Why I Love Shows Like Silo, Severance, and The Expanse

The other night I found myself trying to understand why certain television shows grab me while others leave me cold. At first, I thought the answer was simple: I like science fiction. But that isn't really true. There are plenty of science-fiction shows I never finish, and others that I watch once and quickly forget.

Yet every so often a show comes along that completely pulls me in. Silo. Severance. The Expanse. Dark. Even older stories like The Hobbit and Harry Potter. On the surface, these stories have very little in common. One takes place in a giant underground silo. Another follows office workers whose memories have been divided. One is set aboard spaceships crossing the solar system. Others involve wizards, hobbits, and goblins.

The more I thought about it, however, the more I realized they all share a common thread. The protagonists are not superheroes. They are not all-knowing geniuses who walk into a room with every answer already figured out. Instead, they are ordinary people who find themselves in situations far larger than they ever imagined.

Juliette in Silo is an engineer trying to understand a world that doesn't make sense. Mark in Severance is a grieving office worker who gradually discovers that reality is much stranger than he thought it was. The crew of the Rocinante in The Expanse spend most of their time reacting to events much larger than themselves. Even Frodo Baggins is simply a hobbit who would rather be home drinking tea and working in his garden than carrying the fate of Middle earth on his shoulders.

What struck me is that I don't identify with the powerful characters. I identify with the vulnerable ones.

I don't see myself as the brilliant detective who knows all the answers, the fearless hero who charges into danger, or the genius who effortlessly solves every problem. I see myself as the person staring at a mystery and wondering what is really going on. I relate to characters who are trying to figure things out while the ground shifts beneath their feet.

Perhaps that's why these stories feel familiar to me. My own life has often followed that pattern.

When I left Mormonism, I certainly didn't have a roadmap. I had to learn what I was doing along the way, discovering new beliefs and coming to grips with the monumental changes I made leaving a cult.

My entire career in IT has been one long exercise in learning things on the fly. I've gone from knowing virtually nothing about networks to answering customer questions about them and eventually moving into the entirely new field of cybersecurity.

When I hitchhiked around the world on sailboats, crossing oceans with crews I barely knew, I wasn't a seasoned adventurer with every answer in hand. I was winging it and learning as I went, hoping I would survive the challenges.

At nearly every major turning point in my life, I was simply trying to understand a world that had suddenly become larger and more complicated than I had expected.

That, I think, is what makes these stories compelling. The hero is not impressive because they are invincible. They are impressive because they keep moving forward even when they don't know what comes next. They continue asking questions when others stop. They continue exploring when it would be easier to remain comfortable.

Maybe that's why I love science fiction. Not because of the spaceships, time travel, or futuristic technology, but because the best science fiction asks the same question that life asks:

What do you do when you discover the world is much bigger and stranger than you thought? And how do you keep going when you're not entirely sure you're up to the task?

Thanks for reading. If you enjoy posts like this-where travel, truth, and story intersect-consider subscribing and following. I write about sailing, cybersecurity, AI, and adventure, with a few detours into the absurd.

Matt Ray Living Large by Living Little

About the Author Matt Ray is a sailor, writer, and cybersecurity tinkerer. He once circled the globe by hitchhiking on sailboats-and is the author of Global HitchHiking: How I Sailed the World Without Owning a Boat.

Global HitchHiking: How I Sailed the World Without Owning a Boat If you've ever thought about sailing the world-or crewing on someone else's boat-this book shows how it actually works in practice.

Buy the PDF direct: Gumroad link Or get it on Amazon: Amazon link

Originally published at https://livinglargebylivinglittle.substack.com.