Silo Season 3 Explains What Happened To Juliette's Rebellion

Warning: This article contains major spoilers for "Silo" Season 3 Episode 1, "Who Are You?"

If I ever became an inadvertent symbol for the resistance in a futuristic silo designed to shelter the last remnants of humanity, I would simply not cause a stir and lead thousands of people to the very brink of destruction. Luckily for us all, Rebecca Ferguson's Juliette Nichols takes a much different course of action in "Silo." When last we saw her in the Season 2 finale, our Sheriff-turned-Mayor had tried to return to Silo 18 in an attempt to warn everyone inside that the outside world was not safe. The social unrest within had been building and building to a fever pitch, with the entire silo on the cusp of all-out rebellion — fueled by their fervent belief (as exemplified by Rick Gomez's stubborn revolutionary Patrick Kennedy) that they had been lied to all along and that it is, in fact, safe to go outside.

The truth could not be more dire, as we found out through Juliette's eyes throughout Season 2. But, when "Silo" Season 3 begins, we don't pick up immediately after we saw her and (former) IT head Bernard (Tim Robbins) burn alive in an incinerator during that cliffhanger ending. Instead, we jump ahead a few months and are left to put together the pieces ourselves. This clever approach, paralleling Juliette's own confusion as she can't remember anything about her life prior to her harrowing accident, also means that the silo has basically reset its status quo entirely. Other than a few ominous, telltale signs, the rebellion waged in Juliette's name is all but nonexistent.

Or is it? Season 3 of the underrated Apple series soon reveals exactly what happened to Juliette's rebellion — and it's bound to be a surprise. 

By the end of "Silo" Season 2, Juliette's mission had radically changed. What started as a desperate attempt to reach the mysterious Silo 18 and learn more about how these silos got here (and why) soon turned into a much more urgent matter. Her discovery that the "Safeguard" protocol would actually lead to the deaths of everyone in the silo (thanks to the efforts of Steve Zahn's quirky survivor "Solo," who's real name is Jimmy) marked a significant turning point in the season, motivating Juliette to do whatever it takes to return to her home and warn her people of the unseen threat hanging directly over their heads.

The Season 3 premiere keeps us painfully aware of these stakes ... even as Juliette herself no longer remembers. As we slowly find out, her safe return placated the silo's unruly residents and led to them electing her mayor once she recovered from her injuries. But while this seems like a victory for the good guys, it's revealed that new IT head Camille (Alexandria Riley) is working under orders to medicate Juliette with memory-wiping drugs, which in turn prevents her from warning her people about the Safeguard.

As a result, Juliette's rebellion has been completely quelled. Manipulated by Camille, the Mayor dutifully repeats her talking points and toes the company line. Without any memories of her former friends Martha Walker (Harriet Walter), Shirley (Remmie Milner), Knox (Shane McRae), or any of the others, her altered state leaves her in no position to inspire anyone. But we do learn that fugitives like Lukas Kyle (Avi Nash) and Patrick Kennedy are still at large, along with a band of merry "Outsiders" fanning the flames of rebellion.

Despite the surface-level peace, the Season 3 premiere carefully provides glimpses that not all in the silo is as it seems. While the masses may be appeased by the appearance of things going back to normal (as "normal" as things get in a dystopian bunker at the end of the world, of course), we see that Camille doesn't quite have as tight a lid on things as she'd like. Patrick Kennedy and Lukas Kyle, two of the biggest figures in the rebellion during Season 2, are nowhere to be found. In their absence, a persistent group of so-called "Outsiders" hold true to Juliette's original mission, hanging signs from bridges and mounting their own resistance to cast suspicion on whether the outside world truly is safe or not.

As frustrating as it may be to watch our hero Juliette stumble around in a haze and with no clear answers to several pressing questions, "Silo" creator Graham Yost and his writers clearly have a plan in mind. The amnesia storyline already shows signs of progress, as the Mayor experiences flashes of memory that she can't quite make sense of and even receives a cryptic note urging her to learn the "truth." The final moments confirm that all of this is being done by the command of the enigmatic entity known as the Algorithm, the disembodied voice that once had Bernard do its bidding and now has another willing servant in Camille.

Now that the most immediate threat this season has been revealed, expect the rest of the episodes to kick things into gear — and maybe even Juliette's muzzled rebellion, as well. New episodes of "Silo" stream on Apple TV every Friday.