Editor’s note: The below contains spoilers for Paradise.
Paradise, the newHuluthriller series, has already been full of twists and turns, and its latest episode just set up another major revelation. Episode 4, titled “Agent Billy Pace,” sheds some light on the backstory of Billy (Jon Beavers) and how he was brought into Paradise by Sinatra (Julianne Nicholson), as well as his tight-knit friendship with Secret Service agent Xavier Collins (Sterling K. Brown) and his family. After a troubled and violent childhood, years later and fresh out of prison, Billy becomes a mercenary, and that’s exactly what he is to Sinatra in Paradise after the world blows up — a tool to be used at her disposal.
Months after moving into Paradise, President Cal Bradford (James Marsden) sends out a four-member expedition team to the surface to see if anyone has survived. The team discovers that the air is breathable — thus lending evidence to the possibility that there could be survivors — but Billy is secretly sent to the surface by Sinatra to kill the team to make sure no one in Paradise finds out the truth. The biggest questions after this week’s episode remain:who is still alive on the surface, and why is Sinatra hellbent on keeping it a secret?
Are There Survivors on the Surface in ‘Paradise’?
This reveal could also be setting up a major reveal for the finalewith the possibility that Xavier’s wife, Teri, is still alive. Previously,it was theorized that her work as a scientist at the CDCwas somehow attached to the event that caused humanity to regroup in an underground city, and more fuel has been added to that fire, including the possibility that she is leading the charge of putting the world back together after whatever catastrophe plagued the Earth. What’s also interesting is that the outside world already knows about Paradise, since it almost got President Bradford killed at a press conference. Does this mean thatthe remnants of humanity left to survive on the surfacecould eventually plan an attack on the underground city to reap the benefits of what Sinatra built?In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, creatorDan Foglemanrevealed a three-season plan for the series, and this possible conflict could be an interesting wrinkle for the show to tackle.
In a flashback a few months after Paradise was first inhabited, the same one showcasing Billy assassinating the expedition team, he looks over a hill, revealing a decimated city in Colorado.The outside world is still as bleak as one would imagine a post-apocalyptic world to be, with the environment overwhelmed by an intense winter and zero sunlight. But again, the expedition team of scientists discovered that the atmosphere is breathable, and life can still be sustained on the surface, revealing some hope that there are many more survivors other than the 25,000 people that occupy the underground city of Paradise. But, as Sinatra reveals to Billy later in the episode,anyone who survived would have been left with very little resources, putting them in survival mode, which has likely made them very dangerous.As we’ve seen in shows likeThe Walking DeadandThe Last of Us, the end of the world usually brings out the absolute worst in human beings, but that doesn’t mean that everyone out there is dangerous.
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Why Did Sinatra Really Create ‘Paradise’?
While the audience was previously meant to believe that Sinatracreated Paradise to protect her daughter from oncoming disaster, this episode confirms thatthe world hasn’t truly ended. After losing her son unexpectedly, it seems like Sinatra’s need to control is what drives every move she makes. The disaster that massively affected the world was certainly one that was foreseen, leading to the evacuation of select individuals to Paradise, but what exactly the threat was is still unknown. The bright flash Xavier saw while on the plane to Paradise and the surface’s seemingly eternal winter could be the result of a nuclear war, or possibly even an asteroid hitting the Earth.
While Sinatra has created a utopia for the people she hand-picked to live a “normal” life, it’s a life without true freedom. People should have the choice of whether they want to live in this closed-off reality or see what the real world still has to offer. Sinatra is playing God, believing she has the right to make these choices for everyone. Knowing now that Sinatra is far more dangerous than previously shown, especially after ordering Billy to be killed,it makes her suspect #1 in the death of President Bradford,adding another complicated layer to this mystery-filled series.
New episodes ofParadiseare available to stream every Tuesday on Hulu and Disney+.
