I like a mystery box show that isn’t in a big rush to show off how mysterious the box is. Shotgunning holy shit, what’s going on, everything we thought we knew was wrong moments at the viewer is seen as a shortcut to intrigue, a way to get people hooked early and hooked hard. More often than not, though, it obscures whatever other ideas the show may have about itself, its characters, its world, its worldview. I already know something mysterious is going on; I don’t need to be frogmarched past hidden door after hidden door and treasure chest after treasure chest and hidden connection after hidden connection just for my interest to be held. Like, what’s the hurry? You got a hot date or something, mystery box show?

So kudos to the second episode of Silo (“Holston’s Pick”) for playing things out with focus and restraint. Instead of going all 1899 on us and flipping everything upside-down just as we’re getting the lay of the land, it simply burrows deeper into the mysteries we’re already familiar with.

I reviewed the second episode of Silo for Decider.

I’ll say this right up front: Silo will not wow you. This is not a big, bold, bizarre, frightening science-fiction vision in the vein of Netflix’s marvelous Dark or HBO Max’s late, lamented Raised by Wolves. It’s more in the vein of Apple+’s own Foundation: adapted from a series of novels, given a decent budget and a solid cast, and aimed right down the middle at the kinds of folks who like to open up streaming apps and watch science fiction shows. There are a lot of people like that, and so there have been a lot of shows like that too. Which is fine.

I’m covering Silo for Decider, starting with my review of the series premiere.