Paradise episode 3 recap: who is Dr. Tarabi?

In Paradise episode 3, “The Architect of Social Well-Being,” Agent Xavier Collins (Sterling K. Brown) tracks down Dr. Gabriela Tarabi (Sarah Shahi) and gets to the bottom of why she helped him during the interrogation. As the two get to know each other, they both make some eye-opening revelations, including Dr. Tarabi telling Collins who he shouldn’t trust.

Elsewhere, Sinatra (Julianne Nicholson) pressures Agent Robinson (Krys Marshall) to quickly find out who killed President Bradford (James Marsden) as she's running out of patience.

Here’s what happened in Paradise episode 3.

Collins seeks answers from Dr. Tarabi

As Collins continues to burn the cigarette with the series of numbers on it, he looks over to a pair of pilot wings and is reminded of when he was a child and his dad was a pilot. Snapping out of it, Collins goes for a run with Agent Billy Pace (Jon Beavers). Pace thinks Collins should be heading up the investigation, but Collins counters that since that isn’t happening, he needs Pace to be his eyes and ears in The White House. When Pace notes that Collins hated Bradford, Collins says it’s complicated.

Collins then goes to Dr. Tarabi’s office and interrupts her playing 52-Card Pick Up. He doesn’t beat around the bush and asks why she told him to say yes during the interrogation. Rather than answer him, she persuades him to join her for a walk.

On their walk, Dr. Tarabi hints they're walking outside because Sinatra and the board may be bugging her office. She then asks what he remembers about the one-on-one therapy session they had together years ago, but he can’t recall much. Dr. Tarabi recalls he was the first person to plead the fifth in therapy, and the only other person less forthcoming than him was initially Bradford. However, the president eventually came around.

The good doc goes on to say that she met with Bradford the day before he died and could tell something happened to him the last week of his life as he seemed tired, burdened and was stumbling around drunk in her office. Collins bounces back to the topic of why she helped him during the interrogation. She mentions looking into his file again and asks about his relationship with his father and why they stopped speaking.

The episode flashes back to Collins meeting his dad (Glynn Turman) at the airport to play chess. As they play, the father inquires how things are going at the academy. He notes Collins would have made a great pilot. Collins was unable to become a pilot like his dad due to his poor eyesight. The two men keep catching up and Collins reveals that his wife Terry is pregnant with their first child, Presley.

Back in the present day, Collins tells Dr. Tarabi there’s nothing to share about his relationship with his father. She counters she’ll take a chance on Collins and tell him more about Bradford, but she needs to know more about the man she’s taking a chance on.

Sinatra puts the pressure on Agent Robinson

Robinson and Sinatra are in the coroner’s office as he gives an overview of the president’s autopsy. The agent looks at the president’s corpse and remembers their romantic times together before the coroner says the murder weapon was likely a rock. Also, the bruising on Bradford’s hands suggests a struggle. While DNA was pulled from Bradford’s fingernails, it may be a day or two before the results come in.

Later in the president’s bedroom, Robinson is alone looking around the room when she’s flooded with another sweet memory of her and Bradford, that’s ruined with subsequent thoughts of him bleeding uncontrollably. Sinatra snaps Robinson out of it and again emphasizes the importance of finding the missing tablet. The billionaire questions if it was a mistake to let the president’s mistress lead the investigation into his death. Robinson vows to get Sinatra some answers.

When Robinson meets up with Pace, Jane (Nicole Brydon Bloom) and Garcia (Eddie Diaz), to debrief them on the latest, she relays that no prints or fibers have been found, those who were closest to the president all had alibis and the time of death did occur when the security cameras went down. Pace inquires why Collins isn’t there, but before Robinson can really answer him, Sinatra shows up again with a looming presence. Robinson gets back to the investigation, and Garcia tells her he may be able to pull a digital footprint for the person who turned the cameras off.

Do cheese fries make everything better?

Dr. Tarabi and Collins go into the supermarket and she reveals that she helped design the psychological aspects of the underground city and was hired to help the grieving people become a semblance of a community, dubbing herself the “architect of well-being.” Dr. Tarabi once more questions Collins about the relationship with his father.

In a flashback, Collins tells his dad they put him on the VP’s detail. As his dad moves a chess piece, Collins notices he has a tremor. Collins wants to know what’s going on, and his father reveals he has Parkinson's. Shockingly, the father hasn’t told the company he works for, but has shared the news with a few members he flies with so they’re more vigilant when working together. The agent knows he is violating ethics and breaking the law, but his dad is insistent that he’s not ready to retire yet.

Back in the present day, Collins says that he and his father just had a falling out. Dr. Tarabi thinks there is more to the story, but Collins says there isn’t. She presses him to talk about his dad’s last flight, which he doesn’t want to do, and lashes out in frustration. She attempts to smooth things over with an offer to take him to get cheese fries.

At the diner, Dr. Tarabi and Collins sit in a booth and she notices him scanning the room. She tells him it must be difficult to see the world as a series of possible threats. She says they all lost something on the way to “Paradise”, and he replies he didn’t lose his wife as he knows what happened. His wife was in a different city when the apocalyptic event happened, and she died because “he” (presumably Bradford) didn’t get her to a plane. The tension is broken by the cheese fries, and he admits they’re good.

He then talks about how he misses soft-shell crab, and for her, she misses summer peaches. They go back and forth about things they miss until he tells a story about his wife Terry, eventually segueing to talk about his dad.

In a flashback, Collins meets him at the airport to play chess, and Collins notices his dad’s hands don't have a tremor any longer. His dad admits to being on medication and he points out that Collins has a new lapel pin, which Collins reveals is because he’s on the president’s detail now. His dad is impressed that Collins gets to get on Air Force One. He offers his father a chance to see it, so they go to the airport hangar. Collins’ dad is mesmerized looking at the presidential plane until Collins shares he submitted retirement papers on his dad's behalf due to his diagnosis.

Back in the present, Collins says his relationship with his father was never the same. Shortly after retirement, the Parkinsons progressed and he died. Dr. Tarabi tells him he has a strong moral compass, and it may serve him well now. She says it’s time to show him her cards.

Collins is advised not to trust…

Back in a corner of The White House, Pace and Jane are alone and she thinks things are bad. He tells her to relax as there’s only a 10% chance Garcia can identify who messed with the security system. Another agent stumbles upon them and tells them they can’t be there under Robinson’s orders. He leaves, and Jane worries the guy overheard her. Pace says not to worry so much then kisses her.

Upstairs, Robinson reveals to Sinatra that Garcia was able to identify who tampered with the cameras that night, and has Pace and Jane brought into the room. Pace admits he turned off the cameras then, and occasionally did it before. Nervous, Jane interrupts and says they turned the cameras off routinely to play Wii Tennis. Sinatra thinks they’re both idiots.

Walking home, Collins and Dr. Terabi talk some more before things take a flirtatious turn. They kiss on the front step, but he quickly pulls away professing to be married. She says she knows, and the two get hot and heavy taking things to the shower. In the midst of their romancing, she tells him President Bradford said not to trust Pace. Coincidentally, Pace is watching the Collins' home with a gun out on the passenger seat.

Episodes of Paradise are available to stream on Hulu in the US and on Disney Plus in the UK.