Silo Season 2 Ending Explained

The following is included spoilers “Silo” for the end of the 2nd season in “Fire”.

Apple TV+ is home to many of the best sci-fi shows currently airing. Whether it's the alternate history delights of For All Mankind or the joy of watching Lee Pace as the immortal Emperor take on assassins completely naked in the epic Foundation or the (comparatively) more grounded Severance, there's something . for fans of science fiction of any kind on Apple TV+.

Now, one of the streamer's best sci-fi shows (and shows in general) has completed its second season, “Silo.” Based on Hugh Howe's book series of the same name by Graham Yost, The Silo is set in a dystopian future where the remnants of humanity live in a giant underground tank hundreds of stories long. The show centers on Juliet Nichols (Rebecca Ferguson), an engineer who gets drawn into a massive conspiracy, slowly unraveling the many secrets of the silos (aka Silo 18). It's a phenomenal series full of intrigue and exquisite world-buildingwith the titular silo feeling like a settlement.

The idea of ​​a show where the remnants of humanity live surrounded by walls and the truth of their world and the origins of the cities is a mystery for the characters to uncover (in a basement, no less) also makes “Silo” a good random episode of Attack on Titan live action.

With “Silo” renewed for both a third and fourth season (Season 4 will be its last), there's still plenty of story to cover if the show plans to fully adapt the rest of Howey's novels. This is especially true after Season 2 revealed secrets, introducing a major rebellion storyline, a new silo (aka Silo 17), artificial intelligence, and even a trip back in time. In short, a lot happened last season, and the season 2 finale in particular offers some answers while raising a lot more questions.

Whether you're confused about the latest 'Silo' twists or just want to relive the shocks, thrills and surprises, we've got you covered.

Arguably the biggest reveal of the Season 2 finale, titled “Into the Fire,” involves what Luke Kyle (Avi Nash) found in the tunnel at the very bottom of the tank. This is the same tunnel that Juliet's friend George Wilkins investigated before his death, a place only he, Salvador Quinn and the late Judge Mary Meadows had reached before Lucas. As it turns out, the tunnel leads to a door safely guarded by the same person behind the Legacy, located in a secret IT vault.

The voice tells Lucas about the safety procedure, a contingency plan that allows this unseen voice to literally kill everyone in the vented tank. This changes everything for the show and opens up a whole new can of worms. Who exactly is responsible for deciding when to push the button? Under what circumstances would this happen? Given that these are the last humans on Earth, why would you want to destroy any chance of rebuilding the planet? (Unless it's actually a A Vault-Tec situation where the vaults are just twisted experiments à la “Fallout”.)

Meanwhile, at Silo 17, Steve Zahn's Solo (aka Jimmy, TV's best character) suddenly remembers that his parents knew about the procedure involving the poison-filled vent and explains the situation to Juliet. He also informs her that the people from Silo 17 who went outside did not die, at least not at first. In fact, his parents not only found a way to stop the poisonous vent and make the tank safe in the long run, they even made it safe to go outside.

Right. Outside. It is revolutionary. Does this mean that the outside world is not toxic? How would a poison from inside a tank that isn't technically used until a critical moment affect whether it's safe to go outside? Unless there is some sort of technological aspect to the virus, ie something that kills the person only after they exit (or when a security procedure is activated). It will have to remain a mystery for now. Until then, this new information complicates everything and puts the entire history of Silo 18 in a different context. It seems that the inhabitants of the tank are not survivors, however; they are actually prisoners, or if you will, in an ant farm sitting on a bomb that someone can detonate at will.

The other major story thread, which is largely resolved in the Season 2 finale, concerns the traitors in Mechanical and the larger Silo 18 rebellion. Turns out the Rebels all knew Martha (Harriet Walters) was after Bernard (Tim Robbins) because she literally told them the first chance she got using the hand signals they use to communicate Mechanically. (Of course, Bernard was arrogant enough to assume that the rebels would never figure out how to communicate with each other non-verbally.)

With new reason to hope that Juliet might still be alive, the Mechanics prepare for war, finally making good on all their threats to blow up the engine. Except it's really just a ruse to trick Bernard into sending all of the Judicial attackers down to the bottom level while all of the Mechanicals attack up the stairs and reach the top – then blow up the stairs. You read that right: much of the staircase has now disappeared into the lower levels, trapping any attackers.

Now this has huge implications for the future of the show. Rebuilding such a staircase will take quite a long time, what will actually happen to the Mechanical and the engine itself? What about people stuck in the middle who can't move up or down? Whatever happens next season, Silo 18 is going to be in for a big shakeup. Of course, Sheriff Billings (China Uche) is still on his side so they can maintain some order, but now so much of the population is Mechanical. In the upper levels of confinement, they will have to deal with your own “Snowpiercer”-style situation in the tank too many people and not enough space.

It doesn't help that Bernard ups and quits the moment he finds out about the security procedure, handing over the keys to the vault and the title of IT manager to Robert Sims (Common). However, of course, once again, Robert fails to finally get what he wants. Instead, the moment he enters the vault with his family, Legacy's voice recognizes him and sends him away, only wanting to speak to his wife Camille (Alexandria Riley), who appears to be the new person in charge of things.

Just as the rebels are about to break through the door and walk out, they spot Juliet walking back down that fateful hill. She holds up a sign to the outdoor camera that says it's not safe to go outside and runs into Bernard on her way out and convinces him to stay and break the security procedure.

Except it turns out that the entrance to the tank is also an incinerator, and we cut to black just as the room Juliet is in goes up in flames. Now, it's unlikely that Juliet is actually dead because she's wearing a fireman's suit — and why would any show waste Rebecca Ferguson like that? A better question is what happens when she reaches the 18 inhabitants of Shiloh, because now that she's back, they'll have a lot of questions about how she survived without food or water in the desert. Will she tell them all about Silo 17, the Legacy, the outside world and the poison? Bernard is likely dead, and with him all knowledge of the Order and the rules of the tank, so all bets are off on what they can or should do—unless they fix the poison vent first.

Then there's the epilogue, the most exciting part of the episode. After Juliet's fiery end, we went to Washington, DC in what looks like our present, minus the tanks. Turns out there was a dirty bomb in DC in the recent past and there's enough radioactivity that people now have to check before entering restaurants. We meet a politician and a reporter on a date (except they don't call them dates in this timeline unless you're 95), and the season ends with the woman opening a present, something small the politician bought at a store. along the way, the Pez dispenser we saw back in season one, a relic that remains until Juliet's day.

It's a given that we'll see the origins of the tanks, since it's unlikely that it's a random Pez, and it's even less likely that the Pez will somehow be passed down from this woman to future generations until they end up in the tank. No, this reporter is definitely one of the residents of Silo 18. The question is, how long will it be before we get back to Juliet and the others?

The first two seasons of “Silo” are now streaming on Apple TV+.