The old saying goes, “The truth shall set you free”, and in episode 5 of Paradise, the truth may have set President Bradford free, but ultimately at the cost of his own life. Episode 5 of “Paradise” provided more backstory into President Bradford and the man he truly was before his passing. Cal Bradford is shown to be a very successful man who had everything forced upon him. He merely wanted to be a school teacher and always wanted approval from his father, but never accomplished that due to his father having firm control over his life. The father-son dynamic is explored heavily in this episode between Cal and his father, Kane Bradford, and how it affected the relationship between Cal and his son, Jeremy. Jeremy wanted his father to stand up for himself and do the right thing, and the moment that Cal tries to step up and do what’s right, his life is put to an end.
Cal Bradford knew he was a dead man walking the moment he learned the truth. Hearing his father refer to agent Billy as “sniper”, not being able to access classified files on his tablet,, and learning the truth about the cover-up of there being survivors on earth, made Cal realize the true severity of what he learned and began to create his contingency plan. What people saw as him going crazy on his last day in his robe, was actually a man just wanting to do the right thing on his last day of life. His confrontation with Sinatra about learning the truth about the survivors showed the true power dynamic between the two. Though Cal may have been president by title, Sinatra was shown to be the one truly in control by not backing down from Cal and keeping the truth about the survivors hidden.
Sinatra’s power is fully unveiled to Agent Robinson once she learns that the DNA samples from Cal’s autopsy never arrived at the lab. Sinatra was the only one with the power to achieve such a feat. This led to Agent Robinson admitting her fault to Xavier and wanting to form an alliance their circles of trust are now only with each other. Xavier, though hesitant at first, eventually agrees once he learns of Billy’s death. The death was ruled as a suicide, but Xavier knew there was more to it as Billy was preparing to tell Xavier the truth about his actions and Sinatra, which leads him to align with Agent Robinson. This sets things in motion for the two agents to take down Sinatra.
Xavier is gearing up to get his plan in motion, but first goes to his daughter, Presley, after she returns home from being with Jeremy helping him navigate his grief and building a relationship with him. Xavier asks Presley for help with her brother as he prepares to go after Sinatra, but as she goes to her room, it is revealed that she is the one who has Cal’s lost tablet. She was there the night that Cal died and Kane remembers seeing her around the house that night as well. The truths are starting to come to light and Xavier is now on his path to unveiling it all to everyone living in the town by sending a message in the sky stating, “They’re lying to you”.
This was another excellent episode of a gripping political drama that told a heartbreaking story about a man wanting to do the right thing and having his life cut short because of it. James Marsden gives a great performance as Cal Bradford, tremendously connecting us to his character, rooting for him to succeed despite us knowing his fate making it all the more heartbreaking. The flashbacks were used effectively to piece together the story and provide more context to scenes we saw in earlier episodes. The show is getting better with each episode and setting itself up for a satisfying conclusion with only 2 episodes remaining.
Rating: 9/10