August 5, 2023

Silo on AppleTV+


This show started off with such promise. The first episode set up this big mystery that I wanted to learn more about. I was ready to invest in this story. After the strong start the story slowed way down to the point where I questioned why I was even watching anymore. If I hadn't been able to binge the last 5 episodes there was no way I would have been able to stick with it. The ending was sort of compelling, but it took way too long to get there.

I cannot recommend the series. I was hooked from the beginning and yet by the end I felt like I wasted a lot of time. It has a strong premiss but then totally fumbles the execution. 

Silo is a hard sci-fi about a future society that lives underground in a silo. There is a video feed of the outside that shows a desolate landscape. If you request, you are allowed to go outside and you are asked to clean off the camera sensor. You will never be given the opportunity to come back in. Everybody who goes out makes the choice to clean the sensor, then as they walk away they collapse and die. 

What?!? It is a pretty interesting mystery. Everything gets off to this fast start with lots of action and murder. Then the entire story comes to a grinding halt after Rebecca Ferguson becomes the sheriff of the silo and ignores her duties to try to figure out what happened to her boyfriend. 

I cared nothing about any of the characters in this show. I think they wanted us to care, but they just did such a bad job of making anybody likable that none of it worked. There was so much focus on the mythology of the relics from the before times. None of it was compelling. None of it seemed to amount to anything. 

When we are first introduced to Rebecca Ferguson she seems awesome and extremely competent. Then the rest of the show she sucks. I really wanted to like this show, but as I sit here reflecting on the season I just have bad feelings about it. 

It has been renewed for a second season. Weirdly, I am probably going to watch it to see what happens. I am actually interested in reading the book this show is based on. If I get through the series before the second season starts maybe I will not feel the need to watch anymore. 

Great premise. Strong start. Really disappointing execution over the second half of the season. Watch at your own risk. 



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