The Paradise season finale exceeded my expectations. It wrapped up the mystery of who killed the President in a surprising way. Samantha Redmond (code name Sinatra), the main villain of the show, paid for her wrongdoing in the worse possible way. (Legit, her being shot in the throat and kept alive in a semi-vegetative state by the assassin she employed is a fate worse than death.) But what really spoke to me (and why this show is so beloved by people whose skin is kissed by the sun) is the way it centered Black love.
More on that later, but I need to admit something. I was wrong. Dead wrong. But unlike y’alls president, I can admit when I make a mistake. And, boy, was I MISTAKEN.
Before the finale, I had two theories about who killed Cal. One was that Kane, his father who was showing signs of mental decline, could have killed him in a state of confusion. But the theory I was SURE was true was that Marsha, a character we spent a great deal of time with last episode and was left behind to die, was the killer. I’d have bet cash money on that one being true.
Well…I would have lost that bet. It was the weird, creepy librarian who killed Cal with a candle stick. (OK, not a candlestick, but he bludgeoned him to death with what reminded me of one.) I predicted that the show would pull an Okie Doke on us, and I was right right about that. I just missed what was sitting right in front of my face.
Anytime they showed the librarian, the camera lingered on him longer than normal. I didn’t notice that until I thought back on his scenes. He came off as a book loving, weirdo but he was the killer the WHOLE TIME. And what’s more, dude enlisted the cheese fries slangin’ diner waitress to join him.
We learn that he was originally a construction worker who learned that the underground bunker was being built on hazardous materials that would be deadly for the workers, but safe for the lucky few who would live there after it was built. No one listens to him and his workers start dying. That radicalized him and he unsuccessfully tried to kill the president once. But Mr. ‘I Love Books’ sneaks into the bunker and eventually kills Cal.
Mystery solved. I was wrong. But I am not done with Marsha. I 100% can see her coming back next season as a major villain. We spent way too much time with her in episode 7 for her story to be done. She will be back. Mark my words. If I’m wrong…scratch that. I’m not wrong. (Except that one time I was wrong a day ago.)
But what really impacted me (I’m not crying. YOU’RE crying.) was Sterling K. Brown’s Xavier Collin’s commitment to his wife. He solved the crime, made sure his family was safe, and immediately jumped on a plane intent on finding the wife he thought was dead. (I am so incredibly happy that he was married to a Black woman. Whew.)
Black love was the driving force of the show. It was always in the background driving our main character. Collin’s love of his children, his father and his wife explains why he did all that he did. And I am here for it.