Diksha Sundriyal
The first season of Hulu’s ‘Paradise’ uses its penultimate episode to reveal the truth about what really happened to the world and how it was destroyed. The show held the mystery of the day of the apocalypse close to its chest so far, but as the veil lifts, some very disturbing and shocking things about the characters and their decisions come to light. By the end of the episode, it becomes clear that there is more to the world than what has been told to the people of Paradise. Still, it does not make things any less complicated, especially when it comes to Xavier Collins. SPOILERS AHEAD.
How did the World End?
The possibility of the end of the world was introduced to the likes of Samantha Redford ten years prior to the actual event. While most people did not heed the scientists’ words, Samantha acted on it and built Paradise. According to the theory, the apocalypse would be triggered by the eruption of a volcano in Antarctica, which has been dormant so far. It was believed that the seismic activity would give them a time frame within which they could work to get everything done. But the theory fails when the volcano erupts without warning, giving people like Samantha and Cal not more than a day to have themselves and their families evacuated to Paradise.
The eruption is so massive that it leads to tsunamis that are unprecedented. Anything below 300 feet above sea level is considered a gone case, and even places higher than that soon fall victim to the monstrosity of the waves. Places like Australia and New Zealand are the first to fall, and the waves soon take over the coastal areas of South America. The USA has barely a couple of hours before it is also inundated by the tsunami, and this puts everyone in crisis mode. While the public and even the people who work for the White House are still trying to understand what is happening, Cal Bradford has a crisis of conscience when he realizes that some people might believe that this is just another emergency that will pass as easily as the others did.
The situation gets worse because the countries yet untouched by the disaster start to prepare for war. They are preparing to prevent encroachment of their territories or to encroach on the territories of others. This approach leads all the nuclear powers to pull out their arsenal and fire at each other, which means that even if there is a chance for people to survive the tsunami, the nuclear explosions will do them in. By the end of the episode, Cal is told that the US is also under attack and they must retaliate to prevent further damage and increase their chances of survival. However, there is another way to save the day.
Xavier Desperately Tries to Save His Wife
While Xavier was told that doomsday was in the cards, he wasn’t given a timeline for it. He knew that the world was going to end, but he didn’t know when. This is why, when his wife had to go to Atlanta for work, he couldn’t stop her. He would have if he knew that things would escalate so quickly, but like billions of other people in the world, he had no idea whatsoever and was caught completely off guard when it actually started to happen. While his kids are taken to safety, mainly because they happen to be in the close vicinity of the President’s son, his wife’s survival remains his topmost priority.
Cal comes through on his promise and Xavier has a window in which he can get his wife to come to a certain spot where there will be a plane waiting to evacuate her. On the page, it looks like a pretty simple and effective plan, but things are much worse on the ground. They become incomprehensible after Cal decides to tell the public the truth about the world coming to an end. His intention was to give people the time to return to their loved ones and spend their final moments together, but all it does is cause panic, which is what Cal was warned about. It makes people scared and violent, and the entire country falls in disarray. We see the immediate effect of Cal’s speech in the White House as he is being evacuated. When the people on his staff, who are to be left behind, realize what is happening and how they are being abandoned, they become desperate to get on the plane reserved for Cal and those chosen to survive alongside him.
As things get violent, Xavier and the others are forced to kill each other to protect Cal and get him to the point where they would all travel to Paradise. At the same time, Xavier tries to stay in contact with his wife and get her to the plane that would bring her to him and their children, but at the end of the day, she does not make it. When Xavier realizes that she has been left behind, he thinks about going back to Atlanta, but Cal reminds him that he still has his children to take care of. This is when Xavier realizes that Cal knew his wife wasn’t going to make it, and while it breaks his heart, it also forces him to confront reality and board the plane to be with his children.
A Fail-safe Gives the World Another Chance for Survival
If the apocalypse wasn’t enough to end the world, the leaders of nuclear powers decided to finish the job themselves. They fire nuclear missiles at each other, and soon, Cal is told that the US is also a target of several missiles, one of which is heading to Atlanta. He is advised to launch the nuclear missiles and retaliate, but there is another option. A flashback scene takes us to the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962 when the world was on the brink of a nuclear war. We meet a general who tells his wife how one man’s decision not to follow the orders of his superiors saved the day. But he also worries that the next time, a man like that might not be the one in control, and to save the world, a contingency plan should be made.
The general’s desire to stop the next nuclear war from happening leads to the creation of a technology that is to be used only in the worst-case scenario. If god forbid, the US finds itself a target of nuclear missiles that could destroy it for good, there is a way to stop the missiles in their tracks. A failsafe switch is created that would fry all electromagnetic waves, including radio waves and whatnot. This would mean that all radio towers, cellphone towers, and even satellite systems would be destroyed permanently. The upside is that it would also neutralize nuclear weapons and prevent the world from disaster. The downside is that this effect would be permanent and would throw the world five hundred years back, but at least there would be a world left.
As the President, Cal is the only one who knows about this switch. So, when he is told to fire missiles of his own, he decides to go the other way. When he tells Samantha about it, she tries to stop him, telling him that with all the communication from the earth’s surface gone, it would become difficult, if not impossible, for them to know when the surface would be back to normal again. Her arguments have no impact on Cal’s decision as he wants to give the survivors, those who are left behind, a chance, no matter how minuscule it might seem. So, right as a missile is seen flying towards Atlanta, Cal pushes the button, which means that there is a good chance that the missile never touched the ground, and the people of Atlanta were saved, including Xavier’s wife.
Samantha Drops a Few Bombs of Her Own on Xavier
At the end of the previous episode, Xavier Collins had Samantha Redford at gunpoint. He was ready to herd her with the rest of the billionaires, hold her responsible for all the lies and deceit, and more importantly, the death caused by her and her people in Paradise. However, she makes him an offer that he never saw coming. She gives him a chance to reunite with his wife. He doesn’t believe her at first, but then she tells him about the fact that Cal pushed the button that would stop the missile heading to Atlanta in its tracks.
To remove all doubt from his mind, she plays him a recording of the messages that have been received from the surface. He hears the voices of the survivors who identify themselves by name, and one of those voices is of his wife. She clearly states her name, as well as that of her husband and children. With this, Xavier is forced to accept that Samantha is not lying. He is happy that his wife is alive, but there is a huge catch before Samantha will help him get her back. He tries to scare her into it by shooting at her, but she has another card up her sleeve.
A quick phone call reveals that his daughter, Presley, is not where she is supposed to be. She should have been safe under the protection of Xavier’s trusted man. But he confirms that the girl is not with him. Samantha is quick to take responsibility for this, and she uses Presley as leverage on Xavier. She wants him to free her people, return her arsenal, and restore Paradise to what it was before. More importantly, she wants to find out who killed Cal Bradford. So far, the evidence has suggested that the killer is no one inside Paradise, which means that someone came from the outside and executed the plan. If Xavier helps Samantha find who that is, she will help him reunite with his wife and daughter. From the look on Xavier’s face, it is clear that he has no other option but to go with what Samantha wants.
Read More: Where is Hulu’s Paradise Filmed?
You must be logged in to post a comment.