Silo Season 2 Episode 5 Ending Explained: Is The Real Rebellion Starting?

Warning! This article contains spoilers for Silo season 2 episode 5.

Silo season 2's episode 5 walks through the series of events that lead to the rebellion reaching its boiling point while Juliette struggles to find a way to return home. Based on Hugh Howey Silo book series, the Apple TV+ show has finally picked up pace midway through its runtime as it is gradually building up to its crescendo. Although many underlying mysteries in the series remain unresolved, season 2's episode 5 affirms that viewers will know a lot more about Solo's real identity and Juliette's fate before the season ends its run.

Even when it comes to Bernard's side of the story, the Apple TV+ sci-fi show seems to be heading into an intriguing territory where he will soon learn some dire truths about the world he lives in the more he understands Salvador Quinn's encoded letter. Towards its ending moments, Silo season 2's episode 5 also paves the way for an intense second half of the season by hinting that Bernard may not be able to contain the brewing rebellion for long. This, in turn, puts a ticking clock on Juliette's head because she will have to race against time to return home before it is too late.

Why Juliette Is Sick In Silo Season 2 Episode 5's Ending

A Wound On Her Hand Is Infected

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Unfortunately, for Juliette, even though she realizes the urgency of her mission, many challenges hold her back from heading home. Till episode 5, her biggest setback was finding or preparing an insulated suit that would protect her from the outside world. Even though she finds a fireman's suit in Silo season 2's episode 4, she realizes she cannot use it. Things take a grim turn when she suddenly falls severely ill. Solo thinks she is only tired because she has not eaten much since her arrival. Therefore, hoping to help her, he provides her with food.

Since Solo has been in Silo 17 all his life, he will likely know where Juliette can get access to anti-biotics to heal the infection and help her plan her return home.

However, towards the end of the episode, Juliette checks a wound on her arm and realizes it is infected. The infected wound is what makes her sick. In the episode's final stretch, Juliette surprisingly manages to find an old helmet in a room in Silo 17. But to her dismay, she collapses to the ground because of the illness from the infection, suggesting she will need Solo's help.

Related How Long Solo Has Been In The Vault In Silo Solo's odd behavior when Juliette meets him Silo season 2's opening episodes makes it hard not to wonder how long he lived in his vault in Silo 17.

Since Solo has been in Silo 17 all his life, he will likely know where Juliette can get access to antibiotics to heal the infection and help her plan her return home. Given how Solo wanted her to drain the water from the lower levels of the Silo before it reaches the IT, Juliette might return the favor and eventually agree to help him before leaving. However, with time running thin, Juliette will have to recover quickly.

What Solo Is Hiding About His Identity From Juliette

Solo May Not Be Who He Claims

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In Silo season 2's episode 4, Solo acted suspicious when Juliette enquired about his past and asked him about his timeline in the Silo. He grows even more erratic when Juliette confronts him in episode 5 after learning that someone else in the Silo was named Solo. So far, Solo has given two different stories of why he calls himself that. The first time Juliette met him, he said that his name is Solo because he lives by himself in Silo 17. In episode 5, Juliette finds a picture of another man with the name Solo written on the frame.

This makes her realize that Solo is someone else and the sole Silo 17 survivor has been lying to her. When Juliette questions whether he is the IT head's shadow, Solo suddenly loses his cool and lashes out at her. He defends himself by yelling that he is the late mayor's shadow, but there is clearly more to him than meets the eye. It seems possible that his father's nickname was Solo, and he merely adopted the name after he died.

Silo season 2 is based on the story developments from the second half of Hugh Howey's first Silo book, Wool.

The discrepancies in his recollection of his timeline in the Silo also suggest he was incredibly young when the rebellion happened. Owing to this, he could not have officially been declared as the Silo's shadow by the Head of IT. This could mean that just to ensure he stayed safe inside the Silo's vault and avoided leaving while everyone else perished, his father must have convinced him that he was the shadow. Being a young boy, Solo likely took his father's final words seriously and decided to embody the role.

Juliette also finds a directory that confirms a man named Cole Myers was the last shadow for the Head of IT. The picture she later discovers in the Silo 17 apartment also features Cole Myers and a woman nicknamed "Mini." While Silo season 2's future episodes will likely reveal more about them, Mini and Solo might have been the Steven Zhan character's parents. After he lost his loved ones during the rebellion, he probably took his father's name to cope with his grief and convinced himself that it was his responsibility to look after the Silo's vault.

How Knox & Shirley's Return To The Mechanical Triggers The Real Rebellion

It Encourages The Mechanical To Go All In With Their Protests

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Bernard tries to stop Shirley and Knox from returning to the Mechanical because he understands that they will become the frontrunners of the brewing rebellion if they succeed. To his dismay, despite his best efforts to stop them, Knox and Shirley eventually make it back, prompting the people of the lower levels to grow increasingly enraged towards the upper floors. Since Bernard has killed the only person, Meadows, who could have helped him strategically extinguish the rebellion, he seems to have dug his own grave.

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Instead of working for him, Robert Sims and his wife also seem to have their own underlying agendas. They seem too fixated on rising in the ranks in the Silo's hierarchy and use the growing chaos to fulfill their goals. This makes things even worse for Bernard because it leaves no one by his side. Bernard orders Billings to arrest Knox and Shirley to ensure things do not escalate further. However, Billings, too, is starting to realize that Bernard has been hypocritical. After learning the truth about the Silo's many secrets from Patrick Kennedy, Billings might also turn his back against Bernard.

Why Silo 17's IT Has A Separate Power Source

It Hints There Are Bigger Forces Out There

Solo reveals that the IT gets power supply from an external source. Later in the Silo season 2 episode, Lukas follows Bernard's orders and fixes the broken hard drive Juliette had previously acquired. He finds a blueprint of Silo 18, which shows external lines coming into the IT department. Although Lukas seems clueless about what these lines could mean, it seems evident that Silo 18's IT is also being powered by an external source. While only time will tell where these lines go, IT's connection to an external source seems to confirm bigger forces are at play.

Connecting the IT to an external source may also be a measure to ensure that, incase the Mechanical decides to shut down the entire Silo's power, the head of IT still has control over the Silo.

Someone or something from the outside world seems to be controlling the silos and has the power to manipulate the internal systems. Connecting the IT to an external source may also be a measure to ensure that, in case the Mechanical decides to shut down the entire Silo's power, the head of IT still has control over the Silo. This could mean that no matter what happens inside the Silo, someone outside will be prepared to establish control.

Why Bernard Appoints Sims As The New Judge But Not As His Shadow

Sims Breaks His Trust But Is Too Valuable For Bernard

Custom image by Simone Ashmoore

The primary reason why Bernard killed Meadows in Silo season 2's episode 4 was that he saw her as a threat for wanting to leave the Silo. However, his decision to murder her was also driven by Robert Sims' scheme to get her impeached. Bernard realized that the impeachment plot would tarnish her image among the higher-ups and turn them against the Silo's authorities. Owing to this, he used her as a scapegoat to create differences between the upper and lower levels of the Silo.

Silo Season 2 Episode Guide Episode Title Release Date 1 "The Engineer" November 15, 2024 2 "Order" November 22, 2024 3 "Solo" November 27, 2024 4 "The Harmonium" December 6, 2024 5 "Descent" December 13, 2024 6 TBA December 20, 2024 7 TBA December 27, 2024 8 TBA January 3, 2025 9 TBA January 10, 2025 10 TBA January 17, 2025

Bernard might have previously considered having Robert Sims as his shadow. However, after the betrayal, he realizes he cannot trust him anymore. At the same time, though, Bernard also understands that Sims is too valuable for him to simply discard. Therefore, he makes him the Judicial head. As seen in Silo season 2's episode 5, this, too, does not seem to work in Bernard's favor because Robert's wife begins to assert her influence from behind the scenes by manipulating her husband.