Editor’s note: The below contains spoilers for Paradise.
Paradise’s latest episode, “The Day,” is currently sitting at a9.6/10 on IMDb, making it the highest-rated episode of the political thriller so far, and this praise is certainly well-earned. The episode brings us back to the end of the world whenCal (James Marsden)enacts “Versailles” after a supervolcano erupts in Antarctica, causing a 300-foot-high global tsunami that travels at 600 miles per hour.
Despite the emotional goodbye between Xavier (Sterling K. Brown) and his wife,Teri (Enuka Okuma), as well as the apocalyptic imagery of destroyed cities and crashed airplanes, it’sCal’s actions in refusing to commit nuclear war that might change the entire perspective through which we view the show. Not only could these reveals have massive consequences for Xavier on a personal level, but they could also change the survivors' community into one that is far more selfish and vulnerable than previously thought. Yet, sticking to thepolitical thriller genre, there is still a possibility that we are being lied to, raising the stakes of what decisions Xavier will make next.
Cal Might Have Prevented Nuclear War in ‘Paradise’ — and Saved Teri
During the end of the world, the disastrous circumstances lead nations into a zero-sum game of nuclear war, skirmishing over whatever resources they can acquire before everything is destroyed by the tsunami. Cal’s calmness keeps him from firing his nuclear arsenal until he is told that he must fire his weapons to stop other nations from destroying the bunker. However, throughSinatra (Julianne Nicholson), we find out that Cal has another option. Rather than launching his nuclear arsenal, he can launch a global EMP, which would disable most of the bombs launched. While Sinatra takes the utilitarian point of view that this means people would starve rather than die quickly from a bomb,Cal’s liberal nature compels him to give people the chance for survival.
Sinatra is forced to leave Cal, and we see him prep the EMP, and the call between Xavier and Teri cuts out. In the present-day timeline,Sinatra reveals to Xavier that no bombs hit Atlanta— and that there are survivors, before playing him some recordings of people, including Teri, speaking on what sound like shortwave radio transmissions. This information completely disarms Xavier, coupled with the fact that Sinatra also has his daughter,Presley (Aliyah Mastin), in her custody. It is made all the more heartbreaking because we’ve just witnessed him say an emotional goodbye to Teri over the phone, so to edit the narrative in a way that we learn she may be alive in the next scene gives us a similar whiplash Xavier would experience.
8 Reasons Why You Should Be Watching ‘Paradise’
Get ready for some mind-altering plot twists!
The Prevention of Nuclear War Makes the ‘Paradise’ Bunker Vulnerable
Knowing there are survivors would likely be a big enough reveal on its own, but that’s not where the stings stop, but instead ramp up. Sinatra explains that theDNA of Cal’s killer “doesn’t match anyone in the bunker”and, therefore, they “came from outside.” This alludes to a darker idea of why Sinatra might not have been completely merciful in her desire fornuclear warover a global EMP. That she didn’t want any survivors coming to Colorado. If everyone was dead, there would be no one to hate the bunker, as they would be the only ones left. Instead, these survivors will most likely be seen as selfish by all those outside.
We did hear some people on the recordings talking about Colorado, which perhaps Teri could have told them if Xavier ever told her. If they can sneak inside to murder Cal, then the bunker’s vulnerability is already exposed and could lead to a war between the desperate outsiders and the undermanned bunker. The most tragic part of this revenge would be the factCal has paid for mistakes that he was forced into makingby people like his father,Kane (Gerald McRaney), and Sinatra. However, there is still another aspect to consider: can we trust Sinatra?
There Is No Guarantee Sinatra is Being Entirely Truthful in ‘Paradise’
Most of us are probably desperate for Teri to be alive and for Xavier to make his family whole again. But, sometimes, when something is too good to be true, it is. Perhaps Cal did trigger the EMP, but that doesn’t mean Teri is alive. When listening to the messages, Teri’s voice sounded different from the other voices, more static, like it had been computer-generated. Furthermore, Sinatra dangles this carrot along with the demand for Xavier to fall back in line, andshe may be using Xavier’s one weakness, his family, to make him forget the wider picturethat Sinatra is evil, rather than only the idea that Teri could be alive.
Furthermore, we didn’t even see Cal enact the EMP fully; Sinatra was outside the room, and the fact that all communications to the outside world are not fried does hint that this might not be the truth, as Sinatra implied these would be affected if Cal did this. We also have the question of whether Presley saw who killed Cal the night he was murdered and saw the same flower print on Kane’s bookmark. It could be a disguise an outsider used, but it is another link to Cal’s murder coming from the inside, andSinatra isn’t exactly someone who lets people ignore herorders, as we saw withBilly’s (Jon Beavers)murder of the explorers and then being murdered at the hands ofJane (Nicole Brydon Bloom).
The best part of all of this is that this reveal has created a new mystery. Cal may have used the EMP, and the killer may have been from the outside, but we don’t know how they got in or where they are now.Teri may be alive, or Sinatra may be lying. On the other hand, Cal could have changed his mind at the last second and fired his arsenal. What we do know for certain is that, going into the finale, Xavier has been completely disarmed, as, even if it is a lie, Sinatra still holds his children hostage, andit would be gut-wrenching to watch him, in a way, lose his wife all over again.
Paradise’s Season 1 finale premieres March 4 on Hulu.
