The Silo: Surfacing the Truth

The first episode starts with the following line, “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.” This very line sets up the intrigue and mystery of the series and gives us our first bit of information about the setting and the characters. Based on the Wool series of novels by Hugh Howey, The Silo takes place in a dystopian future, where a whole society lives underground in a giant silo which has approximately 150 levels. The outside world is a wasteland and is seen through giant screens serving as windows powered by the exterior sensors. Holston (David Oyelowo) is the Sheriff of the Silo, but he is mourning the death of his wife, Allison (Rashida Jones), who, three years before, broke the one cardinal rule of the Silo, you cannot verbally ask to leave.  The first episode is told mainly in a flashback, illuminating the events leading up to her fatal request.  140 years before, the Silo experienced an uprising where “The Rebels” attempted to leave the Silo, destroyed all the data drives, burned all the books in the library and left the Silo without any history.  Allison is an independent free thinker and wonders why the residents of the Silo are not allowed to learn about the events that transpired before the uprising, and why no one is allowed to own any artifact older than 140 years. A series of events reveals some secrets of the Silo to Allison, which eventually leads her to make her choice.  But is what she learns the truth, or just another deception?  Watch and find out!

I am sort of over Dystopian future shows, they are so numerous and often cliched, but I must admit this one really captured my attention.  The society that is presented is interesting and multifaceted. The different levels of the Silo seem to all have their own culture and social hierarchy.  The setting is well executed, with a large winding staircase as the main highway between levels.  Most of the Silo looks old and worn, with a cold clinical feel but the people seem warm and vibrant.  There is a use of symbols and banners throughout the episode just hinting to totalitarian government. The story is intriguing with the Silo holding many secrets yet to be uncovered, and the expositional information is done in subtle ways as to give you just enough information to know what is happening and to follow the plot, but not so much that it causes the dialogue to feel forced or awkward. The story flows well and has a good rhythm and nice pacing.

The actors’ performances were also very good. Rashida Jones does a great job showing the curiosity she has and the inner turmoil it causes, and David Oyelowo does a great job as the law abiding sheriff who believes everything he has been told about their lives and yet has to carry out the execution of his own wife. I only watched the first episode and we do not get much of a couple of characters who I believe will play much bigger roles in the episodes to come.  Juliette Nichols (Rebecca Ferguson), one of the main engineers who keeps the Silo running and Bernard (Tim Robbins) as the head of IT and Allisons boss, are barely in the episode, but I believe their characters have much larger parts in the overall storylines.