Silo Episode 5 The Janitor’s Boy Explained- Who Killed Jahns And Marnes, Lukas’ Stars, And The Pact’s Weird Rules

Another episode with another dead body. As quickly as Silo runs through significant characters, we will be down to one or two before the season ends. That’s part of the appeal of Apple TV+’s breakout hit. When everyone is vulnerable, and plot armor means nothing, there is an exciting unpredictability about every single moment. Anyone could have their life destroyed, making everything feel much more precarious. In Silo Episode 5, a frantic chase and a funeral are the backdrop for political intrigue. Friends and foes are hard to tell the difference between as the shifting sands of loyalty morph into a landscape more dangerous than we could imagine.

Juliette is the sheriff for now but with Deputy Marnes’ death; she is vulnerable. She has friends in low places, but no one is watching her six up top. Bernard has moved Deputy Billings right in as her partner, and he now almost has control over everything. Interestingly even though he has control over the Mayor’s office and Juliette’s partner Bernard doesn’t seem comfortable.

Judicial and Robert Sims, in particular, are beyond his purview and don’t always have the same end game in mind. How their ideas differ, we will eventually learn, but for now, Bernard is playing nice with Juliette. Sims, Common bringing a surprising amount of gravity to his enigmatic fixer, is less manipulative about his motivations. He openly scoffs at Juliette and tells her everyone thought she would slink away. With what happens later in Silo Episode 5, it is hard to determine whose side he is on and why.

It is decided to bury Jahns and Marnes together to conserve resources because Juliette understands the depth of their feelings for each other. The love story is a welcome distraction from their murders. Bernard wants a Forgiveness Day, and Sims wants a race up the stairs. Sims ultimately wins, and that race becomes the set piece for a harrowing bit of action later.

The Pact explained in Silo Episode 5

The Pact is the Constitution of the Silo and acts as the laws and rules everyone must abide by. They include familiar things like protections against illegal searches and seizures and more complex rules about how the Silo is divided. Bernard warns that the Pact is filled with subtext favoring Judicial. That simple statement, more than anything, betrays his motivations. He wants power, and Judicial has too much. Juliette is not well versed in the legal document, which is why supposedly Billings was put in place. However, Juliette’s friend and mentor, Walker, is more knowledgeable, and late in Silo Episode 5, Walker warns Juliette about two of the weirder and most strictly adhered to laws.

One, there can be no mechanization of the stairs. No pulleys, no levers, and no machines are allowed. Despite having the technology to create lifts, it is forbidden. Likely this is to keep the masses segregated. Knowledge and numbers are power. There is strength in shared information. The Silo is so massive that people cannot mingle farther than a floor or two. That keeps the physical and intellectual Mechanics from understanding what is happening on the political upper floors. It is necessary to maintain control of the Silo.

The second law is there is no magnification allowed beyond a limit. Juliette’s mother invented something stronger than was allowed, and it was destroyed. We don’t know how she died, but in the Wool series, her death comes on the heels of Juliette’s brother’s death. Author of The Wool series Hugh Howey has said Silo follows his novels fairly closely, but he was given the freedom to expand and tweak the story. Might this throwaway comment become more critical as Juliette’s childhood gets fleshed out more? Will this detail factor prominently as the series progresses?

Intense Magnification is forbidden because there are things outside the Silo walls that the powers that be don’t want to be discovered. Magnification would be the first step in discovery. Despite this law, it is only a matter of time before that secret is discovered, and it takes this soft-science dystopian story into hard-science territory.

What’s with Lukas and the lights he is tracking?

Lukas and his star gazing will become crucial to the story moving forward. He has been tracking what he refers to as lights in the night sky. It raises the question, why don’t they know what constellations are? Was this information lost when they moved into the Silo? What about the stars is dangerous enough to bury along with all other written information from before the Silo? Is it possible Lukas isn’t tracking stars but a swarm of something else? Only time will tell. The gentle thinker seems like he could be an ally when Juliette desperately needs one.

Right now, she only has Deputy Hank and her friends from the lower level. Her assistant finally forged an uneasy understanding, but she requested a transfer. With next week’s Forgiveness Holiday looming, Juliette needs all the help she can get. Bernard describes it as “wild” and tells her she will need all her deputies. Bernard says he wants to help her while in office, but what if he is pushing for this holiday because it offers him an opportunity to get rid of Juliette? I worry that this event will become another way to sabotage Juliette’s efforts. More than likely, Silo Episode 5 will give another tense episode as the holiday’s chaos tests Juliette’s order.

Who killed Marnes, Jahns, and maybe George?

Judicial and Bernard did everything possible to undermine Juliette’s investigation into Marnes’ death. Luckily, Marnes left her a clue, and she used his list of names to discover someone had hidden rat poison and Marnes’ drawing in the hopes of framing Patrick Kennedy. The elaborate ruse should have sent her searching for a patsy Ralph Melby. When Judicial, who was conducting their own investigation, “found” the planted evidence, he would be declared the killer, and Juliette would be disgraced and sent back to Mechanical.

She thwarts the plan when she keeps Kennedy safe and interrupts Doug Trumbull from Judicial breaking into the wrong apartment. He runs, and she chases him down the stairs and straight into the race. He tosses her over the side and then tries to dislodge her hands so she would fall to her death. Luckily others see her struggle and come to her rescue. This very public scene is a problem for Doug, though.

He follows Sims to Janitorial and gets tossed to his death instead of being named his shadow. Sims can’t have his secrets revealed, and Doug made too many mistakes. He is a liability. Sims says he messed up with Kennedy and Wilkins, which means Doug killed Jahns, Marnes, and George Wilkins. Did he do it at Judicial’s request, Bernard’s, or Sim’s? What is behind the Janitorial door?

Who is Robert Sims?

Sims may be the most influential figure in the Silo. As a Janitor’s son, figuratively and literally, he is in a position to know everything and clean up even more. The rumored “listeners” answer to Judicial, but they probably work for Sims. He seems to have eyes everywhere and knows everything. Sims appears to be altered a little for the screen adaptation, and there could be many things behind his office door. IT surveillance, technology forbidden to the Silo, and the truth behind the Silo and the cleanings are all possible. Sims is Bernard’s enforcer and Head of Security in the novel series.

Silo Episode 5 sets up a collision course between Juliette and the power players of the Silo. We finally have a face for Judge Meadows. Deputy Billings and Sheriff Juliette have forged an uneasy alliance. They don’t trust each other, but at least now they know where they stand. Juliette plans to bait a trap with a Pez dispenser from George’s stash. Hopefully, she traps the right person and doesn’t find herself in a noose. Walker warns that rebellion is possible if enough people get scared. Rebellion is coming. Find all our Silo coverage here.