Silo season 2 comes to a shocking end and disbelief abounds in episode 10 as a rebellion ensues, the truth about the silos is discovered, and Juliette returns home.
Showrunner: Graham Yost
Genre: Sci-Fi, Drama, Mystery, Dystopian
Number of Season 2 episodes: 10
Episode 10 Release Date: November 17, 2024
Where to watch Silo: Stream it on Apple TV+
That’s it, it’s official: Silo is the most shocking, thrilling sci-fi series to date. After a successful first season that gathered audience attention and piqued our curiosity, the series hit us with a captivating second season that filled us with emotion, tension, and shocking revelations. In this episode 10 recap, Silo season 2 comes to a thrilling end when disbelief abounds as a rebellion ensues in Silo 18, the shocking truth about the silo is finally discovered and revealed, and Juliette safely returns home to her people.
But it doesn’t end there: This season finale is full of cliffhangers!
A rebellion ensues
Episode 10 opens with Dr. Nichols (Iain Glen) literally hearing the slow, incessant ticks of time passing as Shirley (Remmie Milner) and Knox (Shane McRae) deliver the news that his daughter is not dead. They tell him Bernard’s shadow told them that when Juliette was last seen on camera, she was very much alive; they just don’t know where she was or where she was headed. Doc is stunned and in complete disbelief, even more so when Knox asks for his help.
Dr. Nichols wonders what could be more pressing, reminding them he is secretly providing healthcare services to the Down Deep when it has been strictly forbidden.
“War,” Knox answers.
Kids, get ready, because we are, indeed, finally going to war.
They gather a team and head to Walker (Harriet Walter) to discuss a plan. Their resources are running out and at this point, they’re willing to risk everything and leverage the only thing they have: the farm. Their plan is to blow up the generator and strong-arm I.T. into telling them the truth.
Bernard (Tim Robbins) watches from behind the curtain, so to speak, pleased at what he’s learned. He then sends the entire fury of Raiders out to secure the generator and arrest Mechanical. As they rush to the Down Deep to arrest everyone, Mechanical makes their move and blindsides them by taking down the barricade. War has begun.
And it’s really a brilliant war plan. Knox, Shirley, Walker, Billings (Chinaza Uche), Hank (Billy Postlethwaite), Dr. Nichols, and more—including Carla (Clare Perkins)—come up with the idea to ambush Judicial and I.T. from multiple angles and different directions. So, when The Raiders arrested them, they played right into Mechanical’s plan.
See, they needed to be able to get up to the higher levels to enact their ambush. As more people from the Down Deep are arrested and brought to holding, Patrick Kennedy (Rick Gomez) incites chaos when he starts screaming, “IT’S SAFE OUTSIDE! JULIETTE LIVES!” This stirs up a mass hysteria just as Walker, Knox, Shirley, and Billings are led to a different cell, to Carla.
There, Bernard exposes Walker as the rat in front of her people, and when Carla hears what she’s done, she puts on quite the display, ending things with Walker, wanting nothing more to do with her, telling her she hopes Bernard sends her out to clean. It’s harsh, and Bernard revels in it.
As Walker sits across from him, she tells Bernard a story about the generator … about how it works and how she has taught people to take care of it. Feeling he has been successful in thwarting Mechanical’s attempted rebellion, he sits back, bored and uninterested—that is until he starts to realize there’s more at play here than he originally thought.
Just then, an explosion takes out levels 90-92 as Mechanical’s plan to take control falls into place. Unfortunately, though, the timer rigged to set off the explosion was lost, meaning someone had to stay behind and detonate the bomb manually. In a heartbreaking moment, we watch as Dr. Nichols sacrifices himself to save his daughter and the silo. It’s hard to see.
Back in his office, Bernard intensely pokes Walker with questions: “What have you done?” And oh, has she pulled a slick one over him!
She tells him Judicial has turned against him and freed Billings and the rest of Mechanical, who now rush throughout the upper levels in rebellion to get to I.T. Walker then tells Bernard that all of those conversations he watched take place in her apartment weren’t necessarily about what she reported they were. While it looked like they were doing one thing, they were planning something entirely different. In fact, the second it happened, Walker told her people how Bernard was manipulating her, leveraging Carla’s life in exchange for information. He has no one to thank but himself for what is happening.
Bernard grows angrier with each spoken word, he stands in disbelief over what he’s heard, over what he’s watching ensue, and in realizing I.T. has no protection because he sent all their judicial resources to the Down Deep and, after the explosion, they are stuck down there.
Bernard is trapped, and he knows it.
Solo recalls some crucial information
Over in Silo 17, Solo/Jimmy (Steve Zahn) remembers the last time he saw his mom. He turns to a corner of the room—his former home with his parents—and watches an everyday scene play out. Zahn delivers a heartfelt performance here and in doing so allows us to feel like we are right there with him, experiencing it all firsthand.
As he wanders around the room and rifles through his parents’ things, he finds a slip of paper that reads SAFEGUARD PROCEDURE, then rushes off to find Juliette. He’s just figured out how she can get back home and save her people.
He tells her the procedure could kill people without warning, that his parents had apparently figured out a way to stop it. He tells her he remembers that what his parents did worked, but he struggles to recall exactly what that was.
“All those people that went outside didn’t die,” he exclaims to her. “Well, not at first.”
Juliette pushes him to remember what his parents did. Solo is frustrated and tries so very hard to recall events from 40 years ago, but it’s tangling and difficult for him to sift through his memories, though he does it. And just in the nick of time, he remembers: Solo, the former I.T. Shadow in his silo, was the one who led him to the vault as a kid.
“I remember my dad telling everyone it was safe to go outside, that he and my mom had done something to make it safe,” he tells her before remembering that the safeguard is a pipe under the silo. “It had to be capped because it had poison in it!”
Zahn’s performance in episode 10 shows what an incredibly talented, prismatic artist and actor he really is. He is enigmatic to watch as these moments come to light. Then suddenly, our tension explodes, and our story’s pace quickens as he and Juliette rush off to locate the pipe. On their way, they feel the rumbles of the explosion from Silo 18 and realize they’re out of time. Juliette must leave, now … but she can’t.
It seems the extra suit Solo’s father had in his closet is full of holes. As Juliette panics that she won’t be able to return and save her people, Solo rushes off to test his own plan. Long story short, he rigs up another suit for her.
As they say their goodbyes, he tenderly and almost fearfully asks Juliette, “You’re gonna come back, right?”
“Nothing’s gonna stop me from trying,” she tells him.
Then, in a most bittersweet moment, Solo–who has had no physical contact with another human for over 40 years–awkwardly reaches out to hug Juliette, who reciprocates tightly, knowing she may never see him again. Prepare for all the feels in this moment, guys. Chills will cover your entire body. It’s a truly endearing exchange between these characters. Because of Juliette, Solo has been able to remember and reconnect with who he is, and to experience human connection again. Because of Solo, Juliette is now able to return to her people and save them.
The silo’s truth is finally discovered
The entire time episode 10 is playing out, Lucas Kyle (Avi Nash) rushes to find Bernard. He’s frantic, almost sick to his stomach. He’s also nervous and panicked. He manages to get himself arrested during the melee, knowing it’s the only way he’ll get close enough to reach the mayor. And when he finally does, it’s a heart-stopping moment.
Lucas tells him to act normal and stay calm, to make it appear like they’re having a normal conversation. “If it hears us,” Lucas says, “we’re dead.” He then tells Bernard he has solved the code, then subtly leans in and reveals the truth. While we don’t hear everything he’s saying, he’s already said enough in personifying the silo.
Bernard is so rooted in disbelief, it’s as though he’s lost his breath and his bearings. “It’s true,” Lucas assures him. “That’s why Meadows (Tanya Moore) quit as your shadow, and it’s why I’m quitting.” Bernard is bewildered, completely speechless and disoriented. He slowly stumbles off and on the way bumps into Judge Sims (Common).
“Do you still want to be my shadow?” Bernard asks before handing him the key and code to I.T. “Good luck. You were loyal until you weren’t.”
Sims is confused and wants answers but knows he’ll get nothing out of Bernard. His wife tells him they need to get their son and get to the vault immediately, but Sims has to make a detour first, and he goes to see Lucas for answers. All he learns is that Bernard always assumed everything with the silo was okay because the key wasn’t lighting up, but he was wrong. “It wasn’t lighting up because it’s over,” Lucas says, then urges Sims to get his family and get to the vault.
As he rushes off to do just that, Bernard gets his go-bag and gun, then hunts down Amundsen (Christian Ochoa Lavernia), who is the Judicial agent commanding The Raiders. We’re forced to consider that he has known the truth this whole time, as Bernard points a gun in his face, holding him hostage and demanding answers. It seems true what they say about living in the silo: If the lies don’t kill you, the truth definitely will. So, we can’t help but wonder if all of this has been an experiment by A.I., or by other humans.
As Sims and his family finally reach the vault and step inside, an intelligence greets them and asks why he is there. Sims replies that he’s there to save the silo. The intelligence tells him he and his son must leave, but his wife can stay. What will the Sims family do?
Juliette returns home
Just as we reach the apex of everything being out of control, the chaos comes to a standstill when Juliette suddenly appears on the silo screen. She has returned in the nick of time. Residents watch in disbelief as she approaches, then they erupt with happiness when they see it’s really her. She holds up a message that reads, “IT’S NOT SAFE, DO NOT COME OUT,” then tries to pry the outside door open, but to no avail.
As she ponders what to do next, the doors open on their own, and she descends the stairs into the silo. Once she reaches the main door, Bernard steps out and sticks a gun in her face. Juliette tells him she’s just there to keep everyone from going outside. Bernard says he just wants to go outside and feel free, just once.
“The gun is for the end if the pain is too much,” he tells her. “There’s no point in saving the people; it was never in their hands anyway.”
“Because of the poison they pump in,” Juliette responds. “I know.”
Then, in the ultimate cliffhanger, the silo doors close, trapping Bernard and Juliette, and the corridor ignites with fire.
And that, ladies and gents, is the end of Silo season 2. There is a post-scene that takes us back to a lively, bustling Washington D.C. long before the events of Silo take place and alludes to a radiologic weapon having been released in the United States. Given this, I’d expect season 3 to serve as a prequel to the events in Silo seasons 1 and 2.
Season 2 Episode 10, and all episodes of Silo are now available to stream on Apple TV+.
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