Paradise Season 1 Ending Explained: How Does the Finale Set Up Season 2?

This nonfiction contains spoilers for the Paradise Season 1 finale.

After 8 episodes of twists, turns, and a cardinal post-apocalyptic execution enigma connected Hulu’s Paradise, we yet cognize who killed Donut Lord. Sorry, we mean President Cal Bradford (James Marsden), who was recovered dormant successful the bid premiere. And acknowledgment to the Season 1 finale, “The Man Who Kept The Secrets,” we cognize not lone who killed him and why, but besides a full batch much astir wherever things are going to spell successful Season 2.

For those who person to deliberation twice, and are wondering wherefore this wasn’t conscionable different time successful Paradise, here’s what went down. Broad strokes, Paradise takes spot successful a satellite that has seemingly been destroyed by a clime apocalypse, leaving the world’s colonisation dormant but those successful the municipality of Paradise, a manufactured assemblage underneath a Colorado mountain. It’s controlled and maintained by billionaires who knew the clime illness was coming, but did thing to halt it different than make a harmless bunker for themselves to unrecorded in.

Paradise Season 1 Ending Explained: Who Killed the President?

So that brings america to the finale. In flashback, we conscionable the feline successful complaint of the operation squad (played by Ian Merrigan) who helped physique Paradise, frankincense acold lone glimpsed successful the inheritance of scenes. He discovered that determination was a toxic substance successful the ground, brought it to his bosses, and was dismissed from his position. He past spent years trying to pass everyone that catastrophe was coming, yet deciding to assassinate President Bradford by posing arsenic a reporter. We’ve seen this country before, from Secret Service Agent Xavier Collins’s (Sterling K. Brown) perspective, arsenic helium was changeable portion protecting Cal.

Anyway, dude gets thrown successful situation – successful Colorado – and escapes erstwhile the satellite starts to beryllium destroyed by an tremendous tsunami. Taking 1 of the guards’ uniforms, helium kills 2 radical who are expected to beryllium going into the bunker and steals the individuality of 1 of them: Trent the Librarian. He does this by shaving a bald spot connected his head, cutting his beard, and wearing Trent’s amazingly well-fitting clothes. He besides stops agelong capable to springiness the individuality of Trent’s wife, Maggie (Michelle Meredith) to a random woman crying successful a state presumption parking lot. Side note: this is portion a 300-foot-tall tsunami is ravaging the Earth. But it’s cool, they person time. No rush!

To leap done the rest, “Trent” gets comfy successful his librarian beingness until years aboriginal Cal comes to the library, and Trent remembers “Oh yeah, I wanted to termination this guy.” He dresses successful an aged operation uniform, takes a portion of operation equipment, and conks Cal connected the caput with it connected the balcony. He past conks him connected the caput again wrong his bedroom, sidesplitting him.

As he’s telling Xavier each of this, who helium has tied up successful the library, Nicole Robinson (Khrys Marshall) and Dr. Gabriela Torabi (Sarah Shahi) observe that Maggie isn’t who she says she is due to the fact that she ate cashew food connected her food fries, but the existent Maggie was allergic to nuts.

To paraphrase the late, large Benoit Blanc: this makes nary damn sense! Compels us, though.

Look, showrunner Dan Fogelman knows however to archer a yarn, but this is surely 1 that stretches the limits of credulity. Could you person identified that Ian Merrigan was playing a blurry operation worker, an assassin, and Trent the Librarian successful an perfectly ludicrous disguise? Sure, if you’re Ian Merrigan’s mother. Or a instrumentality of quality actors. But could you fig retired virtually immoderate different portion of this enigma without the copious flashbacks successful this precise episode? Absolutely not. And there’s zero mode you could person figured retired the Maggie happening – which, for the record, seems to play nary intent successful the occurrence different than giving Robinson and Torabi a mode to fig retired what happened separately from Xavier.

There’s a motion toward the wide thesis connection of the amusement here, which is plainly stated successful a code “Trent” gives moments earlier helium throws himself to his decease done the sky-imitating dome implicit the municipality of Paradise. He talks astir however adjacent present astatine the extremity of the satellite billionaires power everything… Nothing has changed, and his sidesplitting of Cal was a vexation that bubbled to the aboveground and could not beryllium ignored. We the viewers cognize it’s tragic due to the fact that Cal was trying to bash the close happening successful the extremity and marque existent change. But arsenic we spot successful the last moments of the occurrence it’s Cal’s lad Jeremy Bradford (Charlie Evans) who is telling the information to the people, and rallying the youth. So thing is coming there.

The occupation is that this very, very, very, very timely thought of billionaires driving regular radical to execution gets mislaid successful a batch of “Wait, who is that?” and “Did helium shave his bald spot aggregate times a time to support the stubble hidden?” After 8 episodes we’re expected to attraction astir a quality we’ve technically ne'er met earlier and ticker him spell done a bid of progressively coincidental circumstances (getting registered arsenic a roar relation for property connected the White House lawn, getting sentenced to situation successful Colorado adjacent the bunker, getting into the bunker, forgetting to termination the President, the database goes on).

The worst portion of it, though, is that it makes Xavier’s full probe wholly unnecessary due to the fact that the crushed he’s successful Trent’s room astatine each has thing to bash with the execution mystery.

How Does The Paradise Season Finale Set Up Season 2?

In presumption of things the assemblage could astir apt fig out, we person spent a batch of clip this play successful the library. We cognize Cal made a premix portion for his lad there, and we besides cognize that helium near a cigaret with numbers connected it adjacent to his dormant body, which Xavier recovered but couldn’t decipher what it was codification for. It was abundantly evident that the fig was a Dewey Decimal number, thing Xavier yet figured retired lone erstwhile helium was already successful the room looking astatine books. The camera lingers connected the numbers, conscionable successful lawsuit you haven’t been successful the room successful a while, too. (Support your section libraries, folks! They’re great!) Anyway, it’s determination Xavier finds each the monolithic secrets Cal knew, including however to flight the bunker and wherever determination are survivors successful the extracurricular world.

Trent doesn’t cognize thing astir that. And his execution crippled besides has thing to bash with it – different than him taking the notebook it’s written connected from Xavier erstwhile helium ties him up, and past giving it backmost to Xavier earlier helium jumps to his death. Instead, this sets up Xavier being capable to find the 1 level inactive stocked with substance and electricity, arsenic good arsenic the codes to unfastened the doorway to the bunker, truthful helium tin permission and spell find his still-alive wife. In presumption of Xavier’s crippled successful Season 2, it’s astir decidedly exploring what’s near of the extracurricular satellite aft the clime disaster, and making his mode to Atlanta to rescue his woman and bring her home. Basically The Last Of Us, but without the amusive zombies.

How astir the different large crippled of the season, which was the billionaire codenamed Sinatra (Julianne Nicholson) who seemed to beryllium pulling the strings down the scenes? How was she tied to the murder? Again: she was not. At all. In fact, aft denying her psychopath lackey Jane (Nicole Brydon Bloom) possession of the President’s Wii, Jane tells Sinatra that she killed Xavier’s girl (Aliyah Mastin). And past Sinatra tells Xavier, and apologizes, to which helium kills her 2 guards and is astir to termination Sinatra… Until Jane shoots Sinatra successful the chest, leaving her successful a coma. Also if you were wondering, Jane gets the Wii. Reminder: nary of this has to bash with the execution enigma the amusement was about.

Because Sinatra is connected life-support, that leaves a powerfulness vacuum successful Paradise, with befuddled erstwhile Vice President Henry Baines (Matt Malloy) yet stepping up and getting power of the billionaire ruling council. So going into Season 2, we’ll apt spot Sinatra waking from the coma successful a satellite wherever she doesn’t propulsion each the strings, and Bumblin’ Baines successful charge, immoderate that means. Jane besides has power implicit her… As Jane explains, she benignant of saved her beingness by lone wounding her, alternatively of letting Xavier termination her. So going from being successful complaint of everything to having a psychopath with leverage implicit her is simply a large alteration for the billionaire.

As for different plotlines? The corollary to Cal’s Jeremy stepping up arsenic a person successful the assemblage is that we spot a statue commemorating fallen explorers present has “murdered” spray-painted connected it. So everyone successful Paradise knows that there’s beingness extracurricular the walls of the city. Likely, everything Sinatra predicted earlier successful the play volition travel true: that either bringing radical successful from the extracurricular oregon letting radical wrong cognize determination are radical live volition destabilize the precarious quality of the world she’s created. Whether that is bully oregon atrocious is TBD, but it’s apt the disagreement betwixt the billionaires astatine the apical and the workers astatine the bottommost volition turn wider, each portion Cal is extracurricular searching for different survivors.

(If you privation to notation however that volition each apt work, delight spot Season 2 of Silo for the nonstop aforesaid plot, with immoderate flimsy variations.)

In immoderate case, determination are plentifulness much questions going into Season 2. Will determination beryllium different execution enigma astatine the heart? Will Xavier beryllium gone each play long? And astir importantly: tin anyone bushed Jane astatine Wii Sports? We’ll spot you backmost successful the bunker erstwhile Season 2 premieres, hopefully sooner alternatively than later. And possibly adjacent clip they won’t person a enigma that hinges connected coincidence and cashew cheese.