Silo (Apple TV series based on Hugh Howey’ “Wool”)(spoiler for show)

[Raja]

9 minutes ago, Theda Baratheon said:

 have found all of the character habit choices have made total sense to me so far. 

Yeah, after reading that interview it's a bit more clear why she's making the choices that she's making with her character. I think it makes sense for her character to do that, however I think the execution of it is quite over the top and not at all subtle so I don't really think it's working for me, personally. Hah - the smug book reader comment was more a joke, tbh!

I finished episode 4 and I wasn't sure if I was supposed to recognize the person in the sherrif's department who is quite hostile to Jules - I'm sure we've seen her before but I honestly had no idea who she was on screen and those scenes were a little lost on me because I had no sense of who this person was.

I'm not entirely sure how I feel about the series yet, but I'm not super into it yet, I thought Lukas added much needed life to the show even in his short scene.

 

[ithanos]

Enjoying it so far. I like the Silo itself as an engaging backdrop and they've revealed enough, especially giving some sense of scale in the third episode, to give it some needed character. Like knowing the layout of Babylon 5 or the Enterprise D and their many levels and inhabitants.

A few things don't gel for me about this world.

I agree with the musings up-thread about Ferguson's accent. I can paper over this to continue watching. However, considering a population about the size of a small town, 5-15 thousand I'm guessing, which has been siloed (no pun intended) for 5 generations (140yrs I think I heard), even with the class separation we've been shown, and accounting for speech impediments, wouldn't they all have the same accent by now? It's possible this could be a result of the casting, due to the production location being in the UK. Robbins, Patton, Jones and Common seem to be using their normal US-TV accents, so it seems the accents from the non-US contingent, as a collective, is not consistent.        

Also, there have been a couple instances so far where characters have not known who people are. I would contend that even if the Silo's current population is upwards of 15 thousand, if this was your entire world, then there should no more than 2 degrees of separation between any two people in the Silo. And anyone in a position of authority should know, or know of, everyone else.

With regards to the Silo's populous over generations I hope they explain how the first generation coped with resources. The Holston's experience in the first episode (really liked Jones & Oyelowo in their roles) hinted at so much. Clearly at some point population control became mandatory for the survival of the society. Did they have enough food/accommodation capacity to grow from the start, or was there a generation of scarcity at the beginning?

Also, a little nitpick, but I would have a report presented on adding safety nets across the span at each 10th level - that's if they can spare that much resource in materials. It could serve a secondary purpose as playground space.   

 

[Ser Scot A Ellison]

On 5/22/2023 at 12:39 AM, ithanos said:

Enjoying it so far. I like the Silo itself as an engaging backdrop and they've revealed enough, especially giving some sense of scale in the third episode, to give it some needed character. Like knowing the layout of Babylon 5 or the Enterprise D and their many levels and inhabitants.

A few things don't gel for me about this world.

I agree with the musings up-thread about Ferguson's accent. I can paper over this to continue watching. However, considering a population about the size of a small town, 5-15 thousand I'm guessing, which has been siloed (no pun intended) for 5 generations (140yrs I think I heard), even with the class separation we've been shown, and accounting for speech impediments, wouldn't they all have the same accent by now? It's possible this could be a result of the casting, due to the production location being in the UK. Robbins, Patton, Jones and Common seem to be using their normal US-TV accents, so it seems the accents from the non-US contingent, as a collective, is not consistent.        

Also, there have been a couple instances so far where characters have not known who people are. I would contend that even if the Silo's current population is upwards of 15 thousand, if this was your entire world, then there should no more than 2 degrees of separation between any two people in the Silo. And anyone in a position of authority should know, or know of, everyone else.

With regards to the Silo's populous over generations I hope they explain how the first generation coped with resources. The Holston's experience in the first episode (really liked Jones & Oyelowo in their roles) hinted at so much. Clearly at some point population control became mandatory for the survival of the society. Did they have enough food/accommodation capacity to grow from the start, or was there a generation of scarcity at the beginning?

Also, a little nitpick, but I would have a report presented on adding safety nets across the span at each 10th level - that's if they can spare that much resource in materials. It could serve a secondary purpose as playground space.   

 

I like the “net” idea… as to accents… even Patton’s western/southern drawl makes little sense when compaired the Robbin’s and Common’s accent.  As the acents that are odd sound slightly Irish… perhaps the explanation could be that most of the refugees put into the Silo were American and Irish?

[Rippounet]

Haven't read the books, but I'm loving the show. I really like the character of Juliette Nichols, and the way she's portrayed. At this point I'm wondering if the punishment has a purpose, or whether the purpose is the punishment.

[ithanos]

14 hours ago, Ser Scot A Ellison said:

I like the “net” idea… as to accents… even Patton’s western/southern drawl makes little sense when compaired the Robbin’s and Common’s accent.  As the acents that are odd sound slightly Irish… perhaps the explanation could be that most of the refugees put into the Silo were American and Irish?

I haven't read the source material but I presume accents were not described?

14 hours ago, Ser Scot A Ellison said:

I like the “net” idea… as to accents… even Patton’s western/southern drawl makes little sense when compaired the Robbin’s and Common’s accent.  As the acents that are odd sound slightly Irish… perhaps the explanation could be that most of the refugees put into the Silo were American and Irish?

That could be likely going in and probably hold for a generation, maybe two. But if there's any type of early childhood school system in the Silo then this is where the next generations will acquire their accents, and over time they should all blend.  

I'll leave it as a challenge with the adaptation to screen that has not been successful (maybe even a TV trope we have to accept). At least they have actors who are willing to mask their natural accents for the project - no Sean Connerys here, where all his character roles had Scottish accents (and winning Best Supporting Actor playing an Irish American cop at that).

[DaveSumm]

I’m still into this, although the last two episodes have been much slower. And they’re basically the same plot, following on from a death at the end of the last episode, our protagonists investigate and Judicial looks shady. 

I’m glad they addressed the lack of lifts. Or at least acknowledged it anyway.

[Rippounet]

16 hours ago, DaveSumm said:

I’m glad they addressed the lack of lifts. Or at least acknowledged it anyway.

I believe it's a clue as to the original purpose of the silo.

Rewatched the first episodes with partner because I hadn't found a show this good in a while and wanted to watch it together. We have tons of theories, though it's way too soon to know exactly what the author decided to say - I hope it doesn't end up being vanilla, or worse. Some of these "mystery" shows can be disappointing (though we do love the genre).

At this point it's about finding all the hidden clues as to the ideas (ideology?) behind the silo, but the consequences of the "rebellion" make that really dfficult. For instance, I'm not at all certain "judicial" was there from the start, it could have been created to ensure another rebellion wouldn't occur ; the "Pact" itself seems to have been written mainly to ensure the experiment (or whatever one can call it) would continue. In other words, the original purpose behind the silo and the purpose behind the Pact could be quite different, with the original purpose having lost its validity. That makes the number of possible theories almost infinite - it's very clever.

Beyond the plot/story itself though, the symbolism is fascinating. This is obviously a small-scale low-tech human society that allows the author to represent elements of our own societies: religion, justice, class... With a main character whose role it is to make sense of it all. It's really good because, whatever the plot ends up being, it leads the viewer to try and figure out what's wrong about the silo, and thus wonder about what a human society should be.

If it were me writing the book, the silo would end up being an answer to human hubris and the excesses of the modern world, with its flaw being that you can't quite fight hubris without controling curiosity - and thus limiting basic freedoms (like reproduction).

What I do hope... (spoilers in case I get it right - btw please don't confirm or give any clue):

Spoiler

... is that Holston and Allison are actually alive and well (and with kids) "outside." That the "rebellion" was actually a secession: the original purpose of the silo (probably survivalism) having disappeared (the planet being safe again), the "rebels" decided to leave. But the writers of the Pact otoh decided that the silo was best for humanity and the planet, erased history (and much scientific knowledge in the process) and decided that only the most curious individuals, those who just couldn't be content in this small-scale low-tech society, would be allowed outside if they wanted, though they'd have to believe it might kill them. "Inside" would be a tightly-knit community with rather low/small desires and "outside" would be the most curious and/or selfish/greedy individuals.
Ideally both societies would be flawed, so as to preserve the philosophical conundrum.

 

Edited May 27, 2023 by Rippounet

[Raja]

haven't seen episode 4 yet as I really didn't find 3 that good at all but should be watching in the next couple of days

it's interesting reading everyone's theories though - rest easy, won't be giving anything away

Wonder if/ when we hear if it's been renewed for season 2 - I'm not as hot on the show, but there's a lot of potential with the series

Edited May 28, 2023 by Raja

[Ser Scot A Ellison]

What the heck is “the syndrome”?  Nichols could try to be less prickly.  Billings seems decent.

[SpaceChampion]

1 hour ago, Ser Scot A Ellison said:

What the heck is “the syndrome”?  Nichols could try to be less prickly.  Billings seems decent.

I wonder how much medicine these people know.  If not much, then it could be as simple as a thiamin deficiency.

[Theda Baratheon]

I’ve recently had a horrible bout of post viral fatigue which has left me with an hand tremor, tics, muscle weakness and fatigue. “The Syndrome” could be so many things, some of them not all that sinister but with low medicinal knowledge they become worse than they should. And then in such a small community, anything different gets “othered”. 
 

I think Nichols is right to be prickly for now. Billings is nice and I think as viewers we are beginning to trust him but I didn’t and still don’t 100% trust most of the characters here, including him lol. 
 

I introduced the show to my mum and we’ve been really enjoying coming up with loads of theories in between episodes. We are so used to binge watching that it’s frustrating to wait but I genuinely think it’s better this way as well! 

[Spockydog]

Who the hell are those people watching everything on banks of screens?

Are they outside? Is the silo some fucked up experiment? WTF is going on?

[3CityApache]

I take it you don’t actually want answers to these questions, right?

I like it. It has the vibe of the books all over it. 

[Spockydog]

30 minutes ago, 3CityApache said:

I take it you don’t actually want answers to these questions, right?

I like it. It has the vibe of the books all over it. 

Aye, those were entirely rhetorical. 

 

[Ser Scot A Ellison]

4 hours ago, Theda Baratheon said:

I’ve recently had a horrible bout of post viral fatigue which has left me with an hand tremor, tics, muscle weakness and fatigue. “The Syndrome” could be so many things, some of them not all that sinister but with low medicinal knowledge they become worse than they should. And then in such a small community, anything different gets “othered”. 
 

I think Nichols is right to be prickly for now. Billings is nice and I think as viewers we are beginning to trust him but I didn’t and still don’t 100% trust most of the characters here, including him lol. 
 

I introduced the show to my mum and we’ve been really enjoying coming up with loads of theories in between episodes. We are so used to binge watching that it’s frustrating to wait but I genuinely think it’s better this way as well! 

I get so burnt out by binge watching.  I prefer shows released week to week.

[DaveSumm]

I wondered if it could be some weird form of claustrophobia, but no one even knows what that is cos they only know the Silo. 

Slightly better episode than the previous two this week, but I’m still feeling the slow drip-drip of info. I’m not sure how much this show has other than its mysteries, without that I don’t think any of the characters or plots episode to episode are enough to carry it. 

It did spark quite a conversation with my wife who had apparently never come across Pez dispensers. When you actually say it aloud, you realise how terrible those sweets are without the gimmick of the dispenser. I don’t think George would be too impressed with the answer to that Big Question; ‘it spits out sweets that nobody would ever eat if not spat out by a cartoon duck’.

[karaddin]

I left starting this until later in the season as I don't love the weekly waits, but caught up on the first 6 last night and the 7th tonight although I'll spoiler anything about 7 as I'm not sure what time it's available in different countries.

Nothing since episode 2 has given any further information on this, but my theory for why they die when they leave is it's the "decontamination" spray in the air lock. I didn't put my finger on it immediately, but there's no reason to be doing that - they shouldn't have any concern about someone from the inside taking a contaminant outside. Any remaining toxin in the airlock is then incinerated in the actual decontamination cycle after they have exited the air lock.

My prior idea before that was it's either becoming dependent on something in the air in the silo that leaves them unable to breath unmodified air, or that due to having no exposure to natural spreading pollen they just suffer anaphylaxis on exposure to outside air without any intentional murder needing to take place.

Last theory was (ep 7 spoilers) 

Spoiler

That keeping the judge off screen like the main villain was going to be a misdirect and she's just another patsy with Simms (is that the right name? Common's character) is the one with actual knowledge and power, and that's confirmed now up to a certain level. 

 

[Ser Scot A Ellison]

Having read the first book… I’m very curious about the direction of the most recent episode.  The Judge doesn’t appear to have the independence and power some thought…

[karaddin]

One other feeling that's been floating in the background is that there might not be a grand puppet master behind it all at this point - that everyone who knew more than Simms etc died without passing the info on and now they're just in a fascist state on autopilot because none of them know why they're in there, they just are all in on order to preserve their status quo.

[Rippounet]

Well, there's one guy who told us he knows where all the juice goes, right?