News What to Watch What to Watch and Read This Weekend: Against My Better Judgment, Silo Plus: Come for the Hugo finalists, stay for the divisive reviews By Molly Templeton | Published on July 10, 2026 Photo: Apple TV Comment 0 Share New Share Photo: Apple TV I am constitutionally incapable of thinking about the month of July without getting The Decemberists’ “July, July!” stuck in my head. I am not even that huge of a Decemberists fan! It’s just stuck there! Perhaps this explains something about my mental state as we sit, here, halfway through the year already. I just can’t seem to accept that we’re that much closer to having to read the word Dunesday over and over again as the Dune Part 3/Avengers: Doomsday shared release date draws nearer. But there are so many things to read and watch before then. If you have not yet hung out in Widow’s Bay, now—now that the first season has not only wrapped up, but also earned a pile of Emmy nominations—is the time. Please: You need to meet Patricia. Patricia is the greatest character to turn up on TV in a hot minute, and what’s more, she’s only one of several incredible women on that show. Justice and fame for Dale Dickey, I say. Whether you are a go-out-and-greet-the-sun person or a stay-in-and-watch-TV person, I hope you have a lovely weekend. Hug your friends, call your reps, and don’t forget to hydrate, okay? Against My Better Judgment, I Am Watching Silo It’s very funny to me that Silo, a show about people living in an underground silo while the surface of the planet is uninhabitable, returned the day before July 4th. Some people these days seem to think bunkers-while-the-world-burns is a great idea! (I disagree.) It just seems timely in a very weird way. The show itself continues to be weirdly watchable while also nonsense. I quite liked the first season; the second season kept making Juliette go horror-swimming; the third has found a new horror for her: Medically induced amnesia. I hate amnesia plots, wherein we must re-do and re-learn things we have already learnt and done; they feel like the worst hamster wheels. And yet! I will keep enjoying Jessica Henwick in the show’s their-past-our-present-ish timeline! I will keep living for every glimpse of the legendary Harriet Walter! I will keep respecting Alexandria Riley’s Lady Macbeth Sims even though I kind of loathe her! What is it with this show? Silo is on Apple TV. Short Stories and Novelettes for All! Whether you’re a Hugo voter or not, you can, should you choose, read all of the short stories and novelettes that are finalists for this year’s awards in said categories. That’s right: They’re all online. And because I think we should probably all read more short fiction, I rounded up all the links for you. Voilà:  Best Short Story Finalists “10 Visions of the Future; or, Self-Care for the End of Days” by Samantha Mills (Uncanny Magazine, Issue 63) “In My Country” by Thomas Ha (Clarkesworld, Issue 223) “Laser Eyes Ain’t Everything” by Effie Seiberg (Diabolical Plots, May 16, 2025) “Missing Helen” by Tia Tashiro (Clarkesworld, Issue 226) “Six People to Revise You” by J.R. Dawson (Uncanny Magazine, Issue 62) “Wire Mother” by Isabel J. Kim (Clarkesworld, Issue 229) Best Novelette Finalists “Kaiju Agonistes” by Scott Lynch (Uncanny Magazine, Issue 62) “Never Eaten Vegetables” by H.H. Pak (Clarkesworld, Issue 220) “Rapport: Friendship, Solidarity, Communion, Empathy” by Martha Wells (Reactor, July 10, 2025) “The Girl That My Mother Is Leaving Me For” by Cameron Reed (Reactor, April 2, 2025) “The Millay Illusion” by Sarah Pinsker (Uncanny Magazine, Issue 67) “When He Calls Your Name” by Catherynne M. Valente (Uncanny Magazine, Issue 65) If you read this and have strong opinions, well, it’s not too late to register and vote for the Hugo winners! The deadline for voting is August 8, and I have a lot of reading to do. Sometimes Depressing Longreads Are Good Things This is actually what I read over the holiday weekend: A fantastic n+1 piece by Bathsheba Demuth about history, amnesia, the Trump family, and this country’s weird relationship with Greenland. Sorry to cough up a cliche, but these are not things I learned in history class. It’s also, as so many histories on this continent are, about the people already living in the places that colonizers consider theirs for the taking. I am terrible at describing anything to do with history, so I’m going to shut up and just repeat: this is really worth reading. Let People Not Like Things Occasionally, in bookish spaces, a debate crops up about negative reviews: do we need them, what are they for, how should they work, a whole bunch of questions to which my own personal answers remain the same. Yes, people should write negative reviews, though I understand why writers (and outlets) often prefer to focus on the positive. There are so many books; there is so little time. But! Every so often you come across a banger. In the latest Strange Horizons, Hugo-winning writer Abigail Nussbaum tackled Daniel Kraus’ Angel Down, which just won the Pulitzer Prize (a win claimed and enjoyed by both the SFF and horror communities). Nussbaum was not impressed. For several reasons, I have not read this book (see above re: so many books; a general disinclination toward stories involving WWII and/or angels), and so I’m not making any claims here about the “correctness” of Nussbaum’s take (there’s no such thing; all criticism is subjective). I’m just appreciating the art of the review itself.[end-mark] The post What to Watch and Read This Weekend: Against My Better Judgment, <i>Silo</i> appeared first on Reactor.