Oh, the indomitable human spirit! Many works of fiction have leaned over how powerful human will can be, and how far one can go looking for the truth — about society, about the past, about their inner truths.
Silo is a dystopian fiction that is heavily centered around the search for truth, too. The first season was all about Juliette Nichols (Rebecca Ferguson) looking for truths that cost the lives of people she loved and people she just started caring about with the help of Chief Deputy Paul Billings (Chinaza Uche). Bernard Holland (Tim Robbins) and Robert Sims (Common) vainly tried to hide things from them, and when that was not possible anymore, they set her up. Juliette was then exiled from the Silo to the toxic outside world. But with the help of Martha Walker (Harriet Walter), Juliette survived, discovering not only a destroyed world, but also another silo.
This show is based on the Silo trilogy of books by Hugh Howey, and as far as I am concerned, the first season adapts only the first half of the first book, Wool. This second season is supposed to adapt the other half, so this premiere feels less like S02E01 and more like S01E11 if that makes sense. This episode is not as introductory as a regular premiere would be, simply moving the story forward from where the finale ended. And that’s not a bad thing; perhaps releasing two episodes as the premiere would have helped, but The Engineer is competent in its mission to introduce us again into that world. Also, as much as the recap clip before the episode helped, I think a season 1 rewatch may be useful for some viewers.
“The Engineer” – Silo. Pictured: Rebecca Ferguson as Juliette. Photo: Apple TV ©. All Rights Reserved
As for this episode, it’s simple in its concept of Juliette exploring the insides of the new silo while she recalls an important part of her childhood. It’s interesting that Juliette is having her Indiana Jones/Tomb Raider times as she climbs things up, falls, tries again, and does some crazy stunts as part of her exploration of the new silo. Apparently alone in this abandoned place, she is haunted by flashbacks of her earlier years, with the younger version of her friend Shirley (Ida Brooke) and Martha serving as important friends for her younger self (played by Amelie Child Villiers). And that’s how the episode goes, as this calm and quiet recollection of past events as Juliette does whatever it takes to ensure she will have a future in a not so calm (but very quiet) present. In the end, she discovers there’s a man alive in this other silo. He is listening to a song, and after a brief introduction, he threatens Juliette’s life.
Overall, this was a good season premiere. Not as explosive as some may have expected, but it gives us enough emotional context while it sets up what’s to come next. Now we will have to wait a bit more to discover not only what happened inside this other silo, but also what’s happening inside the silo Juliette was exiled from. Needless to say, Rebecca Ferguson is a standout in this as always, and if I expect anything from this season is strong performances from her.
