Silo: What Really Happened to Sheriff Paul Billings' Shaking Hands?

Have you sat down and really wondered where Paul Billings' syndrome went? It was disheartening watching such a disciplined sheriff, someone who wanted to play everything by the book, live with something like that. We watched his hands shake, and that shaking undermined his duties as sheriff.

Paul Billings' Shaking Hands Once Threatened His Job as Sheriff

There was a scene where he was ordered to grab Juliet by the hands and make sure she didn't escape. Because of the syndrome, he couldn't grip her hands firmly, which let her get away. When he was confronted about how she escaped while he was supposedly holding her tightly, this was his answer.

"How' she get away?" "You think I let her go?"

But then here we are, and we're no longer seeing his hands shaking, and everybody seems to have just forgotten about him and this syndrome. So my question is, was he cured, and how?

He Hid the Condition From His Superiors, and Robert Sims Nearly Exposed Him

He didn't want the leaders to find out about his condition because that would make him lose his job, so he had to find a perfect lie for it. This shows how much he cares about his job, and why his condition doesn't make him feel good.

At one point, Robert Sims found out Paul had the syndrome, and that alone could have cost him the job, because it is in the pact that any member of the silo with the syndrome cannot hold a position of authority. They let it slide so that he could keep being sheriff.

The Woman He Lives With Noticed His Hands Had Stopped Shaking, and Even Paul Was Confused

At a time when the woman he lives with asked Paul to hold a glass of water instead of passing it to her, she noticed for the first time that his hand wasn't shaking, which surprised her, because every time Paul holds something in the house his hands normally shake. The fact that he had also missed his herbal medications made her believe his syndrome was gone. She asked Paul, but he was equally confused. He did not know whether the syndrome was gone or not.

Some viewers think his syndrome is gone. Others think it is still there. So who is right? This also brings me to another question: how can Paul lose track of his own illness? Well, that is Paul for you, since he is always focused on his work.

When she asked him and he had no idea, she said, "Maybe you have." She is confident that the syndrome is gone after noticing it for only a day. Sometimes praying for something to disappear might let you believe it is gone forever after a day's notice. That makes her belief not entirely true, because a one day notice is not enough to tell whether the syndrome is gone. Her hope was some kind of encouragement to Paul to keep his job and quit worrying about it.

The Syndrome Was Never Supposed to Disqualify Anyone, According to Judge Meadows

We learned that the syndrome is actually not contagious, but rather a physical reaction to the unnatural psychological and environmental pressure of living underground in the silo. That is not something that should be included in the pact when the rulemakers are the ones causing it, and it certainly should not decide whether someone qualifies for a position or not. Judge Meadows tells Paul the same thing in season 2: having the syndrome does not automatically mean someone can't handle the job they are put on.

If the silo took this out of the pact, I am pretty sure a lot of people could take up job roles they are good at, which would ensure stability and harmony in the silo. Take the mechanical department: some older men have to be replaced by younger ones for an efficient job to be done, not because the older men aren't doing their job well, but because a younger person simply has more energy. Some of these younger people have this syndrome, and because it is written into the pact, it disqualifies them.

Paul is the one guy who broke this rule and managed to find his way around it. His condition adds extra weight to the job he is doing. He loves his job very much, but because of his condition he sometimes doubts whether he can do it. That is why her belief that his syndrome was gone was an encouragement to him, and it shows the kind of emotional weight he is carrying.

Paul doesn't really care about titles and power, and so when he works, he gives his all in a system that is failing and won't even recognize or honor him. Later on, after all the hard work he has done for the silo, he breaks free from the assignments and protocols he's been given by choosing his own path as sheriff, which makes him understand how truly broken the silo system is, and how most of its rules make no sense, proving that independence is actually the road to freedom.

Judge Meadows' Theory: "A Natural Human Reaction to an Unnatural Situation"

In Silo 18, Meadows had a very concerning conversation with Paul, exposing the limits and some of the beliefs behind the pact. She doesn't go with the flow of the pact and everything that goes on in the silo, because the system wasn't built for humans to adapt to. Talking with Paul, she brought out a theory that would later help him understand what is truly going on in the silo behind the curtains: "A natural human reaction to an unnatural situation."

That theory sounds exactly true and relatable to me. How can you create an unnatural and hostile environment and expect the people in it to react naturally? They can't. Natural things match with natural things, unnatural things match with unnatural things, and there are some things the mind can't comprehend because they aren't natural.

Paul opened up about his condition to Meadows, but she didn't judge him. Instead she gave a theory that related to his condition and understood why he is sometimes nervous when he is working. She never judged him, she understood him, and that was relieving, because opening up about your condition and not getting judged for it makes you feel calm, positive and accepted. That change of mindset is what stops the nervousness. For Paul, that was a kind of therapy, because it helped him accept his condition inside the silo's strict environment.

This theory doesn't mean Meadows actually knows all the hidden secrets of the silo. It just means she understands that the humans inside find it very difficult to adapt to the conditions and standards the silo sets. If I compare Meadows to the woman he lives with, I think there is a similarity between them: they both give Paul a reason to keep working with his condition and never quit, and neither of their explanations ever reveals whether Paul is still having the syndrome.

Why I Don't Buy the Idea That Paul Became Less Stressed After Barricades

In the episode "Barricades," what was supposed to be an ordinary day turns into a crisis for Bernard, and Paul as sheriff has to control the people causing the fighting and destruction. Instead of confronting Bernard face to face and challenging his authority, he stayed at his post and continued his normal operations as sheriff, even though his own family was caught up in the crisis, because challenging Bernard could threaten his position.

Everything he suspected might happen in the silo has begun coming to light, and now he has a choice: continue on the path of exposing more buried secrets, or keep working under Bernard as sheriff. If he becomes independent, that means he stops taking directives and orders from Bernard and works on his own terms.

This part made a lot of people say he has less stress now. I don't think so. Even though Paul now knows the system has failed them, he still believes in the law, he is a worker who uses the law everywhere he goes, and that wouldn't mean abandoning his job to follow a different path. He knows how to work and continue his own investigation at the same time.

He definitely knows the cause of the problem, but instead of blending in with the people, he still chooses to do his job, and that is who he is. One thing he can do as sheriff is use his office to investigate higher authorities like Bernard. At one point he opened a full investigation into Judge Meadows's death, claiming that certain evidence should put a stop to the demands the superiors are making, because otherwise it means overlooking people and abusing power. So the idea that his stress level comes down or that he starts working less is not something I believe.

Could the Herbal Remedy Be Making Paul's Syndrome Worse Instead of Treating It?

A fan once raised an important question that changed the way I see the remedy: what if Paul's syndrome not healing or going away is actually because of the remedy or the herbs? Thinking about it, I believe it might be true, because what can't the silo do? Giving drugs meant for someone's well-being only for them to find out those drugs were meant to make them forget about themselves, or giving contraceptives when in reality the person will never give birth.

For now we don't have any evidence to back this claim, but we can raise suspicion based on the fan theory that the remedy meant to treat Paul's syndrome is instead making it worse. Remember when she told him he had been missing his remedy, and his hands didn't shake that particular time? That is something worth looking at, because after all, what can't the leaders of the silo do?

I won't be surprised if the show one day proves this suspicion true. If it ever confirms that the herbs are making Paul's condition worse, then the silo's founders deserve a serious reckoning, because giving somebody a disease and then making it worse with a fake drug instead of preventing it is exactly what they did to Juliet.

The Silo Has a History of Using Drugs to Make People Forget Themselves

The show has been showing us how drugs have become a problem rather than a form of prevention. In one episode, Sims offers Patrick Kennedy a drug whose main purpose was to make him lose his memories. Patrick actually wanted that drug so he could forget the wife he lost, but Sims used it as bait to get something out of him first.

In season 3, we saw the introduction of a vitamin D plus chemical into Silo 18's water system to make everybody slowly forget about themselves. If the superiors don't want to discard you, they will drug you to forget about yourself instead, so it's worth being careful about any drink someone pours for you.

We saw this from Juliet's experience with the nurse who had been serving her daily vitamins, which turned out to be memory wiping drugs the nurse had been ordered to give her. Had Juliet not found out, she would have kept consuming the drug and forgetting herself. Whether that drug pattern has anything to do with Paul's syndrome is something I cannot say. I can verify the memory wiping drugs since the show openly revealed that to us, but the show barely talks about Paul's syndrome, so I can't prove drugs are causing it or keeping it from going away.

So Is Paul's Syndrome Actually Gone? I Still Can't Say For Sure

The debate that his hand stopped shaking, so therefore the syndrome is gone, is something that can't be proven. The show doesn't frequently document the symptoms Paul was having, and that is the gap. If it showed a series of events where his symptoms stayed gone and his hands stopped shaking, we could confirm it, but you can't run one experiment and declare the result final. You need to test it under different factors, and if the outcome stays the same, then you can boldly claim your answer.

Her claim is still under review too, because one moment doesn't guarantee the syndrome is gone. It was an encouragement to Paul, in the sense that he could keep working without fearing someone might expose his condition, but it was never confirmed in the show that the syndrome is actually gone. The writers may treat his earlier improvement as a reason for his consistent and diligent character as sheriff, but that still doesn't prove whether it is gone or not.

So for now, I can't say for sure that Paul's syndrome is finally gone.

Do you think Paul Billings' syndrome is really gone, or is the silo just keeping quiet about it?