Warning! Contains major potential spoilers for Silo season 2 and Hugh Howey’s Shift.
Summary
After watchingAmazon’s best sci-fi show, I could not help but grow increasingly concerned about anApple TV+series' future. Many incrediblesci-fi shows, like1899,The Last of Us, andSweet Tooth, have come out in the last couple of years, but only a few have had a lasting impact on me. The reason being that, as much as I like shows with ambitious explorations of human perception, alternate realities, pandemics, and other epic-scaled fantasies, I’m always more drawn to series with traces of realism and some semblance of truth.
Retrofuturism is another sci-fi theme that has always fascinated me because it creates the perfect paradox between the comfort of the past and the uncertainty surrounding the future. Since Amazon’sFalloutandApple TV+‘sSilotick all the right boxes for me with their retrofuturistic aesthetic and grounded explorations of dystopia, control, and freedom, I was equally excited to watch both live-action adaptations. Little did I know that watchingFalloutwould reveal a dark truth about Apple TV+‘sSilo’s future and make me worry about the show’s ability to sustain the same level of novelty in season 2 as it had in season 1.
Silo Season 1 Ending Explained
Apple TV+’s Silo season 1 introduces many mysteries and nagging questions in its dystopian drama and waits till its ending moments to resolve them.
Fallout Has Already Spoiled One Of Silo Season 2’s Biggest Potential Twists
Fallout & Silo’s Bunkers Have Similar Origin Stories
As far as character beats and plot progressions are considered,FalloutandSiloare significantly different. Even from a visual standpoint,Silois bleak with its rusty orange and blue color scheme, whileFalloutis much brighter with a vibrant mix of diverse and rich pastels. However, when it comes to the two shows’ big twists, they share more uncanny parallels than one.
Siloseason 1’s finale revealsthat Silo 18 is only one of the many underground bunkers in the world, but the credits start rolling before the show delves into the history and purpose of the central silos. Since my curiosity after watching season 1 got the best of me and I could not wait to find out more about the silos’s origins, I flicked through the second book inHugh Howey’sSiloseries,Shift, discovering all the plot points the show’s second season will likely cover. The book reveals thatonly a few selected humans were moved to the silos after a nuclear attack made the world uninhabitable.
While I was initially intrigued byFalloutseason 1’s ending twists and revelations, the more I learned the truth about its central vaults and Vault-Tec’s plans, the more a sense of déjà vu dawned upon me.
Of the 50 silos that exist, 49 accommodate generational populations, and only the citizens of one will ultimately be chosen to repopulate Earth’s surface 500 years after the nuclear attack. One of the silos, Silo 1, also accommodates managers/leaders who use cryogenic technology in shifts to control and manage all the other silos. Although there are a few more nuances to the story, Hugh Howey’sShiftalso discloses that the nuclear attack was orchestrated by the same people who built the central silos.
While I was initially intrigued byFalloutseason 1’s endingtwists and revelations, the more I learned the truth about its central vaults and Vault-Tec’s plans, the more a sense of déjà vu dawned upon me. I had seen/read all these story developments somewhere else…in Hugh Howey’sShift. Since Silo season 2 will likely adapt at least the first half of Hugh Howey’sShift,its similarities with Fallout season 1’s final arc could seem a little too familiar and unoriginalto those who, like me, have watched the Amazon show.
Silo’s World Order Operation Fifty & Fallout’s Vault-Tec’s Plans Seem Eerily Similar
The Antagonists In Both Shows Wanted Control
In Hugh Howey’sShift, the silos’ construction falls under a government-planned initiative called World Order Operation Fifty (W.O.O.L.). W.O.O.L.’s primary goal is to prioritize humanity’s preservation. Therefore, when enemy nations weaponize the United States' commonly used self-replicating nanobots and threaten the nation’s future,the leading forces of W.O.O.L. step in and orchestrate a nuclear attack. This attack forces selected humans to accommodate the silos, and with each passing generation, the silo citizens forget more and more of the truth.
While W.O.O.L. is driven more by a skewed sense of nationalism and Vault-Tec by corporate greed, both highlight the lengths authorities would go to maintain control over the masses.
Although there are no destructive nanobots on the planet’s surface inFallout,Vault-Tec, like the government organization inSilo, also dropped a nuclear bomb to make people accommodate the bunkers. The leading evil forces in both franchises are power-hungry, determined to blind the populace to their true motives by shrouding facts and limiting everyone’s access to information. While W.O.O.L. is driven more by a skewed sense of nationalism and Vault-Tec by corporate greed, both highlight the lengths authorities would go to maintain control over the masses.
10 Most Exciting Things To Expect From Silo Season 2
The finale of Silo season 1 left audiences with many plotlines to look forward to, and season 2 is sure to develop exciting new stories for viewers.
What Has Silo’s Author Hugh Howey Said About The Book Series' Fallout Parallels
The Parallels Were Unintentional
Unsurprisingly, on many occasions, Hugh Howey has been asked about his take on the similarities betweenSiloandFallout. In a Reddit thread (viaReddit), the author once explained that he andFallout’s game designer, Chris Avellone, grew up in “the same Cold War era.” This was one of the primary reasons they had similar influences and created similar post-apocalyptic stories. Howey also added that heloved the first two Fallout games but did not think about them while writing his books.
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In another interview (viaTumblr), Howey stated how, as much as he loves theFalloutgames, his motive was not to draw any inspiration from them when he wroteSilo. However, he also agreed thatsome similarities were likely “subconscious and coincidental.“Hugh Howey’s explanation makes sense sinceSiloandFalloutare not the only shows and games that dabble with similar ideas. Unfortunately, the author’s insights do not diminish my concerns aboutSiloseason 2. What does make me feel optimistic aboutSilo’s future, though, is the show’s distinct tone and voice.
The second seasons of bothSiloandFallouthave been confirmed. WhileSiloseason 2 is scheduled to be released on Apple TV+ in 2025,Falloutseason 2’s release window remains unknown.
Silo’s Serious Tone Thankfully Gives It Its Own Unique Identity
Silo Season 2 Can Still Be Great
I started watchingSiloandFalloutbecause of their similar retrofuturistic visuals, dystopian themes, and explorations of the human condition in the face of extreme peril. However, I continued watching the two series for entirely different reasons.Falloutdrew me in with its hilarious antics and depictions of all the bizarre vaults and creatures in its world. The show’s comical gore and dark comedy also kept me entertained, andpart of its appeal also came from its ability to not shy away from unfolding multiple stories, across several timelines, simultaneously.
UnlikeFallout,Silo’s serious tone made me contemplate the moral implications of the antagonists' actions and ponder over the show’s intriguing parallels with Plato’s Allegory of the Cave.
I was hooked onSilofrom episode 1 because it effectively played with my sense of perception. Like its characters, I was clueless about the world outside the central silo but desperately putting together every piece of the overarching puzzle to learn more. UnlikeFallout,Silo’s serious tone made me contemplate the moral implications of the antagonists' actions and ponder over the show’s intriguing parallels with Plato’s Allegory of the Cave. IfApple TV+‘sSilomaintains a similar introspective approach toward its ideas in season 2, I’m sure I will be able to overlook its similarities withAmazon’sFallout.
Silo
In a dystopian future, men and women reside in a vast underground silo governed by strict regulations, believed to shield them from the hazardous world above. The series delves into the complex social order within the silo and the mysteries surrounding their subterranean existence.
