Silo's stairs aren't a punishment, and the Pact isn't scripture

Right, if you’ve stuck with Silo all the way to Season 3 (we’re at episode 9, titled ‘Farewell’), you’ll know the show blew past that “is it safe outside” business long ago. These days, we’re bobbing about in a stew of leftover mysteries, and the latest episode is doling out answers at a pace that would make even Bernard twitch. We’re finally being let in on why some of these odd design choices inside the silo exist, and why everyone is so hopelessly attached to that ancient book of rules, The Pact. If you’re after real closure on who’s been pulling the strings and why, this is the episode that all but writes it in permanent marker.

Why the Silo Hates Lifts

The complete absence of a lift in the silos has irked more than a few characters (and, let’s be honest, viewers). It’s always been chalked up as some founder-era weirdness. In ‘Farewell,’ that particular thread finally gets pulled. Daniel (Ashley Zukerman) and Helen (Jessica Henwick) learn what’s really behind that never-ending staircase regime—the one we once assumed was punishment or just another way to keep the class divide in check. Apparently not.

According to the episode, the never-ending stairs are, astonishingly, a fitness plan. With thousands stuck inside this human anthill for 500 years, Per Stenson (Colin Hanks) and cronies decided everyone needed forced exercise, and a lift would ruin it. That’s all there is to it—maximum cardio for everyone, like it or not. If you’re thinking this feels a bit shortsighted (injuries, age, disabilities—all ignored), you’re not alone. Even in a dystopia engineered by geniuses, there’s no substitute for a brisk jog to the lower levels. For what it’s worth, the secret elevator they recently built is treated like a dangerous cheat code—so don’t expect to see it rolled out for general use anytime soon.

Life in the silo is stuck with stairs because the original architects wanted to force people to exercise, since confinement was always going to last centuries.

The Pact: Not So Mystical After All

The story around The Pact takes an even stranger turn in ‘Farewell.’ Silo society treats the book with more reverence than some major religions; it’s their bible and legal code in one, as if handed down by wise old ancestors. But the gorgeous illusion takes a nosedive when Victor (Matt Craven) tells Daniel the truth: the book is basically a quickie self-help guide meant to prevent mass existential crises during multi-generational lockdown. It isn’t even original—he admits it’s just a lightly edited version of something belched out by an AI. The so-called ‘founders’ didn’t pour over philosophy; they copy-pasted whatever sounded helpful and made it canon.

• The Pact’s real authors: Victor confesses he only tweaked AI-generated text.
• Purpose: blandly practical—prevent cabin fever as humanity is forced to live underground for centuries.
• The so-called 'Founders' are just these guys hitting 'generate' on a chatbot and calling it wisdom.

So, for centuries, everyone’s been living by the word of what could be ChatGPT on a bad day. It’s a properly bleak bit of worldbuilding, but typical for a show that loves deflating its own myths. And if you had a sneaking suspicion that the whole setup has less to do with prophecy and more to do with management consultancy, you’d be right.