We return to the toxic, scheming world of Silo with an intriguing first episode. Here’s our review of Silo season 2 episode 1.
Warning: These reviews will be spoiler-free for the episode in question but will discuss previous episodes in detail, including the end of season 1.
Silo is arguably one of AppleTV+’s strongest series. It’s a shame that the streaming service doesn’t put more effort into marketing, because Silo still seems to be a bit of a hidden gem. But if you have watched it, you’ll know what an excellent example of sci-fi storytelling it is.
If, for some reason, you’re new to the series, but still reading this, Silo’s events take place in a mysterious silo. The outside world is now inhospitable for human life and anyone wishing to go outside tends to drop dead. No one knows who built the silo, but shutting humanity into an enclosed space goes just as well as you’d think.
Season 2 opens exactly where season 1 ended. There’s no recap, so we recommend you hit the internet to refresh your memory, but the final moments of the finale found Juliette (Rebecca Ferguson) venturing outside and discovering that the world truly is a wasteland and there are various other silos. Juliette refused to clean the screen that provides imagery to the residents of the Silo, an act of rebellion as far as the structure’s leader Bernard (Tim Robbins) is concerned.
The first episode of the new season follows Juliette as she explores the landscape. Her suit holds up, thanks to the special tape she was given last season, but she’s going to have to figure something out quickly before her oxygen runs out and she ends up just like the rest of the people who left the safety of the silo; dead as a doornail.
We won’t reveal the specifics of what happens next, but we will say it’s an incredibly tense, exciting opener. Considering all the scheming and revelations season 1 held, the season’s debut installment is surprisingly contained. There’s barely any dialogue – why would there be? Juliette is all alone in a very inhospitable world – and for the most part, we just follow Juliette as she treks across the wasteland, hoping to find something, anything.
The episode also keeps flashing back to earlier times, giving us crumbs of information about the silos’ and Juliette’s pasts. It’s unlikely we’ll learn exactly what led to the formation of the silos, but at least we’re getting a taste of what happened before the events of season 1.
There’s no mention of the rest of the residents of Juliette’s silo or any callback to the shocking events of the first season. In fact, it’s almost frustrating how writer Graham Yost keeps toying with audience expectations. We want to know what’s going on but Yost refuses almost all information. The tension is delectable.
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The episode gives us a small glimpse of what’s to come. The ending leaves us with more questions than we had at the beginning, but it also promises a very different season from the first. Opening up the world of Silo brings a plethora of new opportunities. There’s a lot of new information to uncover, mainly finding out exactly what happened to the world? Who built the silos?
If episode 1 is just a taster of things to come in season 2, we’re in for a tense, fascinating ride. Season 2 has a lot to live up to, but so far, we have a good feeling about Silo's current direction.
Join us again next week for another episode review of Silo.
