Paradise: The Man Who Kept the Secrets
March 4, 2025 11:00 AM - Season 1, Episode 8 - Subscribe
Season finale. The touching story of a project manager and his best friend, a typical teenager who just wants to play Wii Sports, and a dramatic showdown on a catwalk.
This show drives me crazy. I love the actors but none of the characters do things that actually make logical sense.
posted by toastyk at 2:14 PM on March 4 [6 favorites]
posted by toastyk at 2:14 PM on March 4 [6 favorites]
Morbid thought: at what point did the builders die
A friend wondered, what's the psychopath's plan with Sinatra? I think it's that Sinatra has aaaall the Wiiii games.
I'd guessed the number was for the CD, which had data, so it being a book surprised me a bit.
posted by Pronoiac at 6:02 PM on March 4 [2 favorites]
A friend wondered, what's the psychopath's plan with Sinatra? I think it's that Sinatra has aaaall the Wiiii games.
I'd guessed the number was for the CD, which had data, so it being a book surprised me a bit.
posted by Pronoiac at 6:02 PM on March 4 [2 favorites]
This show drives me crazy. I love the actors but none of the characters do things that actually make logical sense.
I hollered at the TV when Torabi got a plate of fries delivered to her table near the end but pushed them away. Like, c'mon, you _just_ ordered them, the waitress who knew they were your favorite isn't there, so it's not like you just got the "hey the psych is here, start an order of cheez fries" special.
Also? Also also? Coooooooooooooooooooooooop ouuuuuuuuuuuuuuuut. The coppingest-outest-cop-out that ever copped out.
And I mean I know they told us that Xavier could fly, but buddy, getting in a glass cockpit citation or whatever and just figuring it'll fuckin' fire up after 3 years is a quick way to learn what the glide profile is. If your car's engine got water in the oil and craps out after a half an hour, oh well, you pull over and hoof it. If your plane's engine craps out after half an hour, you've got a very exciting emergency on your hands.
So over in Severance Fan Land, there's discussions about the ethics of being severed, and severing your employees and and and - what's the ethics of being a servant in Paradise? Like on the one hand you're alive, doing a menial job, but you're alive. On the other hand, everybody you ever knew is dead. I dunno, I guess a buncha people would take that chance.
A friend wondered, what's the psychopath's plan with Sinatra? I think it's that Sinatra has aaaall the Wiiii games.
I snorted in the finale sequence when Agent Holly Hobbie was playing Wii Sports all without a care in the world. And yeah, right? Sinatra will recover eventually and sic her other bloodthirsty assassin mercenary personal bodyguard types on her.
posted by Kyol at 7:18 PM on March 4 [4 favorites]
I hollered at the TV when Torabi got a plate of fries delivered to her table near the end but pushed them away. Like, c'mon, you _just_ ordered them, the waitress who knew they were your favorite isn't there, so it's not like you just got the "hey the psych is here, start an order of cheez fries" special.
Also? Also also? Coooooooooooooooooooooooop ouuuuuuuuuuuuuuuut. The coppingest-outest-cop-out that ever copped out.
And I mean I know they told us that Xavier could fly, but buddy, getting in a glass cockpit citation or whatever and just figuring it'll fuckin' fire up after 3 years is a quick way to learn what the glide profile is. If your car's engine got water in the oil and craps out after a half an hour, oh well, you pull over and hoof it. If your plane's engine craps out after half an hour, you've got a very exciting emergency on your hands.
So over in Severance Fan Land, there's discussions about the ethics of being severed, and severing your employees and and and - what's the ethics of being a servant in Paradise? Like on the one hand you're alive, doing a menial job, but you're alive. On the other hand, everybody you ever knew is dead. I dunno, I guess a buncha people would take that chance.
A friend wondered, what's the psychopath's plan with Sinatra? I think it's that Sinatra has aaaall the Wiiii games.
I snorted in the finale sequence when Agent Holly Hobbie was playing Wii Sports all without a care in the world. And yeah, right? Sinatra will recover eventually and sic her other bloodthirsty assassin mercenary personal bodyguard types on her.
posted by Kyol at 7:18 PM on March 4 [4 favorites]
I loved how we watched Xavier go from utterly passive and emotionless to showing so much feeling. Sterling K. Brown is a tremendous actor. (I've been a fan since he did a guest spot on Supernatural 15 years ago, and how he elevated that material was amazing.)
I can't figure out Jane's motivation. If she really just wanted to stop Xavier from killing her, all she has to do is shout, "Presley's safe - I was guarding her," because Xavier still trusts her.
So she has plans for Sinatra .. but leaving her alive, as vengeful and ruthless as she is, and with a squad of thugs still working for her, and *knowing* Jane shot her .. wtf, Holly Hobbie? Anyone got that figured out yet, aside from the Wii games?
Kyol, I had the same reaction on the plane. Exactly. I mean, drive it and you're there in two, three days, without risk. Unless he knows the plane is being maintained. But no way he'd know that.
My wife is annoyed with me on calling it on who murdered the president. Guessing most of you also saw that one, if not quite the motive?
posted by martin q blank at 6:46 AM on March 5 [2 favorites]
I can't figure out Jane's motivation. If she really just wanted to stop Xavier from killing her, all she has to do is shout, "Presley's safe - I was guarding her," because Xavier still trusts her.
So she has plans for Sinatra .. but leaving her alive, as vengeful and ruthless as she is, and with a squad of thugs still working for her, and *knowing* Jane shot her .. wtf, Holly Hobbie? Anyone got that figured out yet, aside from the Wii games?
Kyol, I had the same reaction on the plane. Exactly. I mean, drive it and you're there in two, three days, without risk. Unless he knows the plane is being maintained. But no way he'd know that.
My wife is annoyed with me on calling it on who murdered the president. Guessing most of you also saw that one, if not quite the motive?
posted by martin q blank at 6:46 AM on March 5 [2 favorites]
Over on the Paradise subreddit, someone grabbed screenshots of the book - Dobbins AFB is apparently intact, so I guess that never got hit, which would explain the survival of X's wife? It says "farming & trade reestablished" as well as other places seem to have survived and some of the power grid is back on.
posted by toastyk at 7:13 AM on March 5 [2 favorites]
posted by toastyk at 7:13 AM on March 5 [2 favorites]
Yeah, honestly I'd be kind of amused if next season (looks like a renewal was announced on February 20th), Xavier gets out there and things are basically back to "normal" after 3 years in a cave. I mean, y'know, relatively normal and not just a crapsack post apocalypse. But like ranching and farming and everything kicked back to the 1600s but not everything kicked back to hunter gatherer societies.
Does he go back and tell Sinatra And The Billionaires that the water's fine, they can go back out into the world, or does he leave them in Paradise to slowly go insane in a cave?
posted by Kyol at 7:34 AM on March 5 [1 favorite]
Does he go back and tell Sinatra And The Billionaires that the water's fine, they can go back out into the world, or does he leave them in Paradise to slowly go insane in a cave?
posted by Kyol at 7:34 AM on March 5 [1 favorite]
My wife is annoyed with me on calling it on who murdered the president.
I’m assuming you mean before this episode - did you call it as someone related to the build, the former attempted assassin, the librarian?
The conclusion to this episode didn’t entirely land with me and I’m trying to figure out if it’s because I was still playing catch up on feeling they were being overly clever with the librarian. In theory we could have figured that part of it out (reminds me of That One Situation with that one Klingon actor in Star Trek: Discovery that IMDB was all over), but at least to me it didn’t quite feel like they gave us all the pieces.
I also watched half the episodes on a mini-tablet like the millennial that I am, so maybe missing little clues is on me.
posted by easy ice at 6:51 AM on March 6 [1 favorite]
I’m assuming you mean before this episode - did you call it as someone related to the build, the former attempted assassin, the librarian?
The conclusion to this episode didn’t entirely land with me and I’m trying to figure out if it’s because I was still playing catch up on feeling they were being overly clever with the librarian. In theory we could have figured that part of it out (reminds me of That One Situation with that one Klingon actor in Star Trek: Discovery that IMDB was all over), but at least to me it didn’t quite feel like they gave us all the pieces.
I also watched half the episodes on a mini-tablet like the millennial that I am, so maybe missing little clues is on me.
posted by easy ice at 6:51 AM on March 6 [1 favorite]
easy ice - just that it was the librarian, and just because it felt like an odd character to introduce, and right before they panned to what looked a lot like a murder weapon sitting there in a display case, where he would have seen it, had it on his mind, and had easy access to it. did not see his backstory or the connection at all.
posted by martin q blank at 8:59 AM on March 6 [2 favorites]
posted by martin q blank at 8:59 AM on March 6 [2 favorites]
I feel like this would have worked a lot better as an old-fashioned 20-episode season, they really seemed to fast-forward the last two episodes.
Agreed that the plane is ridiculous unless there's some kind of secret plan to keep planes ready for evacuation. For that matter why are there planes there at all? This must mean the compound has its own runway, and how could they have possibly kept that hidden?
This is definitely what I expected from a sci-fi show from the "This is Us" guy. But it was still fun. And just like "This is Us" I watched it all, and will watch next season, just because of Sterling K. Brown.
posted by mmoncur at 2:02 AM on March 7
Agreed that the plane is ridiculous unless there's some kind of secret plan to keep planes ready for evacuation. For that matter why are there planes there at all? This must mean the compound has its own runway, and how could they have possibly kept that hidden?
This is definitely what I expected from a sci-fi show from the "This is Us" guy. But it was still fun. And just like "This is Us" I watched it all, and will watch next season, just because of Sterling K. Brown.
posted by mmoncur at 2:02 AM on March 7
And yeah, this season already felt weirdly both padded out - we're going to flash back on every last thing like it's a SNL sketch! - and rushed - oh shit we have to come to some kind of conclusion in the last 2 episodes! I think writers rooms are still not quite succeeding at writing 10 episode seasons, definitely.
But yeah, IIRC the arrival episode had the billionaires arriving in planes. Honestly, thinking about the logistics of the last day timeline kind of bugs me now - like it makes sense if the end of the world was the slow catastrophe they were expecting, people would come in as they decided shit had hit the fan before global panic had set in, etc etc etc. With a final day geological and nuclear catastrophe the way we saw, how did 25,000 people manage to go "oh shit!" and get to Paradise? Maybe they were all in Colorado Springs after they knew the risk, who knows.
posted by Kyol at 8:43 AM on March 7 [1 favorite]
But yeah, IIRC the arrival episode had the billionaires arriving in planes. Honestly, thinking about the logistics of the last day timeline kind of bugs me now - like it makes sense if the end of the world was the slow catastrophe they were expecting, people would come in as they decided shit had hit the fan before global panic had set in, etc etc etc. With a final day geological and nuclear catastrophe the way we saw, how did 25,000 people manage to go "oh shit!" and get to Paradise? Maybe they were all in Colorado Springs after they knew the risk, who knows.
posted by Kyol at 8:43 AM on March 7 [1 favorite]
Man you guys are far kinder than me. Nothing in this episode made any sense, the crime made no sense, none of the character's actions made any sense. Everything just reinforced that all these people are the B-Ark people meant to be shot into the sun to improve humanity. Maybe Xavier is a big guy and good with ropes. And it wouldn't have been that hard to rewrite coherently, which is the worst part for me. They seemingly just didn't care.
No more hate watching this show for me.
posted by The_Vegetables at 9:23 AM on March 14 [3 favorites]
No more hate watching this show for me.
posted by The_Vegetables at 9:23 AM on March 14 [3 favorites]
Welp, the "surprise, it was the librarian and that was a code for a library book" did surprise me.
I'm reminded of watching Last Man On Earth when Phil Tandy was driving a plane around.
Jane just wanted her Wii, dammit! JUST GIVE HER THAT WII!...that may be the nuttiest part of a wackadoo show.
Yeah, don't leave the enemy alive, especially with money.
posted by jenfullmoon at 7:38 PM on March 16 [1 favorite]
I'm reminded of watching Last Man On Earth when Phil Tandy was driving a plane around.
Jane just wanted her Wii, dammit! JUST GIVE HER THAT WII!...that may be the nuttiest part of a wackadoo show.
Yeah, don't leave the enemy alive, especially with money.
posted by jenfullmoon at 7:38 PM on March 16 [1 favorite]
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posted by DirtyOldTown at 11:28 AM on March 4