Season 1 began with multiple shocking twists, from the early murder of President Cal to the pilot’s revelation that Xavier, along with everyone else, was living in an underground bunker with an artificial sky, following a catastrophic geological event. The show never stopped being shocking and inventive, from the confirmation that Xavier’s wife, Teri, is still alive to Jane being a cold-blooded killer.
Season 2 has been no exception, particularly with Episode 7. In particular, one of the most unexpected (but nevertheless very popular) fan theories that had been circulating heavily online before the most recent episode has just been confirmed, and that wasn’t even the only jarring moment that occurred in this penultimate episode of Season 2.
Season 2, Episode 7 Revealed Link Is Sinatra’s Son, Dylan
Season 2 introduced several new Paradise characters, including Shailene Woodley’s Annie and Thomas Doherty’s Link, who end up meeting, catching feelings, and having an intimate night together that results in Annie’s baby. Early on, there were many theories about Link because his character seemed so mysterious.
Many believed that he was from an alternate timeline, particularly because he didn’t understand references to multiple cultural touchstones, or at the very least, that he had somehow traveled through time. Eventually, this led to the theory that Link was actually Dylan, the (supposedly) dead son of Sinatra, the show’s main villain. However, that seemed too far-fetched to be true.
Apparently, the Paradise writers didn’t agree, as Episode 7 seemed to confirm Link really is Dylan. Although he had thus far only been referred to as Link, when he is standing with Sinatra in Episode 7, one of the members of his group calls him Dylan. This causes Sinatra to ask what his birthday is, confirming it is the same date and year as her son’s.
While there has since been online chatter that this is a red herring and Link is simply using what he knows of Sinatra to manipulate her (but it isn’t confirmed that he would know these details about her/her son), the show certainly seems to be telling audiences this really is Dylan. For one thing, Sinatra goes back to her husband and says, “It worked,” suggesting she actually tried to bring Dylan back.
If Link is indeed Dylan, as he seems to be, then this presumably in turn confirms the time travel theory that coincides with this plot point, which would make sense given than Episode 6 showed a man telling Jane’s mother that she would grow up to be a killer after she had just been born. Both are truly shocking revelations, and Episode 7 didn’t even stop there.
Episode 7 Concluded With A Flood Of Major Plot Points
While Link being Dylan would have been a shocking enough plot twist for one episode, Paradise Season 2, Episode 7, took things one step further. Specifically, secondary villain Jane may have just been murdered. At the very least, she was viciously attacked in the shower and is in bad shape. The most surprising aspect of this plot point, however, is actually who did the attacking: Dr. Gabriela Torabi.
Gabriela had already been growing more bold and intense as a character, especially after essentially telling Sinatra she wasn’t going to be her therapist anymore and was giving up on helping her. However, this is obviously a massive leap from that, as she’s never been shown to be violent before. It makes sense that she was this desperate, though.
Sinatra is almost certainly the show’s big bad as the person orchestrating pretty much everything that’s gone on in the bunker, but Jane was much deadlier, and she clearly has no hesitation when it comes to killing whoever Sinatra tells her to. Whether she’s really dead remains to be seen. It seems unlikely they’d really kill her off so easily, but Paradise has done more shocking things.
It also seems as though Xavier and Teri are headed back to the bunker, and the identity of the mysterious Alex—whether a machine, AI, a person, or otherwise; audiences still don’t know—is apparently about to be revealed, as the episode ends with Sinatra saying hello to and standing in front of Alex.
What Does This Mean For Paradise’s Future?
Image via Hulu
The finale of Paradise Season 2 clearly has a lot of ground to cover, although thankfully, this upcoming episode won’t be doing all the heavy lifting. Hopefully, many of these mysteries are revealed in Season 2’s final episode, but Paradise Season 3 is already confirmed, so there’s plenty of time for these questions to be satisfactorily answered.
Whether in Episode 8 or in Season 3, though, the implications of Episode 7 on the rest of the story are massive. For one, if there really is a time travel element at work, then the narrative is about to be blown open.
Could they go back and change the catastrophic event that destroyed so much of the human population in the first place? After all, Henry told Sinatra the one thing that she really needed was time. Or, could beloved dead characters, like Billy or Annie, come back with time travel now on the table? If Dylan is alive, that doesn’t seem impossible.
There’s also the question of what Sinatra’s long game is. She has seemed to be the obvious villain for so long, yet she’s now insisting that she’s trying to save everyone. Her methods are undoubtedly immoral at many points, but the show has started to hint that maybe she really does have better intentions than it seems.
Ultimately, there is so much more for Paradise to reveal, and with the revelation that Link may really be Dylan, just as fans had been theorizing, it seems like all possibilities, even the most unexpected, are now on the table.
- Release Date
-
January 26, 2025
- Network
-
Hulu
- Showrunner
-
Dan Fogelman
- Directors
-
Gandja Monteiro
- Writers
-
Jason Wilborn
-
Sterling K. BrownXavier Collins
-
Julianne Nicholson
Samantha ‘Sinatra’ Redmond
