Each week Joe and Terry discuss Apple TV’s Silo Season 3, alternating between our respective sites.
Spoilers follow for S03E07…
- Catch up on Season 1: 1.01-1.02 / 1.03 / 1.04 / 1.05 / 1.06 / 1.07 / 1.08 / 1.09 / 1.10
- Catch up on Season 2: 2.01 / 2.02 / 2.03 / 2.04 / 2.05 / 2.06 / 2.07 / 2.08 / 2.09 / 2.10
- Catch up on Season 3: 3.01 / 3.02 / 3.03 / 3.04 / 3.05 / 3.06
S03E07 “Radio”: Juliette sends Lukas and Kennedy on a mission, as a desperate Camille threatens Robert to tell the truth.
JOE
It’s another week of travel in the “Before Times” storyline, Terry, and I’m starting to feel like Silo is cribbing from Dr. Seuss: “I would, I would like the truth in a van. I would, I would like the truth on a plane. I would, I would like the truth in a helicopter.”
Where have we gone so horribly wrong? Episode writer Rémi Aubuchon manages to weave some exciting elements into the Juliette timeline, but the stuff with Daniel (Ashley Zuckerman), Helen (Jessica Henwick), and Senator Thurman (Laura Innes) continues to sag due to absolutely glacial pacing.
I mean, sure, there’s a world where learning the backstory of Henry (Reed Barney) and Doctor Victor (Matt Craven) is interesting, or considered character development, but the structure of the season to date means that we’ve only spent a few minutes with these people, spread out over multiple episodes, and we still don’t entirely understand the nature of their complicity.
Obviously as viewers we anticipated that the episode cliffhanger would be a silo construction site (what else could it have been?) but it’s still not clear why Dr. Victor forgetting his dead daughter or Henry’s relationship with Senator Thurman actually matters. They’ve come together as individuals to work on what is repeatedly described as a project that will “literally” save the world; does it really matter that Dr. Victor perfected the forgetting drug or that Henry worked in military intelligence for 20 years? I’m not convinced.
Thankfully things are *slightly* more interesting in Juliette’s (Rebecca Ferguson) world. I wish that the show would allow her to sit with her moral quandary about the cost of human lives a little longer, but because there are so many moving parts, Ferguson is basically just cameo-ing in her own series at this point. So Jules rushes from one plot beat to another: getting Lukas Kyle (Avi Nash) and Patrick Kennedy (Rick Gomez) suited up and out the door to Silo 17, then debating with Bernard (Tim Robbins) about which is worse: 1,000 lives lost in an attempt to find the Judicial Safeguard pipe or 2K lives lost from suicide as a byproduct of the Forgetting drug (that figure is courtesy of Bernard from a Mission Diary of the previous rebellion that blew up the stairs).
These are interesting issues, but the show can’t seem to regulate between its expedited plotting (Lukas and Kennedy simply suit up and go!) and its lethargic, snooze plotting (everything Daniel and Helen), which makes for a bizarre rollercoaster of a viewing experience.
The result is that some of the best scenes are the little ones. I legitimately questioned if Camille (Alexandria Riley) was going to kill Sims (Common) when she asked him to accompany her under the guise of questioning Jules’ nurse, Amy (Jacqueline Berces). And kudos to returning director Aric Avelino for the way that Jules and Camille’s heated exchange in the doorway was framed to highlight that both women are packing heat; that was another moment that felt genuinely exciting because it felt like anything was possible.
But over to you, Terry: were you more enthused with Daniel and Helen’s latest journey than me or were you mostly just excited to (finally!) get to the introduction of quippy billionaire Per Stensen (Colin Hanks)? Is there anything interesting about Knox’s (Shane McRae) investigation into his father’s faked death or Sheriff Billings (Chinaza Uche) questioning miner Ed Harwood (Ned Dennehy) about Glenda and Orla? And were you struggling to remember Flamekeeper and Forgetting Drug victim Gloria Hildebrandt (Sophie Thompson), considering we haven’t seen her since <checks notes> episode 1.08 “Hanna”?!
TERRY
Between the last few episodes and people showing up that we haven’t seen in forever, Silo’s become a regular family fucking reunion, Joe! Thank goodness for the Silo fandom wiki to get me reacquainted with Gloria and her situation. Unlike previous characters who show up after thinking they’ve exited stage right (Lukas…twice, Bernard, even Regina), Gloria showing up felt pretty needless. And given the decision Sims afforded her way back in “Hanna” (out of kindness because she’s the reason Anthony even exists), her returning felt a little gratuitously gross.
You hit the nail on the head, though, Joe. Silo hasn’t given us any time to really sit with the weighty moments, high stake decisions, and interesting character beats. I’m not even sure it’s 24/Caprica (remember that show?) writer Rémi Aubuchon’s fault because, seven episodes into the third season of a show, the plot has been sketched out and there’s nowhere to go but forward.
I just wish Silo would slow down for a moment to let these big, weighty moments sink in.
I have to admit, I’m having deja vu here, Joe, because I think we had these same complaints about Season 2. I was about to write that splitting the narrative across two time/plotlines doesn’t give enough time to devote to each of the stories…and I’m pretty sure one of us (if not both of us) said the exact same thing while covering the weak second season. I wouldn’t say the work is as egregious here as it was back in the writer’s strike days of Season 2, but good glob.
I really hope that whatever the past timeline is doing will ultimately pay off because I’m kind of in the same boat as you are. Sure, Victor’s story about his dead daughter and being able to choose what memories to keep and which to kick to the curb could be an interesting plot beat that helps inform what’s going on in the present timeline. Except that we already had that moment back in “A Dark Web”, an episode devoted to the concept of memory and the power of taking it away. I’m not sure that Victor’s traumatic story about his daughter really helps cement that idea because, ultimately, it doesn’t really matter.
I’m starting to feel about the past storyline the same way I feel about (most) prequels: it’s unnecessary. I don’t care about any of this in the same way I didn’t care about 9 year old Anakin Skywallker in Star Wars (it’s the first prequel to pop in my mind). One thing I appreciated about the early days of Silo was the way in which Hugh Howey’s source material kept subverting expectations.
A part of me is secretly hoping that this past storyline will ultimately do something similar and win me over…but the other part of me is starting to lose hope. Unless it’s revealed that the silos are actually on the moon, I’m not sure what the show could do to really shock me with the ancient history of how the titular buildings were constructed. Maybe the why will be interesting…I certainly hope that’s the case, but I’m not holding my breath.
The traveling should (hopefully, please glob, please) be over. These last two episodes have been insufferable whenever we’re in the past timeline. It’s so obviously stalling because they don’t have enough story to justify an entire season of this. At this point, I really wish they had just devoted a single episode to the past timeline to catch us up, instead of seeding the most boring trips in television history two episodes in a row.
At least there was weird gay flirting happening between Charlotte (Jessica Brown Findlay) and Anna (Morven Christie)? I think?
Back to specific moments in the episode and to answer your questions, no I do not care about Harwood or Knox’s father. Too many interesting characters have been sidelined to introduce these two fathers and their subsequent storylines. I legitimately laughed when you mentioned that Juliette’s been sidelined in her own damned story because I wrote the same thing in my notes. I miss the days when Ferguson was really allowed to flex her incredible acting muscles. Remember “Machines”? I sure do. And I miss the kinetic energy Rebecca was able to play around with.
We’re three episodes away from the end of the penultimate season, Joe. What do you think needs to happen to right this ship as we careen towards the end? Are you excited for a probable return to Silo 17? Was that buzzing sound drones? Finally, aside from how gaunt Colin Hanks looks, what do you think about his sudden introduction as the Zuckerbergian, socially awkward billionaire who quips about how shitty billionaires are? Also…a unicorn??
JOE
Two quick bits: 1) yes, I remember Caprica because I was one of three people who watched that show religiously (was it good? Who can say?) and 2) Yes, there’s some definite queer flirting going on between Charlotte and Anna (or there had better be now that Shirley is allegedly straight and having Knox’s dumb baby).
Excited to return to Silo 17 is probably too strong a sentiment. As we spent this review bemoaning, I’m just not fully convinced that the show is exploring new territory so much as revisiting old stuff with a new lens. We struggled for so long last season to get out of 17! I’m not sure I’m ready to go back.
Finally, as for Colin Hanks, yeah…the look is a little different. I’m genuinely unsure how to read Per because it feels as if the show is deliberately trying to cast doubt on him (and it’s working!) For now, we just don’t have enough information about his motivations, but considering everyone involved in this two episode roadshow is clearly lying to Daniel and Helen, I’m going to take everything anyone in the “Before Times” timeline says with an excessively large grain of salt. These people are shady, Terry!
We’ll see if we get some answers when we return to GaylyDreadful next week for episode 8, “Gray Goo”.
Silo streams Fridays on Apple TV