Plot: Season three continues the saga of a dystopian society of 10,000 people living underground under mysterious circumstances, while revealing an origin story set centuries earlier. In the present, Juliette Nichols survives her forced “cleaning” but returns with memory loss as the silo recovers from rebellion and faces a dangerous new threat. Meanwhile, in the “Before Times,” journalist Helen Drew and Congressman Daniel Keene uncover a conspiracy that pulls them into a chain of events with catastrophic, irreversible consequences.
Review: The first two seasons of Silo were a solid addition to AppleTV’s growing library of original genre content. Alongside Foundation, Dark Matter, and For All Mankind, the streaming platform has championed complex science fiction projects, and Silo is no exception. When season three was announced as the penultimate run of Silo, we knew it would begin adapting the second and third books in Hugh Howey’s acclaimed novel series. This season, creator and showrunner Graham Yost takes a unique approach, combining the world of Silo with the origin story hundreds of years earlier that led to their creation. With returning stars Rebecca Ferguson and Common, along with new additions Ashley Zukerman and Jessica Henwick, the third season of Silo is the strongest so far in the series and will give fans answers to what and why the silos exist that they have been waiting five years to learn.
At the end of the second season, Juliette Nichols (Rebecca Ferguson) made her way back to her Silo from a neighboring one to share the truth about the supposedly toxic outside world that Bernard (Tim Robbins) and Robert Sims (Common) were fighting to keep a secret from the population as a whole. The season ended with Bernard and Juliette in safety suits as they succumbed to a blast of fire meant to cleanse any toxins from entering. Season three begins with the shocking revelation that not only did Juliette survive, but she has no memories of her past. Elected Mayor after her survival and return to the silo, Juliette is catered to by staff and supportive residents, including Robert’s wife, Camille (Alexandria). As Juliette slowly tries to regain any memories of her past, she begins to learn that there are factions within the silo and that she was not part of the one she is seemingly leading now. While amnesia is often used as a lazy plot device, it works well this season, as Juliette learns from the outside world, and her potential to remember becomes a ticking clock for those ready for revolution.
Season two also ended with a closing scene set in the past, showing two characters on a date that is actually a reporter’s fact-finding mission. Journalist Helen Drew (Jessica Henwick) wants to find out about a chemical attack in Washington, D.C. from freshman Congressman Daniel Keene (Ashley Zukerman). This season, every episode shifts between the world of the Silo and the past investigation of Helen and Daniel as they discover something that will eventually take the story three hundred years into the future, where we have been watching. Silo does not offer any transitions or indicators as to when the story moves from present to past, but relies on the contemporary look of 21st-century Washington, D.C., and frequent outdoor filming locations to anchor the audience. The scenes involving Zukerman and Henwich play like a political thriller rather than a genre offering, which makes it a mystery how and why this season of Silo balances the two narratives the way it does. This becomes increasingly clear with each successive episode, culminating in a season finale with the biggest cliffhanger yet.
The ten-episode third season of Silo moves along at a faster pace than the first two seasons, but returns to the mystery-centric flow the show started with. Season two kept Rebecca Ferguson in a different location for the entirety of the run, which allowed supporting players to step up both in the original Silo 17 but also gave us Steve Zahn’s fantastic performance as Jimmy in Silo 18. Knowing there are fifty other silos around them was a shocking reveal last season, and as we find out the truth in two timelines that converge by the season finale in a way I did not see coming. The past narrative showcases Ashley Zukerman in a role that mirrors the importance of Rebecca Ferguson’s Juliette in the future. Daniel Keene is an idealist, and seeing him learn the truth in his time period offers a parallel to Rebecca Ferguson’s continued brilliant performance as Juliette learns and contends with what she discovers. Both actors do a phenomenal job. We also get an impressively expanded role for Alexandria Riley as Camille Sims becomes a major player in this season’s arc.
Showrunner Graham Yost wrote the premiere episode alongside Shelley Birse, Aric Avelino, Jessica Blaire, Katherine DiSavino, Remi Aubuchon, Jenny DeArmitt-Strain, Jeffery Wang, and Fred Golan. Michael Dinner returned to helm three episodes with returning directors Aric Avelino and Amber Templemore each directing three chapters, while Alrick Riley directs one. The production values of this series continue to be impressive. The intricate layout and floor designs inside the Silos are an achievement in many ways, but the newly expanded use of the outside world presents the filmmakers with the challenge of balancing a fictional future with a realistic past while also incorporating makeup and CGI effects. I won’t spoil the technological elements of this season, but the crew of Silo does a phenomenal job of making things in the past look futuristic and things in the future look ancient. Composer Atli Örvarsson continues to create eerie music that fits the look and feel of the series in both narratives.
Knowing that next season will be the last for Silo means there will be only a limited number of episodes left to wrap up this story. Fans of the novels will notice some significant changes to combine the established cast of the first two seasons with the events of the second and third novels, but Graham Yost and his team have done a masterful job of bringing the story to screen while making sure that Rebecca Ferguson’s fan favorite portrayal of Juliette remains at the forefront. Silo is a great example of a series that benefits from a weekly release schedule. This season has multiple episodes that leave you with tons to think about and theorize over before the next chapter. Audiences who have not read the books are going to be in for a heck of a surprise as the truth finally becomes clear this season and the endgame of Silo begins to fall into place. A fantastic season that is the strongest yet for Silo.
Silo’s third season premieres on July 2nd on AppleTV.
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