Silo (2023) s01e09 – The Getaway

Did they somehow convince Rick Gomez he would have a more significant part in “Silo,” or did his agent just do an excellent job getting him into most of the episodes even though he really doesn’t have anything to do. He’s the guy with the beard who owes Rebecca Ferguson a favor from episode three (or four). Or maybe it all happened off-screen. At this point, he’s just a familiar face (not name, partially because his character’s name is so bland it’s immediately forgettable), even though he’s now figuring into the conspiracy plot.

Tangentially, of course. He’s a function of “Silo,” not a supporting player.

The episode opens with a rather lackluster resolution to the previous episode’s high-tension cliffhanger. I think it’s one of those cliffhanger resolutions where there wouldn’t have been a cliffhanger if they’d shown the characters’ points of view last episode.

But, as usual for two or three episodes now, everyone is after Ferguson as she’s trying to figure out the secrets of the “Silo,” specifically the ones on a mysterious hard drive. The hard drive’s been around since the first episode since it was—temporarily—Rashida Jones’s show. Now we find out the hard drive’s got even more history, with hacker Will Merrick now involved. He’s not just the only one who can hack it for Ferguson—though most of the episode’s about her hacking it on her own—he’s also the one who sold it to Ferdinand Kingsley (who shows up for a brief flashback cameo) sometime before the first episode. It’s all connected.

Most of the episode’s actually about Common and Chinaza Uche. They’re not working together—Common blames Uche for letting Ferguson escape (while she was just taking advantage of his debilitating illness)—but they’re both trying to find Ferguson. Common’s arc is more about his work-life balance, specifically Tim Robbins thinking he cares too much about his family to be a good villain–outstanding performance from Alexandria Riley as Common’s wife this episode. Pretty much everyone still alive gets something to do this episode, whether it’s Harriet Walter reminding everyone she’s still around, Avi Nash sucking up to Robbins when confronted about his friendship with Ferguson, or Common ominously interrogating Iain Glen.

Caitlin Zoz has one heck of a scene. She’s Uche’s supportive wife, who ceases to be supportive and starts berating him, specifically about his mysterious impairment—“The Syndrome,” which I’ll bet doesn’t get covered until season two—and it’s a wildly different scene for Zoz. Until this point, she’s been Uche’s cheerleader, which was one-note, but at least she wasn’t a one-note harpy. Many of the people “Silo” has introduced over the season—other than most of those they’ve killed off—turn out to be very disappointing human beings. If no one dies next episode, it might even become the series’s new trope.

But it’s a good episode. Ferguson gets a decent arc, though there’s some iffy accent work—not iffier than usual, it’s just a big scene, and I was hoping she’d nail the accent. i.e., drive a nail through its heart and bury it somewhere. But, no. There are still some bad accents.

I wish I could remember more about the Wool adaptation to know if they’re wrapping up the first book or if they’re dividing it between seasons. There are some potentially big reveals coming next episode, but I’m not sure they will be very good. “Silo” will handle them perfectly well—unless something goes very wrong. I think the show’s on solid enough footing these days; nothing can derail its momentum.

Knock on wood.

Silo (2023) s01e08 – Hanna

This episode, “Silo” assumes a conspiracy thriller mode. Sheriff Rebecca Ferguson starts the episode on the run, only to pull one over on Common and his goons again so there can be an episode. She’s also going to find out who and who she can’t trust—despite some solid direction from Adam Bernstein, he totally whiffs the Hitchcockian reveal, which hurts the third act a bit. The show gets it back for the cliffhanger—“Silo” just got officially renewed, though supposedly AppleTV+ usually orders two seasons and then does the “renewal” notice when the timing’s right.

I remembered more details from this episode—I think they seem familiar from that Wool comic adaptation—but I’m still real hazy.

This episode toggles between Ferguson flashing back to the story of her mom, played again by Sienna Guillory, who died when Ferguson was young and played by Amelie Child Villiers. Iain Glen, of course, plays his character both young and old, managing to look older in the younger makeup than as an old guy. He just aged real well.

And his accent’s a little better. At least good enough it doesn’t set Ferguson down any poor accent choices—hope she doesn’t forget how not to do the bad “Silo” accent between filming seasons one and two.

Most of the episode is Ferguson trying to stay one step ahead of Common while remembering mom Guillory’s last days, while also trying to undercover the conspiracy around her. There are two levels of conspiracies, of course. The more immediate murder conspiracy, but also the conspiracy where they’re keeping the nature of reality from the citizens. This episode raises more questions than it answers, and I’m very curious about what’ll get pushed to next season and what’ll be revealed in the final two episodes of the season.

There are just two to go, and the show’s still not done revealing the stakes.

Good acting from Uche and Tim Robbins in particular. It’s probably Ferguson’s best episode, but it also doesn’t ask her to do much more than run around in an action movie while vulnerable. Maybe it’s the vulnerable part. Though they still don’t seem to know what to do with Avi Nash. If he and Ferguson are supposed to have sincere chemistry together… hope they work on it before next season.

Bernstein will probably be back for the next episode—do all hour-longs now just do two episode blocks for each director or directing team—which is fine. This episode’s for bridging; it only runs forty minutes and gets Ferguson from A to B with some new knowledge to get her to C next. We’ll probably see C next episode. Though this episode suggests at least two more characters deserve point-of-view focuses.

“Silo”’s almost entirely managed to climb after a rocky start. But they’re running out of time to make that somewhat disconnected prologue mean something. The show’s more than proven it can do compelling, but it hasn’t proven it can retroactively make the less compelling stuff meaningful.

But for now, real good.