Review: Silo, “A Dark Web” | Season 3, Episode 3

During the scripting of any season of television, the writers’ room makes decisions about how fast to move the plot forward. That goes without saying. The longer I watch and review and think deeply about Silo, though, the more it sets in for me how distinct it is in terms of storytelling and structure—and I mean that in a slightly derogatory sense. At its worst, the show has a frustrating habit of perpetually stringing out mysteries and storylines into arbitrarily long MacGuffin hunts, offering just a trickle of answers and the occasional emotionally effective character story to keep the viewer satisfied. Rather than doling out small, consistent payoffs in every installment, Silo typically likes to edge its audience.

Season three has largely avoided that feeling so far, especially when last week’s flashbacks dived into the origin story for the memory erasure medication that helps control the Silo populations. But “A Dark Web” is the first episode to bring back those frustrations of past seasons, inching each thread forward without offering any new revelations or significant progress. It’s entertaining enough, but when it’s all over, it feels a little empty.

This is especially true for the flashback storyline, which has been the highlight of the season up until now—to the point that I’d almost rather stick with it and alternate full flashback episodes with present-day episodes. This week’s dip into the past does some more transitional work to get Daniel and Helen closer to the Iran mission conspiracy, introducing a man named Steve with access to audio of the attack that took down Charlotte’s squadron. Daniel is understandably disturbed by it, which allows for some nice moments of empathy from Helen. But there’s not much more to the story: They can’t actually recover proof, because Steve’s place has been ransacked, leaving them at a dead end going into next week.

This episode covers much less narrative ground than the first two, especially with Charlotte, Victor, Thurman, and Anna all missing. But it seems likely the plot will start to accelerate in the coming weeks, as it always does around the midpoint of a Silo season. For now, the show is also slowly but surely doing the early work to set up Daniel and Helen as a romantic item: there’s a touch of flirty antagonism in the way they chat on their trip to visit Steve, especially when Daniel suggests Helen’s firing was the result of her own disinterest in working for a company like Zoz, not any conspiracy. I’m not actively invested yet—I’m waiting to see a bit more actual chemistry—but I’m open to it.