Based on American writer Hugh Howey’s novel series of the same name, Silo is a post-apocalyptic dystopian drama in which a governed society lives inside a silo in which everyone is barred from going outside and into the ruins of the toxic world that remains. No historical data on Earth existed before the Silo came into being. How did it lead to this? And why is no one allowed to go and find out what’s outside? What happened to Earth? The answers lie within Silo.
No one knows who built the Silo, only that it is supposed to keep the people inside thriving, locked away from the outside world, which turned toxic and is in ruins. Sheriff Holston walks into Holding 3. A minute later, his subordinate and friend, Deputy Sam Marnes, finds him there. He sees Holston staring at the wasteland on the screen. A devastated landscape lies before him, along with a dead body. Before Sam could stop him, Holston breaks the cardinal law of the Silo and says that he wants to go out. Once made by anyone in the Silo, this request needs to be fulfilled, but it is irrevocable.
Spoilers Ahead
To Bear Or Not To Bear
Allison and Holston are finally granted clearance for childbearing for a year. Both are relieved and couldn’t be happier. Their family is about to be complete. They are having breakfast at the cafeteria, and it seems that everyone around them knows that they are going to have a baby and is very happy about it too. That’s when an old woman named Gloria approaches them and tells Allison, much to Holston’s disgust, that she offers fertility counseling, which Allison will find helpful. Holston doesn’t like Gloria for some reason and would rather have her leave his wife alone. Gloria thus leaves. Holston tells Allison that Gloria is a fraud. We have to wait to see what caused this rift between them. Later, Allison gets her birth control pill, which is more like a small metal device, removed by Doctor Leonard. She is finally ready to conceive.
Days pass. Alison is in her IT office with her friend Karen one day when their boss Bernard comes and tells her that he has taken down her article on recovering deleted files. She needs his approval before posting such articles. Later on, Allison asks Holston that if rebels erased history, what makes it wrong to question it? If they regret losing their past, why is it not allowed to look for any relic that may remain in the mines? Holston tells her that the “pact” is the only history. If anyone decides to go outside the Silo to know more, it will be the death of everyone. Holston is responsible for making sure nobody goes out. Who are these rebels Allison mentions? Where are these mines that apparently contain relics from the past?
Silo’s Freedom Day is knocking on the door. Childbearing days are down to 157, and Allison still isn’t pregnant despite their trying. Gloria finds her and brings her home, asking if she thinks it was the rebels who erased historical data or someone else. Maybe the same people also don’t want her to bear a child. Alison shares Gloria’s opinion with Holston, who, as expected, believes that Gloria has gone crazy. He reassures her that they should be positive about the baby because they have clearance. There is no other way about it.
Freedom Day
Freedom Day is here. Holston is with Mayor Ruth Jahns, who is going to give a speech on the occasion. Alison is supposed to visit a guy named George Wilkins, who has yet again called her company for a repair request on his machine. Allison arrives at George’s place, and he shows her an old hard drive, a relic as per the Judicial [the government body of Silo] pertaining to her article on recovering lost data. The drive’s memory is almost full, although there seems to be no data visible, which means it’s hidden. Also, as per George, the drive is more than 140 years old. In other words, it is from before the rebellion occurred that led to the deletion of history. After spending hours researching how to recover whatever is on it, Alison manages to crack it using a code engraved on the drive itself. The data includes a lot of information on the Silo, including its blueprints. This is potentially dangerous, and if the judicial system finds out, they can have George killed if not sent out to the wasteland. Allison tells him to get rid of the drive immediately and leaves. George, however, continues exploring the blueprint of the Silo and finds a tunnel at the bottom level that is separated from the levels above by concrete. The information is stated as classified. The next day, she tells Karen that she isn’t feeling well and uses the excuse to visit Gloria and find out what she has to say [we do not see what Gloria tells her]. She then returns home and tells Holston that she will be taking the next day off and going to the market. Holston is lost in thoughts about his wife and wonders if she is doing okay. The next day, Allison visits George to find out more about Silo from the drive. They go through a lot of stuff, but it’s the last file that leaves Allison utterly flabbergasted. She sees footage of green trees, blue skies, and things flying in the air. She returns home that night and goes to sleep without speaking much to Holston.
The Hoax
Allison’s childbearing days are over. Holston and Doctor Leonard are waiting for her, as she’s supposed to come there from work. After waiting for quite some time, Holston goes to her office and finds that she called in sick. He returns home and finds Allison in a bloodied state. She shows her the birth control pill that she has just cut out of her abdomen. This means that what Dr. Leonard did a year ago was a hoax. The enforcers of the Pact, which brought about the existence of the Silo, don’t want anyone to conceive babies because they need obedient people who will listen to them. Holston rushes to bring Doctor Leonard, and they are on their way back when Holston bumps into Sam, who tells him that Allison is in the cafeteria. He arrives there and finds Allison trying to explain to the people how they are being deceived by those with power. It is a beautiful world outside, but they are not letting anyone out. Before Holston can calm her down, she declares that she wants to go out. Sam cuffs her and takes her to a holding facility. Her wish, which is no less than a crime inside the Silo, or so it seems, has to be fulfilled. It is more like a punishment for going against the authorities and the rules of the place. Gloria and George are both interrogated, but nothing substantial is found in their testimonies. They do not find anything from George’s place either [he must have hidden the drive somewhere safe].
‘Silo’ Episode 1 Ending Explained: Does Allison Go Outside?
Holston meets Allison in her cell. She tells him that the screens show only what the enforcers want people to see. If they see nothing, they know nothing. If they know nothing, they won’t ask anything. She intends to find out what’s outside, and once she does, she will come back for him. Holston could not be more worried. Allison is finally dressed up, in a suit and a helmet, in front of her husband, Holston, Mayor Ruth Jahns, and Sam. Once outside the airlock, she is outside the laws of Silo as well. Holston reads the oath to Allison with tears in his eyes. Allison’s last words are, “I love you.” She walks out into the wasteland. People in the Silo cheer as they watch Allison, via the large screen in the cafeteria, come out on the other side. Holston watches tearfully as his wife treads away from the Silo and soon collapses to the ground. Allison is dead. Mayor Jahns and Sam break down. George walks out of the cafeteria, saddened, along with the rest of the people. Two years later, Holston is in his office when Sam walks in and informs him that George Wilkins has been found dead in Level 120. But the catch is that an engineer on that level thinks that George was murdered. Upon examining his body a day later, down at Level 120, Holston and Sam find a wound in his head. However, the engineer who told Sam that George was killed is absent. Hank, the guy from the Sheriff’s department, who showed them George’s body, brings them to the engineer, who is working further down in the generator room. Her name is Juliette Nichols.
Holston is inside Holding 3. He is speaking to Sam, who has pulled a chair and tells him that even if it really is Allison, whom they have seen lying dead outside for more than 2 years now, he has decided to go out there and find the truth that she intended to look for.
Who are the enforcers? What exactly is the Pact? Where is the mine that Allison mentions that is supposed to contain relics from the past? Where does the tunnel at the bottom of the Silo lead to? Who killed George? Is this a sign that someone doesn’t want anyone to find out what’s beyond the Silo? What did Juliette tell Holston that ultimately made him decide to go outside in search of the truth, just like Allison?
Silo, despite having the very common search-for-truth-in-a-dystopian-society plot, moves at a steady pace. We can tell that there’s more outside than the people in the Silo think. Silo Episode 1 has established this fact pretty well and that there is something that the people with power don’t want the common folk to find out. However, we do not get any sign of things being limited, which should be the case. They do not have much space to grow crops. So where does all the food come from? Where do they store the water, and where does it come from? How big is the Silo, really? It is painful to see how Allison addresses birds as “things” flying in the sky. This makes it clear that she and the others as well, have never seen birds in their lives. So, we can assume that nature is something that is missing from their lives. Hopefully, as the show proceeds, we will find out more about Silo and how it has been able to keep its residents in the dark about the outer world.
