TL;DR – This is a solid start to the intrigue that did the best job a first episode can do, making me want to see more.

Disclosure – I paid for the Apple TV+ service that viewed this series.

Silo Review –

I am always looking for a new genre show with an exciting spin on a setting. While the whole hiding away from the apocalypse in a bunker has been done before, probably most famously by Fallout. However, I am still drawn to this setting for the narrative potential you can find. Let’s bring on this new dystopian/post-apocalyptic/mystery and see what it can do.   

So to set the scene, they do not know why they are there, who built the Silo, why the world outside is a toxic mess, or if it will ever be safe to go back outside. It is on this day when Sheriff Holston (David Oyelowo) goes up to his office, takes off his badge, locks himself in a jail cell, and utters the words that chill his Deputy Marnes (Will Patton) to the core “I want to go out”. The only words once spoken that can’t be taken back. Someone is waiting for him out there in the dust, Allison (Rashida Jones), whom we met over three years earlier. Now from here, we will be looking at the episode as a whole, so there will be some [SPOILERS] ahead.      

I will say that they do a great job right from the word go with creating a vibe for the show. You have a generally free world, but you see the artificial artifices of control when you dig just a centimetre under the surface. You might first think some of these control mechanisms would be important in a closed environment with limited resources, but you soon come across a jarring feeling that all is not right. There is a lack of history, which does not pass the pub test at all, and the constant threat of death, imagined or real, creates a fear that ‘being sent to clean’ is a threat that silences people.

So having one of our leading cast being the face of the law but also ready to give that all up in the show’s first few minutes creates an interesting dichotomy. This is supported by a visual design that is half fixed point in time from when the Silo was made and half cobbled together in the years after with whatever they had on hand. With a musical score that completely fits the tone, they are going with. It is all the hints of worldbuilding that you need to hook me.   

This first episode was all about intriguing us, and on that front, I think it worked for me. There was enough drip feed of hints about something being wrong to provide some interesting questions. I think they had good use of the split time between the now, three-years-ago, and the one-year-ago epilogue. Rashida Jones is great as the character, slowly losing her grip on reality but finding a new way forward. David Oyelowo holds the episode together, and you feel that emotion. Also, Will Patton is always great to see in roles like this.

In the end, do we recommend Silo: Freedom Day? Yes, we would. Now this might be my vibe, but it resonated with me. I liked the hints of the world we got here, the traces of something more profound. I hope it develops those themes going forward, but I am hooked as a start.       

By Brian MacNamara: You can follow Brian on Twitter Here, when he’s not chatting about Movies and TV, he’ll be talking about International Relations, or the Solar System.

Have you seen Silo yet ?, let us know what you thought in the comments below, feel free to share this review on any of the social medias and you can follow us Here. Check out all our past reviews and articles Here, and have a happy day.    

Credits – All images were created by the cast, crew, and production companies of Silo
Directed by – Morten Tyldum
Written by – Graham Yost
Created by – Graham Yost
Based On – Silo by Hugh Howey
Production/Distribution Companies – Nemo Films, AMC Studios & Apple TV+
Starring – Rashida Jones, David Oyelowo, Common, Tim Robbins & Rebecca Ferguson with Will Patton, Geraldine James, Sophie Thompson, Ferdinand Kingsley, Shane McRae, Billy Postlethwaite, Chipo Chung, Remmie Miller, Matt Gomez Hidaka & Peter Gadiot and Olatunji Ayofe, Geirgia Goodman, Paul Bigley & James Palmer