There always comes a time when the nicest of individuals need to cause a scene and push back against injustices and in episode 6 of Paradise, Xavier makes his first move to take down Sinatra. Xavier feels as if he has been backed against a wall, fed up with all the lies and manipulation that come with living in the underground town. He sees the president dead in his room and then a close friend in Billy is taken out as well, which leads his mind to one goal, and that is to take down Sinatra and reveal the truth about her to the people. The plan to take down Sinatra begins with Agent Robinson locating the weapons storage room and taking them all for themselves, while leaving a message to Sinatra, letting her know they are coming for her.
Sinatra, who is normally someone with all of the power and control of every situation in the city, is in a position where she is powerless. Having to deal with Xavier threatening to expose her with the messages on the top of the dome puts Sinatra at a crossroads as the only way to remove the messages from the sky is to completely shut down the sky, causing the whole underground city to go dark and cause a panic. Despite Torabi advising against shutting down the sky in the city, Sinatra orders the shutdown after Xavier and Agent Robinson make a scene in front of her window, creating a massive panic among the people as it reminded them that they were living in a cave.
With the people running rampant and going crazy over the darkness in the underground town, Jeremy arrives and pours gasoline on the fire by confirming that Sinatra is hiding dirt. Jeremy has the tablet after Presley reveals she found it on the night of Cal’s murder. The two have his grandpa Kane unlock it and they learn the secrets regarding Atlanta and the death of Cal Bradford.
With Sinatra in a vulnerable state, she runs off with Torabi to head towards a secret hideout for top officials only, but Torabi advises her to do otherwise with her mindset being the state of the underground town needing to stay intact and having a conversation with Xavier to stop the madness. Xavier and Agent Robinson are hot on their tails. Xavier makes his pursuit to Sinatra, as they attempt to flee away. Once Xavier sees where they are located, he is greeted by Torabi pleading with him to speak with Sinatra first and hear her out. Xavier confronts Sinatra, but their face-to-face gets complicated once she reveals a bombshell to Xavier about his wife still being alive in the world. This puts Xavier at a crossroads as Sinatra attempts to cut a deal with him: she’ll give him information about his wife’s whereabouts, but he and his team must stop the madness of trying to expose the truth. The episode ends with Xavier pondering about possibly making a deal with the devil to see his wife again.
This was an intense episode of a gripping and engaging political drama that continues to raise the stakes with each episode. The environment and the characters living in it continue to drive this series forward with powerful performances from our leads keeping us emotionally engaged. Sterling K. Brown continues to shine in this series as a captivating lead you want to see succeed. We feel for him and his character in this episode as we learn more about what led him to this underground town. The use of flashbacks is used phenomenally to provide context and background for why Xavier and the rest of the characters are the way they are. This episode was a truly gripping and emotionally engaging episode of an already captivating series.
Rating 9/10