I Already Miss What Made Silo Season 1 So Great

Warning: Spoilers ahead for Silo season 2, episodes 1 & 2!Although I’m enjoying Silo season 2, I can’t help but miss the best part of what I loved so much about the first run of episodes from 2023. Despite the Silo cast remaining largely unchanged, the show isn’t quite grabbing me as much as it once did. While it’s great the characters have remained in place, I can’t help but feeling that Apple TV+ has been unable to recapture the magic of one specific storyline. Hopefully, the end of Silo season 1 won’t come back to haunt the show’s future potential.

Although Apple TV+’s Silo adaptation has made several changes to the Hugh Howey books, the overall story has remained largely the same. So, I suppose the show was always destined to take the direction it has. Regardless, I remember watching Silo season 1 with the immediate opinion that it was one of the best from Apple TV+’s impressive collection of sci-fi shows. I was waiting impatiently for each new episode to air. Sadly, I’m not feeling that same level of joyous tension this time, and I know exactly why.

Silo Season 1’s Outside Mystery Made The Show Way More Interesting

Apple TV+’s current run of episodes lacks the same level of intrigue

Silo season 1’s entire storyline was built around the mystery of what the outside world actually looked like. From the flickering viewscreen inside Silo 18, to the recovered footage from those sent out to clean, the show kept me constantly wondering whether the surface was safe. I hadn’t read the book, so I had no idea what the truth was, and every time I thought I had it worked out, the show threw me another curveball. The big reveal of the surface being genuinely uninhabitable was amazing, but the build to that moment set an incredibly high benchmark.

So far, Silo season 2 has simply been dealing with the aftermath of Juliette Nichols (Rebecca Ferguson) being able to survive outside, and everybody slowly discovering that her suit’s superior heat tape is what allowed her to pull it off. This is understandable, given the fact that the show picks up right where season 1 ended, but it has fallen much flatter for me than I expected. I find myself pining for the days when I was left gloriously in the dark, rather than witnessing Tim Robbins’ Bernard Holland carrying out his Mayoral duties.

Silo Season 2’s Mysteries Aren’t Quite As Interesting

Juliette’s exploration and Bernard’s political issues aren’t equal replacements

Silo season 2 is clearly aware of the fact it had to replace the enigma of whether the surface was safe, as it has introduced a number of new mysteries. For instance, there is clearly more going on in the quiet conflict between Bernard and Sims in Silo season 2, and the identity of the man that Juliette finds hiding in the vault does genuinely intrigue me. Unfortunately, none of the stand-in storylines quite live up to the biggest twist from Silo season 1.

I think the show could also have done a better job of hiding what happened to the flooded Silo that Juliette stumbled into, at least for a while. Although it was interesting to see how the other community quickly fell into disarray, I think discovering the cause and progression of the violent rebellion would have been more rewarding if parsed out throughout the episode, or even the season. Instead, the Silo season 2 premiere gives everything away about that particular subplot pretty much immediately – which is something Silo season 1 often resisted.

There Is Still Plenty Of Time For Silo Season 2 To Improve

I understand that my Silo season 2 grievances could be argued to be a little premature. The latest run of episodes has barely begun, and splitting its time between two Silos was always going to be a more demanding task. Plus, one of the biggest reasons why I found Silo season 1 so amazing was the slow build of information that was initially deemed inconsequential in the grander scheme of things. So, I’ll just have to trust the process and hope Silo season 2 repeats the same framework as its predecessor and gradually builds in intrigue.

There’s also the possibility that I loved Silo season 1 so much that I sort of placed it on a pedestal in my head, which was always going to make it difficult for me to enjoy a follow-up just as much. The season 1 finale hit me so hard that I obviously needed more time to reset than I thought, and the new episodes are giving me that. Silo season 2’s tenth and final episode doesn’t air until January 17, 2025 – so there is plenty of time for the story to build to the quality of the show’s inaugural run.

In a dystopian future, men and women reside in a vast underground silo governed by strict regulations, believed to shield them from the hazardous world above. The series delves into the complex social order within the silo and the mysteries surrounding their subterranean existence.

Cast

Rebecca Ferguson , Common , Tim Robbins , Harriet Walter , Christian Ochoa Lavernia , Avi Nash , Billy Postlethwaite , Chinaza Uche , Iain Glen , Remmie Milner , David Oyelowo , Rick Gomez , Ferdinand Kingsley , Shane McRae , Chipo Chung , Caitlin Zoz , Matt Gomez Hidaka , Angela Yeoh , Olatunji Ayofe , Khairika Sinani , Will Patton , Akie Kotabe

Character(s)

Juliette Nichols , Robert Sims , Bernard Holland , Martha Walker , Amundsen , Lukas Kyle , Hank , Paul Billings , Dr. Pete Nichols , Shirley , Sheriff Holston , Patrick Kennedy , George Wilkins , Knox , Sandy , Kathleen Billings , Cooper , Deputy Molly Karins , Teddy , Raider Jean , Deputy Marnes , Diego

Release Date

May 5, 2023

Seasons

2

Showrunner

Graham Yost

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