Silo (season 1)

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⭐ 8.0/10

(Originally written by Joseph)

After watching Monarch, I saw an ad for this show on Apple TV and basically I just said to Jess, hey that looks cool, let's watch? I mean, when's the last time you just saw an ad for a show and then watched it?? What is this, 2009?!

Well anyways, this show was pretty good. It has a great concept: a bunch of people live inside a mysterious underground Silo, suspecting that the world outside is dangerous, but not knowing for certain. They have no idea who built the Silo, or why the world is uninhabitable, or how long they have to stay. Then some people discover some ancient artifacts that hint that everything is a sham and the outside world is perfectly safe, and yet are being forced inside... Cool right? Throw in some shady murders, secretive power structures, and psychological mind games, and we have ourselves a very cool mystery-box thriller!

The set design is also really great, with kinda a steam-punk, dystopian feel. The costumes look good, and it's just all effective and unique. Lots of effort was put into all of this, and they got some heavy hitters with Rebecca Ferguson (the main character), Rashida Jones, Tim Robbins (Shawshank), David Oyelowo (MLK), Common, Iain Glen (Jorah) and Harriet Walter (mom from Succession). That is so loaded.

So why just an 8? Well, I would just say that everything is great, and yet something feels just a little... off. I know this nitpick is pretty unique to me, but one of my biggest complaints was the line delivery... Something felt stilted, like everyone talks weird. And if you look at that list again... Everyone is British! This is an American show where everyone has American accents, and yet I would say 80% of these actors are not American. Rebecca Ferguson is maybe the worst, constantly switching accents, and for some reason that drives me crazy. Many of the line deliveries feel a little off, and this is what I'm blaming. For the record, I would say I was most impressed by Common, and he's like, the only American here. (A minor character, Paul Billings, also stole my heart).

But I'd also say the writing felt a little stiff, like it's written by a corny dad, or like Europeans who only know how Americans talk through movies. The romances almost always fell flat for me, the conflicts a bit contrived. I dunno, I'm being a little hard on it, but it's hard to know exactly what was missing. I think often of Severance as a comparison, because they have a lot of similarities and that was an Apple show. Severance was a little sharper and funnier, while this is more serious, and when it tries to be funny, it isn't.

So anyways, that's a long review for a show we flew through. It was good, mysterious, and had us wanting the next episode, but still I felt like it was short of one of these great shows we have. Somewhere between network and prestige TV. Maybe something more akin to Lost, @Tim?


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