Silo Season 2’s Finale Actually Shows A Pre-Apocalypse World
Finally, a look at the Before Times.
One of the major appeals of the post-apocalypse show is how quickly the world can go from day-to-day life to an absolute wasteland. Fallout started its entire story with a first-hand look at the apocalyptic event before flashing forward over a century. Other shows intercut the events of the apocalypse with what landed them in that situation.
But sometimes, an apocalypse story creates more appeal by not showing the apocalyptic event that happened at all, leaving it a complete mystery to the viewer and, in the case of the Apple TV+ series Silo, to the characters as well. But that all changed at the end of Season 2 with a scene that explains a Season 1 prop — and references a key part of the source material.
Juliette finally returns to her Silo in the Season 2 finale.
In the last moments of Silo Season 2, after Juliette (Rebecca Ferguson) successfully returns to the silo and gives hope to the rebellion, the action abruptly cuts to what looks to be modern-day Washington D.C. There, we see a congressman from Georgia’s 15th district and a journalist from the Post on a blind date, where they discuss where they were when a dirty bomb went off. Then, the journalist suggests she has bigger questions about the bomb, prompting the congressman to leave. But before he leaves, he gives her a gift, something he panic-bought at a local convenience store. She opens it, revealing a duck Pez dispenser.
It’s a minor moment out of context, but it has huge implications for what we know lies in this world’s distant future. In the distant future, this Pez dispenser is a Relic, a remnant of the pre-Silo days that are considered illegal. In Season 1 Episode 2, “Holston’s Pick,” we saw this Pez dispenser serve as a symbol for the truth behind the Silo, as it was delivered to Juliette by George Wilkins when he found something in the lower levels. Now, we know where it came from.
This mundane relic actually has a storied history.
This scene echoes a similar event in the books. In the second Silo book, Shift, Congressman Donald Keene is approached by a senior congressman to create a system of Silos in case of a nuclear apocalypse. As he oversees the construction, he grows concerned about what lies ahead in the future — something the reader knows all too well.
Shift originally didn’t include Juliette until the very end. Instead, it jumped between timelines, showing the origin of the siloes alongside the events within them. This little teaser is a way to honor that original structure while also teasing flashbacks in Season 3. The characters in Silo may not know what put them there, but the viewers are about to learn.
