Summary
Paradise finally gives Xavier the upper hand in Episode 6, changing the tone of the show, but there are still a few last-minute surprises to throw things into disarray.
At first glance, Paradise becomes a very different show in Episode 6, “You Asked for Miracles”. This is the first time Xavier – or anyone, for that matter – has been able to successfully turn the tables on Sinatra. And it’s relatively easy for him. Which is the point. Paradise’s power structure is a delicate house of cards dependent on illusions, mistruths, and the projection of control. Here, while remaining one of the most utterly detestable villains on TV right now, Sinatra is reduced to a human being, someone who can be outsmarted, manipulated, and threatened. Someone who’s vulnerable.
This is a smart tonal shift since the rest of Paradise has felt deliberately hopeless. Xavier plastering “they’re lying to you” across the domed sky was the first act of open rebellion we’ve seen, and the flagrancy of it is such a shock that Sinatra spends almost the entirety of this episode reeling. It gives Xavier and his allies, including Robinson and a few other Secret Service agents who have intuited that Billy Pace was murdered, the time they need to stage a coup.
But Paradise just can’t help itself, so what seems like it’s going to be plain sailing is thrown for several major loops, including a very personal one for Xavier that he can’t possibly ignore. And just like that, the power is back in Sinatra’s hands. It was nice while it lasted.
The Versailles Protocol
As ever, there are flashbacks in Paradise Episode 6. You can divide them into two broad categories, but they’re intertwined. For the first time, we really get to see Xavier interact with his wife, Teri, and get a sense of what she was like. And we’re also introduced to the Versailles Protocol, the procedure by which the President of the United States would be spirited to safety in the event of a calamity.
We need to know all this since it gives the last-minute twist more resonance. But it’s illuminating in other ways. Teri was headstrong, smart, determined, and crucially didn’t listen to a word Xavier said. Not because she didn’t respect him, of course – because she was strong, independent, and driven. She cared about her career. She had no idea the world was about to end.
Cal, on the other hand, knew the apocalypse was coming. This is why him asking Xavier to run him through the Versailles Protocol – interestingly named, since the Treaty of Versailles was the formal end of World War I and imposed such restrictive terms on Germany in the form of reparations and disarmament that it’s considered one of the largest contributory factors in the rise of fascist extremism leading to World War II – is important, since he’s essentially tipping him off.
Cal couldn’t give Xavier all the details, but he gave him what he could. That this wasn’t enough doesn’t seem like Cal’s fault. While he promised to pick Teri up from Atlanta, where she had traveled for work, and was obviously unable to keep that promise, it was Xavier who couldn’t prevent her from leaving. It’s increasingly looking like the resentment he felt towards Cal was rooted more in his own guilt than anything else.
Xavier Turns the Tables
Paradise has its own Versailles Protocol, which is crucial to Xavier’s plans in Episode 6. Most of “You Asked for Miracles” is about how Sinatra tries and fails to stop him from enacting his scheme and plays directly into his hands, giving Xavier and Robinson back all the agency they’ve seemed to lack in previous episodes. It’s very satisfying.
The writing on the dome was just the beginning. The message is set on a timer and keeps changing to reveal more tantalizing information that whips Paradise’s public into a frenzy. And Sinatra can’t stop it. Carl’s work is sophisticated enough that it can’t be reprogrammed, and Gabriela warns Sinatra of the psychological risks of resetting the entire system and reminding everyone that their lives are an illusion. She’s stuck.
Julianne Nicholson in Paradise | Image via Hulu
Gabriela is shocked and betrayed to learn that Sinatra has her house bugged and knows about her liaison with Xavier, but she’s still more or less on-side. She built the place with her, after all. But Xavier sees through her efforts to talk him down. In fact, he has already anticipated it on some level. He tells Gabriela to pass on the message that he’s coming for Sinatra while Robinson heists the supply of weapons. A staged firework display meant to resemble an attack pushes Sinatra and all of Paradise’s billionaire donors into their escape plan. They’re to be spirited away to safety while panic spreads like a virus. But Xavier, already deeply familiar with how the higher-ups are treated during a crisis, anticipates this and prepares to trap the fleeing officials in what they perceive to be their safe house.
But Gabriela anticipates this too, early enough to warn Sinatra to turn back. She once again escapes punishment, even if it’s only temporarily. But when Xavier pursues her back to her house, she reveals another trump card. Teri is apparently alive. And Sinatra can help Xavier find her.
The Secrets Are Out
Despite Sinatra’s personal leverage over Xavier, it’s hard to imagine how she’s going to get things back to normal in Paradise. The illusion has been thoroughly dispelled, thanks to both Xavier’s actions and, eventually, Presley and Jeremy.
It was revealed at the end of the previous episode that Presley was in possession of Cal’s presidential tablet, which contained all kinds of classified documents exposing the truth about what had really been going on, including Sinatra ordering the murder of the research team who were sent to the surface. But the explanation for this turns out to be relatively innocuous. Presley used to secretly play the Wii with Billy and Jane. She grabbed the tablet on an impulse, hoping to find news about her mother, but was never able to get into it.
When she tells Jeremy this, he has an idea and manipulates his grandfather into unlocking the device. The contents are alarming. Since Jeremy isn’t stupid, he intuits that those contents probably led to his father’s murder, so right in the midst of the public uproar, he announces to the crowd that the messages written in the sky are true. Sinatra and the others really have been lying about everything. The genie’s out of the bottle.
But Sinatra also has another ally in the form of Jane, whom she despatches to acquire some leverage on Xavier. At the end of Paradise Episode 6, she manages to deftly manipulate Presley into accompanying her into what will no doubt be a hostage situation, giving Xavier even more to worry about in the final two episodes.
