Oh, think twice. It’s another day for you and me in Dan Fogelman’s Paradise. And today, we finally learn the answer to one of the political thriller’s biggest questions: Who killed President Cal Bradford?
After seven eventful, suspenseful, twisty installments — including a particularly stressful penultimate flashback episode — Paradise Season 1, Episode 8, “The Man Who Kept the Secrets” reveals the highly-anticipated who, how, and why behind the high-profile murder that upended the Colorado bunker’s once peaceful community.
When we last left Secret Service agent Xavier Collins (Sterling K. Brown), Sinatra (Julianne Nicholson) had revealed that Cal (James Marsden) didn’t launch the nuclear missiles on The Day, so his wife Teri (Enuka Okuma) — and other survivors — are presumably still alive. She also told him the DNA from Cal’s murder scene didn’t match anyone in the bunker, meaning the president’s killer came in from the outside or was there before they arrived. And she made it clear that if he didn’t restore order in the community and call off his plan to take her down, his daughter would pay the price. No pressure, Xavier!
So what are Cal and Robinson’s (Krys Marshall) next moves? Does Gabriela (Sarah Shahi) continue to stand by Samantha? Does Jane (Nicole Brydon Bloom) hurt Presley (Aliyah Mastin)? And for the love of James Marsden, who killed Cal?! We’ve got answers.
Decider’s Paradise Season 1 finale recap breaks down the major moments from Season 1, Episode 8, “The Man Who Kept the Secrets,” written by Nadra Widatalla and directed by Glenn Ficarra & John Requa.
Kicking off with a Ted Hawkins cover of Creedence Clearwater Revival’s “Long As I Can See The Light,” we flash back to the day Sinatra brought an architect to site in Colorado and said, “Build me my city.” This time, viewers aren’t the only ones watching them. Off to the side, a project manager named Trent (Ian Merrigan) takes in the conversation, and before we reach the five-minute mark, it’s clear where Fogelman was going all along (and how wrong we were to look for obvious suspects and clues).
The cold open chronicles the early days of construction, giving a glimpse at the crew who built the city that saved the rich and powerful. With photos of their families proudly displayed inside lockers, we learn why workers like Adam (Andre Tucker Jr.) accepted the ambitious job. As the laborious work continues and the crew grows closer, Paradise highlights a special friendship between Trent and Adam, which comes to an abrupt end when Trent realizes their workplace conditions are unsafe. He takes a sample of arsenopyrite residue (a source of arsenic) to the architect and suggests shutting down the project so his guys don’t get irreparably sick. After higher ups learn the residue is only toxic in early excavation and wouldn’t compromise the integrity of the city’s site, Trent is fired, and his crew continues construction — presumably unaware of the deadly substances they’re inhaling.
Trent spends the next stretch of his life plotting how to save his men and expose the mastermind who he believes is behind the inhumane call: Cal Bradford. He meticulously researches Cal and his presidency, reaches out to news outlets to share his story, and unsuccessfully tries to warn Adam that he’s at risk. By now, some Eagle-eyed viewers may have recognized Trent from an earlier episode, but if not, Paradise flashes back to the day Xavier took a bullet for Cal on the White House lawn. The shooter who was screaming, “The world deserves to know! Everyone deserves to know!” — that was Trent. *gasp!*
In present-day, Xavier heeds Sinatra’s warnings and races to tell Robinson Sinatra didn’t kill POTUS and his daughter’s life is at stake if they don’t find the killer. While he revisits the crime scene, Robinson turns her attention to arrival day. Meanwhile, President Henry Baines (Matt Malloy) tells the community, “Today’s events have made it clear that President Cal Bradford may have died as a result of foul-play.” At the diner, a group of concerned citizens — including server Maggie (Michelle Meredith), who’s stress-eating cheese fries — watch the news, while others gather in the streets around Jeremy Bradford (Charlie Evans) as he reads aloud secret communications from his dad’s tablet.
Gabriela tries to calm a spiraling Sinatra, who snaps, “You shouldn’t waste anymore time on me. I’m not who you think I am. I’ve done unspeakable, terrible things.” One of those many unspeakable, terrible things? Calling on certified psychopath and cold-blooded killer Jane to stealthily take Presley hostage. The girls are safely gabbing over ice cream, but Sinatra calls and urges Jane to take care of her if the time comes. Jane agrees, on one hilarious condition. She wants Cal’s Wii. “I’m sorry? Are you fucking insane?!” Sinatra asks in response to the unexpected request. In a chilling, emotionless voice, Jane replies, “I think we should end the conversation here. It will be better that way.” She hangs up, and it’s clear more trouble is brewing.
Back in Cal’s room, Xavier recalls POUS strategically moving a blank CD to his stack. He locates the mixtape Cal made Jeremy, on which Cal says, “Hey kid, it’s your dad. I came down to the library to make you a mixtape and bury a few national secrets while I’m here.” As Xavier heads to the library, Robinson seeks help from Gabriela (who’s getting “frat house drunk” after realizing that Sinatra is, in fact, a monster).
The women check the consults of everyone flagged on arrival day for emotional breakdowns or wristband issues. When Gabriela reads a consult for Margaret Davis, a woman with a severe nut allergy, her face falls. But before we learn the root of her concern, we check in with Xavier, who walks past library display cases holding historical items related to the site’s creation, including as a drill bit and a construction uniform that bears the same flower symbol Prestley saw outside the Bradford home the night Cal was murdered. See where we’re going?!
As Xavier searches the library for the national secrets Cal buried, he realizes the number Cal wrote on the cigarette is a call number and frantically searches the shelves until he finds James Spada’s Peter Lawford: The Man Who Kept Secrets next to a book about Sinatra. (We miss that sense of humor, Cal!) We check back in with Gabriela, who orders a plate of cheese fries at the diner and asks the friendly waitress, Maggie, to share them with her. Maggie accepts, saying it’s her third plate of fries that day. “They’re just so damn good,” Gabriela replies. “You were pretty damn good too.” Just then, Robinson slides into the booth, holds Maggie at gunpoint, and Gabriela explains, “I don’t know who the hell you really are, but Maggie Davis carried a fucking EpiPen with her everywhere that she went. A spoonful of this cashew cheese shit would have knocked her on her ass.” So did she kill Cal?! Not so fast!
While Xavier searches the library for answers, Jane texts Sinatra, “I handled it. Problem eliminated,” which suggests she jumped the gun and took care of Presley. Unaware that it may be too late to save his daughter, Xavier presses on, flips through the book, and finds Cal’s handwritten notes, which include the external door unlock procedure and transcriptions of the top secret tablet recordings. Back in the diner, Maggie tells Gabriela and Sinatra that she deserves whatever’s coming to her, but “he” made her do it. He who? The librarian, who sneaks up behind Xavier and knocks him unconscious with a fire extinguisher!
“You don’t recognize me, do you? The real me, that is,” the librarian asks a tied up Xavier. “I always wondered if one of you would…” The librarian is Trent, former project manager of the bunker build and the man who once tried to assassinate the president. He shaved his head, put on glasses, grew out a beard, and was hiding in plain sight! After his assassination attempt, he was sent to a prison in Colorado, where he learned Adam was dying from the toxic project site fumes — just as he feared. When news of The Day broke, the prison devolved into chaos and Trent broke free. He changed into a guard’s uniform and headed to the road, where he found the real librarian meant to work in the bunker. Trent killed the librarian, Eli, and his wife Margaret Davis, stole their wristbands and identities, and headed to the site coordinates in his place. He stopped by a gas station to shave his head, first, where he met a crying Maggie and offered her a ticket to Paradise. All she had to do was pretend to be his wife and help him get inside.
While first-time Fogelman fans might argue that the mystery laid out before us was borderline unsolvable due to the sheer lack of information we had about the suspect and construction conditions ahead of the finale, as someone who devoured This Is Us, an elaborately layered story and an unexpected background actor moving to forefront of the finale — plus his emotional murder motivations that form a larger commentary on humanity — absolutely tracks for the creator.
Trent had every intention of killing Cal straight away, but he got comfortable in the bunker and felt he was honoring Adam and those who built it but weren’t invited to live there. When Cal went to the library to make Jeremy a mixtape and briefly interacted with Trent, however, he remembered his mission, put on his old construction uniform, grabbed the drill bit used to create the apocalyptic utopia, and snuck up to Cal’s balcony. After a day of heartbreaking interactions with his son, his father, Robinson, and Xavier, Cal was reading his tablet on the balcony, dropped it in the bushes when he was hit, and managed to leave a bloody “X” on his cigarette pack before he died. (Cal deserved better!)
Shortly after Trent leaves the library, Robinson rescues Xavier and they catch up with him on the scaffolding above the city. When they raise their guns, Trent steps forward to jump, but not without reflecting on the bleak, disappointing reality of their so-called paradise first. “They had a chance to start over down here, to build a better world. Instead, they chose more of the same. Bloated houses for the privileged few. Guns. They made this place a prison. The American fucking dream,” he says. Chills. Though Robinson and Xavier drop their weapons, Trent falls to his death atop the city, and Xavier races to tell Sinatra what transpired.
When he asks where Presley is, armed guards step forward to protect Sinatra. “I’m sorry, Agent Collins. I never intended for things to go this far,” Sinatra says, tearfully asking God to forgive her. Xavier collapses to the floor in grief, but in reality, it’ wa’s a cover for his next move. He shoots every guard before holding Sinatra at gunpoint. A shot is fired, and Sinatra starts bleeding — but the bullet wasn’t from Xavier, it was from Jane. She informs him Presley is fine and waiting for him at home. As he races to confirm her story, Jane tells Sinatra, “He was gonna blow your brains out, but you’re no use to me if you’re dead. Long recovery ahead of you. Probably should have just let me have the Wii.” (HOWLING!)
Jane did, indeed, spare Presley’s life. And after reuniting with his kids and looking at Cal’s book with Robinson, Xavier knows what he has to do: bring his wife home. In Season 1’s final moments, Jeremy gains closure and new inspiration from Cal’s mixtape. A jaded Gabriela can’t stomach cheese fries. Sinatra lies in a hospital bed with a breathing tube as her husband and daughter look on. Jane plays Wii Tennis, NATURALLY. President Baines steps up. And with guidance from Cal’s instructions, Xavier packs his bags and hops a plane (which he knows how to fly thanks to his dad!) to journey into the unknown outdoors.
As the door opens and sunlight shines upon him, Xavier vows, “I’m coming baby.” And that, my friends, marks another day in paradise. Season 2 can’t come soon enough.
Paradise Season 1 is now streaming on Hulu.