‘Silo Season 2 Is Immensely Satisfying and Ranks Among the Best Apple TV+ Has to Offer
‘Silo Season 2 Is Immensely Satisfying and Ranks Among the Best Apple TV+ Has to Offer
The mystery drama’s excellent cast make it much watch TV for sci-fi fans.
The second season of “Silo” continues to be a top-notch mystery-box show — pulling you down a rabbit hole of partial discoveries each week, unwrapping tidbits of truth in search of answers. While the first season on Apple TV+ was spent exploring a mysterious underground bunker and its 10,000 inhabitants, the new 10-episode season, premiering on Friday, Nov. 15, begins with the Season 1 finale cliffhanger and balloons into something much bigger. Although the mystery grows with the widening story, it’s clear that “Silo” is fully capable of moving forward through the onion layers at a steady pace, with satisfying results along the way.
Set in the indeterminately distant future, “Silo” tells the story of the last 10,000 people on Earth, living a mile below the surface in a silo that presumably protects them from a toxic, deadly world outside. However, so many generations have passed since life moved underground that the specific details of what drove society to the bunker have faded. No one knows when or why the silo was built, but anyone who tries to dig deeper into the mysteries faces fatal consequences.
Watch the ‘Silo’ Season 2 trailer:
The show’s excellent ensemble is led by Rebecca Ferguson as an engineer determined to get answers about a loved one’s murder. As she searches for the truth, she tumbles onto a mystery that goes far deeper than she could have ever imagined, and that the truth could be even more deadly than the mystery.
To be fair, “Silo” is only partly mysterious in that its adaptation of Hugh Howey’s widely popular “Wool” book series. And even if you hadn’t read any of the books before Season 1 premiered, you might have picked them up and learned all of the secrets in the more than 16 months season the last episode aired. That was the case for me; I immediately dove into the book series after watching the finale. Knowing what happens only made my expectations sky-high for Season 2. In the end, if you enjoyed the first season, you shouldn’t be disappointed with what’s to come. Just be aware that the new episodes take a more linear approach to storytelling than the books and one that makes logistical sense for a TV adaptation.
One unfortunate side effect of the more straightforward storytelling is that it leaves Furgeson’s character Juliette Nichols mostly alone without a supporting cast. The one exception is her interactions with the standout Steve Zahn as Solo. Zahn thrills with his initially creepy vibes — akin to Michael Emerson’s character in “Lost” — before evolving and showing more vulnerability. Tim Robins as Bernard continues to shine, as do Chinaza Uche and Avi Nash, among others.
Unlike a lot of other current shows, “Silo” does a tremendous job of bringing viewers into its world so that you can practically smell the damp air and feel the aches in your legs from walking the stairs to the top of the silo. It’s this confined and deep scenery where the characters live that makes the show linger after each episode. Season 2 of “Silo” cements it in the upper echelons of Apple TV+ shows, making it a must-see event that gets even more compelling over time.
Apple TV+
Apple TV+ is a subscription video streaming service for $9.99 a month that includes high-quality original shows and movies including Best Picture winner “CODA,” popular sitcom “Ted Lasso,” and dramas like “The Morning Show” and “Severance.” Apple TV+ is also home to MLB baseball games on Friday nights and MLS Season Pass. Apple TV+ can be added as a channel on Prime Video.