No one does prestige sci-fi series better than Apple TV. From smash-hits Foundation and Severance to the likes of For All Mankind, Dark Matter, See, Pluribus and Murderbot, some decision maker at the streaming service is clearly willing to put money behind the genre, especially shows based on books.
Included in that number is Silo, based on the Wool trilogy of dystopian mystery novels by Hugh Howey. Season 3 of Silo returns today, 3 July, and viewers can watch confident that, with the fourth and final season filmed back-to-back with this latest batch of episodes, they will reach the end of the story.
That story? For centuries, a society of 10,000 people have lived underground in a strictly governed silo that spirals deep into the Earth. With records lost, the inhabitants don’t know why they’re there, and when it will be safe to return to the Earth’s toxic surface – which they can see through a video feed in the dining hall. Delve too much into the past, question the status quo and you either die mysteriously in the silo, or are sent outside to clean the surveillance camera. The latter is exactly what happens to engineer-turned-sheriff Juliette Nichols (Rebecca Ferguson).
Season 3 kicks off months after Jules’s unprecedented survival and return to the silo, but with post-traumatic amnesia, the narrative of what actually happened is being controlled by Camille Sims (Alexandria Riley), newly promoted to Head of IT, and supported by her husband Robert (Common), the Head of Judicial – all to stop a fresh flare-up of rebellion. While Jules comes to the realisation that there may be something more sinister to her erased memory, her successor Paul Billings (Chinaza Uche) is investigating a disappearance that leads to a terrifying truth about the future of their home.
While these events are unfolding, Season 3 of Silo also picks up a narrative thread tantalisingly dangled in the final episode of last season: how did people end up in the silo in the first place? Set in the “Before Times,” in a reality that mirrors our own very near future, it all kicks off when Congressman Daniel Keene (Ashley Zukerman) sets out to discover the truth behind a clandestine military operation over Iran that left his pilot sister hospitalised. Teaming up with spirited journalist Helen Drew (Jessica Henwick), they find themselves tangled in a bizarre conspiracy involving very powerful, very paranoid people.
Now it’s honestly debatable whether you should wait for Silo to end as a whole before binge-watching the full series, largely because you might find the show’s drip-feeding of answers too slow. More challenging is Silo’s naturally limited scope on the character front, where you’re expected to remember the names of secondary silo inhabitants met only once two seasons ago. For the record, Season 3 includes familiar faces like Colin Hanks, Laura Innes and Downton Abbey’s Jessica Brown Findlay, while Steve Zahn and Tim Robbins make return appearances in some form or another.
The trade-off in waiting to watch Silo in its four-season entirety is that you’ll be missing out on some of the most gripping television of right now, paired with a healthy serving of thematic density and overall nuance. Memory is a key concept in Silo Season 3, spanning the show’s two parallel timelines, and it encourages viewer musings on identity and how simple items and moments serve as powerful nostalgic triggers. It also provides Ferguson with something meaty to explore performance-wise, as amnesiac Jules is a very different, shockingly pliant and subdued woman in comparison to the quick-witted, but emotionally avoidant figure audiences met in Season 1. Props to the costume and styling departments too, for reflecting Jules’s changes visually, including the gradual (not exactly a spoiler) return to her true self.
On that note, yet again Silo presents its world in intricate detail, taking audiences for the first time to silo levels previously only mentioned. While the series has much the same premise as Fallout, Silo sidesteps any playful post-modern referentiality to present a far more credible vision of vault life where grey, frugal practicality is the guiding principle.
Adding to the show’s believability is its treatment of characters. While Silo Season 4 reportedly promises an actual Big Bad, this season continues to undermine audience belief as to who the villains are. In Silo, even the most easy-to-hate individuals are often shown to have relatable, sympathetic motivations, or are simply making incredibly tough decisions in sacrifice for the greater good.
Season 3 of Silo delivers what fans of the show have come to expect. Enticing mysteries. Bait and switch alliances. And desperate survival schemes that will have you holding your breath as time counts down milliseconds to disaster. There’s more to ponder this round, though, along with a sprinkling of chilling, human-initiated horror, both seen and unseen, and its offshoot tragedy.
As in previous seasons, S3 isn’t so much about dramatic twists as it is about revelations that cast previous events and characters in a new light. The final episode of the season, in particular, offers a game-changing new perspective that sets the series up for a S4 finale where it already feels like no one will emerge unscathed.
This review is based on all ten episodes of Silo Season 3. The show returns to Apple TV on 3 July, with weekly episodes released through to 4 September.