Welcome to the first entry of Reading and Reeling, where I share my thoughts on various books, movies, and shows on the newish side.
For the inaugural voyage, I'm talking Silo Season 2. I binge-watched the whole thing, so expect commentary about the entire season rather than an episode-by-episode breakdown.
SPOILERS for both seasons of Silo will follow. Also, note that I've not read the books, so this is strictly about the Apple TV series.
For the uninitiated: Silo is a post-apocalyptic sci-fi story that takes place in a massive underground bunker (called the Silo) that ostensibly serves as a sort of lifeboat for humanity after an unexplained disaster ended life as we know it outside. The ten thousand residents of the Silo (to quote them) do not know why they are there. They do not know who built the Silo. They do not know why everything outside of the Silo is as it is. They do not know when it will be safe to go outside. They only know that day is not today.
More importantly, the series follows Juliette Nichols (played by Rebecca Ferguson, who was the best part of Dune: Part 1) as she goes from a recalcitrant engineer who wants to solve her boyfriend's murder to a hero who could uncover the truth about the Silo's past.
Silo's first season leveraged this setup to maximum effect. My favorite thing about it was the layers that unwound together. Viewers were treated to substantial and intriguing explorations of Juliette's relationship with her murdered boyfriend, her tragic childhood, her broken relationship with her father, and more all tightly packed into the methodical unwinding of Silo's bigger questions. It was a satisfying watch on several levels, and I was hooked until the very last episode.
One of the bigger problems I had with the second season was the lack of similar interconnectedness. This time around, there just wasn't as much depth to connect with the bigger picture.
The setup of the second season is basically as follows: Juliette has survived being banished from the Silo thanks to her engineering genius and the help of some of her comrades. But being that the outside world really is deadly, she seeks shelter in another Silo she discovers. But this Silo is derelict, and after she meets some of its survivors and learns their history, she realizes she has to get back to her home Silo to stop the revolution she helped kick off or her loved ones will die when they go outside thinking it's safe (which they may believe because of her).
That's all fine and good. The problem was that there just wasn't much momentum left for Juliette's character after the first season, and they didn't do anything to provide new momentum for Season 2. Unlike the first season, Juliette's screen time isn't spent solving a loved one's murder, deepening a relationship with an estranged family member, or out-scheming corrupt leaders. Instead, she spends most of Season 2 doing things like fixing water pumps, surviving, and trying to construct a suit to get back to her home Silo. There's some interesting stuff with some of the other Silo's survivors, but nothing that compares to what she did in the first season.
To make matters worse, when they do dig a little deeper into her soul, it's disconnected from the revolution going on in her home Silo because. . . well. . . she isn't there for the entire season. The revolution might have worked better if they had another character there half as intriguing as Juliette was in the first season. Unfortunately, this was not the case. In the end, it felt like watching two shows. One featured a character who'd won me over but had nowhere to go. The other featured a bunch of side characters for whom I had moderate concern revolting against some villains that were fun to hate for a while. A show can only get so much mileage out of that.
To be fair, it wasn't terrible. The momentum did pick up in the second half of the season, and I liked Solo's story well enough. It was sad to see Juliette leave the other survivors, unsure of if they'll ever meet again (or if they'll be alive in five years). Some of the revelations about the Silo(s) are satisfying. In the end, I'd say it was a fine way to pass the time if you have it, but don't worry about making the time if you don't. Maybe if Season 3 finds a way to recapture the magic of Season 1, I'll change my tune.
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