The Only Recap You Need Before Silo Season 3

Based on the sci-fi trilogy by Hugh Howey, Apple TV's sci-fi series "Silo" follows the citizens of an underground bunker-like building superficially similar to a grain silo. They're told that the outside world is a deadly place and that the only chance of survival is staying inside. Unsurprisingly, when you put 10,000 people in an underground civilization and enforce strict rules, there will be people questioning their situation. There are other shows similar to "Silo" in this regard, but nothing quite compares. 

Juliette Nichols (Rebecca Ferguson) is the new sheriff of the society, but she's used to living in the lower levels as a member of Mechanical, the group that keeps all the machinery working. However, at the start of Season 2, she's on the surface approaching another silo after Bernard Holland (Tim Robbins) and Robert Sims (Common) force her outside. Inside her original silo, chaos is rampant, as her actions have only further stoked the flames of rebellion.

By the end of Season 2, several secrets of the silo have come to light, including just how much control the leaders have. Everyone's in new roles, there have been more deaths, and the silo is in a precarious position that poses a threat to everyone living in it. If you need a recap before Season 3 hits the streamer on July 3, this is what you need to remember about "Silo" Season 2.

Season 1 of "Silo" gives audiences an overview of what life looks like in the titular building, and where the seeds of rebellion grow. The population is told that the outside is unlivable, forcing them to stay inside the silo until it's safe to return to the surface. Unfortunately, due to a previous uprising, much of their history is lost.

Sheriff Becker's (David Oyelowo) wife Allison (Rashida Jones) went out to clean, or rather, leave the silo and go to the surface, three years previously after they struggled to conceive. She learned more about the silo thanks to a forbidden hard drive, which showed detailed building plans and videos of other people cleaning. This leads her to believe the powers that be are lying about the nature of the outside world, and she wants to see it for herself. The sheriff follows her outside after investigating her statements, and that is the catalyst for the events of Season 1.

Juliette Nichols, a worker in Mechanical, becomes the new sheriff thanks to a recommendation from Becker. It's unconventional, but after the sudden death of the mayor, Bernard, the Head of IT, is willing to go with it to prevent further unrest in the population. Unfortunately, his plan doesn't work, and Season 1 ends with him and Robert Sims, Judicial's Head of Security, forcing Juliette out to clean as an effort to quell the rising rebellious nature of the silo citizens.

After Juliette is able to walk over the hill outside, something no one else who has gone out to clean has been able to do, the uprising only grows with the hope that they could survive on the surface. It's later found out that the higher ups have been intentionally sabotaging the cleaning suits with faulty tape so people die. Bernard's intent is for Juliette's death to help quell dissent, but when she doesn't die, things quickly become hard to control.

In an effort to silence those questioning the vitality of the outside world, Bernard and Sims implement new sheriffs, place undercover raiders in lower levels to listen in on rebellion-related activity, and, per the guidelines of governing document The Pact, try to blame those in Mechanical for the death of Judge Meadows (Tanya Moodie). Many begin to see through their lies, including new sheriff Paul Billings (Chinaza Uche), making Bernard and Sims' hold on the population slip even further.

The residents in the bottom levels of the silo, which consist of hard laborers and other "lower class" citizens, use Bernard's efforts against him, intentionally feeding him fake information through his hidden camera and informants. This causes Bernard to send raiders down to the bottom level, but those from Mechanical are already in the top levels due to their multi-day walk to speak with Judge Meadows. They then set off an explosion, causing significant damage to the silo's staircase and cutting off the top levels from the bottom ones.

With the death of the mayor, Bernard is pulling double duty as acting mayor and Head of IT, making it essential for him to have a shadow. However, his chosen shadow for Head of IT, Judge Meadows, wanted to go outside and clean. So, he killed her to try and use her death to further his own cause, which doesn't work as intended.

He then makes Lukas Kyle (Avi Nash), an IT employee, his new shadow. Lukas was originally convicted to time in the mines because he had an illegal artifact from the before times, but Bernard sees potential in him because of his ability to decode old letters on a hard drive. The letters lead him to uncovering information about the Safeguard Procedure, a built-in mechanism that the silo's operating system — the Algorithm — can activate at any time to kill the population. This causes Lukas to resign and for Bernard to, once again, be shadowless.

With no one left to turn to, Bernard makes Sims his shadow. It's a role Sims wants, but Bernard has continuously told him he's not good enough. Sims' wife Camille (Alexandria Riley) is happy about the new position, since she has been pushing him to go for it. As Bernard's new shadow, Sims is sent down to the IT vault with Camille and their son. However, the Algorithm only allows Camille to stay inside, implying that Sims isn't worthy to know the secrets of the vault.

After walking over the hill at the end of Season 1, Juliette finds another silo. She discovers a man inside the vault, going by the name Solo (Steve Zahn), and spends the season trying to befriend him and find a new suit so she can head back to her silo. However, the longer it takes to find a suit safe enough to go back outside in, the more she finds out about the silos and what could happen if the uprising continues.

She determines she's spent her life in Silo 18 and is now in Silo 17 with Solo. It fell apart after the residents went to the surface, who then died from the environmental conditions they discovered. The silo, meanwhile, is steadily filling with water, so not all of it is accessible. However, in looking through different rooms, she figures out that Solo's parents were part of the group that went outside. They figured out what the Safeguard Procedure was, leading to Juliette realizing she needs to get back to her own silo before the Algorithm activates it.

With a firefighter suit, Juliette heads back, determined to clean and inform those inside Silo 18 that it isn't safe to come outside. She shows them a message on a piece of cloth, warning them not to leave the protection of the silo, before being let inside by Bernard.

When Juliette tries to get into the vault of Silo 17, she discovers that there is someone living inside it. He calls himself Solo, and he's initially fairly aggressive, threatening her when she tries to break in. However, the two steadily get on better terms as they talk through the door, with Solo even giving Juliette food, and he begins to help her find a suit, offering up different ideas.

Solo, also known as Jimmy Conroy, is the only surviving citizen of his silo. During his youth, there was a riot, and the residents went outside, eventually dying on the surface. His father was the Head of IT, so he knew about the Safeguard Procedure and the other secrets of the silos. Based on his parents' notes, they were trying to figure out how to disable the pipe that would push the airborne poison into the silo.

Based on the flashbacks in Season 2, Solo's parents were working with the rebellion and against the sheriff, who was trying to arrest Solo's father when he accidentally killed him. As an adult, Solo's focus is on protecting the vault, something his father told him to do.

With the explosion destroying the stairs, the sheriff and deputies joining forces with the rebellion, and Mechanical seemingly having the last word, Bernard has officially lost control of the silo. He seems to recognize that the Algorithm will activate the Safeguard Procedure sooner rather than later thanks to his glowing key, and decides he will take his chances on the outside, suiting up and opening the air lock to go to the surface.

In doing so, he lets Juliette in, and the two are in a stand off. He's pointing a gun toward her as a defensive mechanism, wanting to know why she's bothered to come back. Bernard sees her as the reason everything is crumbling, whereas Juliette believes she is the only one who can give them the information they need to stay inside. He's surprised that she knows about the Safeguard Procedure, and makes no attempt to lie to her about it.

Bernard is determined to do something for himself, to feel an ounce of control, implying that, even when he "had control" in the silo, it wasn't really his because of the Algorithm. Even he, when it comes down to it, is only a puppet for others, for the individuals who designed them. He plans to die on the surface, but he and Juliette end up trapped in the incinerator.

While much of Season 2 centers around Juliette's friends in Mechanical trying to figure out what she knew and Bernard grasping for control, it's all rooted in what Lukas and others are learning about the silo. The current population knows that 140 years ago all of the silo's history was lost, but they don't know why.

The letters Lukas decodes are from the Head of IT during that period, Salvador Quinn. During the uprising, Quinn made the decision to put something in the water supply that caused the citizens of Silo 18 to forget about the issues that were causing the rebellions. Quinn discusses that the discontent happened once every generation, which was about every 20-25 years, but since adding something to the water supply, there hasn't been one. He then burned the documents and blamed Mechanical for it, effectively removing any trace of previous dissent from the population's brains and records.

It's alluded to that the substance Quinn put in the water supply is the same thing that is being used on Gloria Hildebrandt (Sophie Thompson), the fertility counselor, in Season 1. Gloria is known for sharing the idea that they are controlling who can reproduce, even if they give you permission, to try and artificially select for specific personality types. In attempts to stop her from sharing those ideas, which could help cause riots, she is monitored and sequestered, always under the influence of the drug.

Based on Lukas' reaction to learning about the Safeguard Procedure, and Bernard's lack of control over the silo, it seems more and more likely that the Algorithm will activate the safeguard and deem Silo 18 a loss. There's technically nothing Bernard can do. It gave him plenty of chances to quell the rebellion, and each of his attempts failed, proving the silo may be too far gone in the eyes of the computer (and whomever is behind the silo project).

But, that's why Juliette is trying to get back to the silo. In Silo 17, she reads Solo's parents' notes, and learns that there is a chance to survive the Safeguard Procedure if the citizens act fast. While they can't stop the computer from flipping the switch, they can plug the pipe that would disperse the poison through the silo, effectively preventing it from spreading through the air supply.

However, Juliette's future is unclear. She's stuck in the incinerator that purges anything trying to come into the silo with Bernard, so she may not make it fully inside to tell the population what she learned. While Lukas knows what the Safeguard Procedure is, there's no indication that he knows how to prevent it, and Bernard obviously doesn't know how to either, leaving it on Juliette's shoulders to save everyone.

The most surprising part of Season 2 of "Silo" is the ending sequence. After watching the incinerator turn on with Bernard and Juliette inside, audiences are taken back in time, to before the silos and when people lived on the surface.

A man and woman appear to be on a date in Washington, D.C., meeting up at a bar and restaurant. The man, Daniel (Ashley Zukerman), is a politician representing Georgia, and the woman, Helen (Jessica Henwick), is a reporter. They discuss a bomb that seemingly landed on United States soil, and that Iran is being blamed for it. The scene ends with a close up of Helen holding a duck PEZ dispenser Daniel gifts her, a play at her being an alum of the University of Oregon, but also the same PEZ dispenser Juliette has in Season 1.

The conversation gives a hint into what life was like before the silos, particularly that, at least to serve in the House of Representatives, you have to be a veteran. The reporter pointedly asks if the detonation was a radioactive bomb and if the government is considering retaliation, giving a look into the political climate. It presents the idea that the beginnings of a nuclear war are already present, and a possible reason for the creation of 50 underground silos. We'll see how this all connects when Season 3 is available.