Silo Season 3: The Meaning Of Juliette's Tattoos Is More Important Than Ever

Apple TV

The following contains spoilers for Episode 2 of "Silo" Season 3.

"Silo" is back, and it's one of the best sci-fi shows on Apple TV. The post-apocalyptic thriller about people living in an underground silo after some cataclysm ended civilization and made the surface world a toxic hell is addictive, compelling, and full of unforgettable twists and turns. The show introduces several intriguing mysteries, and weaves them in with nuanced character drama in a way reminiscent of the best seasons of "Lost." Sure, the mysteries are great and the audience is desperate for answers, but the character arcs and stories are just so good that watching, say, Rebecca Ferguson's Juliette interact with Steve Zahn's Solo is heartbreaking and just as enthralling.

Season 3 changes the status quo significantly. The premiere introduces a huge departure from Hugh Howey's book series with an amnesia storyline for Juliette that adds yet another mystery to the show. Episode 2 makes it clear, however, that this isn't just a sitcom plot to delay Juliette explaining what she saw outside the silo, but a larger storyline that adds to the worldbuilding of the show.

Most importantly, it adds a lot of juicy drama to Juliette, who is now a stranger in her own home, surrounded by people who worship her without having any clue why. She not only is incapable of recognizing her friends, but even her sense of self. Case in point, her tattoos. Though we've seen Juliette's tattoos plenty of times before, they take on a different meaning in this episode when Juliette meets with a young girl who calls herself Juliette. Turns out, there is a whole group of girls taking on the name of their new mayor, dressing just like her, and even tattooing the same design on their arm.

By the end of Episode 2, Juliette meets a young girl who goes by Juliette (real name Evelyn) and notices they have the same tattoo. Given she remembers nothing of her life, she asks the girl what it means, hoping to get some insight into what her own tattoo means. The girl, unfortunately, doesn't know. She didn't get the tattoo because she knows what it means, but because Juliette has it.

Sadly, Juliette can no longer remember the meaning of her tattoos. And she instead scolds the girl for doing something meaningless, which makes her feel miserable — don't meet your heroes, kids.

Thankfully for us, Apple TV released a behind-the-scenes video after Season 1 (via YouTube) showing a bit of the background for Juliette's tattoos. In the clip, Rebecca Ferguson talked about wanting to give Juliette a specific look, but wanting "Something that wasn't tribal and that wasn't something we see all the time." Indeed, the point was that only the people who live in Mechanical, toward the bottom of the silo, get tattoos and have more freedom of artistic expression. Her tattoos are a symbol of her friendships, of her home. This is partially out of rebellion, partially because those above simply don't care about them.

The final tattoo design was inspired by Ferguson coming across a design of a rope in a tattoo, which looked like torn up wool ("Wool" happens to be the title of the first book in the "Silo" series). According to hair and makeup designer, Louise Coles, the design had to be a bit unnatural, synthetic. "There can't be any shapes that are natural because they don't know they exist."

Silo

Season 3 of "Silo" sees many major characters missing as the show enters a new status quo and begins to juggle many storylines across two timelines. This is why Juliette's amnesia is such an interesting narrative framing. It allows "Silo" to introduce a lot of change while also having a ticking time bomb of Juliette eventually recovering her memories and filling in the gaps in everyone's knowledge.

Take, for example, Juliette becoming a symbol of hope within the silo. Everyone sees her as this almost messianic figure who survived being outside and returned at the right time to prevent the silo residents from killing each other. This is why she is now mayor, because she is the only person everyone can stand behind. But the old Juliette would not stand for that, and she would definitely not want to be the leader of some cult of young Juliettes.

That's because the Juliette that returned to Silo 18 at the end of Season 2 did so with one specific purpose — prevent the Safeguard Procedure. At the end of the season, Juliette found out that every silo is rigged with poison that activates when the people try to go outside. That's why she returns and urges people to stay indoors, because if they try to leave, they all die. But she also learned there is a way to stop the Safeguard Procedure.

It is a matter of time before Juliette gains her memory back, and the question becomes how much she will tell people. Will she tell them about Silo 17? The AI that controls the silo? Will she keep quiet until she finds a way to deal with the Safeguard Procedure?