Netflix’s Swedish noir thriller series Land of Sin is centered around the investigation of a young man’s murder. The deceased’s body was recovered from a river, and it was soon revealed that Silas was actually killed at a beach and his body was later dumped in the river. He was last seen in a scuffle with a young man at the beach, and naturally the cops assumed that this unknown man was the killer. Detectives Dani and Malik were investigating the case, and well, for Dani, it was quite personal. She used to be Silas’ foster mother, and for a brief while she, her son, Oliver, and Silas lived together like a family. Oliver had grown deeply attached to Silas, and even after he was sent back to live with his birth parents, they stayed in touch. Silas had never wanted to return, but Dani chose to let him go because she figured he was a bad influence on her son. Oliver and Silas were addicts, and Dani assumed that if they were forced to part ways, then maybe Oliver would change for good. But instead, Oliver grew distant, and their relationship only worsened with time. So, did Dani find out who was behind Silas’ death? Let’s get into the details.
Spoiler Alert
Did Oliver kill Silas?
Dani was devastated when she learned that the forensic team had found Oliver’s DNA under Silas’ fingernails. After going through Silas’ phone records, Dani found out that Silas had been in conversation with an unknown male, and they had mostly been arguing about money and blaming each other. She’d also been keeping a close watch on Silas’ girlfriend, Nathalie, who was recently seen talking to Kare Lonn, a convicted criminal who had spent twelve years in prison for manslaughter. Upon talking to Nathalie, Dani learned that Silas and his friend, the unknown male, owed money to Kare, and they’d been trying different ways to arrange for it. Silas had even blackmailed a local dealer with compromising videos, but they didn’t manage to extract enough money from him. Nathalie apparently didn’t know who his friend was, but she knew where Silas used to pick him up from. Dani arrived at the location and saw Kare searching for the unknown male. She discovered that Silas’ friend was at a drug house; she and Malik headed to the location, and while Malik asked the residents of the apartment about the young man, Dani scanned the room and found the belongings of the ‘unknown male.’ As it turned out, Oliver was the friend Silas had been arguing over text with, and since his DNA was found under Silas’ fingernails, he was the primary suspect.
Dani refused to believe that her son was a killer; she didn’t think he could turn violent, even under influence. Malik tried to reason with her; as a father, he knew how heartbreaking the situation was for Dani, but at the same time, he believed that Dani should make it a point to be the one to handcuff her son instead of letting a stranger do it. Dani tracked down Oliver at a cafe and had him arrested. She immediately regretted her decision, because she was convinced that her son was innocent.
Oliver and Silas had been selling drugs for a man named Jarven, and Kare simply ran errands and did the dirty work for him. Dani had overheard Silas’ uncle, Elis, talk to his wife about Jarven, and how he planned on meeting this ‘dangerous criminal.’ Dani decided to follow him, but unfortunately she was attacked by Jarven’s men after they found her eavesdropping on Elis and Jarven’s conversation. His men were asked to get rid of her, and they dumped her in a pit. Meanwhile, Elis had found out from Silas’ brother, Kimmen, that Silas had been working for Jarven. He’d apparently given up the drug lord’s name during police interrogation, and was found dead soon after. Elis had been determined to solve the murder case on his own and bring justice to his family. He didn’t trust the cops, especially because men like Jarven had tremendous influence to the point of being immune to investigation. After Jarven found out about Dani, he assumed that Elis had brought the cop to his den. It was only after Elis offered them a solution that they decided against getting rid of him altogether. Elis asked them to store their supplies at his warehouse since the cop had seen his cooking den. Later that night, Elis rescued Dani, but the next morning when she asked him about Jarven, he pretended not to know him. Elis planned on taking down Jarven on his own. After finding out that Silas had given up Jarven’s name to the cops during an interrogation and had mentioned that he wanted him dead, Dani was all the more confident that her son was innocent.
Was Harold the killer?
Dani soon discovered that Jarven was not the only one who had a motive. Elis had inherited the piece of land that once belonged to his and Ivar’s (Silas’ father’s) father. They called the land ‘Synden,’ or ‘the land of sin,’ because it was infertile. Their father had given Ivar the farm animals and the farm machinery. But Dani was surprised when she learned that Elis had recently received a government grant for his land. His three hundred acres of land was described as ‘arable,’ and he received a significant amount of money for it. These facts explained the reason behind the legal battle between Elis and Ivar. Ivar had only a few farm animals to his name, while his brother was making a fortune from the land. Elis lied because he didn’t want Dani to know about the conflict between his and Ivar’s family.
Just when Dani thought she was close to cracking the case, she learned that Oliver had confessed. For a brief while, Dani had almost lost all hope, but then Malik came to her rescue. He explained that he’d seen Oliver’s interrogation video, and he believed that Oliver didn’t admit to killing Silas; he blamed himself for Silas’ death because in a way he felt responsible for it. Malik refused to believe that it was an admission of guilt. He’d also figured that Oliver and Silas met that day, but not at the beach. They got into a scuffle, which explained why his DNA was found. Nathalie was with Silas when they met Oliver, so Dani promised her protection in exchange for her testimony. She agreed to the deal and explained that on the morning Silas was killed, they met Oliver and asked him to pay up the money he owed to Jarven, but Oliver had ended up spending all the money on drugs. Silas and Nathalie left with whatever money Oliver had on him. Later that day, Nathalie and Silas met Jarven; Silas had handed him one hundred and twenty thousand krona out of the three hundred thousand that he owed him. Jarven made it very clear that the hundred and twenty thousand was just the interest and that Silas still owed him the three hundred thousand. Silas and Nathalie blackmailed the blacksmith to get enough money to buy ferry tickets, but things ultimately didn’t go according to plan. Dani feared that before they tracked down Jarven, Elis might act. He was desperate to avenge his nephew, so he won Jarven’s trust by offering his warehouse to store his inventory and later cornered him and bludgeoned him with a metal bar. It’s not clear whether Jarven survived the blow, or if he succumbed to his injuries.
Meanwhile, Malik checked the junkyard to find evidence, and he discovered that after Silas was murdered, Elis’ wife had dropped a pickup truck at the junkyard. The truck was owned by Harald, the younger son of Elis and Katty. Soon after Elis murdered Jarven, he received a call from Katty stating that Harald had confessed to murdering Silas. Elis was surprised; he wondered why Harald took such a drastic step. Katty explained that Silas had been threatening them, and Harald decided to make him stop. When Dani arrived at Elis’ house, Katty stated that Jarven wasn’t the man she should be looking for, and she added that Harald had confessed. So, was Harald really the killer?
Who killed Silas and why?
Katty seemed a little too keen on letting the world know that Harald was the killer soon after she found out that the cops had been snooping around the junkyard. We soon learn that Katty was trying to cover up the truth and Harald was the scapegoat. When it came to choosing between her two sons, Katty chose her eldest, Jon. Harald was on the spectrum, and Katty figured that he wouldn’t be able to manage the farm by himself. So, if someone had to be put behind bars, then Harald was the only option she had. She had asked him to lie about killing Silas for the sake of his family, and Harald abided.
The ending of Land of Sin revealed that it was Jon who’d murdered Silas, and he was instigated by his mother to take such a drastic step. Silas had been pestering them about the fund, and recently he’d gotten quite hostile. Katty refused to rely on Elis, because she knew her husband wouldn’t ever take any extreme measures to ‘draw the line,’ but Jon was easy to mold, and her words had a tremendous impact on him. Jon met Silas that night, and they drove to the beach. They got into a heated argument, and when Silas abused Harald, Jon lost his calm. He repeatedly attacked Silas and ended up drowning him in the sea. Later, he called Katty for help, and she ended up burning all of Silas’ belongings. But his bracelet remained intact, and Kimmen eventually found it in a barrel lying on their property. When Kimmen discovered that Harald had confessed, he decided to avenge his brother. He grabbed hold of a rifle and followed Harald, Jon, and Elis.
Elis couldn’t believe that Katty decided to sacrifice Harald to protect Jon. He refused to let his innocent child end up in prison, so he instructed Jon and Harald to travel to his estranged brother, Ragnar’s place. His brother owed him one after Elis saved him from under a tractor, and presumably Ragnar had agreed to help him. Elis was devastated to part ways with his sons, especially Harald, but he had run out of options. Just as Harald and Jon were about to escape, Kimmen stopped them. He had every intention of pulling the trigger on Harald, but Elis managed to divert his attention. Elis confessed to killing Silas; he figured that the young boy wanted to bring justice to his brother, and he didn’t really care who was on the other side. He was of an impressionable age, which explained why he resorted to violence in the first place. At the end of Land of Sin, Kimmen pulled the trigger on Elis when he stated that he’d killed Silas because he was going to report about them to the grant authorities, and he described how he ‘enjoyed’ killing him. This was reason enough for Kimmen to lose his calm and shoot Elis. By the time Dani and Malik arrived at the scene, Elis had taken his last breath. Malik took away Kimmen’s rifle and was about to follow Jon and Harald, but Dani stopped him.
Why Did Dani Let The Killer Escape?
As a mother, Dani knew the lengths a parent would go to to protect their child, and seeing Elis take a bullet to protect his children, something moved in her. Dani figured that whatever had happened that night was an act of rage. Jon was a young man who dearly loved his family, and when his mother asked him to stand up to Silas, he didn’t think twice. He was deeply attached to his brother, and when Silas insulted him, he lost control of himself. The fact that Jon took such an extreme step was surely a cause for concern, but Dani believed he was an impressionable young man who made a mistake and had already paid the price for it. Jon lost his parents, his house, and pretty much everything that mattered to him. He couldn’t come home, because Ivar’s family wouldn’t spare him and his brother. Even Jarven’s men would likely hunt for him and Harald. All his life, he would regret that one mistake he’d made, and Dani figured that guilt was enough to keep him in check. Malik wasn’t sure at first if he was okay with letting the murderer get away, but he ended up doing exactly as Dani had asked of him. He too was a father, and perhaps when he put himself in Elis’s situation, he agreed that maybe Jon deserved another chance. Malik reported that Elis was the killer, and he had heard him confess before Kimmen shot him. Kimmen was arrested, and we get a glimpse of Katty’s battered face, suggesting that Ivar’s family had broken into their house and physically assaulted her. It is not confirmed if Katty survived, but it is likely that she didn’t make it. One murder led to more murders, and the entire family fell apart, and lives were lost for a piece of land. Just like a queen bee, Dani stayed in the shadows (she was suspended after her son was found connected to the case, but she didn’t stop investigating), and she made sure that no more lives were destroyed.
At the very end of Land of Sin, Dani reached out to Oliver again. She followed him to the cafe he frequented, and while she didn’t know what to tell him at first, she ended up embracing him, as she refused to lose him. She regretted putting him behind bars, and she hoped he would forgive her this one time. Her son needed help, and she wanted him to know that she would be there with him even on his worst days. Dani had already made reservations at a rehabilitation center, and perhaps this time Oliver might decide to give it a go. Addiction had ruined his life, and while he blamed his mother for taking Silas away from him, he hopefully will eventually understand someday that whatever decision his mother took was because she deeply cared about his well-being. She regretted letting Silas move back in with his parents, and after losing him, she felt the urgency to act immediately. She had realized that instead of letting silence destroy her relationship with her son, it was important to actively try and bridge the gap. The final scene suggests that Oliver and Dani’s relationship had significantly improved and Oliver looked better than before. It is also suggested that Dani continued to look after the beehives that she’d rented when Silas used to live with them. He wanted to become a beekeeper, and Dani tried to keep his dream alive in her own way.
