Each of the first 3 episodes of Paradise Season 2 was centered around Annie, Xavier, and Sinatra, respectively. Annie was a medical student who couldn’t complete her education because she was too traumatized by the death of her mother; hence, she became a tour guide at Graceland. When the apocalypse kicked off, she took shelter in Elvis’ house with her colleague, Gayle, and while Gayle passed away due to an injury, Annie survived all on her own for the next 2 years. After that, she met Link and his crew, who were en route to the bunker in Colorado. Link knocked up Annie and hit the road with his mates, but Annie stayed back at Graceland. Xavier, hit by a dizzy spell and a hailstorm, crash-landed near Annie’s house some 8 or 9 months later and was taken in by her. She fixed him up and demanded that he take her to Colorado instead of going to Atlanta for Teri. Meanwhile, back in the bunker, Sinatra finally woke up and immediately had President Baines killed. That’s because he was giving orders to bring about summer underground, and that would have jeopardized her “side project,” which would have apparently saved the denizens of the bunker from the second phase of the apocalypse, probably by utilizing some form of realm-jumping. What happened in episode 4? Let’s find out.
Spoiler Alert
Luisa Gives Birth to the First Bunker Baby
Cal, Xavier, and Billy barge into Sinatra’s office to let her know that they are welcoming the first bunker baby, thanks to Luisa. Sinatra isn’t all that hyped about it, because when the fate of the world and the smooth functioning of that bunker rests upon your shoulders, and the death of your son still haunts you, the birth of a child probably doesn’t seem all that exciting. Since Sinatra doesn’t sign off on a bunker-wide celebration, they give the maternity ward a bit of a festive mood, and Cal personally attends Luisa’s child’s birth, because he feels that this is an extremely momentous occasion. Anticipation soon turns into dread as the doctors rush Luisa for an emergency C-section. Given how Luisa’s partner died during the apocalypse, she has no immediate family. Hence, Cal decides to go into the operation theater with her. Xavier can’t allow the president to go anywhere unescorted, so he puts on some scrubs as well to be there beside Cal throughout the process. Luisa is visibly worried about what’s going to happen to her son, but Cal assures her that babies are built to survive the worst calamities in existence, so an emergency C-section won’t be a big deal. That understandably calms Luisa down, and she ushers in the first naturally born baby in Paradise. As mentioned before, Sinatra wasn’t all that jazzed about Luisa’s baby, but after seeing her in that cradle, she was moved. She is so moved that she shows up at Luisa’s doorstep to babysit her child while Luisa, who hasn’t had a wink of sleep because of her son’s tantrums, can get some sleep.
While sitting with the baby on Luisa’s porch, Sinatra tells him about her plan to make sure that, one day, kids like him will see what the sun and stars look like for real. This is obviously a nod to Sinatra’s secret side project, but how is Sinatra so sure that she’s going to guide the denizens of the bunker into a future where the surface is habitable? As per Louge’s predictions, Earth’s fate has been written; there’s no way to fix it. So, based on that, there’s no way to outlast the apocalypse in that bunker. In the last episode, I had theorized that Sinatra is probably working on something that’ll transport the bunker to a version of the Earth where humans didn’t destroy its climate with their own hands. I don’t think she’s going to reverse time and take the bunker to an era where the planet hasn’t been affected by industrialization, because that’d be too much. Even interdimensional jumping is also a big deal, but I think that’ll be more digestible than selling the concept of time travel. Whatever the case may be, this just goes to show that Sinatra appears villainous only because she’s willing to go to any length to prevent humans from going extinct. She has a hard exterior, but on the inside, she’s an empathetic being who wants to give humanity its home back. Whether or not she’ll ever succeed in this endeavor (because people keep thinking she’s the antagonist) is something that remains to be seen.
Annie Dies During Childbirth
Once Annie has ensured that Xavier isn’t a threat, she frees him from his confines and lets him know that he is in Graceland. Through Xavier’s semi-conscious ramblings, Annie has gotten an idea about the bunker, Atlanta, Teri, and more. But since Xavier has healed, more or less, she starts extracting some more specific details about the bunker from him. And the more she hears about it, the more she wants to get there as soon as possible, because she wants all the proper tools to give birth to her baby. Also, her baby’s father is there, so it’ll be great if Link is present when she brings his child into this world. However, her need to get to that bunker in Colorado clashes with Xavier’s mission to reunite with Teri in Atlanta. After going back and forth about that topic for about 2 whole weeks while also talking about the trials and tribulations of parenthood, Annie finally decides that they’ll go to Atlanta first, Xavier will find Teri, and then they’ll head to Colorado. Xavier heaves a sigh of relief, and both of them pack their bags and head for Atlanta, with Annie on her beloved horse and Xavier on foot. They make a pit stop at a church where Xavier confesses to Annie that he has been having these dreams where he’s walking with Link in a corridor somewhere, and he insinuates that it seems like a vision of the future; Annie chalks that up to the concussion Xavier had suffered during the plane crash, and tells him to not pay too much attention to it. They take a nap, and the following morning, they hit the road again, and that’s when they cross paths with a family that lives in a giant farmhouse.
Annie tells Xavier to not interact with them, because she feels that no one out in this world is trustworthy. Xavier thinks that if humans don’t trust each other, they’ll never be able to become a society again. So, he greets them even though they don’t greet him back, and then he and Annie keep heading towards Atlanta. When they reach a breakfast diner called Waffle Barn, Annie and Xavier take yet another break, especially because her contractions are getting stronger. To distract her from her pain, Xavier shows her how to swaddle a baby, and he talks about what his dad used to say about the miracle of childbirth. Even though Annie is all “doom and gloom” about bringing her child into this world, some of Xavier’s optimism rubs off on her. When they proceed to hit the road again, though, Annie’s water breaks, and Xavier leaves her in the Waffle Barn and rushes to that farmhouse for help. For a few seconds, it seems like he has intimidated that ragtag family too much by barging into their safe space and rummaging through their stuff. However, when he tells them that Annie is about to give birth, they understand Xavier’s urgency and turn up at the Waffle Barn to help her with delivery. Now, although Annie’s daughter comes out fine, due to some complications with her placenta, Annie bleeds out and dies in Xavier’s arms. As she’s taking her last breaths, Annie orders Xavier to protect her daughter; reunite her with her father (who is Link); and read Annie’s message to her daughter (which she has written on a Waffle Barn menu with crayon) when she’s old enough.
Teri Has Been Taken
Link can be seen having the same dreams that Xavier was having, where the both of them are walking through a corridor in an undisclosed location. Before he can make heads or tails of what that’s all about, he’s woken up by Geiger, because they need to get the show on the road. There’s some talk about a train that’s been delayed, which could have been carrying supplies, or it was supposed to transport them to Colorado. But since Link doesn’t want to wait for the train to arrive, he leads a convoy all the way to the bunker and knocks on its door. Now, this might be a stretch, or maybe I am onto something, so bear with me, please. When Link is woken up by Geiger, the names of three Disney princesses are dropped: Cinderella, Snow White, and Sleeping Beauty. What do all three have in common? An evil stepmother. What’s the relationship between Link and Alex, Henry’s supposedly deceased wife? Well, she’s not his stepmother, but she was certainly a mother figure to him. And if Alex were actually alive, in person and not a program that’s a brainchild of Sinatra’s, that’d mean that she had faked her death in some way and betrayed Link. If that’s the case, the vengeance with which Link is pursuing Alex would make a bit of sense. This is just a theory, by the way. There’s a pretty good chance that Alex died when Henry sent her into the afterlife and Link tried to destroy Sinatra’s project, which just so happens to be named after her. Anyway, Link and his crew have finally reached the bunker, and he asks whoever’s on the other side of the peephole (read: external surveillance camera) to let them in, or else they are going to enter by force. I know that Link and his people don’t look like much, but I think they have collected a lot of handy weapons and explosives on their way to that bunker, and they could blow it wide open if they really wanted to. I don’t think I have to remind anyone that Xavier’s children are in there, and if Link and his crew jeopardize their lives, then Xavier isn’t going to play well with him. He has already buried a friend, Annie, in that family’s backyard.
In the ending of episode 4, we see that, even after making it all the way to Atlanta with Annie’s baby, he is unable to reunite with Teri because, according to Teri’s compatriot, she has been kidnapped. If he finds out that his children’s lives are in danger, he’s going to explode. By the way, where’s Teri? Well, since the scene of Link reaching the bunker and Xavier learning that his wife isn’t in Atlanta, I have a feeling that she has either been kidnapped by Link or willingly joined Link’s convoy to Colorado. I know that Cameron Britton’s character’s words are very vague and open to interpretation, but I think she hasn’t been kidnapped; she has left for Colorado because she knows that that’s where her husband and children are. That’d mean that Presley, James, and all those who are against the bunker’s fascist regime are not in any real danger from Link because he’s there to break that system for the betterment of mankind. Will Xavier understand that in time, or will he be blinded by rage and confusion and kill Link, thereby putting humanity under threat of extinction? We’ll have to wait till next week to find out, but you can share your thoughts on the topic in the comments section below in the meantime.
