Television Silo

nimic

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Okay so after the finale what do we think:
1. All a simulation matrix style - unlikely , because these "bad rendering" effects were shown only outside.
OR
2. The outside is actually a big projection room that can be redecorated on demand . There are no dead bodies there. Its filled with some poisonous gas which the better heat tape actually insulates against. So in fact its still within the silo.
OR
3. The real outside is actually the bleak post apocalyptic that was shown , there are indeed other silos nearby etc. The air is toxic. The good green picture is somehow projected from the suit , so the person the goes out to clean feels happy in his last moments. There are actually dead bodies which were not shown after the scene switched.
If it's #2 I'd be pissed, since the camera zoomed out and gave us a birds eye view. It's pretty clear that there are loads of silos, and that there really is some kind of post apocalypse going on. I have to be honest I completely spaced out about the heat tape stuff, no idea where that came from. From the start I assumed the air supply of the suits was filled with some kind of incapacitating gas, which is how people always fell over. I don't think any of them died. Maybe it's more like a test, and people who get outside are recruited into something something something. I don't know. At least this is based on a book series, so it's not going to Lost-style making up as we go along, but the author might have made it up as they went along too. It's intriguing, but also sometimes not that intriguing.
 

The Firestarter

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If it's #2 I'd be pissed, since the camera zoomed out and gave us a birds eye view. It's pretty clear that there are loads of silos, and that there really is some kind of post apocalypse going on. I have to be honest I completely spaced out about the heat tape stuff, no idea where that came from. From the start I assumed the air supply of the suits was filled with some kind of incapacitating gas, which is how people always fell over. I don't think any of them died. Maybe it's more like a test, and people who get outside are recruited into something something something. I don't know. At least this is based on a book series, so it's not going to Lost-style making up as we go along, but the author might have made it up as they went along too. It's intriguing, but also sometimes not that intriguing.
Initially I thought the same about the suit, being filled with some toxic or sedative gas, but now it's pretty certain that the tape is the seal they needed, and apparently there's good tape and bad tape, and special IT need the good tape to go outside themselves ? That's still a bit unclear.

Additional detail is that the it chief had his keychain that had the same number as the drive, so the drive was probably part of the projection control room where he entered with the same key. The outside video recorded on the drive also seemed to have the exact same scene as Julia saw outside (with the birds and everything), and it was from first person. So now I am leaning that this was somehow projected within the suit.
 

ha_rooney

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Enjoyed it, last few episodes were very good.
 

Mickeza

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I thought it was rather good - good first episode before dipping a bit in the middle but it ended strong. And yeah - it’s clearly number 3 isn’t it!? Which makes the Tim Robbins character really interesting.
 

Bert_

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Enjoyed that. Glad it's been renewed for a second season.

As a side note, Apple TV is looking like the best place for any new sci-fi series. They seem committed to letting them get established which is the biggest hurdle for most of sci-fi stuff that requires any kind of decent budget. This sort of show is dropped everywhere else unless it instantly catches on. Apple seem to have far more patience and are willing to play the long game. Suppose they have cash to burn so easier for them to take bigger risks. It will pay off in the long term though.
 

simonhch

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I’m a sucker for good sci fi but this was as dull as ditch water. They killed off probably the best actor on the show, right at the beginning. We got stuck with the most boring murder investigation I’ve ever witnessed, about one character no one gave a shit about and another that was hard to root for. Worst of all we had to watch a solid eight to nine episodes of watching Common absolutely butcher the acting profession as a whole. A performance so wooden you could ram it through a vampires’ heart.

Aside from that, it was predictable as feck. Whole plot could’ve been circumvented by the installation of a couple of windows. “We don’t know what day it will be safe to go outside, we only know it isn’t this day….”, yeah? How? Has anyone checked? Soil sample maybe? Any kind of sensor? Nobody is like “hey have we checked the weather lately?”?

And what’s up with the daft bint who’s agoraphobic, despite the whole place being indoors and claustrophobic as feck? Incidentally, they should use some of her magic tape to cover over her mouth for season 2, because I don’t know if audiences can be expected to sit through another ten episodes of the most schlocky attempt at an American accent in living memory. To be honest I don’t know why they chocked the Silo full of British actors only to have them all with hokum Yankee drolls. Rebecca Ferguson couldn’t decide where she was from, Sweden? London? Arkansas?

The best part was the first couple of episodes, the mysterious cavern and hidden door, only for it to be eclipsed in the plot stakes by an pez dispenser. And what about the tape? The fecking tape. Brilliant plot device? A failure to translate the intricacies of the book to screen? Or the result of a drunken writer taking last minute suggestions from a twelve year old? At least I now know what I need in the event of nuclear fallout. Good tape.

But yeah… I’m still offended by how massively shit at acting Common is. I can’t believe they spent all this money and then hired a guy who presumably had to read all his lines off a cue card. Was he screen tested at all? Who owed who that favour? Because unless they covered up your murder of a stripper, no producer or casting agent would knowing torpedo their credibility to that extent. He’s quite literally the worst “actor” working today. That’s not hyperbole. He’s awful, like comically bad. And he had a pretty big role. This could’ve been so much better with a villain that wasn’t a cardboard cutout with a pulse.

That brings me to Andy Dufresne. He needed way more demonstration of his power and influence over people than was shown. Every one is shit scared of him because of what? He’s a bit nifty with computers? Quite simply could’ve thwarted his entire plot by a quick punch to the chops. What was there to be scared of?

This was a show that started with promise, proceeded to kill off the best characters right at the start and then replace them with bland substitutes and community theatre rejects. A meandering plot that went nowhere. A murder investigation into a pointless character which went nowhere, and basically you had to sit through nine more episodes waiting for someone to do the only meaningful thing of the show and go outside again.

Apple TV have put out some great stuff, and they are leaning heavily into sci-fi, which I love, but this was really, really crap.
 
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Hoof the ball

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But yeah… I’m still offended by how massively shit at acting Common is. I can’t believe they spent all this money and then hired a guy who presumably had to read all his lines off a cue card. Was he screen tested at all? Who owed who that favour? Because unless they covered up your murder of a stripper, no producer or casting agent would knowing torpedo their credibility to that extent. He’s quite literally the worst “actor” working today. That’s not hyperbole. He’s awful, like comically bad. And he had a pretty big role. This could’ve been so much better with a villain that wasn’t a cardboard cutout with a pulse.
What's this? Common? When?
 

Massive Spanner

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The finale was ok, decent ending, but the show still felt like a big let down to me after how good the first few episodes were.

Common can’t act for shit.
 

Spoony

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The finale was ok, decent ending, but the show still felt like a big let down to me after how good the first few episodes were.

Common can’t act for shit.
It looked as it were going to be a Severence type mystery but then it morphed into something different, I gave up after the 4th or 5th episode before watching it again. I think I put it on accidentally and just got into it, there was a definite improvement. I don't think the mystery is a head feck, it's quite straight forward. It's a post apocalyptic drama, will be interesting the see if other silos are run in the same way or perhaps interlinked and if there's much going on in the rest of the world. It's a decent watch, though. It's top tier compared with From.
 
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Stack

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I loved the books, hoped for a decent show after Apple had done a decent job of Foundation.
For me its been ok but not great, not sure what the problem is, maybe some of the casting has bothered me. Its been a while since I like Tim Robbins in anything so I found him irritating. I did like the finale so that sets things up for another season, hope it gets better.
I was bouncing channels immediately after and found a D grade show called Backyard Oil which had me hooked right away, which is probably a good indicator of how much of a letdown Silo was.
 

Spoony

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I loved the books, hoped for a decent show after Apple had done a decent job of Foundation.
For me its been ok but not great, not sure what the problem is, maybe some of the casting has bothered me. Its been a while since I like Tim Robbins in anything so I found him irritating. I did like the finale so that sets things up for another season, hope it gets better.
I was bouncing channels immediately after and found a D grade show called Backyard Oil which had me hooked right away, which is probably a good indicator of how much of a letdown Silo was.

What's Foundation like? Does it do justice to the book?
 

Stack

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What's Foundation like? Does it do justice to the book?
Hard one to answer with respect to doing the book justice. Such a hard thing to recreate with respect to timelines etc so some liberties taken but the cast is excellent and some of the acting really good. Enjoyed the adaptation. Dont go expecting the book and you wont be disappointed but it tries to stay true.
I really enjoyed it and the next season is out soon.
 

Bert_

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I’m a sucker for good sci fi but this was as dull as ditch water. They killed off probably the best actor on the show, right at the beginning. We got stuck with the most boring murder investigation I’ve ever witnessed, about one character no one gave a shit about and another that was hard to root for. Worst of all we had to watch a solid eight to nine episodes of watching Common absolutely butcher the acting profession as a whole. A performance so wooden you could ram it through a vampires’ heart.

Aside from that, it was predictable as feck. Whole plot could’ve been circumvented by the installation of a couple of windows. “We don’t know what day it will be safe to go outside, we only know it isn’t this day….”, yeah? How? Has anyone checked? Soil sample maybe? Any kind of sensor? Nobody is like “hey have we checked the weather lately?”?

And what’s up with the daft bint who’s agoraphobic, despite the whole place being indoors and claustrophobic as feck? Incidentally, they should use some of her magic tape to cover over her mouth for season 2, because I don’t know if audiences can be expected to sit through another ten episodes of the most schlocky attempt at an American accent in living memory. To be honest I don’t know why they chocked the Silo full of British actors only to have them all with hokum Yankee drolls. Rebecca Ferguson couldn’t decide where she was from, Sweden? London? Arkansas?

The best part was the first couple of episodes, the mysterious cavern and hidden door, only for it to be eclipsed in the plot stakes by an pez dispenser. And what about the tape? The fecking tape. Brilliant plot device? A failure to translate the intricacies of the book to screen? Or the result of a drunken writer taking last minute suggestions from a twelve year old? At least I now know what I need in the event of nuclear fallout. Good tape.

But yeah… I’m still offended by how massively shit at acting Common is. I can’t believe they spent all this money and then hired a guy who presumably had to read all his lines off a cue card. Was he screen tested at all? Who owed who that favour? Because unless they covered up your murder of a stripper, no producer or casting agent would knowing torpedo their credibility to that extent. He’s quite literally the worst “actor” working today. That’s not hyperbole. He’s awful, like comically bad. And he had a pretty big role. This could’ve been so much better with a villain that wasn’t a cardboard cutout with a pulse.

That brings me to Andy Dufresne. He needed way more demonstration of his power and influence over people than was shown. Every one is shit scared of him because of what? He’s a bit nifty with computers? Quite simply could’ve thwarted his entire plot by a quick punch to the chops. What was there to be scared of?

This was a show that started with promise, proceeded to kill off the best characters right at the start and then replace them with bland substitutes and community theatre rejects. A meandering plot that went nowhere. A murder investigation into a pointless character which went nowhere, and basically you had to sit through nine more episodes waiting for someone to do the only meaningful thing of the show and go outside again.

Apple TV have put out some great stuff, and they are leaning heavily into sci-fi, which I love, but this was really, really crap.
One hell of a rant! I appreciate your dedication to the hate watch :)
 

Spoony

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Hard one to answer with respect to doing the book justice. Such a hard thing to recreate with respect to timelines etc so some liberties taken but the cast is excellent and some of the acting really good. Enjoyed the adaptation. Dont go expecting the book and you wont be disappointed but it tries to stay true.
I really enjoyed it and the next season is out soon.
I'll give it a try. Ta.
 

UnrelatedPsuedo

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It was bloated shite. So much filler in every episode.

Had they halved the episode number and upped the pace it wouldn’t have felt rushed.

Had bags of potential but poorly produced in the end.
 

UnrelatedPsuedo

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Worst of all we had to watch a solid eight to nine episodes of watching Common absolutely butcher the acting profession as a whole. A performance so wooden you could ram it through a vampires’ heart.
It’s weird. He’s a solid supporting actor generally. As a broody mean-mugging dark character he has a lane. But that much screen time as a lead really rang hollow.

He’s one note and it was a poor casting choice.
 

simonhch

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It’s weird. He’s a solid supporting actor generally. As a broody mean-mugging dark character he has a lane. But that much screen time as a lead really rang hollow.

He’s one note and it was a poor casting choice.
He looks like an extra from the Matrix. Where does he even get the extra shiny leather coat from? His beard is so perfectly groomed and looks like it’s got shoe polish on it. Everyone else in the show looks fairly ragged and basic, but then along comes budget Morpheus with his one note delivery. I swear he plays the exact same character, with the exact same wardrobe in everything he’s in. Probably just wears his own clothes.
 

The Firestarter

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Btw, there's going to be a second season, seemingly for the displeasure of some here. My main issue is the pacing, the story itself I liked. The acting wasn't nearly as bad overall, as for example, From.
 

UnrelatedPsuedo

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He looks like an extra from the Matrix. Where does he even get the extra shiny leather coat from? His beard is so perfectly groomed and looks like it’s got shoe polish on it. Everyone else in the show looks fairly ragged and basic, but then along comes budget Morpheus with his one note delivery. I swear he plays the exact same character, with the exact same wardrobe in everything he’s in. Probably just wears his own clothes.

To be fair… I Fcuking love Common the Hip Hop head.

This is great as an example-
I met him about a decade ago and he was the most gracious and lovely human. Sat and drank for a couple of hours at an event. He didn’t act famous or make a big deal of anything. Asked questions and listen to my stories. Laughed freely.

So I’ll give him a lot of rope… but he’s hung himself with it in this show. Might just be director and wardrobe choices, but it’s an awful character and realisation of that character.
 

Igor Drefljak

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Okay so after the finale what do we think:
1. All a simulation matrix style - unlikely , because these "bad rendering" effects were shown only outside.
OR
2. The outside is actually a big projection room that can be redecorated on demand . There are no dead bodies there. Its filled with some poisonous gas which the better heat tape actually insulates against. So in fact its still within the silo.
OR
3. The real outside is actually the bleak post apocalyptic that was shown , there are indeed other silos nearby etc. The air is toxic. The good green picture is somehow projected from the suit , so the person the goes out to clean feels happy in his last moments. There are actually dead bodies which were not shown after the scene switched.
My partner made a good point regarding #3.
The reason they make it look so nice out is so that most people will take off their helmets, killing them. This makes it look realistic that the air is deadly. If it's so bad out, they may leave theirs on to be safe.
The tape is a fail safe that kills them anyway.
 

simonhch

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To be fair… I Fcuking love Common the Hip Hop head.

This is great as an example-
I met him about a decade ago and he was the most gracious and lovely human. Sat and drank for a couple of hours at an event. He didn’t act famous or make a big deal of anything. Asked questions and listen to my stories. Laughed freely.

So I’ll give him a lot of rope… but he’s hung himself with it in this show. Might just be director and wardrobe choices, but it’s an awful character and realisation of that character.
Well you’re making me feel bad now for ripping on him so hard. There are few celebrities who are actually decent folk in real life, and I have plenty of first hand experience to back that up. But yeah, good god, it was a terrible character and even worse portrayal (by a lovely bloke).
 

UnrelatedPsuedo

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Well you’re making me feel bad now for ripping on him so hard. There are few celebrities who are actually decent folk in real life, and I have plenty of first hand experience to back that up. But yeah, good god, it was a terrible character and even worse portrayal (by a lovely bloke).
Nah. I also think he was garbage in it. He’s been the exact same character in several things. Sometimes that’s surely because he’s so distinctive. He always looks like Common. Bald head and a world class beard. That voice. Menacing look. Unsure if it was shot and edited that way as he can’t act. Or if they just cast him to do exactly that. A few scenes that really rammed home why he believed his role was a necessary evil would have gone a long way. The hints to it fell flat.
 

The Firestarter

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My partner made a good point regarding #3.
The reason they make it look so nice out is so that most people will take off their helmets, killing them. This makes it look realistic that the air is deadly. If it's so bad out, they may leave theirs on to be safe.
The tape is a fail safe that kills them anyway.
And they want them to actually clean too. Also, it's a good test for the conditions outside.
 
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RedSky

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It's number 3, @The Firestarter. I've really enjoyed Silo, despite a couple of ropey episodes at the beginning.
Yeah, I enjoyed it too. I know some people don't enjoy slow burn tv shows, but I personally prefer it to shows that speed through the plot.

It's also clearly 3. Which is why that was on the hard drive, Jules thought initially that it was footage from outside. But actually it was a projection played through the suit to encourage people to take off the helmet. This is why she took the badge and placed it on the 'rock', it was a test to see if the rock was real or not and instead she placed it on the body of the OG Sherriff.

As for Commons, I do agree his acting is a little ropey. But ironically it works for the character because he himself is acting as we found out in the previous episode. His one note, I'm always angry, mean act is just that, an act.
 

PepG

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The show was excellent, dont know what the other spoiled brats in here are complaining. I havent read the books so the intrigue and mystery is very much alive for me and i was totally invested with the story and the characters.
Ps..someone is mentioning Foundation..oh well i dont want even to start about that..now this is a real butchering of a source material..
 

UnrelatedPsuedo

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The show was excellent, dont know what the other spoiled brats in here are complaining. I havent read the books so the intrigue and mystery is very much alive for me and i was totally invested with the story and the characters.
Ps..someone is mentioning Foundation..oh well i dont want even to start about that..now this is a real butchering of a source material..
I don’t think that not enjoying something makes you a spoiled brat.
 

Mr Anderson

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I liked it. First 2 episodes and the final 2 were the ones that did grip you in, the middle just teed up the story and “choices” for the characters. Still one of the better things I’ve watched in awhile!
 

Spoony

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Hard one to answer with respect to doing the book justice. Such a hard thing to recreate with respect to timelines etc so some liberties taken but the cast is excellent and some of the acting really good. Enjoyed the adaptation. Dont go expecting the book and you wont be disappointed but it tries to stay true.
I really enjoyed it and the next season is out soon.
I'm two episodes in, it's turning into a tedious love story.
 

Annihilate Now!

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Episode one was great... Two was good, then it went a bit bleh ... Then the last 3 episodes were back to being very good television.

Definitely leaves you wanting more with the finale
 

Salt Bailly

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Enjoyable enough that I'll be back for season 2, but nowhere near top tier.

Foundation S2 next week :drool:
 

AaronRedDevil

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Just finished this earlier. Really enjoyed it. Love shows like this where humanity is forced to live a certain way. I'm looking forward to S2.

So what was killing them? I assume they were putting something in the suit.
 

RedSky

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Just finished this earlier. Really enjoyed it. Love shows like this where humanity is forced to live a certain way. I'm looking forward to S2.

So what was killing them? I assume they were putting something in the suit.
The suits were intentionally poorly made to ensure they died. She used her own tape to secure the joins.

The moral of the story, always use your own duct tape.