Old School. Biblically Independent.
By Dustin Rowles | TV | August 17, 2026
There was a lot going on in this week’s episode of Silo, “Radio,” and some of it seemed to confirm the connection between Harwood and Knox’s father, explored in last week’s recap. But before we get there, let’s look at the Before Times, when Daniel and Helen were taken by Per Stensen — a billionaire played by Colin Hanks — to Atlanta and compelled to sign a bunch of NDAs before they could learn what Stensen is apparently doing to save the world.
When they arrive in Atlanta, Daniel looks out the plane’s window and sees something he recognizes: The drills being used to dig what are apparently the silos are very likely the same specialized drills that Daniel helped invent — they can dig deep underground without disturbing the soil or land on the surface. Daniel has been an unwitting participant in this the whole time. So, we know now that Per Stensen is behind the silos. We know Daniel is behind the drills. We know that the silos were built, ostensibly, to save the world. What we still don’t know, of course, is what the silos were built to save the world from.
Now, in the present day, there’s a lot going on in this episode, chiefly that Lukas and Kennedy leave Silo 18 to take a trip to Silo 17 to find the blueprints so they know from which pipe the Safeguard is administered. However, while they’re out there, they notice that there is nothing out there, much to Kennedy’s dismay, although Lukas seems rather impressed with the sky (as one who has never seen it might). While they’re out there, they hear what sounds like gunfire or a very loud buzzing and lose radio contact with the folks in Silo 18. The Algorithm subsequently informs Juliette that they are dead. That, however, proves to be false: Kennedy makes radio contact at the end of the episode, saying he’s in Silo 17 and “we had a little bit of a situation here but, um, the kids are all right.” The fate of Lukas is still unknown, though it certainly feels like we’re about to see the return of Steve Zahn’s Solo!
Importantly, because at least Kennedy is still alive, we know that the Algorithm doesn’t know everything. It was wrong about Kennedy, so its knowledge of events outside the Silo may be limited. We also ultimately do not actually know what that buzzing sound was.
It is also worth noting that during the period in which Juliette believed that Lukas and Kennedy were dead, they very nearly blew up Judicial in an effort to destroy the pipes that are now delivering the forgetting drugs. That explosion probably would have cost several hundred (or more) lives, but Bernard pushed for it based on the Mission Diary relic surfaced by Gloria Hildebrandt. The Mission Diary suggested, through someone’s account, that the forgetting drugs could have cost the Silo even more people — as many as 2,000 — who died because of the terror of forgetting. Thankfully, Kennedy calls just in time to prevent Plan B from going into action.
The bomb subplot also introduced Hildebrandt and The Flamekeepers, who maintained a secret set of relics (George’s mother was also a Flamekeeper). It’s unclear, however, if The Flamekeepers will have much of a role going forward — it may begin and end with the aborted bomb plot, although Bernard did mention a still-missing spiral notebook that might provide “a revival of hope for a future in a livable world outside.”
Finally, I want to bring it back to the theory from last week: That Knox’s father is still alive. That was confirmed this week — Harwood helped Knox’s father fake his death. Basically, Billings confronted Ed Harwood directly about Orla Kent’s murder and how her body ended up moved without a single camera catching it, and Harwood admits he argued with Orla the day before she died — furious that Glenda had been passed over for head of Supply in her favor — but denies killing her. However, we do learn from Mark that Harwood did have Knox’s father design something in exchange for his fake death, and because Knox’s father knows about diamond drill bits, it’s logical to assume that he helped design a drill to drill upward, as we theorized last week. It also explains the tunnel that likely allowed Glenda to be in two places in one short period of time. In other words, Harwood may still hold the key to folks in the Silo digging around the door to the surface (although, from what Kennedy tells Juliette, there’s nothing on the surface worth digging toward).
— Two other notes: Camille and Robert’s relationship, and therefore the bridge between IT and Judicial, has completely fractured after Camille learned that Robert used their son (and his jacket) to help Juliette (although Camille doesn’t know what Robert helped him with).
— Victor, in the Before Times, explains to Daniel basically why he invented the forgetting drugs — he wanted to erase his own memory of holding his daughter as she died in a car crash. So, as far as we know, the Silo and the forgetting drugs at least originally were well-intentioned.
