Silo season 2 ending explained: What does the PEZ dispenser mean?

Perhaps even more significant than the end of season 1, season 2's ending hints at where the future of the show is going to go, with the second book in Hugh Howey's trilogy, Shift, being the origin story of the silos.

So, here's everything you need to know about that stellar ending from the Apple TV+ hit – from the Safeguard Procedure to what happened with Juliette (Rebecca Ferguson) and Bernard (Tim Robbins), to that pesky PEZ dispenser.

Now, the wait is on for season 3.

Silo season 2 ending explained: What does the PEZ dispenser mean?

Eagle-eyed fans will recognise the PEZ dispenser from season 1.

It was a relic from the times before the silo that George Wilkins found before his death and gifted to Juliette (his girlfriend), with a message saying that he found what he was looking for.

In terms of where the show's going, it makes it clear that these two characters – a congressman and a journalist – played a key role in how life in the silo began.

The end of Silo season 2 episode 10 transports us back in time to before the silos existed and introduces us to Helen, a journalist, and a congressman who is not named – but who we're assuming is Donald Keene (who is a key figure in the novels). It's been suggested that his name will be Dan in the TV show, though.

While the congressman is convinced it's a date, Helen ends up grilling him about a recent attack that was launched on the US, saying the country's citizens need to know if an Iranian radiological attack was launched.

Clearly feeling awkward, the congressman leaves – but before going, he gives Helen a gift he rushed to the convenience store for – the same PEZ dispenser we saw in season 1, with a yellow duck on the top.

The congressman clearly gave it to Helen because she's an alumnus of the University of Oregon ("the Ducks") but it raises a big question – how did it get into the silo years and years later?

It hints that the congressman and Helen are important to the silo and perhaps they're some of its first residents. The books certainly give us some clues, as it seems we're about to head into the second novel in the trilogy, Shift. Beware – there are book spoilers below.

Shift follows the events that led to the building of the silos, and is told from two points of view – Donald (in the distant past) and Troy (in the near past and leading up to the present day).

Without giving too much away, Donald, without entirely understanding what he was doing, had a key hand in building the silos and the catastrophic event that led every surviving person to flee underground and live in them.

The events that follow are absolutely devastating – especially when it comes to Helen – and it seems they're about to be adapted on screen in season 3 – so buckle in!

If that's the case, we'd expect the story to step back from Juliette for a while to focus on the origin story of the silos.

What is the Safeguard Procedure?

The Safeguard Procedure is the protocol that one silo has control over all the rest and can "shut down" or kill an entire silo at a moment's notice, by pumping poison into it.

By the end of episode 10, Lukas (Avi Nash) is fully aware of the Safeguard Procedure and Juliette and Jimmy/Solo (Steve Zahn) think they have a way to stop it from killing the inhabitants of Silo 18.

Speaking to RadioTimes.com about the Safeguard Procedure and where season 3 will take us, showrunner Graham Yost said: "If I was sitting with Hugh, I would say, 'Did you use that term, or was that us?'

"The concept is in the books, the fact that there is this other silo, this controlling silo, they're the ones that people speak to when they go in the vault, or if you go down to the bottom of the silo and that there is this thing called the safeguard, which is that this other silo can kill a silo within minutes, essentially by poisoning them.

"And why would they do that? How? What is going on? And then we start to peel back a little bit. In Silo 17, they all went outside without cleaning suits on, and they didn't die for quite some time – what happened? Well, that's a big mystery. That's something eventually we hope to get the chance to answer."

Yost added: "We always wanted that feeling that it's not a bad society in a silo - people have got jobs, they've got food, they've got medical care, you know... But there's something weird about fertility, and who gets to have children, and there's other things. The Pact is kind of weird..."

Are Juliette and Bernard dead?

While Juliette and Bernard's (Tim Robbins) fate was left up in the air at the end of season 2, if season 3 follows the events of the books faithfully, we'd expect Bernard to be dead but Juliette to survive.

However, there's every possibility that the TV series may change this to continue Bernard's story.

When speaking to TIME, showrunner Graham Yost wouldn't give anything away. He said: “One thing that this show made clear in Season 1 is, anyone could die. The fire is not good. And there are very serious consequences.”

Episode 10 saw Juliette successfully make her way back to Silo 18 with the help of Solo, only to find Bernard waiting for her in the airlock pointing a gun at her.

Bernard expresses his wish to go outside (and then to kill himself) after discovering the truth about the Safeguard Procedure and realising that all his actions have been for nothing.

Juliette steps into the airlock to try and get back into the silo – but Bernard follows her inside and tries to get her out, knowing that there will be a cleansing fire in the airlock. Both of them are locked inside as the fiery jets begin to spray and their fate is left uncertain.

Before she made it into the airlock, though, Juliette showed herself to the citizens of Silo 18 on the screen so as they know she's alive, and warned them not to come outside, saving thousands of lives and preventing them from Silo 17's fate.

Is Juliette's father dead?

It seems so. Juliette's father, Dr Pete Nichols (Iain Glen), sacrificed himself to set off the bomb as part of the rebellion in Silo 18, saving his friend Hank in the process.

As part of Mechanical's plans, the pair were meant to set off the bomb with a timer – but when it came to it, the timer is nowhere to be found, leading Dr Nichols to set the bomb off manually. The bomb destroys the stairs between floors 92 and 98.

While Bernard initially believes he's scuppered Mechanical's plans, due to having Walker's (Harriet Walter) workshop bugged and listening in on their conversation, Walker then reveals that she planned for this.

She used secret hand signals to alert Knox (Shane McRae) and co to the fact that Bernard was listening, and Mechanical came up with another secret plan, to set the bomb off on the stairs and to get into IT.

Speaking exclusively to RadioTimes.com about this storyline, actress Walter said: "It's very hard to play deception, because if you're too good at it, people start thinking '[Walker's] not an actress. She wouldn't be able to completely cover that up.'

"But if she's not good enough at it, she makes everybody around her look like an idiot that they didn't see through it.

"So you have to sort of act so that in retrospect, people can go, 'Oh, I see.' So there are little signs that other people can read.

"I love the moment when Carla rejects Martha...that's all very interesting to act."

What happened to Sims and Camille?

After finding out from Lukas what the Safeguard Procedure is, what he's heard, Bernard appears to give up hope, appointing Sims (Common) as his shadow, giving him the key marked '18' and wishing him luck.

Lukas returns home and attempts to convince his mother that everything's fine. But his family reunion is cut short by Sims crashing in with a gun, and ordering him to tell him what he said to Bernard.

Lukas refuses to tell him but says it doesn't matter if he kills him and to look at The Legacy for himself.

Sims heads into the vault and speaks to the mysterious voice, saying he wants to save the silo.

The voice tells him that Sims and his son must leave the vault but his wife Camille (Alexandria Riley) can stay.

While Sims does appear in the books, his character has been very fleshed out for the show, so it's difficult to speculate about where his story is going to go – but it seems Silo 1 wants something with Camille.

Speaking to TIME, Yost suggested the decisions she made in season 2 impressed the all-knowing presence that has chosen her for greater things, saying: “That presence detected something in her, a certain quality that would make her a great person to be—and the best person available—head of IT.”

What happened to Solo?

Solo is still in Silo 17, with Juliette having to leave him behind due to only having one suit to make it back to Silo 18.

However, he's played a key part in the story, telling Juliette how his parents – at least for a little bit – prevented the Safeguard from killing everyone by capping the pipe that the poison is pumped from.

It's not known whether Solo's story will continue in season 3 – but here's hoping he and Juliette will reunite again.

Silo season 2 is available to stream on Apple TV+ – you can sign up to Apple TV+ here. Hugh Howey's Wool Trilogy is available to buy now.

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