Posted by Post-apocalyptic series are always particularly fascinating, and Silo, the TV show which landed on Apple TV on May 2023, is a perfect example. The plot is thick, based on the series of books by Hugh Howey, and it’s evident that many secrets will be revealed during the episodes. After Season 1, the big question is about what is outside the silo: is the air really poisoned, or it’s just a lie and the silo’s authorities are hiding the truth from people? In this article, you will find the plot explained, having the books as a reference.
You can watch the official trailer for Silo here on Youtube.
What is outside the silo? Is Holston really dead? Apple series explained (so far)
In the first episodes of Silo, we see Allison, Sheriff Holston’s wife, acquiring the awareness that the authorities who rule the silo are lying. She discovers that the doctor didn’t really remove her birth control device, deducing it’s because “they” didn’t want her to have a child. Feeling she’s living inside a big lie, she does the only thing to break it: Allison clearly states that she wants to go out. According to the main rule in the silo, those who say they want to go out are sent outside, and the citizens inside will watch them die because of the poisoned air.
When Allison goes outside, we watch her from the perspective of people inside. And we simply see her dying in a poisoned world. Years later, Sheriff Holston starts believing what his dead wife told him before going outside. Holston decides he wants to know the truth, so he does what Allison did years before: he says he wants to go outside. They prepare him in a suit and send him out.
This time we see what happens in Holston’s eyes. He sees a world clean and green, with birds happily flying in the sky. He says, “You were right,” referring to what Allison claimed before going out. He cleans the silo’s sensor, hoping people will see what he sees, then walks away, but he runs out of air inside his suit. Sure that the air is clean, he takes the helmet off. But we see him dying immediately after.
How can this be explained in the plot of Silo? We start to understand this in the last episode of Season 1, when Sheriff Nichols is sent out cleaning. Initially, Nichols sees a green world and no bodies outside the silo. But after a few steps, the image changes, and a poisoned world appears behind her eyes. How can this be explained, is the air really poisoned? Meanwhile, people inside the silo see her touching Holston’s body, even though the bodies are not there. When we, as spectators, see the world outside the silo from a higher perspective, we see no bodies, Nichols alone, and a poisoned world in front of her.
How can Silo be explained from this point of view? After the last episode of Season 1, it becomes evident that no displays are reliable: the one people see from the silo shows the bodies of those sent out cleaning, but they are not there. The display of the suits always shows a green world, but the world is actually poisoned, as we see in the last image of the first season.
The truth is what we see in the panoramic view that closes the first Season. The air is really poisoned outside the silo, and there is no other way to have it explained. This is also the reason why the Silo was built in the first place, as we explained in the article below.
That’s why Holston and the others die if they remove the helmet once outside. They die because of the poisoned air.
Why does the display on the suits show a green world? We don’t have an answer for this yet. Probably, the intention is to invite people sent outside to remove the helmet and die, so those who stay inside the silo see them dying and are again motivated to stay inside, believing in the silo’s purpose.
Why with Nichols things go differently? Because her suit is special. As they explained to her, “they are good at supply”: those who work there wanted to help her and built a suit that could show her the real world, with the poisoned air. If she keeps the helmet on, she can survive with the oxygen and explore the world. This is precisely what Nichols will do: she won’t die like all the other people sent out cleaning. She will take advantage of her special suit, which allows her to see the real world, and she will walk outside, discovering what else is out there. And that’s precisely why Bernard panics.
There is something more that you may want to discover after seeing the ending of Silo Season 1. You can find a complete explanation of the last scene in the article below.
