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Reviews50
drew-15194's rating
Let's say you have an interesting idea for a series, not especially new, just OK. You create some dynamic characters to kick off your story - good. You develop a bunker setting - less good as it will limit your story. You develop a plot. But your plot is worth maybe two episodes and no more, like many similar series today. So you stretch it to get picked up for big bucks. You fill it with sidelines that go nowhere. You add silly melodrama. You do the cliché backstory childhood episode. You create random conflicts in a desperate attempt to add tension. The main story bogs down and gets boring fast. You hope people don't notice how you're flailing.
Silo makes the grave error of investing the audience in two great and sympathetic characters and then they're quickly gone. We're left with all the unsympathetic characters. It's hard to care about any of them, and all the phony drama around them. The flailing begins. The poor choices show.
Silo makes the grave error of investing the audience in two great and sympathetic characters and then they're quickly gone. We're left with all the unsympathetic characters. It's hard to care about any of them, and all the phony drama around them. The flailing begins. The poor choices show.
I approached season 2 with the hope that it had dealt with the major problems from season 1. I admit, I was hoping for a reboot to get this meandering and unentertaining series back on track. Sadly, developers J. D. Payne and Patrick McKay have doubled down on their flawed approach, which is to put all their effort into phonynvisuals while leaving the characters, storyline, and plot - the elements at the core of good entertainment - weak and uninteresting.
Their problem is a failure of authenticity. Everything in this series feels contrived and inauthentic. The characters say LOTR-ish things, but they lack soul and originality. The conflicts are slow burn and too vague, like watching water boil. The vaunted visuals are so fake-looking they keep pulling viewers out of the fantasy action, distancing them from the story. The dark elements are so overdone, they give the entire series a dreary, drab, uninteresting feeling that is also off-putting, not exciting or thrilling at all. Even the rings themselves are so phony it feels like we're watching 'today's special value' on QVC.
In the end, it's a tired old rehash of LOTR 'elements' that fails to rise above the fact that it is too dark, meandering, and boring - and stretched out far too long in order to justify its heafty price tag. It gives 'bloat for the sake of a series' energy, with ample time to consider this. I will be avoiding any future efforts from this team - life is too short.
Their problem is a failure of authenticity. Everything in this series feels contrived and inauthentic. The characters say LOTR-ish things, but they lack soul and originality. The conflicts are slow burn and too vague, like watching water boil. The vaunted visuals are so fake-looking they keep pulling viewers out of the fantasy action, distancing them from the story. The dark elements are so overdone, they give the entire series a dreary, drab, uninteresting feeling that is also off-putting, not exciting or thrilling at all. Even the rings themselves are so phony it feels like we're watching 'today's special value' on QVC.
In the end, it's a tired old rehash of LOTR 'elements' that fails to rise above the fact that it is too dark, meandering, and boring - and stretched out far too long in order to justify its heafty price tag. It gives 'bloat for the sake of a series' energy, with ample time to consider this. I will be avoiding any future efforts from this team - life is too short.
First the good: the actors are all memorable. Each one gets some time to establish their unique character, and their place in a loyal group of friends.
Unfortunately this is also where the problems begin. A series should have enough space to go beyond stereotypes. As the episides progress, however, the writing of these characters focuses less on Rosco, the Nigerian friend, and also less on the Indian. Both are reduced to stereotypes: just there for cheeky laughs or sympathy.
Even more troubling is the focus on blaming the victims of HIV/AIDS. One even calls himself a killer, his own personal Patient Zero, suggesting that his sex life was to blame. We end the series with some mumbo jumbo psychobabble about how shame caused the AIDS pandemic, not the virus. This after early episodes meticulously show that people simply had no clue about the 'cause.' The ending disrespects the many who died for simply living their lives. It turns out the title is not sarcastic, but a moralistic statement in line with Thatcher and Anita Bryant. I expected better from this production, and given its jarring disrespect of the dead, give it only 1 star.
Unfortunately this is also where the problems begin. A series should have enough space to go beyond stereotypes. As the episides progress, however, the writing of these characters focuses less on Rosco, the Nigerian friend, and also less on the Indian. Both are reduced to stereotypes: just there for cheeky laughs or sympathy.
Even more troubling is the focus on blaming the victims of HIV/AIDS. One even calls himself a killer, his own personal Patient Zero, suggesting that his sex life was to blame. We end the series with some mumbo jumbo psychobabble about how shame caused the AIDS pandemic, not the virus. This after early episodes meticulously show that people simply had no clue about the 'cause.' The ending disrespects the many who died for simply living their lives. It turns out the title is not sarcastic, but a moralistic statement in line with Thatcher and Anita Bryant. I expected better from this production, and given its jarring disrespect of the dead, give it only 1 star.