Editor’s note: The below recap contains spoilers for Silo Season 2 Episode 4.

Silo Season 2 is one episode away from its halfway point, but events are already rocketing ahead at propulsive speed. The subtle, slow-burn nature of Apple TV+’s dystopian sci-fi series, where questions simmer and answers spool out according to a precise timetable, lends its most dramatic moments greater heft — and Episode 4, written by Sal Calleros and directed by Aric Avelino, strikes with a blow equivalent to a gut-punch. Now that one major character has met their untimely end, the consequences will undoubtedly ripple across the rest of the season.

Juliette and Solo’s Partnership Hits a Rough Patch in ‘Silo’ Season 2 Episode 4
Image via Apple TV+

After their face-to-face last week, Solo (Steve Zahn) and Juliette’s (Rebecca Ferguson) promising alliance is off to a rocky start. Solo is bursting with excitement over his new buddy, trying to strike up a conversation about his favorite things from “the Before Time.” For her part, Juliette meets Solo’s enthusiasm with distracted irritation. As she scribbles calculations on an old classroom chalkboard, brainstorming ways to survive a dive into the Silo’s flooded levels, Solo takes in all the markers of lost childhood that surround them: name tags written in sloppy handwriting, a mother’s hand-knitted blanket. Somber, he reminisces about the nice girl he sat next to in school, but gets cagey with Juliette asks what caused his scarred eye. The two successfully put their heads together long enough to MacGuver random parts into a makeshift underwater oxygen tube, but not before Solo almost dashes back to the vault, overwhelmed by a compulsive need to double-check its safety. It’s our first glimpse at just how much Solo’s solitude has scarred him.

Juliette’s underwater dive gets interrupted just inches away from her goal — a supply closet — when part of her contraption proves too wide to fit through a narrow opening. Having just managed to avoid drowning, she breaks open a metal storage locker with her bare hands before swimming back to Solo. As soon as her head breaks the water’s surface, Solo flees back to the vault and locks himself back inside its “safety.” He’s so rattled that he enters the wrong password and almost locks himself outside, which prompts him to suspect Juliette of tampering with the vault behind his back — even though they never left one another’s sides.

Juliette tries, and fails, to reignite their conversation. She didn’t realize how comforting Solo’s chatter was, or how much she would miss the compassionate company, until he meets her own monologue with cold silence. Said speech is one of Ferguson’s best scenes in the series to date, as Solo’s resilient, exhausted heroine admits how frightened, lonely, yet relieved she was when she went out to clean. It’s only when Juliette stands up to leave, wiping away intermittent tears, that Solo timidly peaks his head around the open vault door. Their timid peace appears to be reestablished, and with it, hopefully, the beginning of a beautiful friendship.

Tensions Reach a Breaking Point in ‘Silo’ Season 2 Episode 4
Image via Apple TV+

Over in Silo 18, (Shane McRae) and Shirley (Remmie Milner) resume their incomplete conversation about the wall of names in the Down Deep. After discovering hidden messages among the countless names, Knox suspects that a rebellion happens once every generation, and the names belong to Mechanical workers who died during the uprisings as either protesters or scapegoats. Determined to get the truth from leadership but wary of making any so-called “aggressive” moves, the pair agree to the most risk-averse plan they can think of. As head of Mechanical, Knox can request a meeting with Judge Meadows (Tanya Moodie), who might be more sympathetic to their cause than Mayor Bernard Holland (Tim Robbins).

Off-screen, Meadows accepts Knox’s request, and to say it doesn’t go over well is an understatement. Sims (Common) worries that Meadows is letting the Down-Deepers get too close, and voices his reservations with Holland. Bernard sides with Meadows, prompting Sims to quietly turn public sentiment against the Judge. If enough citizens demand her impeachment, then Holland might be cowed enough to start favoring Sims’ advice once again.

Over in Judicial, Paul Billings’ (Chinaza Uche) wife frets about the dangerous “mob from Mechanical” making the long hike upstairs. Said “mob” consists of Knox, Shirley, Martha Walker (Harriet Walter), and Carla (Clare Perkins). The latter two take a breather on a bench and reflect on the years they “wasted,” thanks in large part to Martha’s self-isolating fear. Knox, sitting nearby on an opposing bench, smiles at the ex-couple’s intimate moment before striking up an equally vulnerable conversation with Shirley. If Meadows agrees with their suggestion to send scouts outside the Silo, both of them would volunteer. Before these two can grow any closer, however, a sheriff’s deputy arrives to escort them the rest of the way. The order comes straight from Billings, who’s concerned about their safety from the increasingly violent protesters up-top, but too busy investigating the firebomb attack that took Cooper’s (Matt Gomez Hidaka) life — which looks more and more like an inside job.

Judge Meadows’ Story Reaches a Tragic Conclusion in ‘Silo’ Season 2 Episode 4

Meadows, meanwhile, meets with Lukas Kyle’s (Avi Nash) at his request. If you’ll recall, Kyle played a key role in Juliette’s investigation last season, a kindness that’s come back to bite him in the form of a 10-year sentence to the mines. Surprisingly, when Kyle asks why Meadows agreed to his request for a hearing review, they bond over their hunger for the stars and the outside world’s other mysteries. It’s a short-lived moment, however. Meadows remits Kyle’s sentence to five years and brusquely dismisses him to the sounds of a crowd chanting for her impeachment right outside her window.

Incensed, Meadows charges into Holland’s office, whose desk happens to be covered with impeachment demands from the public. He insists the movement isn’t his doing — but what did she expect? Even if she’s taking these meetings to make the Silo’s leadership “look fair,” extending kindness to Mechanical frightens the more privileged, higher-level residents. Holland then invites Meadows to dinner, incentivizing the offer with the promise of her environmental suit. The moment couldn’t feel more ominous, and our worst fears are confirmed when Holland slips a fast-acting poison into her food. He cites his need to obey the Order at any cost, and her death will be the perfect storm necessary to unite everyone against Mechanical. Tears streaming down her face, stumbling over her words in a rush, Meadows asks what Holland did with the hard drive Juliette found in Season 1. Holland claims he destroyed it — unfortunate for him, since it contained a coded letter from Salvador Quinn, the head of IT during the last rebellion 140 years earlier.

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Instead of sharing what the letter said, Meadows uses her last moments to set free the truth she’s withheld for 25 years. She didn’t resign as Holland’s shadow because she sought freedom from his clutches, but because she knew Holland could never love her more than the Order. The admission strikes Holland like a blow to the gut. His final mercy, as it were, is placing the Silo equivalent of a VR headset over Meadows’ eyes. Holland knows the footage by heart: a biological research reserve in Costa Rica, dated 2018, and he guides Meadows through the images, telling her when and where to look and the name of each wondrous animal she’s observing. As soothed as any murder victim can be, Meadows’ last words are a chillingly relevant query: “What did they do, Bernard? How did they lose this world?” Even though it’s a profound shame to lose this character right when she was flourishing, Meadows’ demise feels inevitable; Holland would never have set her free, no matter how gently he cradles her deceased body. Moodie and Robbins have always been each other’s best scene partners, and this heartwrenching exchange marks their best Silo performances to date.

‘Silo’ Season 2 Episode 4 Sets the Stage for What’s To Come
Image via Apple TV+

Some undetermined time later, Knox, Shirley, Martha, and Carla arrive outside Judicial HQ only to be denied entry. Carla reaches into her bag and drops a red ball all the way down into Mechanical. Once it hits, Mechanical shuts down the power grid and plunges the building into darkness. Holland offers them access if they turn the lights back on; cue Carla dropping the green ball to cue just that, in what’s quite the flex of the Down-Deepers’ inherent power. With an ugly smile, Holland escorts Knox and Shirley inside. Upon finding Meadows’ dead body slumped in her desk chair, a knife embedded in her chest, they instantly realize they’ve been set up.

Holland lets them leave before he orders Sims to keep them from gaining too much of a head start — and makes it clear he knows Sims orchestrated the push to impeach Meadows, and resents Sims for forcing his hand. Wearing quite the “if it isn’t the consequence of my own actions” expression, Sims riles up the protesters by pinning Meadows’ murder on Mechanical, stoking their fear and calling for bloodlust-tinged “justice.” Knox, Shirley, Martha, and Carla do have the tiniest head start, racing down the spiral stairs as fast as they can, but the only real “mob” in the Silo is right on their heels.

Your changes have been saved Silo One major character meets their untimely end in a gut-punch of an episode.ProsRebecca Ferguson, Tim Robbins, and Tanya Moodie deliver their best performances in the series to date.Losing Meadows this quickly is a surprise, but the decisive blow to our expectations suggests that more intense drama will follow.Juliette and Solo’s dynamic provides a pleasant contrast to Holland, Sims, and Meadows’ ruthless political conniving.

Your changes have been saved In a dystopian future, men and women reside in a vast underground silo governed by strict regulations, believed to shield them from the hazardous world above. The series delves into the complex social order within the silo and the mysteries surrounding their subterranean existence.Release Date May 5, 2023 Creator Cast Rebecca Ferguson , Common , Tim Robbins , Harriet Walter , Christian Ochoa Lavernia , Avi Nash , Billy Postlethwaite , Chinaza Uche , Iain Glen , Remmie Milner , David Oyelowo , Rick Gomez , Ferdinand Kingsley , Shane McRae , Chipo Chung , Caitlin Zoz , Matt Gomez Hidaka , Angela Yeoh , Olatunji Ayofe , Khairika Sinani , Will Patton , Akie Kotabe Studio Story By Hugh Howey Showrunner Graham Yost Expand

New episodes of Silo Season 2 premiere weekly on Fridays and are available to stream on Apple TV+.

Watch on Apple TV+