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. Meanwhile, after watching what has been released so far, the viewer’s most important question is: what is outside the silo? What did Sheriff Holston see, and is he really dead? Or is there a conspiracy to keep the people inside the silo unaware of what’s outside? 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? The truth is that Holston’s suit was manipulated, so he saw through his visor a fake representation of the world. In reality, the world is really poisoned, but his visor was engineered to show him a green world. That’s why he removes his helmet, as no one else ever did. And that’s why he dies, breathing the poisoned air of the outside world.
Does this mean that the authorities running the silo are telling the truth, and there is no secret hidden from the people? Not at all, and you will discover this pretty soon while you watch the series on Apple TV. For now, we will only tell you the part of the plot that you need to have explained clearly to understand how the events will proceed. Outside the silo, the world is really poisoned. But that doesn’t necessarily mean you cannot survive there: a proper suit could do the job. And someone will soon discover what else is outside the Silo. We will talk about it at the right moment.
Silo is on Apple TV, and a new episode is out every Friday.
