That’s gonna make me look incompetent, they’ll send me back to Mechanical, and Billings gets the badge.
Sandy: You sure they’re setting up Kennedy?
Juliette: I know a search is gonna turn up rat poison and a drawing from Marnes’s wall.
Sandy: How do you know that? If he’s their patsy, you requesting an arrest warrant means Judicial’s gonna send a goon to get him right away.
Juliette: That’s why I’m going.

Without a warrant, how would she have been able to explain what she did if someone like Sims had caught her?

The good news is that Juliette was thinking multiple steps ahead of the people trying to take her down.

It’s unfortunate, though, that Juliette didn’t get the chance to call out Doug to his face for his actions before his death.

As far as predictable deaths go, Sims throwing Doug over the rail was something I called when Juliette realized what they were trying to do.

Doug’s actions were despicable, but props to Sims for knowing how desperate he was to become his shadow and get answers about Silo’s biggest secrets.

It’s been evident since the beginning that Sims has had a more prominent role in the insanity inside this compound than we were being led to believe, but now that we know there’s a janitor’s door that has a lot happening behind it, it makes me wonder what is happening there.

Sims’ story about the bully was a big hint about what’s to come, but I’m unsure whether anyone else in the judicial knows about the door — or what’s behind it.

The deep dive into how Judicial is more concerned about restoring order than the facts of any cases was highly concerning.

Juliette: Hank?
Hank: Jules.
Juliette: Hey. Hey. What are you doing here?
Hank: Oh, I, uh… I got an invite to the burial.
Juliette: Really? I didn’t see you there.
Hank: Yeah. Um, funerals aren’t really my thing.
Juliette: Yeah, they’re not really anyone’s thing. I’ll pay my respects heading back down.

You need order in a dwelling with 10,000 people, or else things could go — quite literally — off the rails, but without anyone doling out any real form of law, plenty of people will have been put away for crimes they did not commit.

Corruption runs rampant in the Silo, and I can’t wait to see how Juliette manages to navigate that because she’s faced adversity at every turn, despite being one of the few people who care about the truth.

The tricky aspect of Juliette’s mission is that Sims will be watching her every move and will be waiting for the moment he can take her out or get her sent back down to mechanical.

Juliette has had very few supporters, so forgive me for being surprised Billings was open to telling her his theory about judicial and their plan to make her look incompetent.

Billings was the name we heard to be sheriff too much despite never witnessing any development for him, so I have to imagine Sims believes he will be easy to manipulate and will help the corruption inside the Silo get more out of control.

I don’t believe Juliette will ever fully trust Billings, but Hank’s comments about accepting help wherever possible will likely make her think that she should trust him.

Juliette had a horrible day, and it’s hard not to think Bernard will throw her to the wolves when he gets the chance. He was against her for so long that it’s hard to accept this complete 180 in a matter of episodes.

Is it possible he knows that she’s smart enough to unravel the secrets inside Judicial and beyond, and knows being on her bad side will do more harm than good?

This morning, I ran a program to create a data set of Silo residents under the age of 46. A number I arrived at by taking 40 and adding 6. Forty being the amount of years that Ruth Jahns served as mayor, and six being the age of basic societal awareness, giving a total… of 5,496 Silo residents out of the current population of 10,112, for whom Ruth Jahns was the only mayor they ever knew. Mayor Jahns was a trusted and beloved leader because she knew the residents of the Silo, and they knew her.

Bernard

It’s unclear, but with many other characters perishing, Bernard will have much more screen time in the coming episodes.

Martha’s worry about Juliette was not unexpected. People from the lower levels are likely hearing broken stories about what’s happening up top.

In these scenarios, the stories tend to grow arms and legs, so there have been changes by the time they make it there.

Hopefully, Martha and Juliette can work together, enact a plan, and make significant changes in the Silo.

Juliette’s comments about the lights, thanks to Lukas, will likely lead to the truth about the screens because, as we witnessed on Silo Season 1 Episode 3, the screens are using a filter to skew the perception of the outside world.

“The Janitor’s Boy” was another solid episode of this post-apocalyptic drama.

What did you think of the death of Marnes? Did you expect Sims to kill Doug?

What’s your take on Sandy leaving?

Hit the comments.

Catch new episodes every Friday on Apple TV+.

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