Diksha Sundriyal
Prime Video’s spy thriller series, ‘Citadel,’ follows the story of secret agents who work for the titular organization, which falls after one of their own betrays them. The story begins with Mason Kane, who lost his memories in the aftermath of the agency’s fall. He is plunged back into the world of espionage by Bernard Orlick, another Citadel agent who survived the fall. Bernard tells Mason all he needs to know about Citadel, Manticore, and their mission to save the world. He is also privy to Mason’s secrets. Despite his importance to the storyline, we don’t see him in the final episode. What happened to him? Did he die? Let’s find out. SPOILERS AHEAD
Bernard’s Fate Remains Uncertain
Bernard was the only one left when Citadel fell, or so he thought. When Kyle Conroy takes a DNA test to find out his real identity, Bernard finds him and tells him everything about Citadel. Their immediate concern is to get the X Case which contains information about all Citadel agents. It cannot be allowed to fall into Manticore’s hands. Bernard helps Mason steal the case, but Manticore chases them. Mason flees, but Bernard is captured and taken to Dahlia Archer.
Getting Bernard is a huge deal for Dahlia because he is the mastermind behind Citadel’s tech. He came up with all the systems of the agency, which makes him an invaluable asset. He has the codes to everything in Citadel, and should he turn, it would be an incredible feat for Dahlia, who wants to please the families that run Manticore. However, it’s not that easy.
Bernard proves to be a tough nut to crack. She has him brutally tortured, but he suffers through it all. He reveals nothing about Citadel or the nuclear codes Dahlia wants from him. When she threatens to have his memories extracted by drilling into his head, he doesn’t flinch. Instead, he proves his resourcefulness by convincing one of the Silje brothers to let him go. He would have succeeded if Dahlia didn’t show up in time.
It isn’t until she threatens to blow up his family, who are hiding out in a safe house, that Bernard gives up the code. If it had been someone else, Dahlia would have killed him once they’d fulfilled their purpose. However, there is so much more that she can get from Bernard. The fact that we don’t see her kill him is enough to prove that Bernard isn’t dead yet. Though where he is and what Dahlia did with him remain a mystery.
Considering how desperate Dahlia seemed to please the families, she might have considered giving over Bernard to them. They could do as they pleased with him, and she would have the rapport she’d been vying for in Manticore. However, he is also her most important chess piece, and giving him away like this wouldn’t serve her well. So, there is a greater chance that she kept him a secret from the families.
Once he told her about the nuclear codes, she imprisoned him somewhere. Because of his knowledge of Citadel, he could be helpful in the future, especially when Citadel agents like Mason Kane and Nadia Sinh are still out there. This proves that Citadel isn’t quite dead yet and could be resurrected by the agents who survived its fall. No one would know them better than Bernard, which makes him indispensable.
In the final episode, when Dahlia’s plans of getting the codes from Mason are thwarted, she knows that the families will be angry with her and want her dead. Before they can get to her, she fakes her death by destroying her house and runs away. The last time we saw Bernard, he was in that house, and we never saw him getting out of there. Does that mean he is dead? Did he die inside that house? No. Now that Manticore is after her, Bernard is even more important to Dahlia. It’s not shown, but we assume that once she got the codes from Bernard, she had him sent somewhere else. She’ll want to use him to either get back in the good graces of Manticore or to fight back and destroy them. In any case, Bernard is the most critical asset she has now, meaning she would keep him alive at any cost.
Read More: Citadel Season 1 Finale Recap and Ending, Explained
