Silo Episode 2 Explained- What Happened To Sheriff Holston?

With the last of the backstory out of the way, Silo can officially begin. Silo Episode 2 wastes no time killing off a significant character and pushing another to the forefront. There are more questions than answers so far, but that is the hallmark of a great story. We can sink into this grimy world when we are given twists and turns that we didn’t see coming, and every new angle opens up an entirely new mystery. It becomes a place we don’t just want to know about but need to know about.

The pilot episode established that everyone is being lied to about something. When information is restricted, it is never a good thing. It doesn’t work in a dictatorship, it didn’t work in Hunger Games, and the aliens of Stargate learned it doesn’t work in oppressed societies. Information has a way of leaking out. Like the dinosaurs of Jurassic Park, life and information always finds a way. In Silo Episode 2, the dam is stressed, and it is only a matter of time before everything the Judicial is hiding starts flooding out. Before that happens, though, a confusing early scene kills off Sheriff Holston. It prompts the question, was he killed, or is the Earth actually toxic?

After Allison went out to clean in the previous episode, Holston has been barely surviving. He became a shell of himself, dead to the world, unable to reconcile what happened. Allison was adamant that they were being lied to. She went outside because she believed she would live. Two years later, when Computer George, the guy Allison helped open the ancient hard drive, was found dead, Holston finally woke up. He has a purpose again. That purpose denied loved ones’ answers and led to his death, though. George’s unsanctioned romantic partner and the lead generator engineer claimed he was killed. When Deputy Marnes and Sheriff Holston go to question her, he goes searching for answers. Unfortunately for Juliette, he was more concerned with Allison than George.

The episode opens with Holston going outside the silo. We see him leave and see a bright, green landscape. It’s lush and vibrant and alive with life. He is initially thrilled, prompting him to clean the sensors so everyone inside can see what he sees. Shortly after cleaning, he turns around and heads to Allison’s body. Just before reaching her, he has respiratory trouble and removes his helmet. He collapses next to her body and presumably dies. What happened to him? Is the Earth toxic, as they have been told, or was he poisoned somehow?

Book Spoilers for Silo Ahead

Those who have read the book series know Holston died because the Earth is toxic. That part isn’t a lie. Allison was wrong. Above, the silo is ruined and will kill you. The lie, however, comes after someone leaves the silo. An image on their visor screen makes them think the Earth is fine. The cleaners have a fake version of what they are seeing, so they will clean the sensors before being overcome by the poisons and dying.

It is a way of ensuring the sensors get cleaned, and possibly someone at some point thought it was more humane to give them a beautiful image to focus on while dying. At this point, the warped vision they are presented with appears to be nothing more than a way to continue the silo way of life. It keeps the masses controlled and the governing body’s bigger lies under wraps. It’s a sinister bit of gaslighting that few know about.

Is it wrong to comfort those dying, or is it simply a control device guaranteed to make everyone clean? We know that everyone who goes out cleans the sensor even when they promise they won’t. Now we know why. Even those who wanted to expose the truth fell victim to the propaganda machine. It’s a cruel final indignity that makes everyone part of the silo machine, even in death.

The fact that Holston died outside the silo is stunning, especially considering we thought we were watching a series about a shadow government lying to its people to maintain power and control. Like any dystopian society built on the destruction of information except for the powerful few, we thought power was the only draw. We were wrong. Something much larger is happening, and we are only beginning to scratch the surface of this conspiracy.

Juliette has begun looking for answers after Sherif Holston’s death because she can’t believe George killed himself. He wanted to show her something on the night he died. He feared his discovery would endanger her but needed her to see it anyway. That isn’t the mindset of a suicidal man. But, little does she know, Holston didn’t abandon her. Before he left the silo, he named his replacement. He named Juliette because she could use the office’s resources to get answers and because he knows she is strong and determined. Judicial won’t be happy about the previous sheriff, who had become unstable, choosing someone from below with no law enforcement experience. Things are turning dangerous in the silo, and they must select a replacement immediately before fear takes over.

George’s obsession with everything before the rebellion likely got him killed. However, if Juliette accepts the appointment and is allowed to be the sheriff, her position might be the only thing that keeps her alive. In Silo Episode 2, she picks up where George left off and climbs down to find the stairs. In George’s hidden lair, there is a massive digging machine that he speculated was used to dig the hole for the silo.

He posited that the subsequent infrastructure and machine were too large to remove, so it was walled off behind concrete and left. George kept everything down in the hidden space, including the hard drive Allison and he looked at and a huge quantity of rope. He wanted to climb down all the way to the water and search for a door. Who knows if he ever found it, but Juliette is determined to look, and Silo Episode 2 closes with her on the verge of a discovery.

Apple TV+’s Silo is an addictive thriller for classic dystopian science fiction lovers. With secrets and mysteries galore, it will be a captivating world we willingly fall into every week. The first two episodes premiered today, with a new episode each week after that. Find all our Silo coverage here.