‘Silo’ Season 2 Episode 1 Recap

Editor’s note: The below recap contains spoilers for Silo Season 2 Episode 1.

It’s been just under 18 months since Silo wrapped up its first season, but Season 2 of the Apple TV+ dystopian sci-fi drama picks up right where the story left off. Only a few minutes have passed since the first season’s closing moments, which saw engineer-turned-sheriff Juliette Nichols (Rebecca Ferguson) achieve the impossible and climb out of the crater surrounding the titular Silo. By doing so, she uncovered one of the insular and authoritarian structure’s most closely guarded secrets: Earth might indeed be a toxic wasteland, but the Silo’s 10,000 residents aren’t the only survivors of whatever futuristic disaster befell our planet. Dozens of other Silos exist, if not hundreds, and with that revelation comes the implication that Juliette has only scratched the surface when it comes to discovering what other secrets the all-powerful Founders have hidden from their oppressed civilians. But even if Juliette’s ultimate journey turns out to be long and arduous, Season 2’s premiere is anything but. Penned by series creator and showrunner Graham Yost, “The Engineer” is as suspenseful and enthralling as Season 1 at its peak, effectively setting up Silo‘s sophomore season for another home run.

‘Silo’ Season 2 Opens With a Failed Revolution

Appropriately enough, “The Engineer” opens with a small light piercing through complete darkness. Tim, a young boy we haven’t met before, runs down the pitch-black hallways of the Down Deep with a lit torch in hand. One of the surrounding walls bears symbols of anger and resistance: people have graffitied over a floor-to-ceiling “Thank the Founders” propaganda display with the words “liars” and “truth now.” Once Tim reaches a large group of adults, he delivers a vital message from engineering: in 15 minutes, the Silo’s generator will flood.

Backed into a corner by a ticking clock, this band of rebels makes a last-ditch assault against the Silo’s leadership, who have sequestered themselves behind armed guards on one of the upper levels. Many civilians fall to the security team’s bullets before the former overwhelms the latter into surrender. Every surviving civilian — young Tim included — marches free of the Silo and into the outside world, waving a victorious green flag all the while.

Juliette Braves the Dark in ‘Silo’ Season 2 Episode 1

Once this brief prologue fades to black, we return to Juliette as she slowly crosses the distance between her Silo and its closest neighbor, passing a battered green flag and navigating through the thousands of skeletons littering the ground. These corpses belong to the people we just saw charging out of their Silo with such fervent hope — without a functioning environmental suit, the toxic air felled them mere minutes after they won their freedom. Even the corridor leading into the Silo is so cramped with bodies, Juliette must walk on top of them, maintaining her balance as dusty bones crunch beneath her booted feet.

Once inside, it quickly becomes apparent that this abandoned building is no walk in the park. Frankly, neither was Juliette’s Silo, but hers was operational; without electricity or an active population, this one is as dark and silent as an undisturbed crypt. Juliette herself nearly joins the corpses when her limited oxygen runs out. Suffocating underneath her helmet, which doesn’t want to budge off her head, she shatters open the helmet’s glass front with a nearby crowbar.

Once Juliette starts wandering the Silo’s familiar paths, it doesn’t take long for her to notice a distant clinking sound reminiscent of someone hammering metal-on-metal. No one responds to Juliette’s calls, but she forges ahead toward the noise. The problem? There’s an inconvenient chunk of walkway missing, one too large to safely jump across. Inspiration strikes after Juliette spots a body hanging off one of the railings from a rope; she hauls up both rope and body and commandeers the latter, tying one end to the railing and the other around her waist. She lowers herself down and tries to swing across the missing slab of walkway, but the rope snaps under her weight, careening her down into deep water — presumably from the flooded generator referenced in the episode’s prologue.

‘Silo’ Season 2 Remains Just As Tense as Season 1

Juliette manages to drag herself back to solid ground, but not without letting loose an oddly satisfying scream. This wordless, frustrated cry emphasizes how the vast majority of “The Engineer” unfolds in silence. Silo has always been a series both confident and astute enough to never hold its audience’s hand, but a premiere that borders on dialogue-less makes for a daring start. The fact that the Season 2 premiere remains just as engaging as the 10 episodes preceding it is a testimony to the entire production as well as Ferguson’s performance. The former turns the Silo’s recognizable design into a chillingly oppressive environment, while our leading lady walks an even finer line between feral resolve and weighted loneliness. Equally daring is how “The Engineer” lives up to its title by never diverting away from Juliette’s perspective. For now, the friends and enemies she left behind will have to wait.

Speaking of friends: as Juliette keeps exploring, certain areas trigger flashbacks to her younger self (Amelie Child-Villiers), specifically her early days in mechanical, as she learns the ropes with her coworkers and grows closer to Martha Walker (Harriet Walter) and Shirley Campbell (Ida Brooke). Both women deliver some hard truths about isolation, resilience, and humanity’s innate need for community. In Walker’s case (who already demonstrates a gruff but deeply maternal affection for Juliette), she relays a story about catching pneumonia. The worst part wasn’t the symptoms, but the moment she woke up in the middle of the night and found herself alone. Terrified and panicking, Walker ran into the corridor and shouted for help; it was a relief when her neighbors responded, even though they were irritated about having their sleep interrupted.

Shirley, meanwhile, once got a little too adventurous with a group of young friends. Together, they ventured down into one of the Silo’s lowest levels, only for the others to accidentally leave Shirley behind. Worse, they never came back for her, opting to leave her abandoned in the dark. Juliette, already well-acquainted with societal exile in the wake of her mother Hanna (Sienna Guillory) dying by suicide, asks Shirley how she returned home. “I went really, really slowly,” Shirley answers. “But I found my way.”

‘Silo’s Season 2’s Premiere Teases the Series’ Wider Mysteries

In the current timeline, Juliette finds her way by dropping a long strip of metal over the missing footpath section via a handmade rope pulley. It’s a slow, perilous walk across, but a promising one – until the makeshift bridge gives, forcing Juliette to run, leap, and grab onto the opposite edge for dear life. Hauling herself up, Juliette enters the office and housing areas only to face another disappointment; that clinking sound is nothing more than an ID badge hanging off an active desk fan and bashing against its front. But a far eerier noise soon replaces it: music. Somehow, the dulcet tones of Audrey Hepburn crooning “Moon River,” a song made famous by the film Breakfast at Tiffany‘s, are coming from behind a giant, metallic vault door.

Naturally curious, Juliette tries to open the locked entrance without any luck. However, as soon as she turns away, a very alive voice greets her from inside. A metal eyehole slot slides open to reveal a pair of wide, heterochromatic eyes staring out at Juliette. This stranger politely tells her that they understand why she’s tempted to get inside, but they won’t hesitate to kill her if she tries a second time. They snap the slot shut on Juliette’s stunned face, and Silo‘s Season 2 premiere cuts to its end credits just as sharply. This Silo’s (presumably) lone survivor might have interrupted Juliette’s suffocating loneliness, but they greet her with a lethal threat instead of companionship. It’s a poignant reminder of what Juliette has already lost and all she still stands to lose — and a tantalizingly ominous teaser for what’s to come this season.

New episodes of Silo Season 2 premiere weekly on Fridays and are available to stream on Apple TV+.

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