The finale of the third season of Silo has finally confirmed one of the greatest theories, even suggested by Bernard Holland. Juliette Nichols, portrayed by Rebecca Ferguson, was elected mayor at the start of the season, but her trajectory has been decidedly turbulent, pushing Silo 18 to confront all those forbidden questions whose answers have been partly introduced, in some cases only hinted at, in order to then satisfy curiosity, it is hoped, over the course of the fourth and final season. But what are the most important questions we are waiting to have answered? Warning: we will refer to what happened in the last episode of the third season, so please continue only after you have finished watching.
Silo 3 and all the question marks: what happened in the season finale?
The final episode of season three answered a question that had surfaced during season two: what role Daniel plays in the present, considering what happened in the past? Deputy Daniel Keene had initially been involved in a top-secret project to prevent the Apocalypse but, together with Helen, had decided not to take part. However Daniel stepped away after giving a candid piece of advice to the billionaire Per Stensen, who used—as suggested—a digger for every Silo built. Years later, Helen and Daniel were invited to the inauguration of the project, unaware of what would unfold.
The season finale, however, does not show what happened after the launch of the Atomic Bomb, but instead directly reveals the transformation of Daniel, who becomes Troy. Probably a victim of brainwashing following the pattern of Dr. Victor Crnkovich, Troy has become a “specialist” of Silo 1, a strategist recalled on occasion to resolve major issues affecting other Silos. Troy proves ruthless and brutal: it is revealed that, following one of his orders, the inhabitants of Silo 17 who had emerged onto the surface were all slaughtered. Thus, it was not the unbreathable air that killed them, but other humans confined in a main ultra-technological Silo that, besides providing every comfort including elevators, would possess the power to kill all the other Silos and not only through poisonous gas.
Thanks to Juliette and her team’s intervention, Silo 18 manages to close the conduit, preventing the spread of the poisonous gas that would have wiped everyone out. After what happened, Troy was awakened from cryogenic sleep to make a decision. However, after the brief conversation with Juliette, something within him seems to awaken.
What happened to Daniel?
One of the most important open questions in Silo is precisely Daniel. What happened to him after the explosion of the atomic bomb? Apparently a champion of justice, guided by right and solid values, Daniel becomes another person, a ruthless calculator akin to a war machine who does not recoil at the idea of wiping out thousands of innocent people, unlike his sister (Charlotte who became Susan) who likewise received the same memory treatment but seems to have some limits of conscience. It is Susan who refuses to proceed with the extermination of Silo 17. Troy takes charge and issues severe orders, which Daniel would never have even imagined.
But how he arrived at this point is not clear at the moment. We do not know whether it was a voluntary choice or not. Everything could depend on Helen and what happened in Silo 18. Perhaps, following Victor’s example, he may have decided to forget that pain and pursue a new purpose, ensuring the construction of a new world. Another plausible hypothesis is that, once inside Silo 1, Daniel decided not to cooperate, becoming a threat that was not only neutralized but transformed into a resource. His reaction to Juliette, in any case, would push toward another question.
Questions without an answer: the link between Daniel and Juliette and the Earth mystery
And if Juliette Nichols were a descendant of Daniel? It isn’t a hypothesis to be dismissed, considering that Helen was isolated in Silo 18, the same place where Juliette was born and raised. And, at the moment of the explosion, Helen was visibly pregnant; regardless of what happened afterward, if she had survived and been safely dragged into Silo 18, she would have certainly given birth to her child, and from there a lineage link between Juliette and Daniel would emerge. After the brief exchange between Juliette and Daniel, the latter lingers a moment too long on the woman’s face, hinting at a possible connection between the two. And if she truly is his descendant, Daniel could then change tactics and redeem himself.
Another great mystery concerns the Earth. The inhabitants of the Silo have always believed the planet to be uninhabitable, poisoned. Anyone sent outside to clean up would die within moments due to the toxic air. Now, instead, we discover that Earth could actually be perfectly healthy and that it is Silo 1 itself preventing the survival of the citizens, the same one that interfaces with the other bunkers by using real people at the helm but passing them off as a kind of artificial intelligence. The same Bernard had shared his suspicions with Camille, which we now know are well-founded. The voice selected as that of the AI seems to be Daniel/Troy himself. In the final episode of season three, Troy cites the Directive, which would hold more importance than the Pact and the Order, and whose stringent rule is to avoid contamination among the various Silos. Juliette Nichols would already have violated this rule by interacting with the few survivors of Silo 17. But what is the objective of the Directive? Why was it necessary to confine all those people in Silo 18 underground? The fourth season will inevitably have to confront this aspect of the story, but as the massacre of Silo 17 shows, Earth does not appear to be poisoned.
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