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Bartholomew's Replies
I don't think it was just by coincidence that Ana imagined herself on the edge of a roof and then flying like the ravens of the title.
I'm going to throw in my two cents in case anyone else has the same question...
The can contains baking soda. We know for sure when Ana brings it to her grandmother and we can read the label and see grandma's amused reaction.
But even before that scene...
It's Ana herself who first suggests that the can contains poison. Her mother just plays along.
Who would so dumb as to store a poisonous white powder in a baking soda container?
What mother would give her 8-year-child a container of poison, even to throw away?
>> Extracting oxygene from water requires a lot of energy, generating energy requires a lot of fuel
They don't have to burn any fuel; they have a geothermal power plant to generate electricity.
>> Oxygene is unstable, without a permanent resupply from plants it breaks down and disappears in a very short time
Not true, see https://cen.acs.org/articles/95/i29/Dioxygen-diradical-stable.html
I've wondered about the mines too. Obviously they can't go sideways so I assume they tunneled down around the digging machine pit.
Not that they'd have much need for iron ore anyway, given that iron and steel are easy to recycle. So I think the main purpose of the mines is to isolate, punish and ultimately kill off anyone deemed undesirable. And just the threat of the mines will help keep people in line.
Another question is where do they dispose of the excavated earth? They could dig new tunnels by moving the dirt to older unused tunnels, but loose excavated dirt takes up more room than undisturbed dirt. They'd have to compact it again, which is even more work than digging it up in the first place. But if they just want to work prisoners to death, that's not a problem.
The oxygen atom is very reactive, but the molecule O2 is stable.
Why would most of the oxygen be gone? We are told repeatedly that the air is poisoned, but there is never any mention of lack of oxygen.
Even if there was no oxygen left in the atmosphere, the silo could create it by electrolysing water. We know there is no shortage of water, with groundwater having to be constantly pumped out. They also have underground farms so at least some oxygen will be generated by photosynthesis.
I don't see why they would need a ton of raw materials either. It's a closed economy and they have a very comprehensive system for repairing and recycling stuff. The silo could have been pre-stocked with anything that the founders anticipated might be needed. That said, there was a hint or two that some things might be running out. Judicial had to move cameras around because they no longer had enough functioning ones to cover everything. That will make it more difficult to prevent and quash future rebellions, so silo 18 is probably doomed anyway.
I haven't read the books, so no spoilers please.
I hope they don't devote too much time to pre-silo history. I didn't mind the slow pace because the underground world was pretty fascinating and original. There are plenty of movies and shows about things going sideways in the world, so I don't think it's necessary for this series to spend too much time on that aspect.
It's been awhile, but I think it was implied that Chad resented his former college buddy being promoted ahead of him. Howard was presented as being a pretty weak leader, so Chad likely had little respect for him. With Chad's macho talk about needing big balls to succeed in a company of men, he seemed to view the workplace as a dog-eat-dog competition. Purposely messing up the fax transmission would have been enough by itself to make Howard look incompetent, but Chad also made himself the hero by having a backup copy. So amusement may have been a big part of it, but eliminating a competitor was likely the main reason.
>> I think you are pointing out that there are a lot of holes in the logic of this series
No, quite the opposite. In fact, I said that there is at least one very good logical reason for not sending people out and letting them back in. We'll have to wait to see if my guess turns out to be right or if they offer up a different explanation. I don't see a lot of plot holes, just things that haven't been explained yet.
Obviously there was some weak writing, starting with that generator repair. And I laughed when they showed Patrick Kennedy painting a single section of wall within the otherwise unpainted vastness of the silo.
Having Holland go back into the chamber as the doors were closing was pretty ridiculous. It was also likely unnecessary to the story since I bet it will be Juliette's suit that saves her, not Holland. But I guess it made for a more dramatic cliff-hanger ending.
I'm pretty sure the father regularly drove Doris to the store. Andy described her as being blind as a bat, so she wouldn't be driving herself.
Making a suit to go outside is one thing, but getting the person back inside without bringing in any of the contaminant is a much bigger challenge. Yes, I saw the fire being used to decontaminate the exit chamber at the end of S2 (and also in the first episode of S1). That means the contaminant is probably some kind of virus or bacteria.
Theoretically, someone wearing a fire-proof suit could survive the fire decontamination process. But, will some of the contaminant also survive and get inside because it is shielded from the flames, maybe under an arm or lodged in the helmet neck ring coupling?
Even if the chance of contaminant getting in is very small, the risk adds up over the centuries. Suppose the odds of contaminant getting in is 1 in a 1000 every time. Even if they only bring someone back in once per year, there will be a 50% chance of contaminating the silo by year 700.
I don't think the founders knew for sure that everyone would clean the lens; that's just how it turned out. They would likely have planned for the possibility of the lens becoming completely obscured or that the camera might fail altogether. Who knows, there might even be a backup camera pre-installed outside that can be remotely activated if necessary.
I'm enjoying the series and the world they created. Sure, the plot could be tightened up a bit, but I'd rather have too much than too little. Better the unabridged version than the CliffsNotes. Looking forward to next season.
Why is it hard to swallow? The only way the society will be able to survive for centuries or millennia underground is if the citizens are willing to stay in the silo that long. The people in charge know that the surface is not safe, so they have to suppress any desire to go out. If someone does express a wish to go out, better to send them out immediately and let everyone watch them die than to risk having them spread the idea to others. If too many people believe that it's safe outside, there might be another revolution, and if the revolutionaries succeed in opening the top door then the whole society would be doomed.
I think normally the cleanings were pretty far apart. There weren't a lot of bodies piled up outside, and watching someone die would probably deter others from going out voluntarily for many years. Over time, the camera view would become very obscured, making it difficult to tell what the actual conditions were like outside. So, when someone did go out voluntarily, they might believe they were being lied to, but they wouldn't necessarily think the displays were faked.
Allison was an exception. She believed the displays were faked but she cleaned the camera anyway as a prearranged signal to her husband Holston.
It's not obvious why Holston would have cleaned it. He had avoided looking at the displays for three years though, so he may have assumed both that the camera had become obscured over those three years AND that the world had turned green in that time.
And in season 2, this same group of idiots...
[SPOILERS below]
...is able to design, build and successfully launch a rocket on their very first attempt. A rocket that stays precisely on course during its climb to the very top of the silo, then flawlessly deploys a parachute and distributes leaflets as it drifts back down. A rocket propelled by gunpowder that was conveniently stored in the silo's general supply warehouse, not the armory.
It's a standard cop movie cliche that the demands of the job will strain the cop's marriage, often to the point of separation or divorce, and alienate them from their children. Blame the writers for not being more original.
If you're still wondering 8 years later, or if anyone else has the same questions...
1. The robbery was actually the third attempt. The first was shown during the opening credits. Reikle abandoned that attempt because a police officer entered the bank, but he left an impression of his holdup note on the deposit slip. The second attempt was interrupted by the kid the very next day. So, there was a good chance that Reikle would try again the following day. If he didn't then yes, Miles would have to put the money back.
2. When the detective asked about his till having so much cash, Miles explained that the mall merchants usually went to him because he was the vault teller. In particular, the restaurant owner Fogelman went to Miles when bringing in his lunch-time cash receipts. Miles saw Reikle watching Fogelman just before the attempt interrupted by the kid, so he figured out that Reikle was waiting for Fogelman's big deposit.
If you're stilling looking for recommendations, here are a couple based on true events:
The Falcon and the Snowman (1995)
The Spy (2019 miniseries)
I don't know about the elastic bands, but that was actually a real gun. The picture of the gun on the box looked nothing like the one Jim took out, which was much too realistic for a child's toy. He even loaded a magazine and pulled back the slide. Presumably the store clerk was working for the Circus.