Warning: There are spoilers ahead for Paradise season 1, episode 8, “The Man Who Kept the Secrets.“TheParadiseseason 1 finale answers who killed President Cal Bradford (James Marsden), with the reveal only being one of several major plot twists. InParadiseepisode 7’s ending, Samantha “Sinatra” Redmond tells Xavier Collins (Sterling K. Brown) that if he ever wants to see his daughter, Presley (Aliyah Mastin), again, hemust find President Bradford’s killer and end the rebellion. Xavier complies and discovers that the killer has been hiding in plain sight the entire time.
SolvingParadise’s murder mysteryis the focus of the season 1 finale, but there are other storylines that need to be resolved as well. This includes explaining what the numbers mean on the cigarette President Bradford left behind, and Jeremy Bradford (Charlie Evans) telling the citizens of Paradise about the lies they have been told. Through these revelations, the lives ofParadise’s charactersare now forever changed as they prepare to face new challenges in season 2.
President Bradford’s Killer And Motivations Explained
Paradise’s Librarian Is The Killer
President Bradford’s killer is revealed to be Trent (Ian Merrigan), who has beenliving in Paradise under the guise of a librarian named Eli. Trent was the construction manager when Paradise was built underneath a Colorado mountain. During this process, Trent realized that his workers were being poisoned by hazardous chemicals they were being exposed to during demolition and construction. When Trent shared this with his superior and insisted that the project be shut down, he was fired and barred from the construction site since the chemicals would only be lethal during excavation, and the site would ultimately be safe.
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All Trent knew was that construction was continuing because something catastrophic was coming. He tried to warn his former employees and alert the media about what was happening, but no one listened to him. This eventually led to an assassination attempt on President Bradford’s life, the same attempt in which Xavier dove in front of the bullet and saved the president. Trent was sent to prison, but on the day ofParadise’s world ending, there was a mass uprising in the facility where he was incarcerated, and he broke out.
This assassination attempt was shown in an episode 1 flashback, but the killer’s face was not shown at the time.
He found the real librarian headed to Paradise, killed him, and took his place, and had a woman he met along the way replace the librarian’s wife. Trent intended to finish what he started, but he got comfortable with his new life. It was only after President Bradford came to the library to make a mixtape that Trent was reminded of why he infiltrated Paradise in the first place. He proceeded to kill the president and intended to go to the surface and reveal Paradise’s location to the rest of the world.
Why Jane Shoots Sinatra And Doesn’t Hurt Presley
Sinatra Should’ve Given Her President Bradford’s Wii
Sinatra orders Jane Driscoll (Nicole Brydon Bloom) to prevent Presley from revealing the damaging information she knows. Jane asks for President Bradford’s video games, particularly his Wii, in return. Sinatra does not agree to these terms and calls Jane"f***ing insane.“Jane ends the conversation, leading Sinatra to believe that she has taken matters into her own hands and killed Presley. Instead,Jane lets Presley go and shoots Sinatra because she is tired of being used as an unappreciated pawnand does not like being called"insane.”
Sinatra is now in a coma, but when she wakes up, Jane will have a significant advantage over her.
Jane makes it seem like she found Presley and has members ofXavier’s rebellionstationed to protect her. All Jane wanted in return for years of loyal service were the president’s video games. By shooting Sinatra and helping Xavier and his allies, Jane gets out from under Sinatra’s thumb. Sinatra is now in a coma, but when she wakes up, Jane will have a significant advantage over her. Best of all, Jane now has the Wii and the other video games Sinatra denied her.
President Bradford Uses The Dewey Decimal System To Help His Friend
Image via Hulu
One of the season’s ongoing mysteries has been what the numbers 812092 are that President Bradford wrote on one of his cigarettes before he died. While listening to a mixtape CD that the president made for Jeremy, Xavier figures out that the numbers refer to a book in the Dewey Decimal system. These numbers are used to organize and find books in a library. When Xavier goes to the library’s 812.092 spot, he finds a book about Frank Sinatra, and behind it is another book calledThe Man Who Kept the Secrets.
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InsideThe Man Who Kept the Secrets, President Bradford wrote down everything he learned from his tablet about the surface, along with instructions about how to open the external door to the outside world.With the information President Bradford left behind, Xavier is able to leave Paradise and search for his wife,Teri (Enuka Okuma), who he now knows survived the day of the cataclysmic event. President Bradford ensured he left behind everything he could to help Xavier find Teri.
How Xavier Heading To The Surface Sets Up Paradise Season 2
Season 2 Will Have A Different Structure
Now that Xavier is heading to the surface to find Teri, season 2 will look very different from season 1. Instead of being split between flashbacks and a present-day story in Paradise,season 2 will be split between Xavier’s story on the surface and the story of those still in the underground community. Very little is known about the surface other than that parts of it are still habitable and that there are still numerous survivors out there, includingXavier’s wife. President Bradford’s notes indicate there could be as many as 55 million survivors.
President Bradford’s notes also mention that summers are getting warmer and that more vegetation and wildlife has returned than expected.
With Sinatra in a coma, there is a power vacuum in Paradise as the upper class bicker with each other about how to proceed in her absence and after the secrets that have been revealed. Jeremy continues to connect with the public, who trust and respect him after sharing the truth with them. Agent Robinson (Krys Marshall) is looking after Xavier’s children and Jane remains a wild card. This is a tenuous situation that may become more unstable if millions of survivors on the surface learn about Paradise and attempt to infiltrate it for resources.
The Real Meaning Of Paradise Season 1’s Ending
It’s Never Too Late To Create A Better World
Regardless of the mistakes that a person has made,Paradiseseason 1 proves that it is never too late to make a positive difference and to make the world a better place. President Bradford spent most of his life as a pawn of his father, Kane Bradford (Gerald McRaney), and of other powerful individuals like Sinatra. Yet, even when the world was ending, President Bradford took back control of his life by disarming all the nuclear missiles, and later on, by leaving behind everything Xavier and Jeremy needed to learn and share the truth about the surface.
They rightfully want to create a better society where the upper class does not control everything through deceit and an abuse of power.
Xavier, Dr. Gabriela Torabi (Sarah Shahi), Robinson, Billy Pace (Jon Beavers), and even Jane all take steps to learn from their past mistakes and refuse to continue cooperating with an unjust system. They rightfully want to create a better society where the upper class does not control everything through deceit and an abuse of power. Trent’s story, which ends in his tragic death, is a harrowing example of the damage done to everyday people in a broken society. A better world will hopefully be created and include Xavier and his children reuniting with Teri inParadiseseason 2.
