Apple TV has been on a winning streak with its recent TV series creating hit shows like Surveillance, and they aren’t stopping any time soon if their recent dystopian series is anything to go by. 2023’s Silo is a thrilling adventure series set in the far future based on the novel by Hugh Howey. Silo Season 1 is an adaptation of the first book in the best-selling trilogy.
The novel and series adaptation is about a civilization that has been living in a bunker known as a silo for the last couple of decades after the earth was left uninhabitable. According to these bunker dwellers, they believe they are the last few thousand people left alive. The Silo is self-sufficient, with a multilevel system of workers, doctors, judges, and police to keep the peace. Here is a review of Apple TV’s Silo!
The Talented Cast Elevates the Story
A successful sci-fi series set in a post-apocalyptic future isn’t easy to accomplish, but with a stellar cast, it could be much easier. Rebecca Ferguson stars as Juliette in this Apple TV dystopian series. She is a talented mechanic tasked with keeping the generator that powers the Silo running. Ferguson’s magnetic performance keeps viewers hooked and intrigued while she tries to figure out what’s happening in the Silo and whether the rebels are really the bad guys in the story. The Swedish actress isn’t new to book-to-screen adaptations, starring in the Dune films and her upcoming Spinoff prequel series set in the Dune universe.
The series initially follows Sheriff Holston, played by the talented David Oyelowo, as he maintains the peace in the Silo. While he seems successful at first, her wife’s decision to leave the Silo makes him question everything he thought was true. However, when he decides to leave the Silo as well and give the Sheriff’s job to Juliette, there is tension and drama brewing in the Silo. Rapper and actor Common stars as the head of judicial security, Sims. He’s the villain you’ll easily hate because it’s evident he’s hiding something. Common’s acting talent has been evident in recent projects like John Wick: Chapter 2, Selma, Wanted, and Smokin’ Aces after his stint in the early 2000s rom-com movies. Other talented cast members in Silo include Rashida Jones from The Office and Parks and Recreation as Allison, Avi Nash as Lukas Kyle, Tim Robbins as Bernard, and Harriet Walter as Martha Walker.
The Intriguing Plot
Silo follows the last remaining 10,000 people on Earth living in an artificial Silo because the Earth has been rendered uninhabitable. The Silo has several levels divided according to survivors skills and status in the society. Little is known about how everyone entered the Silo or what really happened before the Silo was created because all electronic and physical evidence of the past was destroyed when the Rebels tried to take over the Silo. But surprisingly, the powerful people in the Silo don’t want anyone getting their hands on information about the past.
So when Holston’s wife, Allison, gets curious after discovering a hard drive with the schematics of the Silo, it puts everything they’ve known in question. The details on the hard drive reveal that there’s a hidden door at the bottom of the Silo, and the screen that shows the exterior wasteland is a lie. When any of the silo members decide to leave, they are required to clean the screen’s lens, but none of them make it very far instead they die in the wasteland minutes later. Allison also finds out that the Silo’s doctors have purposely never wanted her to get pregnant because she isn’t the most compliant in this group of survivors. After these revelations, Allison decides to leave the Silo and Holston follows soon after leaving Juliette to take over as the sheriff albeit with pushback from other leaders of the Silo.
Juliette uses the opportunity to find the truth after the death of her secret lover, George, which was hurriedly ruled a suicide. She doesn’t believe that’s how he died, and with the power of the sheriff, she can get to the real truth. With friends and foes in every corner, Juliette has to make tough decisions to keep the peace but eventually makes the same choice to leave the Silo as Hilston and his wife. The series ends with Juliette looking out at the Earth and discovering that there are several Silos spread out next to theirs.
Silo Gets the Dystopian Story Right
There have been several TV shows like The 100, SnowPiercer, Black Knight, and Colony that have amassed a massive following and love from fans. So Silo being an Apple TV series, had the best opportunity to become as great as these shows that came before it. The world-building is subtle and easy to absorb for viewers despite some lagging moments in the first few episodes. The story is believable that the Silo is a functioning ecosystem, probably because of the holiday celebrations, functioning class systems, and small quarrels that make it seem like a normal community. The twists and turns in the story keep viewers engaged and eager to solve the unfolding mystery. Even at the end of the first season, more questions still linger as to how the Silos came to be and what their purpose is. Making fans eager for the second season.
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