Silo Season 2‘s ending moments are throwing a lot of viewers into massive states of confusion – not seen since The Sopranos finale aired. Apple TV+ subscribers (besides just me) were no doubt pausing the final sequence of the season, just to check that it was still Silo they were watching. However, given some of the game-changing reveals the Season 2 finale dropped before that final sequence, it’s easy to see why such a massive shift in the show is happening here and now.
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We will explain what happens in Silo Season 2’s ending for viewers who don’t stream on Apple TV+ and then explain what it means. If you’re just here for the latter part, scroll below to that section.
What Happens In Silo Season 2’s Ending?
The second season of Silo followed a two-part storyline: one storyline followed Juliette Nichols (Rebecca Furgeson) and what she discovered outside of her isolated dystopian society (built in a nuclear missile silo). The other storyline examined the impact of Juliette’s venture outside on the silo’s carefully-controlled social order; Nichols became a symbol of truth, freedom, and rebellion, which eventually boiled over into civil war between the upper and lower levels of the silo.
In the finale, the silo’s quiet master, head of the IT Department Bernard Holland (Tim Robbins) learns that his lifetime of manipulation and lies to keep the silo going were all pointless, as the founders had a protocol in place to kill the silos at any time they wished. Juliette made it back from being stranded in the neighboring silo community she found (with help from the few survivors left there), only to find Bernard holding her at gunpoint at the silo door. Nichols gave Bernard the hope of having found a way to save the silo for good – but before they can come to terms the pair get caught in the silo’s flamethrower decontamination chamber, and last we see the camera fills up with hellish flames.
After a brief cut to black, a much different scene begins: a rainy modern-day Washington D.C. street at night, and a man with a suit and a briefcase, crossing the street to a restaurant to meet a date. That man is junior congressman Daniel (Ashley Zukerman) who is meeting his blind date Helen (Jessica Henwick). After some cat-and-mouse about who Googled who (or not), the conversation takes a more serious turn: Helen is a major newspaper reporter; this version of Washington D.C. has been hit by a terrorist dirty bomb (hence why security scans Daniel for radiation contamination before entering the restaurant); Iran is the main suspect (or scapegoat) and Helen is probing to uncover the story of what America’s plans for retaliation are.
Daniel knows better than to talk to press and leaves disappointed that it’s not an actual date. Before he goes he gives Helen the last-minute gift he got her: it turns out to be the same duck-themed Pez Dispenser that later becomes a pivotal contraband artifact in the silo society.
[RELATED: Did the Silo Season 2 Finale Answer All These Questions?]
Silo Season 2’s Final Flashback Scene Explained
Silo Season 3 is on the way, and rather than leaning into more mystery about what the silos societies are and what’s outside, it seems the third season will be using time jumps to finally connect this fantastical sci-fi dystopian tale back to our real-world circumstances. While one half of the season will no doubt be dedicated to how Juliette Nichols disables the doomsday “Safeguard Procedure” on her silo and possibly unites the other sites; the other half will likely be set in present-day and track how the dirty bomb attack on Washington D.C. started a series of dominos leading to some kind of environmental cataclysm, and the need for humanity to flee underground.
Done right, Silo Season 3 could become a powerful parable about mankind’s penchant for repeating the same social calamities, via the same societal mistakes (lying to and manipulating the populace, sewing division and class warfare, etc.). With the present-day elements added, it will also be a dire warning sign about the very timely events that could eventually lead us to the brink.
Silo streams on Apple TV+.
