When it comes to series, the Apple TV has rarely been wrong for a while. “Severance” was a sensation, “Ted Lasso” was an absolute hit with the audience, “Slow Horses” was stylish and exciting and “Shrinking” with Jason Segel and Harrison Ford has been the standard recommendation for a few weeks now if you listen to all ” big” series and asks for tips. And now also “Silo”. An unsexy name, admittedly, which probably first reminds the German audience of agriculture – which the series has only very limited to do with, however.
What the eponymous silo keeps are people. Hundreds of years ago, they took refuge in the deep burrows built beneath the surface to protect themselves from the toxic outside world. They no longer know why this was once necessary, the only thing that seems clear is that anyone who goes outside dies there after a few minutes. Inside, life is perfectly organized – logically, otherwise it would hardly be possible for a good 10,000 people to live together in such a small space. A lot of discipline and adaptation is required from the residents: for example, only those who have been able to get permission to do so are allowed to have children. Relationships must be officially registered.
But because people are people, of course, many of the characters soon have questions. What if it’s not really dangerous outside and the silo residents are being lied to? Why do people have to live in silos at all? Who built it? Why? And do the Security Agency agents, who seem to have the final say in all decisions and know almost everything about everyone, really want what’s best for the residents?
“Silo” starts off strong, with those big questions. As a viewer you follow how the law-abiding Sherriff Holston (David Oyelowo) and his wife Allison (the wonderful Rashida Jones) ask themselves more and more questions and begin to doubt the Silo system. Without wanting to spoil too much: It’s a pity that you fall in love with both characters very quickly, but the focus of the series soon switches to the tough mechanic Juliette Nichols (Rebecca Ferguson), who remains rather pale in comparison. The pace of the story slows down significantly towards the middle.
Many other characters that you fall in love with often disappear from the story quite quickly. In addition, Holston and Allison’s love affair is the only one that is shown in detail and is therefore deeply felt. In two cases, however, the audience is later asked to bring up emotions for relationships that they only found out about a few seconds earlier. Not easy. But that’s just as petty a quibble as the fact that the title music is really reminiscent of that of “Westworld”. (It’s a pity anyway, since the title sequence is a showpiece for a series.)
Even if Juliette Nichols is not the heroine that you would have chosen from the ensemble yourself, the story is told in an extremely exciting way, the set-up of the silo is both plausible and oppressive, the secrets all have double bottoms and until the end they should the attentive viewer is puzzled as to who really are “the good guys”.
“Silo” is science fiction, but it doesn’t feel like it – because the series is so down-to-earth (although underground) and the human aspect is so much in the foreground. This is probably also due to showrunner Graham Yoran, who was already responsible for “Slow Horses” for Apple and did an excellent job there. In addition, the cast is really fantastic: In addition to Rebecca Ferguson, Rashida Jones, and David Oyelowo, Tim Robbins (“Green Lantern”), Harriet Walter (“Succession”) and the rapper Common can be seen in larger roles.
