Breakdown and review of Silo season 1, episode 4: Truth

In the fourth episode of Silo, the aftermath of the mayor’s death has led Deputy Marnes to unravel, while Juliette is installed as the new sheriff and finds that she has inherited a ton of problems. In an opening flashback, we see Juliette’s family trying to revive her younger brother Jacob.

It seems like he has some kind of respiratory condition, but they are able to head off the attack. Then a quick fast forward bring us to Juliette finally arriving at the Up Top.

When she gets to the sheriff’s office she finds Marnes, Bernard, and Sims in a convo about the death of Ruth Jahns. Marnes believes it was rat poison.

Bernard just wants Juliette installed ASAP, or have her job given to his minion, Billings.

Silo season 1, episode 4: Mayor Pro Tem, I presume?

Oh yeah, and Bernard is now the pro tem mayor, as per the line of succession stated in The Pact. Maybe it’s kind of like the silo’s Constitution?

In any case, he’s the one who had a porter hurry Juliette up to the mayoral office level seeing that a murder has just taken place. We get another flashback from when Juliette was a pre-teen.

This time her mother and younger brother are gone and her father, the good Doctor Nichols, doesn’t exactly know how to deal with a young teen on his own, while managing a full load of obstetrics patients. Case in point, he wants Juliette to pack up her brother’s and mother’s things…on her own.

Doc must know a lot about child birthing, but way less about child rearing. He won’t be winning any parent of the year awards soon.

When Juliette reaches her new office it’s still night and she’s greeted by Sandy, who briefs her about all things sheriff. Sandy is also wary about folks from the Down Deep and an offhand comment about, “I have no idea what you eat down there”, prompts a snark reply about cannibalism from the erstwhile mechanic.

Winning hearts and minds everywhere, that’s Juliette. One thing that surprised her is that the display screen in the cafeteria is different from theirs in the Down Deep.

It’s cleaner. You can see there are stars lighting up the night sky, but they don’t know what they are, because why would they?

Silo season 1, episode 4: Recycling their possessions

When Juliette gets to the new apartment, she sees it’s been cleaned but there’s a note saying that if she finds any other items from the previous occupant, she should send it down to recycling. This prompts another flashback where the young Juliette goes down to recycling to hand over her mother and brother’s possessions.

One of the workers takes pity on her and tells her that she can keep any items she wants. Makes no difference.

Juliette grabs the wool horse her brother liked. Apparently he was 11 when he passed.

Now the horse toy is like her talisman. It’s heartbreaking and traumatic—so is the argument she later has with her father, who comes home to find burning eggs that Juliette didn’t know how to cook anyway, but she damn well tried.

We come to realize that this is why she left home. An absentee father and being alone with her grief about her dead mom and brother; the rift between them vast and unable to mend.

Silo season 1, episode 4: Swearing in the new sheriff

Bernard has come to Juliette’s apartment with her uniform and an assistant. It’s time to be sworn in.

The next day, Juliette is fully at work and is signing off on managerial stuff. Then a call comes through that Marnes is going amok, “questioning” criminals in full view of kids and all manner of folks.

Apparently, that means he’s been beating up criminals on the streets for leads on who killed Jahns. Marnes and Juliette finally have their time together.

And this is really the heart of the episode where, by exchanging notes and cross-referencing what they both know or suspect, they come to the conclusion that they are on the same side and must investigate how the murder of Jahns and Holston’s fate are intertwined. Juliette even shows Marnes that Holston gave her the badge with the word “Truth” carved on it.

This prompts them to start their efforts in earnest. They make a list of likely assassins, criminals with rat poison and knock on doors.

Results vary. Marnes earns a black eye for his efforts.

Silo season 1, episode 4: Father doesn’t want her back

Another flashback shows us how Juliette ended up a mechanic in the Down Deep from a child born into the upper class Mids. She faked a letter from her father and got introduced to the woman who would become her surrogate mom, Martha Walker.

Dad eventually finds out but takes the chance to send his daughter off early. This is how the rift between them became an ocean.

Juliette settles in and makes friends in the bottom 50. She never sees the upper levels until she’s made sheriff.

Back in the present, Marnes gets home tipsy from his grief drinking and finds an intruder in his apartment. They scuffle and fight, but the assailant is pretty good and, well, Marnes is a drunk old man.

The guys takes away Marnes’ shotgun and that’s that.

Silo season 1, episode 4: Got the file!

More emotional revelations come as we’re shown that Jahns was looking forward to her last term as mayor, as told to Marnes. And maybe in her retirement she and Marnes could have another go at their own relationship.

There’s also a moment when Juliette was in Recycling and some folks tell her that with her becoming sheriff, they were inspired and hoped that things might improve now that one of their own was Up Top. A friendly meeting between Sims and Marnes has them agreeing that Juliette should fail on her own, rather than following Judicial’s wishes that she be fired.

Sending her back down mad would just be awful optics for everyone. For the final revelation of this pivotal episode, Juliette finally figures out that the persistent noise from her air vent is actually the file on George Wilkins that Holston left her.

She pulls it up. Now we’re cooking.

You can stream episodes of Silo on Apple TV+.