Apple TV+ is home to some of the best series right now, especially when it comes to sci-fi. WithSeason 2right around the corner,Silohas consolidated itself among the streaming’s top works of the genre by combining the expertise of series creator and showrunnerGraham Yostand a competent cast led byRebecca Ferguson, resulting in a gripping thriller that you may’t help but watch that extra episode before signing off. Season 1 adaptsWool, the first book in Hugh Howey’s bestselling trilogy, withSeason 2 promising to expand into the next chapter and maybe even uncharted territory. But where does Season 1 leave off?
No One Knows Who Built the Silo or Why in Season 1
More than giving the series its name, the Silo is also its biggest mystery. It’s a giant underground structure of 144 levels on which over ten thousand people live.No one knowswho built the Silo, when, or why, only thatthe outside world is poisoned and that going out is lethal. Whenever someone says they want to go outside, they are allowed to and are asked to clean the sensors that provide the inside with a live feed from the desolate outside. It’s not mandatory, but those who go outside always clean, even though some initially say they won’t. And, despite wearing special breathing suits, they always die immediately after cleaning.
Inside the Silo,society is structured around departments and the levels people live at. At the lowest levels, Mechanical operates the engines and machines that provide the Silo with energy and are the poorest sect. People in the Mids and upper levels usually work for IT or Judicial, the first being the department that manages the computers thatkeep the SIlo operational, and the second being responsible for dealing out justice according to the Pact, the rules that keep society from falling apart. Law enforcement is done by the Sheriff’s Department, and all departments answer to the Mayor. There are also departments of maintenance, education, medical, and more.
A Conspiracy Threatens the Safety of the Silo
Silocenters on Juliette Nichols (Ferguson), a woman from Mechanical who seems to be the only one capable of keeping the Silo engine operational. She is caught in a conspiracy that recently saw the deaths of her boyfriend, George Wilkins (Ferdinand Kingsley), and Allison Becker (Rashida Jones), Sheriff Holson Becker’s (David Oyelowo) wife. Together, they founda dark secretabout the Silo, which prompted Allison to ask to go out, and saw George mysteriously murdered. Holston and Juliette initially join forces on the investigation, but,after a year, Holston himself asks to go out, naming Juliette the next Sheriff, to the whole Silo’s surprise.
Known around the Silo as a difficult person, Juliette reluctantly accepts the job to continueinvestigating those deaths, and immediately finds that no one wants her around. Judicial, led by Agent Robert Sims (Common), tried to push Paul Billings (Chinaza Uche), one of their own, as the new Sheriff, and the head of IT, Bernard Holland (Tim Robbins), merely tolerates her. Mayor Ruth Jahns (Geraldine James), however, carries out Holston’s wishes and confirms Juliette as Sheriff. Shortly after, the Mayor and Sam Marnes (Will Patton), the Sheriff’s Deputy, are assassinated, and it becomes clear to Juliette that not only are all those deaths connected, butsomeone is actively trying to stop her from understanding whyand is coming for her next.
Although she doesn’t trust him, Juliette and Billings slowly learn things about the Silo that have been kept secret from everyone, like the fact that every mirror conceals a surveillance camera and that Judicial keeps a strict record of relics of the world before the Silo, and is able toopen a coveted hard drive that George obtained containing secret informationabout the Silo, including footage of the world outside depicting a green and lush landscape, with bird flying freely. She also learns about the Flamekeepers, a secret group of citizens who dedicated themselves to preserving relics and memory of the past from before the Silo. Over the years, however, Judicial made sure they died out through assassinations and breeding restrictions. Juliette also comes across an old picture book from the state of Georgia, with pictures of blue skies, sunny beaches, and green earth.
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Lawless (not flawless) futures.
Juliette Learns a Terrible Truth About What Lies Outside the Silo
Her investigation makes Juliette a public enemy and Judicial’s main target. She evades them as best as she can but is eventually found. She learns that Bernard, now Acting Mayor, was behind everything all along, controlling Judicial’s actions and using IT’s technology for surveillance under the pretext of keeping the Silo safe. He makes a deal with her: if she agrees to go out willingly, he will show her what really happened to George. She agrees and learns thatGeorge committed suicide to avoid interrogation. Meanwhile, trying to make sense of everything, Billings searches Juliette’s apartment and finds the picture book. He reads it, tears one page, and burns the rest, fearingwhat it may meanto his family’s safety.
People who go outside die due to the poor quality of their special suits, ensuring they can’t threaten the Silo ever again. However, people down in Mechanical rally to help Juliette any way they can, and local leader Martha Walker (Harriet Walter) uses her connections to ensure that Juliette’s special suit is properly made of the best materials. When shefinally goes out,she sees the world as in the video on George’s hard drive: filled with lush greenery, blue skies, and birds flying. Those who go outside always see that and gladly clean the sensors in the hope that people in the Silo can see it, too, but never live to see what happens because of their bad suits.
Instead of cleaning, Juliette decides to walk beyond the nearby hill that marks the limit of the Silo’s visibility outside. When she does that, her visor changes, the video disappears, andshe can see what the world is like: desolate, dark, and barren.What she saw before was actually the same video from the hard drive, meant to give people a last glimmer of hope before and ensure they clean the sensor before dying, but it malfunctioned on Juliette’s visor display because she went too far from the Silo. Besides the poisoned world, she sees that the Silo is located at the center of a crater, but it’s not the only one; countless other craters with silos of their own fill the earthas far as she can see, reaching far out to the ruins of a city on the horizon. Wherever Juliette chooses to go from there, her work seems cut out for her in Season 2.
In a dystopian future, men and women reside in a vast underground silo governed by strict regulations, believed to shield them from the hazardous world above. The series delves into the complex social order within the silo and the mysteries surrounding their subterranean existence.
SiloSeason 1 is available to stream on Apple TV+.
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