Spoilers ahead.
In preparation for the second season of Silo which releases on November 15, I want to review the first season of the TV show.
Firstly, let’s talk about the influences on the TV Show. Before we even get into this, it’s important to note that the Silo Apple TV show was adapted from Hugh Howey’s Silo Trilogy so all of the material in the show is based on those books. Now, there are three major influences that can be found in the Silo world. The first major influence of the Silo story is 1984, George Orwell’s classic dystopian novel where the government controls all aspects of life. In the Silo, the government controls certain things, it limits communication over radio, prohibits talk about what might lie in the outside world, and sentences people to “cleanings” where they have to go outside in a hazmat suit and clean the camera that connects to the underground silo if they break any serious rules. The similarity in how the government acts is pretty evident. Similar to 1984, is Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley, where the government also controls everyone by using drugs and other pleasures to keep people in line. Brave New World’s major similarity is how they separate different groups of people, and how there are no mothers/fathers. In the Silo world, couples are selected to a Lottery for one year to try to have a child, but only those who are obedient rule followers actually end up with kids. Both books are similar in how the government is mysterious and authoritarian and that same kind of system can be found in the Silo. The third major influence is without a doubt, Fallout. Both the Fallout video games and TV series share many similarities to the Silo TV show. In Fallout, a nuclear disaster left the outside world in shambles, and the remaining survivors live in Vaul-tech’s fallout shelters, being subjected to experiments, but also enjoying luxuries that the outside world lacks. It’s still important to note that although Silo takes from these various influences, it manages to craft a unique story and set of characters that set it apart from these other ones that I just mentioned.
Now onto the actual review of the TV show. Firstly, the show has a critics score on Rotten Tomatoes of 88% and an audience rating of 66%. For me personally, I’d probably give the show around a 9.2/10 rating. The main thing stopping me from giving it a higher rating is the pacing, which at times can feel sluggish and slowed on purpose, and this just makes things feel too drawn out like they aren’t moving on to what is next. I feel like there’s a lot of material to work with and they just take way too long to cover it. However, other than that, the show is great and fun to watch. The acting is solid with strong performances by Rebecca Ferguson, Common, and Tim Robbins. I also thought the world building was well-done with viewers learning a bit more about how the world operates each episode, and what the rules are; especially what happens when you break them. And as the show progresses, the mystery begins to unravel more and more which makes for interesting viewing. I’m pretty excited to watch the second season which comes out pretty soon, and I recommend that you watch this show if you like the sci-fi genre.
