Entertainment
Apple TV’s ‘Silo’ Season 3 Justified Its Most Controversial Twist in Only 3 Episodes
Silo did not become one of Apple TV‘s most beloved original series by sticking to the script. Although the show is based on a trilogy of books by Hugh Howey, the story has been expanded and changed quite a bit in the adaptation, and fans haven’t complained. Howey’s novels were short and self-published, and practically begging for more detail. However, Season 3 kicked off this month with one of the first changes to cause widespread muttering among fans — the story of Juliette’s (Rebecca Ferguson) induced amnesia. Now that we’re three episodes in, it’s clear that this was actually a brilliant move for the TV show, and perhaps an overall improvement to the story.
When the trailers for Silo Season 3 began to show Juliette suffering from amnesia, fans and critics came up with all kinds of theories about how and why this plot line was added. We feared it might feel like a stretch, added just to draw out Juliette’s story while other things were introduced to the narrative. Even then, there were some ideas online about how the amnesia arc might work well, but they all fell short of showrunner Graham Yost‘s actual vision.
Viewers Get A Timeline While Juliette Loses Hers
A major unforeseen aspect of Juliette’s amnesia plot line is that it juxtaposes the experience of the audience themselves. Viewers have spent two seasons now wondering how, when, and why humanity ended up confined to these underground shelters, and the mystery has been woven into complex knots without coming any closer to a solution. Readers of Howey’s books new that we’d have to start answering these questions with the storyline of Congressman Daniel Keene (Ashley Zukerman) in Season 3, yet we didn’t imagine how well these info-dump flashbacks would work alongside Juliette’s amnesiac nightmare.
Of course, the connection works narratively as well, since Keene’s story deals directly with the same memory loss drugs afflicting Juliette in her story. In fact, it’s becoming clear how much groundwork the show has done to set up the memory loss drugs in general. The storyline concerning Dr. Cnkovich (Matt Craven) is already hitting harder on the show than it did in the books. It’s always a good idea to add more depth to the fantastical elements of a sci-fi series, and it looks like the Silo team has been planning this from early on.
This week, Season 3 Episode 3 “A Dark Web” gave some clear indications of where the amnesia plot line is going and how it will flow into the next phase of Juliette’s story. By all appearances, it’s going to work very smoothly. The show won’t miss anything from the books, and it will feel perfectly natural to get back on track. Some may still call this a detour made just for the sake of the show’s run-time, but even then, it’s not necessarily a bad thing. With most streamers tightening their belts and shortening the seasons on their most expensive shows, it’s a relief to see one series taking its time and pacing things right.
‘Silo’ Adds Stories Without Replacing Anything
Adaptations are generally criticized for any changes to their source material, and for the most part, that’s valid. Popular novels tend to work as they are, and changes threaten to destabilize the entire house of cards the story stands on. Modern audiences are particularly traumatized by shows like Game of Thrones, and these days it can be a full-time job cataloging all the changes in an adaptation and debating them online.
Somehow, Apple TV has attained an exemption from this trend. The network’s adaptation of Foundation by Isaac Asimov might be unrecognizable to the author himself or one of his contemporary readers. However, its approach to changes is very similar to that of Silo — they fill in gaps in the books rather than change events and characters. This mostly serves to deepen worldbuilding, add visual flair, and make the most out of the talent on hand.
For Silo, this amnesia plot line might be their biggest addition so far, yet it doesn’t really replace anything essential. So far, the show has thoroughly adapted Howey’s first novel Wool, which ends at the point when Juliette returns to Silo 18. The second novel in the trilogy is Shift, which completely ignores Juliette’s story to follow Keene through his flashbacks. Only in the third book, Dust, do we pick up the story and move it forward.
Naturally, Silo Season 3 did not want to drop Juliette’s plot entirely. It seems likely that the season will begin including material from Dust, but in the meantime, this amnesia plot is a clever way to tell two parallel stories without losing the momentum of the series altogether. On top of that, this addition doesn’t need to replace or alter anything about the beginning of Dust. If anything, Juliette’s memory loss will flow perfectly into her time as mayor and her confused scramble to help her people before it’s too late. Many aspects of the story will make more sense this way in the end, and will emphasize the undercurrent of manipulation and social engineering that keeps the silos running.
Silo Season 3 continues on Fridays on Apple TV. Previous seasons are streaming there now, and Howey’s books are available in print, digital, and audiobook formats.
- Release Date
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May 5, 2023
- Network
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Apple TV
- Showrunner
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Graham Yost
- Directors
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Morten Tyldum, David Semel, Michael Dinner, Aric Avelino
- Writers
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Graham Yost, Hugh Howey, Jeffery Wang, Lekethia Dalcoe
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