{"id":356055,"date":"2026-03-24T19:47:12","date_gmt":"2026-03-24T19:47:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/356055\/"},"modified":"2026-03-24T19:47:12","modified_gmt":"2026-03-24T19:47:12","slug":"5-questions-we-need-answered-in-the-paradise-season-2-finale","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/356055\/","title":{"rendered":"5 Questions We Need Answered in the \u2018Paradise\u2019 Season 2 Finale"},"content":{"rendered":"

Paradise season two<\/a> has just one episode left to go after this week\u2019s \u201cThe Final Countdown.\u201d The series\u2014set before and after an environmental apocalypse wrecks the planet<\/a> and following survivors both on the surface and dwelling deep below in a luxurious bunker\u2014will be returning for a third and probably final season, in keeping with the story plotted out from the start by series creator Dan Fogelman.<\/p>\n

So we probably won\u2019t get every burning question answered in next week\u2019s season finale; there\u2019s a whole other season to get through after this. But we\u2019re hoping most of season two\u2019s biggest enigmas will find some clarity.<\/p>\n

In case you\u2019re not caught up through episode seven, \u201cThe Final Countdown,\u201d spoilers ahead.<\/p>\n

\"Io9<\/p>\n

\"ParadiseSinatra (Julianne Nicholson) in her office. \u00a9 Hulu Who or what is Alex? <\/p>\n

The mysterious \u201cAlex\u201d has been a thread all season. At Graceland, we learned the people led by Link (Thomas Doherty) were planning to find the bunker and \u201ckill Alex\u201d as part of their plan to \u201crestart the world.\u201d It soon became clear that this would be the driving mystery of season two, in the same way that \u201cWho killed President Cal Bradford?\u201d propelled season one.<\/p>\n

In episode three, we got a flashback to the pre-apocalypse days, when the bunker was still being constructed. Billy Pace (Jon Beavers) was hired by Samantha \u201cSinatra\u201d Redmond (Julianne Nicholson) to kill Henry Miller (Patrick Fischler), an inventor who refused to sell or otherwise peacefully hand over his very mysterious technology.<\/p>\n

In the flashback, we saw Henry tenderly caring for his ailing wife\u2014whose name is Alex\u2014and euthanizing her just before Billy shoots him dead. We see that Henry\u2019s prot\u00e9g\u00e9, a brilliant kid who helped create his technology, is Link, still in his fresh-faced, college-kid era.<\/p>\n

Throughout the rest of the season, we got a few nuggets of \u201cAlex\u201d here and there, but nothing so involved as what happened in that flashback. We\u2019re also made privy to a longer conversation between Sinatra and the doomsday-predicting scientist first glimpsed in season one, in which he warns her about \u201cVenus syndrome.\u201d Basically, after the supervolcano erupts, the tsunami waters will recede and the ash cloud will dissipate. It will appear that nature is healing. But the damage to the atmosphere will be lasting, and the greenhouse effect will eventually intensify to irreversible, uninhabitable levels.<\/p>\n

We also all heard him scoff at Sinatra\u2019s willingness to throw her money around to solve the problem\u2014because the one thing she really needs is more time. And you can\u2019t buy time.<\/p>\n

Or can you?<\/p>\n

Based mostly on episode three, including Henry\u2019s very loaded remarks to Billy (\u201cDo you think that things happen for a reason, or are they just random?\u201d), it seems likely that Sinatra\u2019s \u201cAlex\u201d has something to do with time travel or possibly a multiverse.<\/p>\n

The fact that in episode seven, we hear Sinatra call Alex \u201cher\u201d and the last shot sees her traveling to some undisclosed, hidden area of the bunker and greeting whoever\/whatever\u2019s being kept there with a cheerful \u201cHi, Alex\u201d\u2014well, it just makes it all the more intriguing.<\/p>\n

\"ParadiseDr. Gabriela Torabi (Sarah Shahi) and Agent Jane Driscoll (Nicole Brydon Bloom) with other grim-faced survivors. \u00a9 Hulu Is Link really Sinatra\u2019s son, Dylan? <\/p>\n

A key part of Sinatra\u2019s character is that years before the apocalypse (what Paradise calls \u201cthe Day\u201d), her young son Dylan died of a rare but unspecified illness. In \u201cThe Final Countdown,\u201d we learn that Link\u2014who is a tech genius and natural-born leader, just like Sinatra\u2014is really named Dylan.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s also 26 (the same age Dylan would have been if he\u2019d lived), and he has the exact same birthday, May 16, as Sinatra\u2019s son.<\/p>\n

This revelation causes something to shift in Sinatra\u2014she\u2019s suddenly much happier and lighter than before\u2014and she tells her husband, \u201cI think it worked,\u201d after her meeting with Link. A meeting, it must be noted, that saw Link compare himself and Sinatra to Luke and Vader\u2014a fraught parent-child relationship, if there ever was one.<\/p>\n

Is Sinatra somehow Link\u2019s mom, even though her Dylan died years earlier? How is that possible?<\/p>\n

\"ParadiseXavier (Sterling K. Brown) in the wild. \u00a9 Hulu What is Xavier\u2019s connection to Link\u2014and why all the nosebleeds? <\/p>\n

Xavier (Sterling K. Brown) has had strange visions of Link, whom he\u2019s never met but recognizes when he spots his photo on an old student ID. Xavier describes these visions as being like memories of things that haven\u2019t happened yet.<\/p>\n

Then, there are the nosebleeds. Xavier gets one when he\u2019s flying the plane away from the bunker, then Link gets one when he\u2019s trying to get Annie (Shailene Woodley) to come with him to the bunker\u2014right after his survivalist buddy mentions \u201cAlex.\u201d We also see that Henry hands Billy a tissue in anticipation of Billy\u2019s nosebleed. The nosebleed happens after Billy has shot Henry\u2014just as he\u2019s encountering Link on his way out.<\/p>\n

In \u201cThe Final Countdown,\u201d Link and Sinatra both wipe their noses when it gets heated after their summit. (At the meeting, Link had brought up Alex and was swiftly dismissed by Sinatra.) Is this some sort of Stranger Things-style shorthand for \u201cfreaky psychic stuff is happening,\u201d or what?<\/p>\n

What will happen with the bunker\u2019s system collapse? <\/p>\n

We have a feeling Xavier\u2019s daughter Presley (Aliyah Mastin) and Sinatra\u2019s daughter Hadley (Kate Godfrey), newly minted teenage adventure buddies, will make it out of that stuck elevator. As tangential as they\u2019ve been to the plot thus far, they\u2019re too important to the show\u2019s main characters.<\/p>\n

But we\u2019re a bit concerned about the other 25,000-odd people (and one dog) who call the bunker home. Thanks to the events of \u201cThe Final Countdown,\u201d they\u2019re now facing a total system failure thanks to the coincidentally launched decisions to sabotage the oxygen supply (thereby forcing the exterior bunker doors to open) and enact a total lockdown (as a way to prevent Link and company from invading).<\/p>\n

That concern excludes the bratty Jeremy Bradford (Charlie Evans), who\u2014to quote a very correct Agent Robinson (Krys Marshall)\u2014is nothing like his father. He can rot down there. But everyone else who\u2019s deep underground with, presumably, a dwindling air supply, a possible radiation leak, and who knows what else\u2026 yikes.<\/p>\n

\"Paradise\u00a9 Hulu Is Jane really dead? <\/p>\n

At the end of \u201cThe Final Countdown,\u201d Agent Jane Driscoll (Nicole Brydon Bloom) is in bad shape, bleeding out in Gabi\u2019s shower. But can we trust that Paradise\u2018s petite yet terrifying resident psychopath is actually gone for good?<\/p>\n

Speaking of Jane, we\u2019d also love to know more about \u201cAlexQ\u201d (ahem), who sent those \u201ca killer will be born\u201d warning messages regarding Jane\u2019s arrival in the world to that random computer repair guy back in 1997. Was that AI or something even more weird and complicated?<\/p>\n

The Paradise season two finale arrives March 30 on Hulu and Hulu on Disney+.<\/p>\n

Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel<\/a>, Star Wars<\/a>, and Star Trek<\/a> releases, what\u2019s next for the DC Universe on film and TV<\/a>, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Paradise season two has just one episode left to go after this week\u2019s \u201cThe Final Countdown.\u201d The series\u2014set…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":356056,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[146,6622,85,46,112954,411],"class_list":["post-356055","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tv","tag-entertainment","tag-hulu","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-paradise","tag-tv"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/356055","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=356055"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/356055\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/356056"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=356055"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=356055"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=356055"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}