By 
This article contains spoilers for “Troy,” the season 3 finale of Silo
“How long?” asks Daniel Keene when he jolts awake from a period of cryosleep. “Seven years,” replies Dr. Victor Crnkovich, suggesting that he had to bring him back from cryosleep quickly this time.
Daniel’s true identity has been repressed since the nuclear bomb went off during the flashbacks of the penultimate episode of Silo, but he is still haunted by brief images of his beloved Helen. Unfortunately, thanks to what we can only assume was a pretty destructive dose of Victor’s memory drugs after he was dragged underground, Daniel now believes he is called Troy and must function as a key member of Silo 1’s terrifying task force.
This season, we’ve followed the congressman closely in a series of revealing flashbacks that led to the discovery of Per Stensen’s silo project. We saw him reject Per’s offer of an important engineering role. We watched him meet the love of his life and the future mother of his child. Indeed, Daniel’s sweet, gentle nature has been a balm compared to the billionaire tech-bro’s dismissive, entitled plans for humanity and the horrors that still endure underground.
Yet the happiness he found with Helen felt doomed from the outset. Not only was it doomed, but in Silo’s season 3 finale, “Troy,” we also discover that Victor and the others have successfully turned Daniel into a monster, and it’s horrifying.
Let’s dig into what really happened to Daniel a.k.a. Troy at the end of season 3 and how it might shape the show’s fourth and final season.
The Real Fate of Silo 17
Troy works in a cold, clinical environment. Silo 1’s version of a situation room is all business, with dim lights yet clear visual targets on screens. The former Daniel Keene has been brought back to deal with Silo 17’s rebellion in the first time jump, and after he listens passively to a frightened young Jimmy Conroy talking to The Algorithm, he walks over to the situation room and is introduced to Susan, who we know is actually his sister, Charlotte. Daniel doesn’t recognize her. The drugs have stripped them of their close connection. Susan is just another senior drone commander.
As we watch helplessly, Troy and Susan attempt to deal with Silo 17’s rebellion under Victor’s watch. Using poisonous “compound” and ordnance, Troy orders the massacre of the denizens of 17, who finally make it overground to realize the environment is actually safe. But under Silo 1’s laws, these fugitives must not contact or “contaminate” another silo, no matter the cost.
Susan is triggered when she spots two of the women who have escaped from 17 kissing on the monitor. It seems to remind her of her relationship with Anna before her memory was wiped. She refuses to carry out Troy’s orders, citing an opportunity to enforce the “infallibility” of the Pact, a guide to silo living that we know Victor let AI write with only minor editing. “There are women and children out there,” Susan says. Troy looks at her coldly and dismisses her. Later, he’s even disappointed that she wasn’t killed for her insubordination.
Victor pleads with Troy to consider the ramifications of killing the escapees. Troy refers to “the Directive” and dismisses his concerns. The person we once knew as a kind, caring man is simply no longer there. We know that Daniel would never do this, even when facing a threat of termination. Indeed, the very idea of the silos held little appeal to him. But lies have replaced his identity. Troy is in charge now. He orders the fugitives to be poisoned en masse and cleans up the rest with drone bullets. “Fire at will,” he says, viewing the carnage with no emotion whatsoever. As their screams grow louder, he notices Victor’s discomfort and asks to cut the audio.
The people of Silo 17 didn’t die because the world above ground isn’t safe; they died because of Troy’s misguided belief in a directive, one that continues Per’s 500-year social experiment. If Daniel ever became himself again, we doubt he could live with the horrors of almost 10,000 deaths on his hands.
Paradise Lost
Season 3’s flashbacks haven’t really been about why the silos were built or why The Algorithm and the Pact demand such a high cost. Those questions are as irrelevant as why a child might hold a magnifying glass over an ant. Instead, the flashbacks have shown us how a series of misjudged decisions by a disgustingly wealthy man, a rogue senator, and a pioneering doctor turned a sweet guy with a bright future into a cold, calculating mass killer.
Daniel, once a politician who seemed to want to make things better, was truly inspired by Helen’s need to uncover dark truths about the government’s covert operations. But a part of Daniel remained ambitious and keen to work his way up. Eventually, both Helen’s love and their sickening encounter with Per changed Daniel’s ideology and future plans, yet by removing his identity and past with the memory drugs, Victor has managed to tap into the kind of monstrous politician Daniel could have become had he climbed the ranks all the way to the top without a family to consider or care for; cold and uncaring in the face of human suffering.
Throughout the finale, the memory of Helen’s face occasionally returns to Troy, and he begs Victor to help him find out who she is. But the pursuit of this knowledge is not wholly about missing her or even simple curiosity. Helen represents the warmth and love that Troy used to be capable of as Daniel; the humanity that has been torn from his soul. He keeps asking after her because a part of him is screaming to get out and make Troy stop. But this part of him is locked away in a box deep inside his subconscious.
If given enough of the memory drugs, could this very suppression of self have happened to Camille, or to anyone else expected to make fatal decisions against the silos? Absolutely, which is why it was so important to see Juliette’s tragic loss of self in the first half of this season.
Victor’s Choice and the Meaning of Moby Dick
Victor repeatedly pretends to help Troy find out about Helen, but he’s actively chosen not to do so many times before. His suicide is sudden, shocking to Troy, but inevitable. As the man behind the curtain and the voice of The Algorithm, Victor can no longer live with his failure to stop yet another rebellion, this time in Silo 18 after being tricked by Camille, and its inevitable cost in human lives.
He doesn’t know how the situation will turn out. After Camille forces enough distraction to complete a mission to cap the devastating Safeguard, it seems unlikely Juliette will repeat the mistakes of Silo 17 and lead the people outside to certain death. However, she and Camille have proved more than a psychological match for Victor.
Later, he admits he was relieved when Silo 18 triumphed against the Safeguard. He is sick, he is tired, and he can no longer wholeheartedly defend the Pact or the Founders’ directives without understanding their futility. This season’s flashbacks painted Victor as a medical professional who sought to do no harm and help those struggling, but now we see his work has served only as a tool of fascist control in a billionaire’s experiment.
Whatever good Victor thought he could do as a key cog in the silo project has completely eroded. He glances at a copy of Moby Dick by Herman Melville, a tale of humanity’s futile attempt to conquer and control the wild, powerful forces of the natural world, and puts it aside before he chooses oblivion. Per’s obsession with his white-whale project has led to nothing but misery and loss.
Staring at Victor’s body, we find out that he only really wanted to be awake when he could be around Troy, as though he was clinging to a part of Daniel that he himself had helped to destroy. “He knew me from before, but obviously he couldn’t say,” Troy concedes. With Victor having permanently taken himself “off shift,” Troy is left to deal with the fallout of Silo 18’s rebellion alone.
The Eyes of Juliette Nichols
After successfully capping the Safeguard, Juliette and her confidants make their way down to the door in the digger void that Lukas Kyle discovered. Silo 1 calls this 18’s “Forward Vault,” and the group’s arrival there interrupts Troy’s plan to find another way to kill everyone. When Juliette challenges him on his ability to do so, Troy seems to compromise by saying that as long as 18 makes no attempt to contact another silo, Silo 1 won’t try to hit them with another Safeguard. Juliette lies when she accepts 18’s side of the bargain.
When the group says they need to focus on their own survival and defend themselves against any threats, Juliette says that’s what Silo 1 expects them to do, but “They won’t be prepared to defend themselves against us.” Their new mission is clear: find a way to take out or take over Silo 1.
Troy lingers on a close-up of Juliette on the monitor when he finishes speaking to her. Her piercing blue eyes stare out at him. Then it cuts to a close-up of Troy’s own piercing blue eyes. While it isn’t explicitly stated, it feels like the show is teasing that Juliette is actually Daniel’s long-lost descendant, born from Helen’s bloodline in Silo 18.
After his confrontation with Juliette, Troy looks at a blueprint for 18, perhaps still formulating another plan. His work is interrupted by a sudden video message from Victor, sent just before he took his life. As a parting gift, Victor finally gives Troy the name of the woman he has been seeing in his visions: Helen Drew. For the first time, we see Troy show emotion. He cries as he repeats her name aloud. At that moment, we finally see Daniel, not Troy.
The Final Season of Silo
The chess pieces have moved into position for a potentially explosive fourth and final season of the show. Silo 18 will use its knowledge of the all-too-human minds still controlling the decisions in Silo 1 to plan its attack. Meanwhile, Silo 1 will likely try to safeguard Silo 18, despite Troy’s compromise.
But how deep down the rabbit hole will Troy go to find out what happened to Helen Drew? Will he discover what happened to their child? Will he find out who he really is and manage to unlock the Daniel Keene who has been pushed deep down inside of him? Will Juliette turn out to be his great-great-granddaughter? Where is Per Stensen? Can Rosalind Thurman and Henry be overthrown? Can Silo 18 manage to get Daniel on its side? And will the people in 18 finally manage to make their way overground to live in the safe world of the future?
Season 4 still has many questions to answer, but season 3’s ending sets up what could be a triumphant swansong for the Apple TV show, pitting Juliette against those in Silo 1 who have long decided who lives and who dies. Bernard Holland gambled his life on Juliette being the one who could finally change the fate of the people still trapped in the silos underground; only time will tell if he was right.
All episodes of Silo season 3 are now streaming on Apple TV.
The post Silo Season 3 Ending Explained: What Really Happened to Daniel? appeared first on Den of Geek.
