'Silo' review: Well-crafted, intriguing sci-fi series

WHAT IT'S ABOUT "Silo," a 10-part Apple TV+ adaptation of the sci-fi novel series by Hugh Howey, could be easily written off as "the show about people living in a giant silo," which doesn't exactly scream thrilling entertainment.

But sometimes high-concept storytelling just plain works.

It's your classic dystopian future: Humanity has been withered down to its last 10,000 survivors. They have migrated entirely underground, living in a gigantic silo that burrows hundreds of stories deep into the earth.

All history before a rebellion more than a century prior has been erased. Anything remaining from the beforetime is considered a banned relic. So, no one knows why the silo has been built or why the whole of civilization has moved underground.

Also: No one goes outside, due to the widespread belief that the air has been poisoned. Anyone who finds themselves overtaken by curiosity can leave the silo, ostensibly in order to clean the windows so those inside can have a better view of the outdoor wasteland. But they can also never come back inside and seem to immediately drop dead.

Stars include Rebecca Ferguson, David Oyelowo, Rashida Jones, Common and Tim Robbins. The creator is the veteran Graham Yost ("Justified").

MY SAY The greatest traditions of science fiction utilize outsized fictional premises to offer compelling human insights.

A viewing of the first two episodes of "Silo" shows that it exemplifies the best of what the genre can be, illuminating truths that resonate today as much as they might in a fictional underground future.

Inside the silo, characters live seemingly happy lives: They fall in love, make families together, celebrate festivals, go to work, play games, share meals.

But fear looms over it all, keeping the population docile and complacent. Those in power who might be able to illuminate things have no vested interest in doing so. A pact binds this society together, but it clearly benefits some far more than others.

Education is an enemy. Curiosity about the world beyond the silo is criminalized; the prohibition against investigating the forgotten past gets sustained by a law-enforcement apparatus.

This heavy burden shapes every scene and feels palpable in every frame.

So it comes to define the series. Characters respond in different ways, but the main ones are linked by the increasing realization that the truth might be worth the ultimate sacrifice.

The protagonists include Oyelowo's Holston, the sheriff tasked with maintaining the social order; his wife Allison (Jones) who finds her eyes opened by certain discoveries; and Juliette (Ferguson), a blue-collar worker who experiences a personal tragedy that spurs her need to upset the social order.

There's nothing scarier than the unknown and the unknowable.

The idiom holds that knowledge is power. But, as "Silo" shows in this precisely crafted and thoughtful warning about the dangers of losing touch with historical truths, it's also freedom.

BOTTOM LINE Well-crafted and intriguing sci-fi, perfect for fans and casual viewers.