Please explain S1 ending

Firstly, I thought this was a great show, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Just shows what can be achieved with good writers and good actors. I must also confess that the twist at the end, I didn't see coming.

But I am struggling to understand it.

  1. I'm assuming that what we finally see, is in fact reality, and the Silo's displays do in fact show the true image?
  2. I'm guessing that the helmets have some form of VR display?
  3. But why? What could possibly be the point of deceiving people moments before their death?
  4. Why does Bernard panic, when he thinks Juliette "knows", and go madly running to the servers to shut it down?
  5. WTF is with the "cleaning"? Why does everyone just stare at the camera and then clean? If they think they're looking at paradise, why not make a sign or mouth words to the camera???
  6. Where are all the other dead bodies? Why is there only the Beckers?
  7. What's with the tape? Are we supposed to believe that they deliberately seal the wrists and ankles with dodgy tape, so that people die quickly? I can't believe that substandard tape would be a reliable method of ensuring a timely death.