‘Silo’ series review: A palatable dystopic show led by a stunning Rebecca Ferguson 

Rebecca Ferguson in a still from ‘Silo’
| Photo Credit: Apple TV+

140 years after a rebellion, thousands of people have become accustomed to living in a silo underground. The air on Earth is poisonous, the land barren and death looms large in the outside world… or that is what they are told. Set in a dystopic future, the first season of the Apple TV+’s show diligently follows the first book, Wool, of Hugh Howey’s series titled Silo. 

The silo people inhabit resembles Galder Gaztelu-Urrutia’s prison cell in Platform, just grander, and boasts of its own autocratic government; mentions of the past and attempts to unearth history are looked down upon and heavily penalised. The ten-episode-long show starts out with Allison (Rashida Jones), an IT worker and Holston (David Oyelowo), the sheriff of the silo, trying to have a child.

Will we ever have a dystopic sci-fi story that does not include infertility and the sparse reproductive rights of women in the plotline? I guess not. 

Amidst doctor consultations, the couple stumbles upon secrets that question the legitimacy of the silo’s existence and scepticism makes its way to the minds of the audience and the couple alike; we begin to question everything we are told about the silo. But the show makes a quick 180 and introduces us to engineer Juliette (Rebecca Ferguson) who shoulders the burden of finding truth in the caged silo after the murder of her partner.

Dimly lit in signature Apple TV+ hues, the inside of the silo resembles a place adept at sucking the life out of people and one might even feel suffocated watching Juliette on her adventures. The show is brilliant at creating the atmosphere with Gavin Bocquet’s production design but falters at executing the plot at times and the rapt attention it demands from the audience to keep track of the developments feels unjustified. Its pacing is weak, uninteresting and stretches the plot too thin making it hard to stay tuned to the underground world. With every new discovery, multiple questions arise that the show refuses to tackle in a comprehensive way.

The show’s strength, however, lies in building believable characters that are human in their pursuits and motivations and presenting them to actors who are conscientious while essaying them. But introducing too many characters and haphazardly jumping among their storylines dilutes the intensity of the show. 

Silo is not for an audience new to the sci-fi genre and it might possibly get lost with time like Extrapolations, another Apple TV+ dystopic sci-fi show on the perils of climate change. But if you are a sci-fi enthusiast you might want to give it a try and get sucked into the lore of an underworld ground with secrets and murders.

Silo is currently streaming on Apple TV+