TV Recap: “Paradise” – Episode 8 “The Man Who Kept the Secrets”

Recap:

Twelve years earlier, Sinatra arrives at the cave where we see her command the engineer to build her the city.

The workers are all taking a break and thinking about the money they are making for the job and what they would spend their pay on. They may be covered in dirt and tired from their job, but the men start to make friends. The project manager becomes friendly with a west African worker named Adam. With dynamite, comes progress, and the cave is beginning to hollow out. When arsenic is uncovered during the construction, and management is alerted, the workers are sent home, and the next day, the project manager is fired. (Oh wow, the workers are going to get sick and die.)

Over the weeks and months, the project manager spirals out of control, until his house looks like a man who possessed by conspiracy. He slowly 3D prints a gun and tries to kill President Bradford (James Marsden) on the White House lawn.

Back in Sinatra’s house, Xavier hears the message from Teri (Enuka Okuma) that she is alive and making her way to Colorado. Xavier has a choice to make. He needs to stop his revolt if he wants to save his daughter and find his wife. He heads to the safe house where Robinson (Krys Marshall) stands guard over the captured billionaires and President Henry Baines (Matt Malloy)

Xavier tells Robinson to let everyone go. Sinatra didn’t kill Bradford because the DNA doesn’t match anyone in the city. He wants Robinson to stand down, and she is incredulous. In the diner, citizens watch as President Baines addresses the community that tells them that they are all safe. Baines tells the city that Bradford may have died from foul play. (Oh Henry, you are hilarious. I think you are a little late for being honest. It looks pretty bad when the teenaged son of your predecessor is more honest than you.)

Sinatra is trying to have any information that is remote access on the tablet wiped. (A monster always covers her murderous tracks.) Gabriela (Sarah Shahi) is advising Sinatra to take a break and slow down. (Gabriela, a venomous snake, will do anything to protect themselves when threatened. Be careful!) Trying to calm her friend down, Sinatra tells Gabriela not to waste anymore time on her. She tells her friend that she has done some terrible unspeakable things. Then Sinatra excuses Dr. Torabi from the room.

Jane (Nicole Bloom) is eating ice cream with Presley (Aliyah Daggs IV) talking about Billy. (Presley still has no idea that her good friend Jane is a dangerous psychopath.) Presley tries to leave, but Jane asks her to stay just a little longer. When Sinatra calls wondering what they should do with Presley, since she knows too much about Jane and could connect her to Sinatra, Jane shows her true deprivation. In a tone reminiscent of a serial killer, Jane tells her she will ‘take care’ of Presley, in exchange for the President’s Wii. (Jane is a crazy person. She is negotiating the murder of a teen, for a defunct Nintendo system.) Sinatra asks if Jane is insane, and that is when the contract killer hangs up the phone, stating it would be better this way. (When a monster like Sinatra questions your sanity, you Jane truly are INSANE.)

Xavier has returned to President Bradford’s room. He is convinced they missed something during the investigation and looks to find a missing clue to the murderer. He remembers the CD’s that Bradford had the last night he died, and Xavier finds a CD labelled ‘For Jeremy’. Playing it, Xavier hears the voice of Cal Bradford speak to his son about how he went to the library to bury some national secrets. This gives the agent an idea to pursue.

At Gabriela’s residence, (The good doctor is getting day drunk, nice.) Robinson wants her to cross check anyone who was flagged on arrival day, to see if any of them may not be who they say they are. Trying to shut the door, the Secret Service agent isn’t taking no, and barges into the doctor’s home.

In the library, Xavier begins his search, and Robinson and Torabi are searching through the list of people. Wanting to know why the doctor is drinking, Gabriela states that she now suspects that for the last decade all the times she defended Sinatra for not being a monster, she might have been wrong. When Gabriela finds something odd about one of the flagged residents, her and Robinson continue to investigate.

Sinatra receives a text from Jane saying that she has handled the girl. (I doubt she killed Presley.)

Xavier is searching through the library, when he realizes that the code Bradford left on his cigarette is a catalogue number for one of the books in the library. At the diner, Gabriela has her cheese fries and invites the server Maggie (Michelle Meredith) to sit and enjoy. Taking her up on the offer, Maggie sits down, and Robinson appears with a gun and tells her not to move an inch.

At long last, Xavier finds the book that Bradford hid his work in. (Nice touch that it’s a biography of Frank Sinatra.) Finding nothing in the book, he notices a book about Peter Lawford next to the Frank Sinatra biography and opens it up. (The fact that this biography is titled, The Man Who Kept The Secrets is an even better touch of reality to this world. Well played word games.)

In the diner, as Robinson holds a gun to Maggie, Gabriela wonders who this woman is. The real Maggie carried an EpiPen with her everywhere. The ‘Maggie’ in front of them has eaten copious amounts of cashew cheese fries, which would have killed the real Maggie.

As Xavier uncovers the notes Bradford made about everything that has happened in regards to Sinatra, ‘Maggie’ spills her secrets. She tells them that she is almost relieved. Maggie explains that she deserves everything that happened to her, but ‘he’ made her do it. (He? Now I am gobsmacked. This is not what I was expecting.) Just as Maggie is about to explain who he is, Xavier is knocked unconscious by the librarian. (Never trust a guy who gives off strong Colonel Mustard vibes.)

Tied up and in trouble, Xavier awakens to see his captor. Trent (Ian Merrigan) is not just the librarian. He is also the man who tried to kill Bradford on the White House lawn and was the project manager for the cave site dig. Going back in time, we see Trent in prison, and though he is in prison, it’s in Colorado, and he thinks it’s luck. On the day of the event, a riot breaks out, and Trent escapes. Dressed up as a guard, he stops and kills two people who are on the list for the bunker, the real librarian and his wife, and makes his way to the bunker. On his way he encounters Maggie, and invites her to join him since, he killed the real librarian’s wife he has an extra arm band.

Trent tells Xavier that when Bradford came into make his mixtape for Jeremy, his hatred for Bradford and the death of his friends who built the site came back to him. Trent had to finish what he started. Grabbing the construction coveralls on display in the library, and a drill bit, he went to kill the President. (This leads to a shorter montage of all the terrible things that Cal Bradford experienced the day he died. Ouch, so awful. I feel bad for Bradford.)

Trent is waiting outside the house for the lights to turn off. Surprised on his balcony, Bradford is struck in the head and dragged inside. Thinking the President is dead, Trent sits and drinks from Bradford’s glass. Cal Bradford is still alive. When Trent realizes this, he hits the President again and kills him.

Offering to leave him be, Trent takes the book with all of Bradford’s information.

Robinson enters the library and frees Collins. Trent is gone, but instead of calling it in, the two take off for the assassin.

On the catwalks overlooking the city, Collins and Robinson chase Trent. They corner him, and while Trent gives a monologue about how the people have a right to know, Xavier and Robinson slowly approach the man. (Bad guy monologue would be more effective if we saw more of Trent throughout the show.) The two set their guns down, and while they try to approach Trent, he leaps and crashes through the façade of the sky, falling to his death below.

Xavier goes to visit Sinatra telling her what happened. He just wants to know where his daughter is. She tells him that she never intended for things to go this far, and that she is sorry. (Just say she’s dead Sinatra. What a coward.) Xavier does not take this news well. Taking out a hidden gun, he kills Sinatra’s guards. (Please kill Sinatra!) Pointing the gun at her head, Xavier demands to know what she did. Before he can pull the trigger, Jane shoots Sinatra in the throat. (Ok Jane, good work.)

She tells Xavier that Presley is fine, she is safe at home. As Xavier takes off to find his kids, Jane approaches Sinatra and tells her that she will have a long recovery ahead of her, and she should have just let her have the Wii. (Is Nintendo sponsoring this show? Also, Jane is a stone-cold psycho killer. Who does all of this over a Wii? PS5 I understand, but a Wii?)

At home, Xavier finds his kids safe and sound, and relief pours over the father. Robinson looks through the President’s notes, and while they commiserate over taking down Sinatra, Robinson is very accurate in her statement when she says someone will take her place.

When Presley asks her dad later if the information in the book is real, she tells her dad that he has kept them safe, but now he needs to bring their mom home.

Jeremy (Charles Evans) finally gets to listen to the tape that his dad left him. Cal talks about how he believes you are what you love, and to the President, he loves this music. As Jeremy listens to his dad’s musical choices, Xavier packs for a trip. He is going outside to find Teri. Robinson will protect Presley and James.

His last remark to his son, Cal tells Jeremy that if he doesn’t like the world he built, then he should fix it.

Exiting through the hanger, Xavier makes his way to a small plane, while Jeremy is galvanizing the people who have come to listen to him reveal the truth of what happened in their paradise city.

President Henry Baines sits in an out-of-control meeting of the billionaires who are terrified of what’s next. Henry takes Sinatra’s seat at the head of the table and quickly quiets the room down. (Nice to see Henry Baines grow a spine.)

Finding a small plane in the hangar, Xavier prepares to fly off to find Teri. Sinatra’s husband and daughter anxiously look on while she is in a coma, and Jane plays with her Wii. (Jane is a nutcase.)

The hangar doors open, and Xavier fires up the plane to find Teri.

Review:

The show is filled with a great cast of characters that was led perfectly by Sterline K. Brown. Not only did he make the show compelling, but Brown’s presence made Xavier Collins a likeable character that all viewers will go on this journey with him to find the President’s murderer. Brown shows his range, from loving father and husband, Secret Service agent, and friend. This is a show that lives and dies by Brown’s lead, and he does so with brilliance.

James Marsden as the President could not be a more perfect complement to Brown’s work. Marsden gets ample screen time, but it is the flashback moments we see that allow us to watch a terrific performance of trauma, genuine kindness, insecurity, and love come from Marsden’s Cal Bradford. Episode 7 alone shows the range and versatility that Marsden brought to the role, and in my opinion would be the perfect submission to the Emmys for a Marsden nomination.

Julianne Nicholson plays the villain well. She’s not the President’s murderer, but she is a BAD person, who definitely has been corrupted by her wealth and power. Sinatra is a monster, but she is approachable in some circumstances. Having the show end with her husband and daughter watching her in the coma shows us that not only do monsters exist, but some monsters are called mom and are somebody’s partner.

I really thought Dr. Gabriela Torabi would be the murderer. The idea that someone would regard themselves as the architect of social well-being gives me the creeps. Not to mention, she would have been a great killer since she did so much to impact Xavier’s investigation.

Having the killer be the librarian is a choice that I would not have made. I understand it, I accept it, but looking back on the season, Trent probably should have had more of a role in the show, to make it less like an out of the blue murder than what viewers were led to believe.

Overall, Paradise was incredible and compelling television. Each week, I looked for new clues, enjoyed theorizing on who could be the killer, and loved the multiple plots being melded together to create a fascinating and unique series from start to finish. Though I didn’t like the killer being Trent the librarian, the series was the perfect way to start 2025.