Aniq had never imagined that after what had happened at the Afterparty in Xavier’s house, he would ever be in such a situation again. But as fate would have it, Aniq found himself amidst another murder mystery, and this time too, he called Danner to solve the case. Grace was having second thoughts about marrying Edgar since Zoe had told her, time and again, that they were complete opposites, and they would have compatibility issues in the future. Since Grace was the only person in the bedroom when Edgar died, she became the prime suspect, and Isabel was labelled her as the killer and she was not ready to listen to anybody else. 

Spoilers Alert

Why Did Grace Become The Prime Suspect?

All the people present at Grace and Edgar’s wedding were in a state of shock, and as we saw in the first episode, Isabel, Edgar’s mother, didn’t waste any time before declaring in front of everybody that she was sure that it was Grace who had murdered her son. Well, Grace and Edgar had major disagreements, but it was weird to even think that she would kill him for that. Suspiciously, Isabel and Sebastian didn’t want to call the police as they wanted to settle some financial matters first and so Aniq had the idea of calling someone who he knew wasn’t a cop anymore. Aniq trusted Danner’s judgment, and moreover, he knew through her social media posts that she wasn’t a detective anymore. He called her and told her about the case, and Danner almost instantly agreed to help him. She was not a law enforcement officer anymore, but that didn’t mean that she had lost her knack for picking up details and finding the perpetrator.

On her way to Edgar’s mansion, she asked Aniq to tell her his “mind movie” and describe to her what he had witnessed in his short stay there. Aniq started his story by telling her how he had embarrassed himself in front of his would-be in-laws, but in the entire story, he didn’t say a word about the prime suspect, i.e., Grace. Aniq had seen her adulterate Edgar’s drink, and he was a bit hesitant to tell Danner about it as he knew that it would put Grace in a very bad light and that Danner would surely develop a bias against her. Also, Aniq didn’t want to upset Zoe in any manner, as he had told her that he was calling Danner so that Isabel wasn’t able to put the blame on Grace and they got evidence to prove that somebody else had committed the crime.

Danner arrived at the scene, and she wanted to start the proceedings by questioning Grace and knowing her version of the story. Danner asked Aniq to accompany her, as she wanted him to also be a part of the investigation. Aniq had helped Danner figure out who had murdered Xavier in the first season of The Afterparty, and she thought that he could be instrumental in this investigation as well. Zoe also wanted to come inside because she wanted to hear what Grace had to say. Grace was not speaking to her after she had tried to dissuade her from marrying Edgar, and things still hadn’t resolved between both of them.

What Did Grace Reveal In Her Testimony?

Grace started narrating her story in The Afterparty episode 2, and we got to know that she had met Edgar for the first time when he came down to her antique shop, six months back, to buy a typewriter for his sister Hannah. It wouldn’t be wrong if we called Grace a hopeless romantic—someone who believed that a charming prince would come into her life one day, and they would both fall head over heels for each other. In the first meeting itself, she noticed that Edgar was a bit strange when it came to social interactions, but she still found him quite appealing. Edgar, too, hadn’t felt like this with any other woman before, and he asked Grace if she would want to accompany him to his sister’s birthday celebration. Edgar realized that maybe he was taking things too fast, but surprisingly for him, Grace agreed to come with him.

Even Sebastian told Grace that he had never seen Edgar like this before, and Grace felt flattered because, for her, it was as if she was living her fairy tale, the only difference being that her illusion was going to break very soon. One thing led to another, and Edgar proposed to her for marriage. Grace agreed, and that’s when both families met and started deciding how the wedding was going to be. Isabel was as condescending as ever, and she, on purpose, referred to Grace as Gail just to show her how inconsequential she was. Grace felt bad, but she was content with the fact that at least Edgar always took her side when some conflict like this happened. Isabel didn’t leave a single opportunity to belittle Grace’s parents, but Edgar was always there to control the situation and apologize on his mother’s behalf.

Grace shared a very amicable relationship with Hanna, and she had become her comfort zone. Whenever Edgar left for work, Grace liked spending all her time with Hanna, as she was probably the only person who didn’t judge her for coming from a humble background. Edgar was an introvert, and he didn’t know what kind of behavior to resort to in social situations. He didn’t understand why people went around the bush when they wanted to say something totally different. Edgar was honest and way too blunt about his feelings, and people at times couldn’t digest such honesty.

Grace told Danner in The Afterparty Episode 2 that Edgar followed a very strict daily routine, as he was into biohacking and had devised a way through which he could increase his lifespan. Grace couldn’t comprehend half of the things he said, and she felt extremely irritated at times by his behavior. Grace’s biggest issue was that Edgar never compromised on what he wanted in life, and he was way too uptight about things. Grace understood his eccentricities, but at times, they got way too much for her to deal with. On her wedding day, in between the dance, Edgar went away because his lizard apparently needed him, and then he wanted to go and sleep because, according to his research, if he wanted to increase his lifespan, he needed to sleep at a particular time. Grace felt embarrassed when he left her, and she even tried to convince him to stay a little longer since it was their wedding day. Grace knew that Edgar used to take a medicine called Adderall back in the day, and she advised him to take it on their wedding night so that he could stay awake. Grace mixed Adderall in his drink, and Edgar got way too intoxicated. Grace had to carry him to the bedroom, and she was obviously very disappointed as her wedding hadn’t turned out to be the fairy tale she expected it to be.

But Grace, amidst all that had happened, was happy about one thing: while taking the vows, Edgar had earnestly told her that he would change for her and try to understand her perspective too. Edgar was going to read the vows that he had written down on a piece of paper, but Grace took that from him and asked him to tell her what was in his heart. Whatever Edgar said moved Grace, and she hoped that he would probably understand her better and know the kind of relationship she craved.

The end of The Afterparty, episode 2, brought forth a revelation that nobody had seen coming. Aniq and Danner came out after interrogating Grace, and they went inside the room where Edgar’s dead body was kept. Travis and Zoe were looking for clues, and they were trying to open Edgar’s phone so that they could get some more information about him. Danner was talking to Travis when a folder fell from his hands that contained various newspaper articles about Edgar. Nobody knew why Travis had that folder with him or why he was keeping tabs on what was happening in Edgar’s life. Maybe he was jealous because Edgar was dating Grace, and she had rejected him back in the day. Or maybe there was some other angle to it. In the upcoming episodes of The Afterparty, we will get to know more about Travis’ intentions, though personally, we don’t feel that he had anything to do with the murder.

When Luis Batista was introduced to us in The Horror of Dolores Roach, he was the weird cannibal who had loved Dolores since his childhood. Honestly, his cannibalism dominated his personality and his reactions to the events unfolding around him. He was really quite the character, who saw his food in murder, and his easy-going attitude was in stark contrast to Dolores’ panic attacks. His whole approach to cannibalism was that he was the only one who knew the secret to good food, and when he started making empanadas with human meat, he acted as if he was doing the world a favor by introducing them to the real taste of things. This is actually how a lot of non-vegetarian friends (the animal-meat-eating kind) treat their vegan and vegetarian friends. They often say to imagine meat as tofu or cottage cheese and just gulp it down.

Maybe Luis wanted people to imagine human flesh as chicken or lamb. In a very strange, dark, and twisted way, we think he really believed in equality of life, and that is why he found no difference in butchering a chicken or a fully grown man since all lives are equal and it is only a societal construct that makes human flesh taboo. We are not supporting cannibalism but decoding Luis Batista’s brain and getting to the full extent of its depravity. We cannot forget that it was he who offered an empanada to Jonah, knowing that the son would be eating his own father. Luis was not being petty or spiteful when he was doing that, but he genuinely thought that he was being polite and introducing Jonah to a delicacy. Or maybe we are wrong, and it was indeed Luis’ revenge against Gideon Pearlman for threatening him with rent.

We believe that Luis must have killed people before. He was not the kind of person to deprive himself of anything. The way he spoke about the taste of human flesh and compared it to regular meat is an indication of the fact that he cooked enough with it. But so far, he has only done it in a personal capacity. Maybe he stole meat from the morgue or had a contact who slipped him what he needed. Whatever the case may be, Luis had definitely murdered at least once or twice in his lifetime for the sake of his hunger. That is why he was so nonchalant about the idea of taking a human being’s life, as long as he felt that it could be justified, no matter how weak. Not one of Dolores’ kills had a valid reason. Pure anger drove her, and then came the need to keep the secrets. Then came Joy’s death, and even that did not prove to be Luis’ last straw, which proves how little human life mattered to him. In a way, that is how most human beings function with our systems of food, except that Luis extended that philosophy to human meat as well. This is not a discourse on non-vegetarianism. Food habits are steeped in culture, access, and affordability, and Luis justified his and Dolores’ actions by twisting these very factors in his mind.

At one point in The Horror of Dolores Roach, we find a very humanized Luis Batista when we come to know what he had to face in his childhood. Keep in mind that it is not an excuse for his cannibalism but an attempt to understand him as a person. Luis was sexually abused as a child by his father’s girlfriend, and he internalized all that shame and guilt to build a narrative where he was the villain of the story. Luis even tried to harm himself, and he carries the mental scars of that to this day. We don’t think Luis has completely gotten over that. He still doesn’t believe that his father’s girlfriend was wrong in this whole scenario, and this makes us think that he probably never had anyone to protect him and tell him that everything would be okay. Maybe that is why he has such a skewed moral compass. It is important to remember that we say this by separating his need for human flesh from the actual committing of murder.

Something else that defined Luis as a person was his love for Dolores. All we knew about their relationship before Dolores’ incarceration was that she used to sell him marijuana and that she also loved their shop’s empanadas. Knowing Luis’ past, we are inclined to believe that Dolores’ occasional smile was the only kindness in his life at that point. Kindness brings attachment, and in some very unfortunate cases, like Luis’, it becomes the basis for the illusion of love. For Dolores, a relationship with Luis was a necessity, initially for room and food and then to keep covering up her murders. She wanted to run away with him so that she would have the money from the sale of the restaurant and could lead a comfortable life. But when that did not pan out, she did not hesitate to let him know how low her opinion was of him.

Yet Luis kept saying that he loved her, and Dolores was pushed into a corner. We don’t think she killed him for a specific purpose. He was just another in a long list of irritations, and in her panicked state, Dolores wanted to get rid of him. Despite everything, we kind of feel that Luis did not deserve what was coming to him. Nothing about him struck us as particularly evil. But again, his sensibilities would never have taken the world into consideration, which means that his rampage would have continued, and that is the kind of evil that we can do nothing about. He is not creating chaos for fun but for his own needs. His death was karmic but passing away from this world had to be the best thing for him and everyone around him. As we write this, we remember how he framed Nellie, and our soft spot for him completely disappears, not to mention the trick he pulled with Jonah and the empanadas. We suppose we only felt bad for him because of how Dolores treated him, but a person like Luis definitely deserved what was coming to him.

Mickey Haller was riding high on his success in the second season of The Lincoln Lawyer, and that’s when he coincidentally (or maybe not) met Lisa Trammell, who was the chef and owner of a restaurant that had become quite popular recently. Mickey bonded with her over his love for food, and before he knew it, he was already having a fling with her. Mickey loved Lisa’s company, and she seemed to be quite attracted to him as well. Actually, it was Lisa who had started flirting with him, and since the very beginning, it did feel like she was putting up an act and had some hidden agenda behind it. It felt like Lisa had planned this entire thing, as it didn’t happen every day that the chef came out and talked to their customers and entertained them. We know that Mickey was on the cover of every magazine and that the media had become obsessed with him, giving him celebrity status, but still, the manner in which he was approached by Lisa made us question her intentions.

The moment Mickey met Lisa, he was smitten by her personality and could not resist her charm. He wasn’t seeing anyone at that point in his life, and it did feel nice to talk and hang out with somebody who wasn’t related to his work. But soon, that changed as Lisa got a restraining order from a businessman named Mitchell Bondurant, and she went to Mickey for legal consultation. Mitchell Bondurant had been buying all the properties in the area because he wanted to construct some high-rises there. He had a lot of contacts higher up the food chain since he was an influential and rich man, and that is why even when the residents were protesting, it didn’t have any impact on his activities. Mickey told Lisa that she didn’t have to worry about the restraining order as long as she didn’t go near Mitchell and stayed low for some time. Lisa felt relieved after talking to Mickey, but that respite was short-lived as she got into a huge mess, and she pretended as if she didn’t have a clue how she had landed there. The police had taken Lisa into custody for murdering Mitchell Bondurant, and when Mickey got to know about it, he just couldn’t process what he heard, and he genuinely thought that there must have been some kind of confusion that led the police to believe that she was the killer. But he got to know that the police had not committed any mistake, and they had several pieces of evidence to corroborate their theory.

Could Lisa Have Murdered Mitchell Bondurant?

Throughout the second season of The Lincoln Lawyer, Lisa maintained that she was innocent, and though Mickey would have believed in her narrative, we didn’t think that she was telling the entire truth. Lorna and Izzy probably saw through her intentions, but Mickey didn’t take their opinions very seriously. He believed that he knew Lisa, and he didn’t think she was the kind of woman who was capable of killing a man in such a cold-blooded manner. Mickey saw Lisa as a gentle woman who was passionate about what she did and who was fighting for her rights against this rich and oppressive businessman and trying to keep her cafe running. Mickey’s perception was obviously flawed, as he was attracted to her, and for him to consider her a suspect was not possible. Lorna saw that bias and, time and again, told him that this conflict of interest could prove to be fatal for him.

Now, apart from the evidence that Andrea Freemann had with her, like the testimony of Margo Schafer and the gloves found in Lisa’s house that had the blood of the victim, there were a lot of other things that also made Lisa Trammell look quite suspicious. She met a podcast producer named Henry Dahl, who paid for her bail and wanted to make a documentary on her life. Mickey didn’t want Henry to make any such stuff that might affect the case, and additionally, he also held the rights that gave him the authority to legally stop Henry from doing any such thing. Henry crossed the line time and again, and even after being told to hold back while the case was ongoing, he went ahead and produced a documentary. Lisa told Mickey time and again that she would talk to Henry and keep him under check, but we think that there might be something brewing between her and Henry. Maybe she was going behind Mickey’s back and telling Henry what to do and then pretending as if Henry was acting on his own accord. Maybe Henry wasn’t involved in any sort of conspiracy, but the way he emerged out of nowhere and paid such a huge amount for Lisa’s bail, it did seem like, apart from wanting the rights to make a documentary on her life, he had something else on his mind.

One more thing that made Lisa look suspicious was the fact that she was very hesitant to let Mickey talk to her husband, Jeff. Mickey told her that even if he didn’t have to do anything with the case, he could at least testify about her good character and how she was a responsible citizen. But Lisa made all sorts of excuses, and it was blatantly clear that, though she knew where her husband was, for some reason, she didn’t want Mickey to know about it. A man called Mickey and said that he was Lisa’s ex-husband, but there was no proof that he was the real guy or if he was someone else pretending to be him. The one thing in favor of Lisa, which Mickey would probably use in his arguments in The Lincoln Lawyer Season 2, Part 2, was that Mitchell Bondurant was a tall man, and it was not easy for a person of Lisa’s height to hit him on the head. Apart from this, everything else pointed towards the fact that Lisa had murdered Mitchell. But we know how Mickey Haller is, and we believe that he would find a way to get her acquitted, though we are not certain that she is as innocent as she is pretending to be.

Had Lisa Sent Men To Assault Mickey?

There are only two people who could have sent men to assault Mickey; one of them is Alex Grant, aka Alex Kazarian, and the other could be Lisa Trammell herself. Mickey wasn’t able to find Alex even after he told Cisco to look for him, and it could be that he was hiding in some place because he had actually murdered Mitchell Bondurant. It is possible that to make Mickey stop looking for him, Alex sent men to scare him off. Now the other theory, which we believe could have some merit, is that Lisa hacked into Mitchell’s computer and sent that email on his behalf so that when the time comes, Mickey gets to know about it and creates a narrative for himself where Alex is the perpetrator.

We know that such premeditated action would require a lot of planning and plotting but believe that Lisa was capable of it. She would have sent men to beat Mickey, to lead him astray, and make him believe that there was someone else pulling the reins. Lisa didn’t look like a woman who would hire goons and send them to beat someone which worked in her favor, whereas a person who was associated with a crime family, which in this case was Alex, was generally perceived to be capable of doing that. Maybe Lisa, after the discovery of gloves in her house, felt that Mickey’s confidence in her was shaking, and she knew that it was not good for her case. She might have thought of giving him an alternate theory so that he would not be able to determine for himself until the verdict came if Lisa was really innocent or if she was actually the murderer.

Whatever verdict the court gives in The Lincoln Lawyer Season 2 Part 2, we know one thing for sure: Lisa is hiding a lot of information from Mickey, and she is trying to manipulate and mislead him so that he puts forth the best arguments and gets her acquitted.

We first got to know about Paul Billings after the untimely demise of Holston Becker, as, together with Juliette, Billings was also a contender to become the next sheriff of Silo. Even before we got to know him as a person, we had a negative perception of the man since Robert Sims and Bernard were vouching for him. Up until then, we had no clue if Sims and Bernard were actually involved in some unscrupulous activity, but their demeanor was not very likable. It felt like they were authoritative in their approach, and they wanted things to be done only according to their whims and fancies. But Holston’s recommendation had an impact on Mayor Ruth Jahns, who respected the man, and she told both Sims and Bernard that Juliette was her first preference for the post. Both Sims and Bernard didn’t like it, but they had no option but to agree with what the mayor was saying.

After Mayor Ruth was murdered, Robert tried his best to influence deputy Marnes into supporting him in his vendetta and making Billings the next sheriff of the Silo. Though even Marnes was a bit surprised in the beginning by Holston’s decision, he vouched for Juliette since he had had a conversation with her before and that had made him realize that she was a sincere, hardworking, and honest woman. Two of his closest people, Ruth and Holston, had wanted Juliette to become the sheriff, and after their deaths, he wanted to honor their decision. Marnes was a strong-headed man, and he was respected by the people of the Silo, which is why both Sims and Bernard perceived him as a threat. Moreover, they didn’t want Juliette to have any allies, as she was clearly developing a relationship of trust with Marnes. Additionally, Sims didn’t want Marnes to find out anything about what he and Bernard were upto and that is why he thought that it was better if he got him killed. Now, amidst all this, it was pretty obvious for Juliette and for the audience to have a preconceived notion about Paul Billings. Sims gave Billings the position of deputy, as he wanted him to be around Juliette and keep a check on her activities.

Juliette, even before she met him, believed that he was not a trustworthy person and that he was only being sent so that he could keep an eye on her and report everything back to Sims. But Juliette was wrong in believing so. There was a lot of difference when it came to Sims and Paul. Where one wanted to have leverage at all times, the other kept the rules and regulations of the Pact in very high regard. So let’s find out the key ideological differences between the characters of Paul Billings and Robert Sims, and also how Billings could be of help to Juliette in season 2.

What Were The Key Differences Between Paul’s And Sims’ Personalities?

All the misconceptions that were formed by us and by Juliette about Paul started breaking the moment he joined as the deputy. The man knew the Pact by heart (which was a rarity in itself in silo), and more than that, he was an idealist who wanted everything to be done according to the law. Paul never wanted to backstab Juliette, and as long as she was doing things that were not prohibited by law, Paul had no problems with it. Sims, on the other hand, was disappointed in Paul Billings, as he had expected that he would take his side in the event of a conflict even if he was on the wrong side. It took Paul some time to understand the politics and the corruption inside the Silo, and that is why he started supporting Juliette, because even when there was a lot of enmity and lack of trust between them, Paul knew that she was the only one who was actually trying to find the truth.

People like Paul are often victimized by the system because there is no place for idealism in politics and bureaucracy. Paul was the kind of man who was unbiased towards everybody, and though Sims had started feeling that he was favoring Juliette, in reality, he wouldn’t have minded coming in her way too if he felt that she was doing something legally wrong. Sims, on the other hand, was the kind of man who didn’t mind bending the rules in his favor. We saw how he and Bernard accused Juliette of asking to go outside, and not even once did his conscience weigh on him by sending her to the jaws of death. Paul was responsible, honest, and dutiful, and had he been present when Sims and Bernard falsely accused Juliette, he would have definitely raised an objection.

In the end, Paul felt that he had failed Sims, as Juliette was able to escape when he was taking her to the prison, and he felt the need to prove his worth, not knowing that the entire charade was orchestrated by Sims for his own vested interests. Sims wanted to become the shadow of Bernard, and he was ready to do anything for that. Sims had gotten Marnes and Mayor Ruth killed and had Bernard asked him to kill a couple of more people, he would have done that without an ounce of guilt. If Paul had been in this situation, he would have either rebelled against Bernard or left his job, but he surely wouldn’t have followed his orders just because he was benefiting from them.

What Role Would Paul Play In Season 2?

Till the end of season 1 of Silo, there were a lot of things that Paul had no clue about. He didn’t know what was on the hard disk that Juliette had, and he also didn’t have any clue about how Bernard had deprived the people of their basic rights. He was a bit relieved that even after knowing that he had the syndrome, Sims was neither firing him from his position nor sending him away from his family. But there was a reason why Sims was doing that, and Paul was too naive to see through it. Sims knew that because Paul felt indebted to him, he would do as he was told and not question his authority.

We believe that with time, Paul would realize the real intentions of Sims and Bernard and at that moment, he would have to shed his idealism and get practical about things. There are times when you have to break laws in order to achieve the greater good, and Paul was in a position where he could really help Juliette’s cause. Billings will have to realize that he is not indebted to anybody, and we believe that he would have to get a bit more pragmatic in his approach if he really wanted the best for the people and to protect their interests. We might see an alliance of rebels forming inside the Silo, and that union would benefit manifold if they had the sheriff by their side.

Juliette had lost her mother at a very young age, and after that tragedy, she decided to move to the Mechanical division in Silo. She was 13 years old when she met Martha Walker for the first time, and over the years, they became each other’s family. Juliette was not talking to her father, Pete Nichols, at that time, as she blamed him for not being there for her when she needed him the most and also for being responsible for the death of her mother. Hanna and Juliette both believed that it was Pete who had informed the Judicial that they had a magnifying glass in their possession, though years later it was clarified that it was just one big misunderstanding, and it was the CCTV camera through which the Judicial had gotten to know about it. Martha saw unbearable pain in those innocent eyes, and she knew that the poor girl was suffering.

Juliette wanted to drown herself in work so that she didn’t get time to think about anything else in life. Martha understood what loss meant; she knew how it felt to be in that state of helplessness, but she couldn’t do anything about it. Martha and Juliette shared a love for machines, and there was nothing in the Silo that they couldn’t repair. Martha took Juliette under her wings and taught her everything she knew about machines, but more than that, she taught her how to deal with her emotions. For a young Juliette, it was necessary to let go of the baggage that she was carrying on her shoulders. Martha knew that if she didn’t do that, then she would have a hard time coping with life in the future.

Spoilers Alert

Why Was Martha Scared For Juliette?

Martha also had that curiosity bug in her, and she used to help Juliette examine the relics, understand how they functioned, and in turn, find out more about their past. Martha was happy for Juliette when she was offered the position of the sheriff, but she hadn’t imagined at that time that it would put her life in danger. Martha was aware that Juliette did a lot of things that were in violation of the rules mentioned in the pact, but the threat was never so imminent. For the first time, it had come to her attention that people were literally dying, and there was somebody who was behind all this who, in the future, could get to Juliette as well. And additionally, the people who had been mysteriously murdered were not commoners, and Martha feared that if they could get the mayor and deputy chief of police killed, then nobody was safe. At this juncture, Martha wasn’t aware that Bernard was behind all this, and that is why she didn’t know who they should trust.

Seeing Juliette’s willingness to go to any extent to find the truth made Martha really scared for her girl at times. She often told Juliette that she understood that finding the reason behind Wilkins’ death might be the most important thing for her, but she needed to make sure that she wasn’t falling into a trap from which she couldn’t escape. Martha didn’t like how, at times, Juliette recklessly risked her life, and she started feeling that it would have been better if she didn’t leave mechanical. Martha also suffered from agoraphobia, as we learned that for years, she hadn’t left that small room, which she had also converted into her workshop.

Martha was devastated after she heard that Bernard and Robert Sims had plotted against Juliette and declared that she had asked to go outside. Martha always saw Juliette as her own daughter, and she just couldn’t see her walking towards her doom. Martha wanted to do something, but she didn’t know what she could do while sitting in her small room. At the end of Silo episode 10, Juliette was rescued after she fell from the trash chute and brought to Martha’s room. For the first time, probably, Bernard and Sims came into her room, and she realized that they wouldn’t stop unless and until they killed her girl. Martha realized that it was about time she fought her own demons, faced her fears, and did something to save Juliette. Martha knew that she would not be able to forgive herself if anything happened to her girl, but she had yet to formulate a strategy to beat Bernard and Sims at their own game.

What Did Martha Walker Do With The Heat Tapes?

Martha remembered a conversation she had had with Juliette some time ago. Juliette had stolen the heat tapes, which, apart from being used in machines and devices, were used in the suit that a person wore when they went outside for cleaning. No one who had gone outside had ever come back alive, and that made Martha believe that either the environment outside was actually so hazardous that no protective gear could save a person or maybe the suit was critically flawed. Martha knew a woman in the supply division named Carla, and she decided that she would have to ask her for a favor. But before that, she needed to step out of her room. We came to know the kind of love she had for Juliette and how she was ready to go to any extent to save her when she actually made the impossible happen. People were shocked to see Martha walking outside her room, and she just held her nerve and managed to reach Carla’s house. Based on her suspicions, Martha asked Carla to use the heat tapes that the mechanical division had and not the ones that IT usually used.

Martha still didn’t know whether Juliette would survive or not, but she hoped that the heat tapes would make a difference. Martha held her breath when Juliette stepped outside, just hoping that she survived. Martha’s suspicions actually came out to be true, as the inferior-quality heat tapes were the reason why the suit didn’t protect the person. Juliette survived, and Martha took a sigh of relief, though she knew that the work wasn’t even half done. In season 2 of Silo, Martha would have a bigger task on her hands, as she would have to try to establish contact with Juliette and make sure that she got all the help that she needed. If Juliette has to return to Silo 18, we believe Martha would have a huge role to play. Martha knew machines better than Bernard or Sims, and though it had never crossed her mind that there were others out there and she could communicate with them, she would have to inevitably achieve that feat.

Bernard Holland’s real identity was hidden from us for the longest time in Silo, and nobody apart from Robert Sims and a few other employees who worked for them knew that he was the one who was running the show. Bernard was not the most friendly person that would come across in the Silo, and we had seen how Allison Becker had a hard time dealing with him. Bernard was the head of the IT department, and he was very particular about how his employees conducted themselves, and he always kept a check on whether they were following orders or not. Disobedience was something that he did not tolerate, even if it was for the tiniest of things. One of the earliest encounters that Juliette had with him was when she was accused of stealing heat tapes from his division. Bernard had branded her as a thief, and when she became a contender for the post of the sheriff, he used the same cause to veto her. Bernard told Mayor Ruth Jahns that Juliette was a thief, and she had that element of non-conformance in her that really bothered him.

Spoilers Alert

Bernard wanted to have those kinds of people in important positions who strictly abided by the law and made sure that others around them did too. But still, Juliette became the sheriff because Holmes, before going out for cleaning, had made it clear that he wanted her to take his position once he was gone. Nobody knew why Holton had vouched for such an unlikely candidate back then, but Mayor Jahns knew that she couldn’t just ignore his recommendation. Bernard had extreme right-wing ideologies, and even when he didn’t understand a lot of rules and regulations, he never questioned the motives of the founding fathers. But in the first episodes of The Silo, we never saw him as a villain, as that place was reserved for Robert Sims, and additionally, we didn’t have a clue about who was really in charge. There came a point when Bernard actually pretended to be Juliette’s ally, and she too started trusting him somewhat and confiding in him, believing that he would take her side in front of Sims. Juliette hadn’t expected that she had been playing all this while, and when Bernard revealed his real identity, it took her a while to process things.

What Did The Number 18 Symbolize In Bernard’s Keyring?

Before saying anything in this respect, it is to be noted here that there were a lot of things that even Robert Sims didn’t know about, and only Bernard had access to that information. Robert knew that whoever was sent outside eventually died since the suit didn’t protect them, but what he was not aware of was the fact that in their last moments, a video was displayed on their helmet’s screen that misled them into believing that they were walking in a lush green field and what they saw from inside the Silo was a lie. Bernard had a key ring with a red night in it with him that sometimes randomly blinked. The keyring had the number 18 inscribed on it, and we noticed that the same number was also engraved on the hard disc that Juliette had in her possession. We believe that Robert didn’t know what that key was used for, and maybe it wasn’t blinking randomly, but it was a kind of signal that informed Bernard about something. There were many other Silos (50, according to the book), and each one was given a specific number.

Number 18 was the identification mark of the Silo of which Bernard was in charge, and the blinking light may be signified that someone else from another silo was trying to communicate something. At the end of Silo Episode 10, Bernard realized that Juliette had somehow gotten to know that what she was seeing on her helmet’s screen was a fake display. He blurted out the words that “she knew,” and Robert, who was standing just next to him, couldn’t understand what he was murmuring. Bernard realized that she was not going to die, though he didn’t know that it was Martha who had gotten the sensor wool on her wrists changed, because of which she had survived. Bernard rushed to the server room, and he opened the lock with the key that came out of that same red key chain. We believe that the room probably had equipment through which Bernard could establish contact with people residing in other Silos, and he ran there to inform his counterparts that Juliette had been successfully able to escape from Silo no. 18.

What Would Be Bernard’s Plan Of Action In season 2?

Bernard feared that Juliette not clearing the screen would lead to a rebellion, and if we take into context what was written in the book, his speculations were right. It is possible that there would be a civil war inside Silo 18 and Bernard’s worst fear came true. He was the kind of man who was ready to go to any extent to stop the rebellion, and he would probably do the same in the second season too. But what he did not understand was why people wanted to rebel in the first place. Juliette, just before going out, told him that if, for the safety and security of the people, as he claimed, he had to kill people like Marnes and Ruth Jahns, then there was certainly something grossly wrong with the way things were inside the Silo. But Bernard simply put everything on the founding fathers and said that nobody had the right to question their credibility and go against the rules they had established, considering there were a lot of things that they still didn’t know about the outside world. Bernard made it feel like he didn’t have a choice and that to make sure that law and order were not disrupted, he had to inevitably kill the people he had. But under the pretext of being a protector of justice, he had turned the entire administration into a dictatorship.

Freedom was just an illusion, and people were being monitored in their personal spaces. Even if we agree to the point that there would be a rebellion if the truth was disclosed, Bernard’s action couldn’t still be justified. He had literally taken the lives of people, tortured them, made sure mothers were not able to give birth, penalized them for asking questions about things they had the right to know, and all those things were not pardonable even if he took the defense that he was acting in good faith. We believe that in season 2, Bernard will also stay true to his element and try his level best to suppress the mutiny if it happens. It is possible that he might try to get Juliette killed, as even her presence has now become a threat to the administration. Secrets will be divulged, mutinies will rise and expose the structural flaws of the Silo, and we believe that it would take a miracle for Bernard to save his seat and suppress the revolution.

Juliette Nichols could ascertain how her life was going to be inside the Silo. She was doing what she loved, and she had never thought that life would throw a curveball at her that would alter her entire outlook. Everything changed after her partner, George Wilkins, died in a suspicious manner. The administration told her that he had committed suicide, but Juliette knew that reality was not as simple as it seemed. So, Juliette set out to find the truth behind Wilkins’ death, and in the process, she witnessed things that she had never imagined.

Spoilers Alert

What Happened Between Allison Becker And George Wilkins?

We were introduced to George for the very first time when he called Allison Becker to his house under the pretext of getting his computer system repaired. George knew a curious person when he saw one, and he desperately wanted to see what was on the hard disk that he had in his possession. Allison might have been curious about what lay outside the Silo, but even she got a little paranoid when she saw that Wilkins had such a rare relic, as she knew the kind of punitive action that the administration could take against them if they came to know about it. Allison was hesitant, but she came on board and decided to help Wilkins out. The hard disk was encrypted, but they managed to break the code, and what they saw shocked them beyond any measure. They saw a video of a lush green field with trees swaying in the wind and birds flying in the clear blue sky. It was quite different from what they saw on the screen inside the Silo, and they came to the realization that the administration might have been lying to them for all those years. They started entertaining the fact that there was life outside the Silo, when for years, they had been told the contrary. It made them restless, and they couldn’t stop themselves from looking for the truth themselves.

Wilkins operated from the shadows, and he knew that unless and until he divulged every mystery and had a clear idea of what he was dealing with, there was no point in making any decision. Wilkins wanted to stay undercover, find more people who were as eager to know the truth as he was, and then finally wage war against the administration to know what happened in the past. But around this time, Allison Becker decided to go out, as she was quite sure that the air outside the Silo wouldn’t be toxic and that she would be able to show the residents that the administration had been lying. But unfortunately, just moments after Allison Becker cleaned the screen, she fell to the ground and died. The entire theory about the air being breathable was nullified, and George just couldn’t understand what was happening. Soon after Allison’s death, there was news that George had committed suicide, though there was a lot of controversy surrounding his death. Juliette didn’t think that George was the kind of man who could take his own life, and after taking over the position of the sheriff, she made it her mission in life to find out the truth.

What Did Juliette Find Out About Wilkins’ Death?

Juliette’s life had changed after George’s death, and she was willing to go to any extent to find out what had happened to him. She was doing all that she could, but the biggest setback that she faced was after she met Regina Jackson, who told her that there was no point putting everything at stake for a man who didn’t even love her. Juliette was shocked to hear what Regina had to say because, all this time, love was the only thing that was motivating her to carry on her quest. Her mind was just not ready to believe that all the moments that George had spent with her in the tunnel were a lie. Regina said that George made everyone believe that he loved them, but in reality, he just wanted to use them to solve the mystery. Regina said that he had joined Mechanical because he knew that Juliette could help his cause, and the conviction with which she spoke made it very difficult for Juliette to not believe her.

All doubts were cleared when Juliette was finally able to see what was on the hard disc that George treasured more than his life. George had recorded a video for Juliette in which he confessed that, though he had joined Mechanical for very different reasons, he had fallen in love with Juliette. He had recorded the video using the camcorder that was found in the second episode of Silo, which made Juliette realize that he had known about the existence of recording devices since the very beginning. At the end of Silo season 1, Juliette made a deal with Bernard where he agreed to waive her right to a judicial hearing if he told her what had happened to George Wilkins. Bernard agreed because he wanted to send Juliette outside the Silo for cleaning at all costs, and he wanted to portray that she was doing it of her own accord. Juliette realized that all this time, she had been wrong in presuming that Wilkins had been killed.

George Wilkins had committed suicide, though it could be said that he felt coerced to do so because the administration was unwavering, and he knew to what extent they could go to stop him. George was well aware that Bernard and Robert Sims would torture him to give him the hard disc, and that was something that his conscience did not allow him to do. He wanted the people to know the truth, and he knew that if the hard disk was destroyed, then probably the generations to come would never get to know about what was hidden from them. In his last moments, he hoped that Juliette would investigate his death, find the hard disk, and make people aware of reality. George had probably realized that there were many other silos apart from theirs, and there was a secret door in the tunnel that connected each and every one of them. We believe that Juliette would have never been able to come this far had she not met Wilkins. She always asked him why he risked his life when he could comfortably live in the Silo like others. Wilkins believed that every human being had the right to know about their existence. They had the right to make choices for themselves, which they were deprived of. George Wilkins had inherited this curiosity from his mother, and he was a true revolutionary who gave his life so that the truth could come out in the open and the fate of the people was not determined by those few who sat at the top of the food chain.

It would not be too wrong to consider the German crime thriller series Sleeping Dog to be part drama as well, considering that it covers a number of elements that are part of the genre. Beginning with the estranged relationship between protagonist Mike Atlas and his wife Lenni to the effect this has on their teenage daughter Tinka, the show covers a slight bit of family drama as well. In fact, the strongest facet of Sleeping Dog happens to be its range of characters, who are all stuck in some own internal struggles between being good and bad, and this article is going to discuss a few of them.

The protagonist, Mike Atlas, is a good starting point, considering that the mysteries and main tension revolve around him. After escaping from his known life one sudden day, Mike lost his memory as well, making it a convenient method to tell us the story of his past. The man can be clearly separated between his older self and new self, with the revelation about his crimes in the past being the point of distinction. We are not given any idea about how his life had started or how he had found himself in the profession of a police detective, but Mike was no different from a usual police officer. He did not shy away from any illegal acts or opportunities that came his way, and the man was definitely not bound by any moral restrictions. He was loyal to his wife Lenni, though, and was even quite loving towards his daughter Tinka, all of which changed when he was nearing mental burnout.

When Luka finally gave him the drug to help with his stress, Mike started to change into a different man even faster. He soon abandoned his wife and daughter, along with his career, to be succumbed by the guilt and depression that came from having killed a man in a road accident and burying the truth about it. The reason why Mike had forgotten about his actions happens to be that he had desperately wanted to forget about it. The man had possibly tried every method to achieve this forgetfulness, perhaps even taking stronger drugs for it. But Mike is also marked by a very natural human curiosity, which pokes out of the surface the moment Abou Basher beats him up and mentions his involvement in his brother’s death. This curiosity perhaps ties in very well with Mike’s profession, for a police detective is mandatorily curious about things more than anyone else. Soon Mike goes snooping around looking for an answer to his blurred memory, and what he finds out surely shakes him apart.

It is this realization that he had accidentally killed a homeless man and had then got his friends to hide the body and the incident altogether that makes Mike Atlas into a different man. After getting to know the whole truth, Mike is extremely guilty and remorseful of his actions and now finally decides to face the consequences. While he had arguably also been hit with guilt earlier, after killing Polyphemus, he was more afraid for himself than guilty for having taken a life. But now, Mike wants to change his old ways and actually serve the punishment for such reckless behavior. Despite there being no evidence that Mike was under the influence of drugs while driving, the man willfully admits to his crimes and is released on probation. During this time, he also does community work for the very same homeless community in a desperate attempt to right his wrongs. Mike Atlas had been a rough and insensitive man at one point in his life, but he now realizes his mistakes and wants to undo them.

Mike had abandoned his wife Lenni in the worst of ways, with no prior information and no legitimate reasoning either. Lenni was first shocked, then grieved, and then, with time, accustomed to the fact that her husband had just decided to pack his things and leave one fine day. The woman has nobody to support her mentally and emotionally, and so when her estranged husband’s best friend, Luka Zaric, comes to provide support, Lenni is more than pleased. There is a romantic and sexual tension initially felt between the two, while neither of them do anything about it. But this later changes when Lenni initiates a moment of lovemaking, and the two get physically intimate with each other. It is easy to blame Lenni for being adulterous, but then again, there are enough reasons for her to have come to such a decision. The woman had tried everything she could have in order to bring her husband back to her life, but Mike had also apparently grown distanced from her, emotionally and sexually, even before going away. The husband was obviously nearing his mental burnout at the time, but he never told Lenni about any of this, and he even rejected her advances to understand him better. Lenni had no other choice but to get accustomed to the life of a single parent, who had to find little moments of warmth wherever she could. Lenni later admits to Mike that she had slept with Zaric, and the husband understands why she had done it. 

Lenni was in an even worse situation as the mother of teenager Tinka, who was clueless and confused about why her father had suddenly left their lives. Whenever there would be any chance to meet or talk to her father, Tinka would grab it with both hands and then hope that her family would be reunited again. While Lenni eventually got tired of waiting for Mike to return to his senses, Tinka kept believing that her father was doing his best to help his family. Perhaps this is out of very childish hope and desperation, because of which Tinka almost blindly believes and wishes that her father would return home. Therefore, whenever Lenni expresses otherwise or tries to convince Tinka that they must move on with their lives, the daughter is irked by her mother and misunderstands her.

This entire situation is solved by Mike’s change of heart and decision to step up and take responsibility for his actions. He knew very well that it was he who had abandoned his family and not the other way round. Therefore, the man understood why his wife had cheated on him and why his daughter was so desperate for his return, even to the point of getting herself into trouble. Mike’s transformation into an ideal man also involves reuniting with his family, and he returns to their house to start a fresh life with his wife and daughter. Both Lenni and Tinka had done things out of their confused and lost mental state that they could have easily avoided, but they had no ill intentions, and that is what ultimately counts.

The police colleagues of Mike are also marked by this same change of heart after their respective moments of realization, with Britney Adebayo being a prime example of this. While on an investigation, Britney is upset by the casual racist and sexist remarks of one of the witnesses, and in her desperation to find out what is wrong, she kicks a door open. A young girl hiding behind this door was seriously injured because of this act, and ever since then, Britney cannot get over the guilt of having done this. She goes to the extent of planning to adopt the girl and even pretends to mend her relationship with her ex-girlfriend only to ease the adoption procedure. But Britney is then reminded or pointed towards the fact that she would actually not be able to provide much support to the young girl. Instead, she was just trying to use the girl to fill the empty void and loneliness in her life, which she was increasingly scared of. Ultimately, Britney decides to let go of the young girl and then genuinely attempts to mend her relationship with her ex-girlfriend. At this moment, it is not the end that Britney is thinking of, but the means or the journey of apologizing for her cold behavior in the past and settling with her ex-lover. It is, therefore, this attempt that finally works in her favor.

This hollow, void-like emptiness that Britney fears is, in fact, present in each of the police detectives’ lives, other than Mike Atlas. Roland Sokowski lives by himself, only with a stuffed groundhog, the hair of which he had used as false evidence at a crime scene. It can be argued that it is this loneliness that ultimately makes Sokowski take so many lives, for without any personal life, his professional partners had become like brothers to him. When he saw his colleagues, the two men he considered like close brothers, in trouble, Sokowski did not hesitate to help them out, even if that meant killing people. The man was desperate not to lose the only two close bonds that he had in life and had therefore gotten rid of every individual who could pose a threat to them.

Similarly, the character of Luka Zaric in Sleeping Dog can also be looked at through the same lens of desperately trying to avoid loneliness in life. Zaric was genuinely affectionate and caring towards his best friend Mike, and he had no ill intention behind giving the man the nerve-relaxing pills. This is why Zaric’s negative moment comes when he finally succumbs to the advances of his best friend’s wife and then even professes his love for her. Zaric also clearly dislikes his solitary existence, which is probably why he had first gotten sexually involved with the DA, Corinna Steck. This later became an indirect exercise of power and a sort of professional negotiation between the two, but ultimately, it seems like these two broken souls are left by themselves to come together to start a bond.

Perhaps the only characters in Sleeping Dog, or at least the ones with the most one-sided shade to them, are the DA Corinna Steck and young prosecutor Jule Andergast. While Steck mostly comes off as a corrupt and power-hungry official who does not mind hampering the lives of others, Jule arguably does hardly anything wrong and ultimately has to walk away from the cruel and twisted profession altogether. Both characters are perhaps given one minor change from their usual selves, which mark as the respective white and black spots in their personalities. In the end, Corinna Steck seems to surrender herself to her fate, as she can no longer manage her way out of the situation, and this realization is probably a positive thing about her to cherish. On the other side, the illicit affair that Jule was involved in with a married man who was also a lawyer in the DA’s office seems to be the only black spot for her. Other than this, the young woman struggles through the demeaning workspace, finds and then loses a genuine connection in Schlefski, and then also leaves the profession. 

We sometimes come across a person who makes us realize that it is not the profession that is bad but the people running it. In Bloodhounds, Choi Tae-ho’s kindness and generosity won our hearts. He initially started as a money lender or loan shark but eventually had a change of heart. When we first met Mr. Choi, he was sitting in a wheelchair inside his little bookstore, looking like a regular man. A woman arrived at his doorstep to return the money that Mr. Choi had lent her for her daughter’s surgery. She even told him that her daughter would have died if Mr. Choi hadn’t stepped in. But any loan shark would have helped her with money, so what made Mr. Choi different? Well, it was his method. He never pressured the woman to return the money, as he knew that his wealth was being used to save a person’s life. Additionally, he didn’t charge a single penny as interest because he believed that God had given him enough to lead a content life. Throughout the series, we notice that greed is the single most important factor that turns humans into bloodhounds, but Mr. Choi chooses not to be one. And the reasons for such a decision were deeply rooted in his past.

Born to a humble family of farmers, Mr. Choi had to watch his father die a ruthless death. He had taken a loan from some money lenders in the village, but due to a fatal famine, he wasn’t able to pay the debt. Mr. Choi was only ten when his father died in his arms because his family didn’t have enough money to take him to the hospital. The incident left a scar on Mr. Choi’s heart, and he later decided to earn enough money so that he could help those who couldn’t afford medical treatment. Perhaps it was his way of honoring his father’s death and making sure that no one else went through the same.

Even though Mr. Choi wanted to help people and make a difference, he ended up in a shady business and probably lost his way. Like all other loan sharks in Bloodhounds, Mr. Choi used to charge high rates of interest on loans. He even used to lend money to large corporations, which sometimes refused to pay it back. To deal with such people, Mr. Choi employed five ace knifers to fight the gangs hired by these powerful people. In short, Mr. Choi had to spill blood to get back his money, and it wasn’t something he was proud of. But even then, he stood by his principles and tried to do the right thing. But soon an incident happened that influenced Mr. Choi’s decision to shut down his business completely.

It was a cold winter morning when Mr. Choi found out that one of his clients had committed suicide. Surprisingly, Mr. Choi couldn’t understand the reason behind such a grave step, as he had given an interest-free loan to this man along with an infinite time period to return the money. The person mentioned used to work multiple jobs to support his only daughter and had been doing quite well, so why did he decide to end everything?

Mr. Choi’s knifers investigated the mysterious suicide of the person and found out that one of his employees, Kim Myung-gil, paid a visit to this man along with his muscleman, Kang In-beom. Myung-gil used to threaten Mr. Choi’s clients to recover hefty loan extension fees in order to fill his own pockets, and Mr. Choi was totally unaware of his practices until two or three innocent people lost their lives. Perhaps these deaths took a toll on Mr. Choi’s heart, which is why he decided to shut down the business completely so that no one could exploit people on his behalf. Mr. Choi even adopted the dead person’s daughter, Kim Hyeon-joo, in order to relieve himself of some of the guilt. Later, he looked after Hyeon-joo like his own daughter and taught her the tricks of the trade so she could continue his legacy.

Mr. Choi wanted to help people who couldn’t afford their medical expenses, but people like Myung-gil never understood his plight. He was an ex-convict who chose to remain a criminal even when a person like Mr. Choi gave him a chance to redeem himself. In the end, when Mr. Choi decided to put up the shutters, Myung-gil planned a robbery in his office to steal what was left in Mr. Choi’s safe. Mr. Choi tried to stop him from stealing his hard-earned money, but In-beom threw him out the window, which crippled Mr. Choi for life. He could have taken his revenge, but he didn’t want any more people to get hurt, which is why he disappeared from the scene along with his two surviving knifemen. Throughout these years, Mr. Choi kept a low profile and continued lending no-interest loans to people who really needed them.

In the meantime, Myung-gil’s illegal business gained a lot of momentum. Mr. Choi could have stopped him earlier, but he chose not to for Hyeon-joo’s safety. But perhaps it was destined that he would face his nemesis once again. We all wanted Mr. Choi to take his revenge, but alas, that day didn’t come. Myung-gil found Mr. Choi’s whereabouts and arrived at his home with his little army, where he mercilessly killed Mr. Choi and stole all his money. Soon after his death, Hyeon-joo left the country and rented a small apartment in Rome, where Mr. Choi had promised to take her. We believe she made the right decision by giving up her pursuit, or Myung-gil would have killed her too.

Kim Geon-woo, on the other hand, didn’t give up the battle that he had started and waited long enough to strike back to destroy Myung-gil’s kingdom. In the end, Geon-woo finally confronted Myung-gil in a one-on-one fight and knocked him down as the ultimate payback. Finally, he was arrested by Interpol and would probably be serving a sentence for his long list of serious crimes. Meanwhile, Geon-woo gave away all the gold bars to Hong Min-beom, who would use the money to build a hospital in Mr. Choi’s name so that his legacy would continue forever. It was the only gift he could give to his boss, who had taught him so much about kindness, and we believe it was the reason why Mr. Choi shared his childhood dream with Geon-woo, as in his eyes, Geon-woo was the only person who could fulfill it.

When we come across people like Shubh Joshi, hopefully never in real life but on screen or in the news, we wonder whether they are just born wrong. We don’t even mean that in a harmlessly different or quirky sort of way, as in the kind of people who believe that Starbucks is appropriately priced or that the earth is flat. We are talking about a way of thinking that relishes chaos and the pain it can inflict upon people, just for the sake of it. Absolutely nothing in Shubh’s past in the two seasons of Asur could be used to explain away the kind of man he became or the destruction he wanted to cause. Not to sound superstitious, but maybe Shubh’s father had a point when he judged his son based on his horoscope because the boy defied any other rational explanation.

Shubh’s father never let go of a chance to threaten him or beat him up. All the anger he had due to his own prejudices or due to the death of his wife, he took them out on Shubh. The boy was a born genius, and he took just minutes to grasp complex concepts and could finish reading advanced literature in a day. It was evident that he was destined for great things, but there is something to be said about the fact that he lacked emotional intelligence in the way that he was a sociopath. We mean that literally because he exhibited all the signs of being one. There is redemption for sociopaths if they ever wish for it, as proved through many social experiments. But if they don’t seek redemption and, in fact, believe that their sociopathy is the way to a higher form of life, there is nothing to be done anymore.

The scriptures are not ambiguous about whose side they are on. They are very clear about their loyalty to the gods. Yet, when Shubh read them at a young age, he could relate to the Asurs more. It might have started with a child’s curiosity to know why his father always kept calling him an Asur, but it is surprising that his opinion never changed with time. Mythology has often spoken about the constant wars between Asurs and the gods, but something that is not discussed often is that the gods have been guilty of using unfair means to win these wars. For example, take the story of how Amrit (the nectar of immortality) was drawn from the ocean. The Asurs were cheated out of it by Mohini (a Vishnu avatar), even though they were the winners. It can all be explained away by saying that the good side needed to win; otherwise, there would be utter chaos in the universe. But Shubh might have ended up questioning the morality of these actions and the actual line of difference between Gods and Asurs. Additionally, where is the promised order in the world? Why is there so much evil and suffering if it is the gods and not Asurs at the helm of affairs? Maybe a change in governance is needed?

We are not making an argument for Satanism but trying to understand Shubh’s way of thinking. Shubh’s intention behind the AI system was not just to make something efficient and all-encompassing; it was to cover the gaps left by his lack of emotional intelligence. The fact is that Shubh did not understand people and their complexities. He understood power and devotion, yet he had trouble separating the two. This is how he gained his followers: by helping them when no one else could. But even that wasn’t devoid of lies, and that is why the woman who killed Ishani turned against him when she found that her daughter was alive. Shubh never understood love. He did not lack that in his life. His grandfather had always loved and cared for him.

When Shubh lived in the ashram, people loved and respected him, and even when he was working with the professor, Venkat Ram was fond of his assistant. Shubh had love all around him, but maybe when he realized that it was conditional, he felt that it did not have any value. The people in the ashram and his professor loved him because of what he could do. They had not been kind to him simply because that was the right thing to do. The only people who had done that for him were his grandfather and then Nikhil. When Shubh landed in jail after the fabrication of evidence by Dhananjay, Nikhil was the one person who had been nice to him. He was the first person other than his grandfather to show him kindness when he did not need it and while expecting nothing in return. That is why he had a soft spot for him. We honestly think that Shubh believed that there was some goodness in the world. Maybe he even respected it, and that is why he liked his grandfather and Nikhil. But he must also have believed that there was not enough for it to matter, or maybe that it was too minuscule to stand in the way of his ambitions and the new world order.

The problem is that we don’t believe the series managed to prove him wrong. Dhananjay and Nikhil stopped him from carrying out more attacks, but they were not able to conclusively prove to him that his ideology was wrong. However, it also remains that Shubh was not asking questions or expressing doubts. Otherwise, he would have given more viable choices to his victims. Even Anant would have had a better choice between believers and non-believers. Shubh either believed that humans just couldn’t do better than their egos or that he didn’t care. At the end of Asur Season 2, when Shubh knew for sure that he would not be able to do anything anymore, we don’t think he wanted to continue living either. He was definitely baiting Dhananjay to kill him, and when he refused, it was one of the few times we saw some emotion on Shubh’s face. The other times were when he had to kill his grandfather and when he felt like there was a threat to him from Anant. Shubh was undoubtedly a narcissist as well, and if only he did not have such a high IQ, he would not have been such a menace to the world.