Paradise ending explained: Who killed President Cal Bradford?

Prior to the release of the show's final episodes, season 2 was already handily confirmed by Disney, so we know that there are more episodes to come. And it's a good thing too, as the twists and turns just kept coming in the final episode, taking us back in time to when the underground bunker in Colorado was built.

Through a flashback, we got insight into the works that went on to make the bunker (and essentially, Paradise) a reality as well as the people that were lied to and harmed in the process.

Of course, there were some major questions hanging over into the finale, not least what Xavier (Sterling K Brown) is going to do now that he knows his wife Teri is alive.

Julianne Nicholson's Sinatra is certainly at the helm of the drama going into episode 8 but told RadioTimes.com that there's a "sense of completion, satisfaction on one side" with the finale.

She teased: "We do find out who kills the president, which is a shocker. But then, new mysteries and excitements open up for us.

But what actually happened in the finale? Read on to try and get your head around the final episode of Paradise.

Paradise ending explained: What did the bunker flashback scene reveal?

The finale opens up with a flashback to 12 years prior to the fateful day that Sinatra brought the team of people together (including the scientist she sat with on the private jet) to tell them to build her a city. But instead of focusing on that moment, we pan to the project manager (Ian Merrigan) who is close by and who, it turns out, is in charge of leading the excavation and blasting of the underground area.

He heads up the close-knit team and we see over time, how they grow closer and get to know more about each other. But when he sees some of his men starting to get sick, he finds a harmful sulphite substance in the material and flags it to the head scientist.

Although the scientist understands that those that are exposed will only get sicker and tells everyone to go home that day, the project manager comes into work the following day to be told that he needs to hand in his pass. He's been fired, likely because he's sussed out that they're not working on a recycling facility like they've been told.

At home, he reaches out to multiple publications and newspapers to inform them of what's coming, finding links between President Cal Bradford (James Marsden) and what's going on in that Colorado bunker. Using a 3D printer, we see him build a gun and study blueprints of the White House. That's right, it turns out that this project manager is none other than the man who tried to kill the president on the White House lawn but who ultimately shot Xavier.

We then flashforward to the present, where Sinatra is telling Xavier to check on his daughter and he goes to Robinson (Krys Marshall) to tell her that they're wrong – the person who killed the president has DNA that doesn't match anyone down in Paradise. Xavier is on edge knowing that the stakes are high with Presley (Aliyah Mastin) being used as a bargaining chip, but Robinson says that in order to figure out who the mystery killer is, they need to go back to arrival day.

Xavier says he needs to go back to the scene of the crime, saying that they must have missed something. On the news, Henry Baines (Matt Malloy) says that order has now been restored in Paradise but that law enforcement now needs to use the space to do their jobs. We then see Sinatra giving orders about the tablet, saying that things need to be erased.

On the news, it's officially announced that the president could've died due to foul play, contrary to what has previously been revealed to the public.

In the control room, Sinatra tells Gabriela (Sarah Shahi) that she's done terrible things and there's no point in helping her, eventually excusing her from her services. Once alone, Sinatra calls Jane (Nicole Brydon Bloom) to check in on Presley, admitting that she's wrestling with what to do about her. Jane says she'll handle it but moves the conversation on, asking Sinatra about the president's Nintendo Wii that she wants in exchange for following Sinatra's orders.

Sinatra ultimately makes a bad decision when she asks Jane if she's "f**king insane" for asking such a lighthearted question at such a dramatic moment. Taking the response badly, Jane ends the call abruptly, putting into question what exactly she's going to do with Presley.

As he said, Xavier goes back to Cal's home and enters his bedroom to inspect everything again. He replays a moment from that fateful night where Cal asked him if he wanted to have a CD listening party. But when he replays the scene, we see that actually, Cal had swapped over the CDs. Lo and behold, Xavier sees a CD underneath the Bruce Springsteen one that Cal had held up that reads: "For Jeremy."

Once he listens to it, he hears Cal telling Jeremy that he wanted to make a mixtape and bury a few national secrets while he was there. Thinking back to the series of numbers on the cigarette that was found on Cal's bedside table, Xavier starts to make a connection.

We then see Robinson pay Gabriela a visit, telling her that they need to figure out if somebody on the list of thousands of residents is pretending to be someone else. There's a list of people who were flagged on arrival due to wristband issues and other things so they should start there. Gabriela resists at first but ultimately, helps Robinson.

Going through the list, Robinson flags Jordan E Bennett, someone who has severe PTSD and hasn't left his neighbourhood in two months. When Gabriela clicks on another name, she sees the profile of diner worker Margaret Davis. But when it pops up, it seems to trigger something in Gabriela to sense that something is very wrong.

We see Gabriela in the diner with Maggie, sharing a bowl of cheese fries as usual but this time, Robinson comes up behind Maggie with a gun. It turns out that on her file, Maggie (aka Margaret Davis) should have a severe nut allergy and carry an EpiPen, thus meaning that she wouldn't be able to consume the cashew cheese sauce that they use in Paradise for the cheese fries.

Maggie says she's relieved and that she deserves everything that happens to her, telling Robinson and Gabriela that "he made me do it".

At the same time, Xavier figures out that the sequence of numbers on Cal's cigarette is actually a library sorting code and finds the book that Cal could've been hinting to: The Man Who Kept The Secrets by James Spada. In there, he finds all of Cal's notes and findings on Paradise and the secrets that were being kept from him. But as Xavier flicks though the pages, he's struck from behind by none other than librarian Trent, played by Ian Merrigan.

Who killed President Cal Bradford?

Trent ties up Xavier in the library and when he comes to, Trent is surprised that Xavier doesn't recognise him, saying how he thought one of them would eventually. He is the man that shot Xavier, after all.

Trent tells him the long story of what happened, how he ended up in prison after Cal's assassination attempt and how in there, he tried calling his former work colleague Adam, who was then dying from being exposed to the toxic materials of the bunker.

Sounding like a conspiracy theorist, he is continually dismissed by Adam but explains that he thinks the fact that his prison is in Colorado is a sign. On the day in question (when the world was effectively thought to have ended), there's anarchy in the prison, with guards being killed and prisoners escaping. Trent changes into one of the dead officer's uniforms and starts walking in the middle of one of the motorways where there's a major backlog of cars trying to get to the check-in section of Paradise.

He comes across the real Paradise librarian (Eli) and his wife, who are on the list for Paradise, and tells them to follow him to a foot path. He leads them down the desolate path and shoots them both, taking their IDs and belongings. In a petrol station bathroom, he shaves his head just like Eli and comes out to find 'Maggie' snacking and crying about the end of the world in her car, feeling as though she's done nothing with her life.

Because he's supposed to have someone with him, he tells 'Maggie' that she's in the right place at the right time. We then see them queueing up to get into Paradise, with Trent using Eli Davis's ID. His broken wristband is flagged on the system but he starts to have a panic attack, forcing the worker at the time to just let him through.

Trent explains to Xavier that he wanted to "finish the job" of getting to Cal but got into the swing of life in the bunker, eventually deciding to live out his days quietly. But when Cal came to his library unexpectedly one night asking about making a mixtape, his forgotten mission was revived once again. He started to remember Adam and his other friends from the bunker building days and remembered what he had come there to do.

We see the night play out as we've seen previously, with Robinson leaving Cal alone. But this time, we see Cal reading the tablet on his balcony where he's snuck up on by Trent, who strikes him with a rotary drill bit (the same one that is kept in the library exhibition).

Shaken up, Trent then takes Cal's drink and sits down. But Cal is still alive and tries to mark his cigarette packet with a bloody X from his wound and leaves it on his bedside table. But the sound of it alerts Trent, who attacks Cal and strikes him again, leaving him dead.

In the present, Trent thanks Xavier for the book and sets off, leaving Xavier tied up and alone. Some time later, Robinson eventually finds him and releases him, having found out about Trent from Maggie.

Running to the top of the bunker in the rafts, Xavier knows he'll find Trent there and goes with Robinson to intercept him.

They chase him down but rather than concede, Trent takes a step towards the edge and talks about the bodies and people that were sacrificed in order to build Paradise. Trent takes off his bag – which has Cal's book of secrets in – then jumps, breaking the light barrier and falling to his death in the neighbourhood below.

Is Presley alive?

Xavier goes to Sinatra to tell him that he's found Cal's killer, the same man who tried to assassinate Cal at the White House. Having found out the information she wants to know, Xavier asks Sinatra where his daughter Presley is.

She apologises, saying that she "never intended for things to go this far" but Xavier is left confused at what that means, especially when she asks for God's forgiveness.

Bending down, Xavier comes back up quickly and shoots Sinatra's bodyguards dead, flipping the gun on Sinatra to find out what she's done to Presley. But before he can act, Jane walks in, shooting Sinatra in the throat and telling Xavier that Presley is fine.

Jane tells Xavier that Presley is home and safe, that Presley has been with her the whole afternoon. Unable to talk but still alive, Jane then whispers to Sinatra about the long recovery she has ahead of her and the fact that she's more use to her alive then dead, telling her that she should've just let her have the Wii.

Back at home, as Jane said, Presley and James (Percy Daggs IV) are safe and sound with Carl (Richard Robichaux).

What does Xavier decide to do?

Xavier tells Robinson that Sinatra is down, but Robinson says that someone else will surely soon come and take her position of power. Having looked over Cal's book herself, Robinson tells Xavier that they need to find out about the life that's out there.

Robinson says that Cal gave his life for this, pleading with Xavier that they need to know who's left. She then says that she would die before she let anything happen to Presley or James, intimating that Xavier can leave them alone with her.

That evening, Presley hands the book back to Xavier, having read it herself. She tells Xavier that he needs to bring her mum Teri home and it seems as though Xavier has made his decision.

We see Jeremy (Charlie Evans) listening back to his father's mixtapes, with Cal telling Jeremy that if he doesn't like the world that he built, Jeremy should fix it. We then see him assembling a group of people in a park, where he has spray painted the word "Murdered" on a nearby statue, seemingly becoming a group leader in the wake of his father's death.

Xavier then goes to the plane bunker and uses Cal's instructions to unlock everything. The montage of scenes shows an emotional Gabriela sitting alone at the diner, Henry struggling to regain control but seemingly becoming the new sole leader of Paradise, Sinatra in hospital with her daughter and husband by her bedside and then, of Jane playing tennis on her Wii.

Xavier then starts up the plane using Cal's instructions and has his father's pilot badge next time to him as he says "I'm coming baby" as if to Teri.

Paradise is streaming weekly on Disney Plus. You can sign up to Disney Plus from £4.99 a month now.

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