At the end of the first season, Juliette was able to get out of the crater that surrounds the Silo, but out there it was nothing like she expected it to be. She saw ruins of a city far away and a dozen of such craters with a silo. The first episode begins at the same point as Juliette wanders around after almost running out of oxygen until she finds a Silo with its gates open.
The episode begins with a backstory set in the Silo. Initially, I thought it was the same silo from the first season, but it turns out to be the one that Juliette explores in this episode. The story of this Silo also has similar tones of rebellion that we saw in Juliette, however, in this case almost all the people residing inside it join the uprising to get out of the hole. The uprising seemed to be successful but the life of the rebels didn't last long as they all died as soon as they reached the toxic surface.
The first few minutes indicate that life outside Silo is impossible, then what is it Juliette trying to achieve? She would've easily gone back to her silo which is much safer than the silo she ultimately decides to enter. The whole entry was covered with skeletons making it hard for her to enter the place. The structure of this silo was similar; however, many things appeared to be destroyed, and the lower levels were submerged in water with dead bodies scattered throughout.
In this episode, Juliette is exploring the new silo in the hope of finding something which may indicate where it all started. She also hopes to find someone still alive in this underground ruin. She struggles to jump from one floor to another or one room to another. The single-character-driven episode only focuses on Juliette, who doesn't know herself what she is looking for over there. The episode jumps between her childhood flashbacks and the present day in the silo. We get to know how Juliette got interested in big machines and fixing them at the lowest level of the Silo and what motivated her to be the best in this field.
In all honesty, there isn't much to explain about this episode. Most of the episode is dark, literally dark, so if you are watching it in a brightly lit room, you might not be able to see anything. I would commend Rebecca Ferguson for managing everything independently and carrying the episode with her performance as Juliette. At the end of the episode, Juliette finally discovers a living human being. However, he appears to be filled with fear, his wide eyes darting around. When Juliette approaches the door, he raises it threateningly and warns her that he will kill her if she tries to open it. The tension hangs in the air, as both fear and uncertainty define the tense standoff.
The second season's first episode, titled "The Engineer," begins anew and reveals new mysteries, suggesting that an uprising in a world without breathable air may not be wise.
Final Score- [7/10]