Paradise Season 2 Episode 7 Review: The Final Countdown

The penultimate episode of season 1 was a truly brutal hour of television. Paradise Season 2, Episode 7, “The Final Countdown,” is marginally less dark, but even more insane.

The reunion between Xavier and Teri is everything we could have hoped for, even if persuading a borderline-suicidal Gary to let them take Bean away dims that a little. Forming a tentative truce with the train people, they head toward the bunker.

What awaits them? Chaos, mostly. The revolt continues as Robinson, Jeremy, and Anders break into a control room while Hadley uses her dead brother Dylan’s birthday (May 16) as a passcode for her and Presley to launch a cyber-attack.

Unaware, a steely group led by Sinatra meets with Link and his men. They both call each other’s bluffs and the tension is peaking when an associate calls link by his real name: Dylan. A stunned Sam asks his birthday. It’s May 16.

Then everything hits really the fan. Following a confrontation, Dr. Torabi kills Jane before Jane can kill her. The revolt attempt sends the entire bunker into “meltdown”. And walking away from all of it, Sinatra calmly enters another room to greet Alex.

After seeing so many moments of hope and happiness get snuffed out, it’s a relief that the Collins are allowed theirs with very little to dampen it. We need that last image of them, Bean, and Annie’s baby to counter so much else.

Yes, in spite of all he’s done, it’s hard not to have empathy for Gary losing everything. But remembering that what he’s done includes murder and that he only loses the assumption of Teri’s love, there are few regrets leaving him alone.

Jeremy’s exasperating treatment of Robinson aside, the various rebellions don’t actually go as far as the other story arcs. I’m sure that will change in the finale, but for now we’re more invested in the climactic points they set up elsewhere.

Where we might be able to dredge up an ounce sadness for Gary, I don’t think a single tear will be shed for Jane. It’s stunning to see her taken down so suddenly and with relative ease, but there’s probably nobody who more deserves their fate.

Both the present confrontations and flashbacks to the construction of Paradise make it clear that there’s more going on under the surface that we’ve ever understood. It’s still bewildering to realize just what that might mean.

We’ve wondered about Alex’s identity for some time but are now left with an even more stunning question. Could Link somehow be Sam’s dead son? If so, how is it possible and what does it mean for how the show plays with time?

As the episode title indicates, we’re counting down to something. It will likely leave us with more death and new circumstances for everyone who survives. Now, with the possibility of bending reality itself, anything could be on the table.

---

What did you think of this episode of Paradise? Share your thoughts in the comments below, and don’t forget to leave your own rating!

Critic Rating:

Audience Rating:

 

New episodes of Paradise stream Mondays on Hulu. 

Check out our latest TV recommendations, updated weekly!

Want more from Tell-Tale TV? Subscribe to our newsletter here!