When Silo Season 3, Episode 6 developed a need for Speed, Ashley Zukerman and Jessica Henwick were thankful that creator Graham Yost was in the driver’s seat.
Spoilers for Silo Season 3, Episode 6 ahead.
After Episode 5 ended with Daniel (Zukerman) and Helen (Henwick) losing control of their van, Episode 6, “The Drive,” reveals that they’re trapped in the mysteriously hacked vehicle. As the two speed down the road at 70 mph with no brakes or steering ability, Silo transforms into a mini action thriller before our eyes.
“It was something we talked about. Graham Yost, who created the show, also happened to write Speed,” Zukerman told Decider over Zoom. “So that was the running joke: that this episode is Speed.”
As the Before Times dynamic duo frantically tries to outsmart the compromised vehicle, they hop in the back seat hopeful that another driver will call the cops after spotting an abandoned self-driving van. While the clever plan backfires for Daniel and Helen, the unique positioning creatively challenged the actors and camera crew while filming.
“What I remember most from filming that episode was us just trying to figure out how and where in the car to move so that not every shot was the same,” Henwick recalled. “They kept cutting back to the car scenes, so we kept moving around the vehicle.”
Since Daniel and Helen spend the majority of the episode trapped in the van, they share some serious heart-to-hearts, and the romantic tension between them reaches an all-time high. Sparks fly when Helen touches Daniel’s hand to tend to a wound. Daniel’s heart flutters when he sees Helen still carries the Pez dispenser he gifted her on “the world’s worst blind date.” And when Helen finally opens up about the incredibly honorable incident that negatively impacted her journalism career, Daniel apologizes for judging her. In between nervously laughing over how “fucked” they were, the two take comfort in each other’s company as their feelings for each other silently swell. Even Yost thinks the budding romance between the two passionate truth-seekers is one of Silo‘s most compelling storylines.
“We got to tell another love story. I remember watching stuff in the second or the third episode and going, ‘I’m not really feeling this chemistry that I was hoping for.’ And then I realized, ‘Oh, they’re just doing their job,’” Silo‘s creator told Decider. “If you want a love story, you have to want them to be together. And then there’s a moment in the fourth episode where [Daniel] makes a joke about her name being like Nancy Drew, and she says, ‘Say it again. See what happens. I’ll kill you in your sleep.’ And I was like, ‘Wait, here we go!’ The biggest compliment I can make to anyone is that they’re really good at their jobs. And they’re really good at their jobs. It was fun for us to work with that environment, and as writers, to construct that story.”
Since Season 3 scenes were shot out of order, bringing Daniel and Helen’s evolving dynamic from page to screen required a bit of a game plan. “I think we intentionally tried to delay gratification on their relationship for as long as possible. We didn’t want to play into the romantic comedy of it, because that would feel far more real,” Zukerman explained. “On that day [in Episode 6], I think they’ve known each other for three days. Well, they met like at the bar like two weeks earlier. We [tried to] make sure that these characters were always as full and as big as they possibly can be as they challenge and come up against each other.”
In developing the real-life chemistry that enhanced their on-screen portrayals, Henwick revealed that she and Zukerman “played a lot of tennis, and we did the New York Times crossword together.” And Zukerman recalled feeling the immense potential back when they filmed their first Season 2 finale scene.
“We knew going in that we were going to tell this two-and a-bit-season story together, and we didn’t know each other beforehand. We had one day of rehearsals [before] we filmed that scene from Season 2, and I think it was still my favorite day of shooting, because you just don’t know,” Zukerman shared. “You’re coming with a lot of ideas. And we were prepped, and we were excited, because the stakes were pretty high that day. But as soon as we started shooting, everything just worked.”
Silo Season 3, Episode 6’s Speed-inspired road trip ends with Helen and Daniel arriving at an airplane hangar where Henry (Reed Birney) is waiting for them, and Senator Thurman (Laura Innes) says, “Daniel. Helen. How’d you like to help save the world?” Daniel and Helen’s adventures have only just begun, and we can’t wait to see what else Silo has in store.
Stay tuned for more Silo Season 3 coverage from Decider.