REVIEW: SILO Season 2 Episode 1 — “The Engineer”

Silo Season 2 captures the weight of the first season’s ending, and it all begins by taking a closer look at Juliette. When Silo aired last year, it floored me. The best science fiction series on television, the AppleTV+ Original is an adaptation of Hugh Howey’s Silo trilogy of science fiction novels of the same name.

Created by Graham Yost, the first season of the series introduced audiences to the Silo, a deep underground fortress that has sheltered its people from a toxic wasteland of the future. Then, the Sheriff (David Oyelowo) broke a cardinal rule and others begin to die, Juliette (Rebecca Ferguson) unraveled the conspiracy around her.

Silo Season 2 Episode 1, “The Engineer,” zooms in on Juliette’s life, past, and what happened after she walked over the hill. The opening episode of the season shows the events of another silo, and this time it’s war. With forces fighting, killing, and ultimately pushing their way to the surface, the longing for the outside seems universal. But as the camera pans down to a bone-littered land, Juliette’s survival isn’t the experience anyone receives.

The rest of the episode matches the ominous tone of the season finale, but we don’t see anyone else. Outside of the opening, Silo Season 2 Episode 1 is entirely focused on Juliette. While her past is hinted at throughout the first season, it’s here where the curtain is lifted, and we see the foundational elements of her resiliency.

While there have been a lot of moments throughout the series so far that move slowly, it never loses its characters. That’s also what best describes Silo Season 2 Episode 1. Juliette enters a wartorn and vacant silo. Her sanctuary isn’t easily won. Instead, she has to utilize her engineering background, think quickly, and find a way to survive. But as Shirley (Ida Brooke/Remmie Milner) told her in the past, the only other option is death, and that’s not who Juliette is.

Rebecca Furgeson’s run as Juliette has been the best-written female character in science fiction television. Her grit is formed by vulnerability, and her complexity is etched into her choices through a past we’re just now learning. The layers of Juliette and her thoughts are defined by the people she loves. As Juliette explores the decrepit silo, she’s left to live in her grief, and it brings the audience into who she is.

The panic that Furgeson brings to Silo Season 2 Episode resonates. When we see her child-self () next to her present self,  the steely resolve is present between the two, but so is the melancholy. Furgeson’s ability to act alone and in near silence. The silence of her solitude makes the discovery that she isn’t alone all the more shocking.

While the set design remains impecible, with a single wall telling a long story alone, the cinematography is less than stellar. Utilizing a lot of natural light to highlight the depths of the now defunct silo, it’s often too hard to see. The aesthetic choice works in some sequences, but too often, it’s difficult to decipher what’s happening on screen. The Deep Down is too dark, the new silo is too dark, and that only leaves the upper levels’ detail and construction fully visible.

As a premiere episode, Silo Season 2 Episode 1 starts loud with war and ends louder with a different revelation that sets the tone for the season moving forward. Juliette is not alone, but the man in the vault is anything but welcoming.

Even with the intrigue and violence of last season, the conflict on the horizon that the beginning of the episode foreshadows seems even worse. Slow and steady, “The Engineer” builds anticipation with the flashbacks adding considerable world and character development. It’s early days, but Silo’s brilliance seems to be back in full force.

Silo is streaming exclusively on AppleTV+ with new episodes every Friday.