note: there are some spoilers up to season 2 below
Mystery in media works because it mirrors the mystery that is in the world we inhabit. Our own world is a mysterious one, God designed it that way. There is the mystery of the Christ, the mystery of creation, and more. There is my wisdom to gain, no one is born fully wise. God invites us to search His revelation that we may grow in wisdom. These things are delightful. God’s design is best.
“It is the wisdom of God to hide things and the glory of kings to search things out”
When a TV show has a mysterious element, it touches on the desire we already have, the desire to understand our own world.
Silo plays on this. At the very beginning viewers are brought into a mysterious world. Why are these people underground in an environment called a Silo, and why can they not leave? What is true about the origins of this world? How can they be saved? These questions and more make the show compelling. As a viewer you are left wondering about the world, and you yearn for an answer.
Additionally the show has a messianic figure, Juiliete. She is a messianic ffigure whose story unfolds more as the show progresses. She is of a despised class, yet elevated to the position of mayor. She is despised, yet loved by her “disciples”.
In Silo the outside is death. No one has went outside and come back. So following the pattern of Christ you would expect that the messianic figure would do this. And that is exactly what happens. Juiliette goes outside to clean, and rather than die, she comes back to her Silo. An even greater contingency becomes her followers. She is the special one in the story. Her exit and entrance back into the Silo is her death and resurrection. She enters death then comes back to tell others what it is like, what the outside is like.
Silo plays on these 2 chords, the chord of mystery and the messianic chord. Both combine to make it a compelling story, which is compelling because it mirrors the 1 story—the one we inhabit.
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