Paradise season 1 ending explained: who killed President Cal Bradford?

The Paradise season 1 ending was both eye-opening and explosive. Not only is President Cal Bradford’s (James Marsden) murder revealed, but as it turns out, the culprit actually is living in the bunker, despite Sinatra’s (Julianne Nicholson) suggestion of the contrary.

Elsewhere, Presley’s (Aliyah Mastin) fate lies in the hands of Jane (Nicole Brydon Bloom). Jane calls an audible of her own, not listening to Sinatra. However, does that mean the teen survived the threat? Oh, and you’ll never believe what happens to Sinatra and what’s next for Xavier (Sterling K. Brown).

Here are the biggest takeaways from the Paradise season 1 finale.

Who killed President Cal Bradford?

In a flashback to 12 years prior, a construction foreman named Trent (Ian Merrigan) is leading a crew in digging out the cave in Colorado while building the underground city. He grows fond of one employee in particular named Adam (Cornelius Macarthy). They strike up a friendship of sorts, with Trent developing feelings for Adam. Sadly, nothing would happen as Trent takes note of Adam and other employees getting sick from arsenopyrite residue in the cave, which is highly dangerous initially but eventually doesn’t present a problem. In short, the workers are in danger at the moment, but the inhabitants of the community will be fine.

Trent takes the concerns to the architect of the city, and the architect promises to take care of the situation. However, when Trent shows up for work the following day, he learns he’s been fired while the work on the cave continues. Despite Trent’s attempts to warn Adam and alert media outlets about the dangerous situation, no one listens to him.

Fast forward a bit, and it turns out Trent is the very man who previously attempted to kill the president, but the plan was thwarted when Xavier stepped in and took the bullet instead.

In the present day, after Xavier convinces a reluctant Robinson (Krys Marshall) to have her and the rebels stand down because Sinatra has Presley, Xavier goes in search for answers as to who killed Cal. The agent hopes Sinatra will keep her end of the bargain and return his daughter once he does.

Xavier’s search leads him to the library, as it dawns on him that the numbers on Cal’s cigarette from earlier in the season respond to the call number of the book, The Man Who Kept the Secrets. In it, he finds notes from Cal on the murdered explorers, a route of how to get in and out of the bunker, along with other top-level secrets. Before Xavier can read further, the librarian knocks him unconscious.

When a tied-up Xavier comes to, the librarian reveals himself to be Trent. Remarkably, when the world was ending, he was in a Colorado prison when a riot broke out and he escaped with a guard’s uniform. Once on the outside, he pretended to be a security guard monitoring the traffic headed to the cave, and spotted the actual librarian who was supposed to be in the bunker along with his wife. He led the duo away under false pretenses, then murdered them. Trent returned to their car and assumed the librarian’s identity, even shaving his head at a local gas station.

It was at this gas station that he found a self-loathing woman, who was perfect to play the role of the librarian’s wife, Maggie. The woman who has been pretending to be Maggie (Michelle Meredith) is the waitress at the diner, who Gabriela (Sarah Shahi) later discovers with Robinson.

Despite their being an issue with Trent and Fake Maggie’s identification bracelets at the airport security checkpoint on the day of the apocalypse, they managed to sneak into the community. Trent planned to kill Cal again, but got comfortable in the community, relishing at the new start. It wasn’t until the president came into the library wanting to make the mixtape for his son, that Trent was reinvigorated to eliminate him.

On the night of Cal’s murder, Trent showed up at Cal’s residence and spotted him on the balcony. He knocked him in the head, twice, killing Cal.

What happens to Presley, and does Sinatra die?

Jane is at her house talking to Presley, pretending to still be in grief when Sinatra calls. The agent excuses herself, and Sinatra claims to have wrestled with what to do about Presley. Sinatra believes the teen knows too much and could tie Jane back to her. Jane says she’ll take care of the situation, but Sinatra is hesitant about taking the girl’s life. The conversation pivots slightly when Jane asks if she can have Cal’s Wii system if she does the deed, but Sinatra calls Jane “insane.” Now Sinatra demands Jane doesn’t do anything to Presley, but Jane abruptly hangs up. In a subsequent scene, Sinatra gets a text from Jane stating the problem has been eliminated.

After Trent confesses to Xavier, the killer runs off with the book and the map of how to exit the bunker, leaving Xavier tied up. Thankfully, Robinson shows up and untied him. Knowing where Trent is headed, Xavier and Robinson bolt after him to find him standing on top of the infrastructure of the dome. Despite Xavier and Robinson’s pleas, Trent jumps off the landing into the dome, falling through the dome sky.

Xavier eventually shows up at Sinatra’s office, where he’s met by armed guards and checked for weapons. Once he is able to come face-to-face with Sinatra, he recounts the story about Trent and demands to know what happened to his daughter. Sinatra responds she never meant for things to get this far and asks for God to forgive her.

Xavier pretends to become inconsolable with tears, hunching over long enough to pull out a gun and shoot the two security guards in the room. He then puts the gun to Sinatra’s forehead demanding to know what she did. Before she can answer, Jane appears and shoots her in the chest. Jane tells Xavier that Presley is fine, and claims to have found Presley and she’s safe at home. Xavier takes off running.

Alone with Sinatra, Jane tells her that Xavier was going to blow her brains out, but Sinatra is no use to her dead. Jane relishes that Sinatra has a long road of recovery ahead, and hints that she should have just let her have the Wii.

What happens to Xavier?

After Xavier sees that his two kids are safe and sound, he meets up with Robinson, who is looking at the notes in the book. He tells her Sinatra is down, but someone like her will come along. Robinson tells him they need to know who is out there and what’s happened. She thinks the president gave Xavier the roadmap to go back into the world and do what needs to be done. Robinson promises not to let anything happen to his children.

Xavier later shows Presley the book, and she encourages him to go and find her mother. So he packs a bag and heads to the airport hangar. The episode ends with him aboard a plane.

Paradise episodes are streaming exclusively on Hulu in the US, on Disney Plus in the UK.