| June 29, 2026 
| | |
‘Silo’ returns | | Rebecca Ferguson in the new season of “Silo.” Apple TV |
Dear Watchers,Through its first two seasons, Apple TV’s postapocalyptic saga “Silo” has been part science-fiction drama and part conspiracy thriller. Rebecca Ferguson plays Juliette, a brilliant mechanic who has been trying to learn the truth about the enormous underground colony where she was born and raised. The silo’s powers-that-be have stymied Juliette and her fellow agitators at every turn, fighting to protect the secrets of this mysterious structure, which has apparently kept a small but thriving human civilization alive for hundreds of years on a future Earth where the air outside is toxic. With Season 3 (the first episode of which debuts on Friday), “Silo” starts answering its biggest questions. Season 2 ended with a surprising flashback to what looked to be present-day Washington, introducing a U.S. congressman and talented engineer named Daniel (Ashley Zukerman) who helped design an underground bunker that saved lives during a terrorist attack. He may be responsible for what will become the silo project. In Season 3, the “Silo” showrunner Graham Yost divides the action between Daniel in (maybe) the 21st century and Juliette in (maybe) the 24th. Those maybes matter, because the one constant in “Silo” is that the people in charge are usually lying and have been doing it for so long, they can’t always remember why. The silo’s historical records have either been destroyed or hidden. Rebellious citizens are either killed by law enforcement authorities or given drugs to fog their memories. (Even Juliette is suddenly struggling to remember her own past as Season 3 begins.) A big part of what makes this show exciting is that in any given episode, viewers may find out that everything we thought we knew about this world is wrong. “Silo” adapts a series of interconnected short stories, novellas and novels by Hugh Howey, which break the long narrative into smaller chunks — just like a television series. Yost has mostly followed Howey’s “one-piece-at-a-time” structure until this season, which jumps back and forth between two timelines. The parallel storytelling serves a function. The scenes from the past don’t just explain the silo’s origins; they also draw connections across the eras, showing how secrecy and paranoia sullies even the purest intentions. The real solution to this show’s many beguiling mysteries? Power corrupts. Also this week | | Robin Byrd as seen in “Bang My Box: The Robin Byrd Story.” HBO |
- The documentary “Bang My Box: The Robin Byrd Story” looks back at the heyday of the infamous New York public access TV show hostess, who offered frank talk about sex and personal freedom. It debuts on Tuesday, on HBO Max.
- “Elle” is a prequel to the movie “Legally Blonde,” following the eternally peppy, pink-clad Elle Woods as she spends her 1990s high school years in grunge-y, decidedly un-sunny Seattle. All eight episodes of Season 1 arrive on Wednesday, on Amazon Prime Video.
- From the producers of the popular docuseries “Worst Roommate Ever” and “Worst Ex Ever” comes “Worst Neighbor Ever,” in which people tell stories about upsetting encounters in their neighborhoods, illustrated with surveillance footage and animated re-enactments. All four episodes of Season 1 will be available on Wednesday, on Netflix.
- The animated series “X-Men ’97” returns for a second season of throwback superhero thrills, evoking the visual style and the complex storytelling of the 1990s X-Men comics and cartoons. The first three episodes arrive on Wednesday, on Disney+.
- Based on a 1960 Japanese science-fiction film, “Human Vapor” follows a policeman and a TV reporter as they hunt down a serial killer who can transform into a sentient gas. All eight episodes will be available on Thursday, on Netflix.
|
|
