TV Series Review — “Silo” Season 1 (2023)

Apple TV has been churning out very good content, be it movies such as Greyhound or last year’s hit series Severance or even Black Bird. Silo is one such sleeper hit from Apple TV.

Silo is based on Silo novel series and adapted into a series for Apple TV. Set in a dystopian future where humanity lives in giant Silos underground where nobody knows who built it, but they only know that staying inside is better than going outside of the silo where the environment is (supposedly) not fit for humans to survive.

Silo is in itself an entire new world where 144 levels exist with around 10,000 people living on different floors. Silo has their own rules and regulations which residents need to abide by & it has it’s own traditions. Going out is never encouraged, however it’s not against the law to go outside. Anyone who wishes to go outside can do so by saying “I want to go out” and small ceremony is done near the upper bunker where Sheriff has to read out the following —

“We do not know why we are here. We do not know who built the Silo. We do not know why everything outside the Silo is as it is. We do not know when it will be safe to go outside. We only know that day is not this day.”

From upper canteen, an audience can view on their screens what happens to folks going outside and it is also recommended that anyone going outside has to clean the lens of the camera which provides LIVE feed to people living inside the silo which is why it’s mentioned that people are sent outside “to clean”.

Series starts with people already living in Silos for more than 100 years and no one knows the purpose of Silo, however as the series progresses, we are shown that not everything is rosy inside the silo and there are secrets lurking in every corners.

It’s shown that people from top floor take almost an entire day to come down to lower floors as there are no lifts/elevators in the Silo and people always have to use the stairs. But the separation was deliberately designed in order to maintain a distinct caste system within the silo between the mechanical workers at the bottom and the authorities at the top and also to limit rebellion (which the series shows occurred in the past). It also slows down communication thereby limiting movements.

At every episode, we get a feeling that it’s just a ruse to keep people inside and probably there’s nothing wrong outside, shades of 10 Cloverfield Lane kept coming in my mind & I always thought that there might be nothing wrong outside. It also showed that 1 person believed that (a conspiracy theory) water itself was contaminated to keep people inside silos docile (rule followers). The Silo has another weird rule that any apparatus containing two or more glasses should never be used (such as telescope/microscope). However I believe we would get more information as the series progresses.

Our Protagonist is Juliette Nichols who is given information from previous person who went outside “to clean” about clues as to what exactly is this Silo all about and that this person was the Sheriff himself.

Juliette battles personal problems (which is shown in flashbacks) while also navigating the secret service type police in Silo in retrieving information about why the rebellion took place so many years ago. Silo also has strict rules about items which are banned. These include things found before the rebellion or even before the Silo was built. These are called “relics” and this is always confiscated by the secret service police. Offenders are often punished to possessing such relics.

Multiple characters are introduced as the series progresses and it’s important to pay attention to clues which they show. Without spoiling anything, I would say that not all characters are what they seem in first half of this series and season 1 ends in a cliff hanger which is why I’m excited and eagerly waiting for Season 2.

Verdict is 8/10 and a “WATCH” recommendation as it keeps you hooked up in this dystopian world and you want to know the truth about the Silo.

Watch it online here →

Paid Subscriptions →

https://tv.apple.com/in/show/silo/umc.cmc.3yksgc857px0k0rqe5zd4jice

Or by any other means by which you can get your hands on it.