We had discussed how Holston had made up his mind to go outside the “Silo” in the recap of the first episode itself and now Mayor Ruth Jahns had no option but to comply with his will. Holston apologized to Mayor Ruth for causing so much trouble and then bid her and Deputy Marnes goodbye. He wore a spacesuit and went out of the Silo for the first time in his life. The crowd inside the facility waited in anticipation and placed bets on whether Holston would clean the lens through which the residents were able to see outside. Something unusual happened that misled Holston and made him believe that whatever his wife had told him about the outside world was, in fact, true.
Holston saw birds flying in a clear blue sky, while the lush green trees swayed in the wind. It suddenly struck Holston that the residents needed to witness it through their own eyes, so he cleared the lens. But the residents of the Silo still saw the same imagery: the outside world seemed gray and devoid of any life. At this juncture, it is not explicitly revealed who was seeing reality and who was being fooled, though it is likely that Holston’s space helmet screen was showing him a computer-generated image, as moments after he stepped out, he too succumbed to the toxic environment like his wife, Allison. Holston somehow crawled to the place where the dead body of his wife was lying, held her hands, and died next to her. Juliette, who had been watching the sheriff up until then, stomped out of the dining area, in a fit of rage, and repetitively saying that the sheriff lied to her. Without wasting a moment any further, let’s look into the recap of “Silo” Episode 2.
Spoilers Alert
What Did Juliette Tell Martha About Holston?
Juliette was frustrated after what had happened with George, and now with the death of the sheriff her feelings were aggravated, and she desperately wanted to confide in someone and blurt out everything she knew. Martha, an old lady who ran a repair workshop at the lower levels of the Silo, was quite close to Juliette, and she was one person Juliette had an immense amount of trust in. As soon as Juliette walked inside her workshop in the second episode, Martha understood that there was something brewing inside her mind. Martha asked her to calm down and tell her what her issue was. Juliette told Martha that she had met Holston right after George Wilkins had died, as she had told one of the deputies that he hadn’t committed suicide but was killed by someone. Holston came to meet Juliette and asked her to tell him everything she knew about George and if he had left anything for her before he died. Holston was aware of the fact that Juliette and George had been in a relationship for quite some time, but they were hiding it from the people because they were scared of the authorities, and probably, there was a rule in place that prohibited them from doing so without permission.
George had left an object and a note for Juliette, but she was skeptical about telling Sheriff Holston about it since she feared that he would take legal action against her for the possession of a relic. Juliette made Holston promise that he would see and listen to everything with an open mind, as only then could she let him in on her secret. Holston agreed, and Juliette showed him the object that Geroge had left for her. With that object, there was also a note, the latter half of which Juliette had torn and hidden from Holston for some unknown reason, which she later reveals in “Silo” Episode 2. In the first half of the note, George asked Juliette to remember where she had first seen that object. There were a lot of places inside the Silo that were hidden, and that normal people didn’t know about. Juliette took Holston inside a tunnel, which opened up to a vast area that had some kind of huge machinery installed there. Holston was shocked to see that such a place existed inside the Silo. Holston was a law-abiding citizen, and up until then, he had believed what he had been told and never questioned the intentions of the authorities. But then there were people like George and Allison who had inquisitive minds and wanted to know about their history and how Silo had come into existence.
Juliette and Holston climbed down the stairs and reached the basement, where George had made a temporary setup where he often used to come with Juliette to stay. Juliette noticed that there was a wire hidden underneath the concrete surface that had a cloth bag tied to it at one end. That bag had the same drive that George had shown Allison in “Silo” Episode 1, and seeing that, Holston got paranoid. They also found a document inside that bag that had something scribbled on it, and looking at it, Holston realized that it was his wife’s handwriting. Juliette realized that Holston was not there to find out the cause of George’s death, but he wanted to know whether Juliette or George had anything to do with his wife choosing to go out of the Silo. Holston left and told Juliette that he would investigate the matter, check the drive, and inform her about what their next step should be.
What Was George Wilkins Looking For?
In “Silo” Episode 2, we come to know why Holston had a change of heart after three years of his wife choosing to go out to clean. Sheriff Holston might have checked the drive and found the footage that seemed like proof of the existence of life in the outside world—the same footage that Allison and George had seen in the first episode. Juliette never heard from Holston after that day, until one day she realized that he had decided to go out of the Silo.
Juliette showed Martha the bottom half of the note that she had torn before showing it to Holston. George had written that he had found what he had been looking for. Juliette told Martha that one day, when they were hanging around in their secret place where she had taken Holston, George had told her that he had reason to believe that there was a door somewhere in the basement, and he had no clue what lay on the other side of it. The basement was filled with water, and that is why Juliette had gotten paranoid and told George that he shouldn’t risk his life and go down. Martha warned Juliette that she was treading in extremely dangerous territory, though she knew that Juliette wouldn’t stop until she found out exactly where that door was and where it led to.
At the end of “Silo” Episode 2, Juliette went to that secret space and decided to go to the basement and find that door that George had talked about. Meanwhile, Deputy Marnes informed Mayor Ruth that before going out of the Silo, Holston Becker had left a note recommending the name of a candidate who could take his place and be the next sheriff of the Silo. To everybody’s surprise, Holston had named Juliette as the next sheriff, and Mayor Ruth wasn’t able to understand why he had done so. Mayor Ruth knew that Holston was a trustworthy and a dependable man, and he would never entrust such a responsibility in wrong hands. That’s why the Mayor decided that she wouldn’t outright reject his recommendation because it came out of the blue but would like to meet Juliette in person and then make an informed decision.
