We do not know why we are here

Continuing my trip up Empire's top 20 TV of 2023

#12 :  Silo

Apple TV+ is becoming more and more ambitious with its output, and this adaptation of Hugh Howey's utopian/dystopian (delete as applicable depending on your view of shady authoritarian governments) sci-fi book series about a clutch of around 10,000 humans surviving a ruined planet by living in a giant subterranean silo whose provenance has been lost to time (or has it? Information is a closely guarded resource in this world) certainly counts. Rebecca Ferguson is the lynchpin here — as cynical, suspicious engineer-turned-marshal Juliette Nichols, she has to dig into a murder mystery that hits painfully close to home. Building a convincing world (both in story and set terms) is even more impressive when you consider the challenges of tone and how well this sidesteps most of the genre cliches.

Skipping over #13 for the time being (I'm finding it a struggle but it's on both lists so I have to watch it) (OK - finally caught up) brings us to something I watched at the time and I've also read the book.  All of which means I feel I'm actually qualified to comment - particularly as I took notes at the time, otherwise I'd have forgotten it all!

Ah - looking at my notes, it seems like I didn't actually make that many after all.  Oh well - I still remember I liked it.  The whole thing is set in a dystopian future (which unsurprisingly involves a silo) and it's quite a well-thought out (and obviously completely unbelievable) concept and the series does a good job in getting it across without spoon feeding you.  And I'm not going to tell you any more (partly because I don't think I should and partly because I'm not sure I can) but I did make a note that it was "nicely tense and satisfying twisty".

It's got an extremely impressive cast - Rebecca Ferguson is, as Empire puts it, the lynchpin and she puts in a very decent shift indeed (and goes on quite the journey).  Other members of the cast that stood out for me in particular were Tim Robbins (who I was expecting to be good, but took some time to recognise) and Common (who I very much wasn't).  But it's a big cast including, but in no way limited to, Rashida Jones, David Oyewelo, Harriet Walter (she's been in a lot of good stuff recently), Iain Glen and Geraldine James - and it won't surprise you to hear that everyone plays their part well.

Given that it's quite a complex set-up, it needs quite a complex set and it certainly delivers on that front - they've thrown quite some money at it.  My only complaint would be that, I know it's set in a dystopian future where energy is limited, but it REALLY wouldn't have hurt for them to turn the lights on a bit more often - particularly when important things are happening because that would have helped me see what was those important things were.

I watched this at the same time as I watched Foundation and, whilst this doesn't look quite as gorgeous, it's a lot easier to follow, has a lot more going on and is generally altogether more engaging.  Season 2 is coming and I'll certainly be checking it out - as Empire tells us it's part of Apple TV+ increasingly ambitious output so I strongly suggest you check it out if you haven't already.

#14 - Surprisingly enjoyable horror
#11 - It looked good, but I just didn't care