This article contains major spoilers for Paradise season 1 episode 8.
In Hulu’s eight-episode post-apocalyptic murder mystery Paradise, Agent Xavier Collins (Sterling K. Brown) is a secret service agent tasked with protecting President Cal Bradford (James Marsden) in a society created under a sealed dome after a series of natural disasters led to the end of the world. The slow-burn series kicks off with President Bradford (whose code name is Wildcat) being murdered, then reveals more details behind what happened to the world outside the dome, who killed the president, and how each character ended up in this simulated new environment with each episode.
Along the way, Paradise viewers are treated to literary and musical references that help provide clues, including a heavy lean into Roald Dahl’s James and the Giant Peach in Episode 1 and a musical soundtrack filled with classic tunes and haunting covers that allow parts of the story to unfold in a new way as the series goes on. It’s a show where viewers can never be sure who has pure motives and who’s up to something, and it keeps everyone guessing all the way up to the season finale.
Here’s how things shake out in Hulu’s post-apocalyptic whodunnit.
Who Killed Wildcat?
The first episode of Paradise sets the tone of the series: a murder mystery with an end-of-the-world twist. President Bradford is found murdered in his bedroom by his number one secret service agent, Xavier Collins, who breaks protocol to investigate the crime scene on his own before making an official report. The premiere episode carries on, leaving viewers with the impression that we’re experiencing the United States as we know it, but the final minutes offer a major shake-up. This society exists after an apocalyptic event and the people who live in this idyllic town are actually beneath a protective dome, surviving after the end of the world.
Not only is the town a glorified fallout shelter, but the people within it are not always what they seem. Sinatra (Julianne Nicholson), the world’s richest self-made woman who helped build the dome, becomes a prime suspect, as her cutthroat motives for maintaining order become apparent. There’s also the president’s mistress Nicole Robinson (Krys Marshall), a high-ranking secret service official who often seems suspicious, and Agent Billy Pace (Jon Beavers), who has his own share of secrets and a shady past to contend with. In fact, Xavier struggles to trust everyone through the course of the series, and viewers are given a glimpse into the suspicious behaviors of Xavier’s own daughter, Presley Collins (Aliyah Mastin), leaving even the kids under the dome looking like murder suspects at times.
But the twists and turns of the murder of the president come to an end in episode 8, when it becomes clear who killed Wildcat. Turns out, the president was murdered by the librarian beneath the dome, Trent (Ian Merrigan), who isn’t actually supposed to be in the society at all. In the final Paradise season 1 episode, we learn Trent was among a set of construction workers who helped build the structure, but was dismissed from his position once he found out the construction area was toxic and making workers sick. This led Trent down a path of conspiracy theories and attempts to alert others of the presence of the dome, which would eventually house just 25,000 people at the end of the world. Also of note? There’s a flashback to the assassination attempt on Wildcat’s life where Xavier took a bullet for the president in episode 1, and it’s revealed in the season finale that the shooter was Trent, who at the time was trying to stop the construction.
When the predicted events of world devastation began, Trent murdered a couple who’d been chosen to enter the dome, stole their paperwork, and assumed the man’s identity — a librarian chosen to maintain the books and other media resources after the end of the world. Trent murdered Wildcat after realizing he’d become complacent and happy beneath the dome, wanting to exact revenge against the person he blamed for picking and choosing who’d get to survive the end of the world at the expense of everyone else.
Did the ‘World’s All-Time Greatest Cheese Fries’ Help Identify the Murderer?
Among the most intriguing characters in Paradise is Dr. Gabriela Torabi (Sarah Shahi), a therapist we learn was Sinatra’s grief counselor before the world’s end, who was recruited to help design the happiest, most liveable post-apocalyptic society possible. Gabriela also helped choose the 25,000 people who’d be allowed to enter the dome, and she becomes a love interest for Xavier, whose wife did not make it to safety due to planes being grounded when the devastation began, early on in the series. In episode 3, we learn all about Gabriela’s involvement, and how she created everything from thriving marketplaces for shopping to outdoor spaces with simulated cricket chirping to keep everyone happy.
As it turns out, one of Gabriela’s seemingly silliest creations helped identify Cal’s murderer. In episode 3, she tells Xavier she designed the diner beneath the dome, right down to its “world’s all-time greatest cheese fries,” which she later takes him to try. Since foods beneath the dome needed to be shelf-stable, eliminating fresh items like dairy or meat, these cheese fries are smothered in cashew-nut cheese. Early on, we learn that Gabriela has bonded with a waitress at the diner, Maggie Davis (Michelle Meredith), and the pair often shares a plate of cheese fries when she stops in.
It’s when Robinson visites Gabriela at home (after learning the president’s murderer’s DNA didn’t match anyone approved to be under the dome) to inquire about whether or not anyone she interviewed as people checked in for the dome on the day the world ended seemed suspicious, that Gabriela pulls up her computer and begins going through people her team spoke with that day. When she sees a flag under Maggie-the-waitress’ profile that says she has a tree nut allergy, has visited the emergency room multiple times for anaphylaxis, and uses an epi-pen, she realizes her waitress friend cannot be who she claims to be, since they are both big fans of cashew cheese.
This leads to Maggie’s confession that she met Trent on the day of the apocalyptic event, and that he offered her the chance to enter the dome as his “wife,” since he’d just murdered a couple and stolen their dome-admittance paperwork and wristbands. Maggie may not be the murderer, but she knows who is, and the cheese fries helped Gabriella and Robinson figure it out, too, just in time to save Xavier, who was tied up by Trent in the library when he went to look for a clue left there by Wildcat. After Xavier is freed, Robinson and Xavier follow Trent to a break in the dome, where he ends his life trying to escape capture.
What Did We Learn About the Apocalypse?
A truly gutting final episode, in the finale of season 1 of Paradise we learn that while experts had predicted there’d be plenty of notice and time to prepare once the world-ending disasters began, the world fell apart in a matter of hours. Tsunamis, widespread panic, and the firing of nuclear weapons led to a chaotic evacuation of the White House, but not before Wildcat addressed the nation, suggesting the threat of extermination was very real and they should surround themselves with loved ones as they await the end. His admission caused a flurry of panic, with many realizing there was a bunker where some were headed to safety, but they were not.
During this time, we see the heartbreaking background of Xavier’s wife’s not being under the protection of the dome: Teri Rogers-Collins (Enuka Okuma) was on business travel to Atlanta at the time of the disaster and, since planes were grounded due to the unfolding tragedy, she was not able to make it in time for the flight to Colorado where the dome is located. Xavier blames Wildcat for Teri’s death because he knew the end was near and did not share this information with Xavier or tell him not to allow his wife to travel, but learns in the final episodes that all may not be lost where Teri is concerned.
Throughout Paradise Season 1, there are hints that the world may not be completely destroyed, from learning that Billy accompanied researchers outside of the dome on a mission and was ordered by Sinatra to shoot and kill them once it was discovered that life existed outside the dome to Sinatra’s admission to Xavier that Teri and others are alive and communicating from survivor’s settlements around the country via radio waves.
In the season finale, we learn that at the last minute while flying to Colorado to enter the dome, the president made the decision not to fire nuclear weapons at other countries to protect the dome, but instead to shut down all electricity and power throughout the world to stop everyone from firing weapons and give humanity a fighting chance to survive. The most important thing we learn about the apocalypse in the Paradise finale is that some people did survive and there’s a world outside the dome, although we don’t know the state of it.
What’s Next for Agent Collins and Sinatra?
Season 1 comes to a close with Xavier using instructions left behind by Wildcat (hidden before his death inside a book in the library) to open the dome and fly a helicopter into what’s left of the world outside. Sinatra has been shot by Agent Jane Driscoll (Nicole Brydon Bloom), who tells Sinatra her wounds will lead to a long recovery, but that she’s of no use to Jane dead, only alive, so she’s been spared, for now.
As Xavier’s children, Gabriela, Robinson, and the others beneath the dome await news of what kind of world lies outside of the dome, the population living beneath it have been alerted that Wildcat’s death was, indeed, a murder, and that there’s more to the world than they’ve been led to believe for the last three years.
Will There Be a Paradise Season 2?
Ahead of the season 1 finale, it was announced that Paradise has been renewed for a second season. The show’s creator, Dan Fogelman, who created This Is Us, has revealed he has a three-season plan for the series. Production on Paradise season 2 is expected to begin in spring 2025, with a season premiere some time in early 2026.
All eight episodes of Paradise Season 1 are available to stream now on Hulu.
The post Paradise Ending Explained: Who Killed Wildcat and What’s Next for Season 2? appeared first on Den of Geek.
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