March 4, 2025 • 22 mins
Jackson Felts and Anders Hirst share their instant reactions to the season one finale of Paradise in which they break down what they did and did not like about the ending to Hulu's newest hit show.
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Speaker 1 (00:04):
That was an idea, felt like I was going to space.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
Kid.
Speaker 1 (00:07):
I'm not sure what to do with my hand.
Speaker 3 (00:10):
You have part of my attention, you have the minimum amount?
Speaker 2 (00:13):
What name? Who are you steal?
Speaker 3 (00:16):
Someone? Just want to watch the world bun.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
Let's see it drinking one percent? Is that because you
think you're fat?
Speaker 3 (00:24):
Let's rock.
Speaker 1 (00:25):
Let's rock today.
Speaker 2 (00:27):
Alrighty, Welcome into Hollywood Weekly. This is a special reaction
podcast to the season finale of Paradise. If you listen
to our Hollywood Weekly episodes, you know this has kind
of been our pod show that we have all been watching.
Jackson Feltz, Andrews Christ we are too sports radio producers
who finally have a podcast to talk about something other
(00:48):
than sports. This is Hollywood Weekly. We talk about things
all TV and movies. We'll have a full podcast coming
out later this week where we'll have the whole crew
to talk about not only the season finale of Paradise,
but also what we've been watching. Oscars just happened on
Sunday Lot that we will get into coming up later
this week. But this is It is currently ten twenty
(01:12):
nine pm. Anders and I just finished watching the season
finale of Paradise from this moment on. This is a
full spoiler podcast. Spoilers abound for Paradise only keep listening
if you have finished the entire season of Paradise. This
is your spoiler warning right here. Okay, now we react
(01:38):
to the end of season one, I think anders the
initial question we need to answer is are we happy
with how they decided who killed the president? The direction
we go into season two, the departure from Paradise for one,
Xavier Collins, how do you like, if at all, how
(02:00):
they wrapped season one?
Speaker 1 (02:01):
Listen, It was always going to be hard.
Speaker 2 (02:04):
Oh wait, that's not the right mic oh hello, hello, Okay,
always going to be hard to shy that in listen.
Speaker 3 (02:11):
It was always going to be hard to top episode
seven The Day right, which was one of the better
episodes of television that I have ever seen. And they
had to wrap up so many stories, at least unless
you wanted to leave a lot of people with a
lot of questions before season two, which I think they
(02:34):
they wanted to wrap up as much as they could
with still leaving a sliver of thoughts and you know,
interest for the next season because it's going to be
at least a year. And you mentioned this to me
before we watched the episode that Dan Fogelman with his shows.
I haven't seen this as us, but he tends to
wrap up stories at the ends of seasons, not leave
(02:55):
things like completely wide.
Speaker 2 (02:56):
And then lead you right into the next big storyline.
Speaker 1 (02:59):
Right.
Speaker 3 (03:00):
So, with all of that being said, I think they
did a good job.
Speaker 1 (03:06):
Not great, yeah, not excellent. Good.
Speaker 3 (03:10):
It was a good ending, and it seems a little,
I don't want to say subpar compared to the rest
of the season, but it just I almost think this
episode fell in line with a lot of everything leading
up to episode seven. I just think episode seven was
(03:31):
so good and so much better that compared to the
one we just watched, it didn't live up to it.
Speaker 2 (03:38):
I think I'm with you on a lot of that.
I would not say it was good. I'd say it
was fair. I'd say it was logical is probably the
words I would use. I didn't love it, and I'm
not sure I even liked it. There's a lot here,
and there's too much to get into just tonight, but
(04:00):
we're reaction. We'll we' rattle off a few things here.
So the first thing that is is we now know
that it is the librarian, that is the one who
killed President cal Bradford. The librarian is also the same
person who tried to murder him on the White House lawn.
Before they all went to Paradise, he went to a
(04:23):
prison in Colorado, escaped the prison on the day, and
in the same day also made it upstole identities, and
got into Paradise all in the same day, which seems
a bit convenient. But nonetheless, I think the logical steps
(04:44):
of how it all may be broke down seemingly somehow
makes some sense. It checks out to a degree. It
just seems a bit convenient. So that's the first part.
The second part is everything that happened with Jane, which
is probably my biggest issue with the finale here where
(05:06):
of course, she is the one who puts a bullet
through the throat I guess of Sinatra. Yeah, and her
entire motivation this you know, what we thought at one
point was a ditsie girl. Turns out she is the
biggest m refer down there according to Sinatra and everybody else. Right,
(05:29):
maybe she is just a ditsy girl because her whole
motivation was just to get a video game. Yeah, I mean,
we see at the very end. She's playing the Wii
at the end, and she seems real happy about playing
that Wii. And if her lone motivation, the whole motivation,
including putting a bullet through Sinatra's throat, if the motivation
(05:49):
is to get a video game, dude, I look, we
both love video games.
Speaker 3 (05:55):
Come on, I I almost think that can't be the case.
Speaker 1 (06:01):
I have not.
Speaker 3 (06:02):
I have to think there's something more there. And the
more I'm thinking about it, you and I raw reaction
all for a weei now that I'm remembering back her
conversation with Sinatra when she kind of cut her off,
there was like a oh shoot, They're like there's there's
kind of a little badass like I'm in control situation
going on here. So I do feel like there's more there,
(06:26):
I hope so. And it would make sense that you
don't want to necessarily reveal what she has. And Sinatra
now is the only one that she knows that knows
that she is more than that ditsy agent, and she
has the trust of Agent Collins, she has the trust
(06:47):
of Robinson. Uh. Still they still think that she's with them,
right uh. And those are the ones watching Agent Collins kids.
So there could be some stuff going on there she
could want, honestly as high as what Sinatra had before.
She could step into Sinatra's role and kind of play Jane, Yeah,
(07:08):
like I control you, I can kill you as quickly
as I want. I am the baddest mfort there is,
so I'm gonna I'm gonna tell or not even take
Sinatra's role kind of she plays puppet master to Sinatra,
just as Sinatra played to cal sort of speak, I
don't know.
Speaker 1 (07:26):
There's a lot of ways they can go about this.
Speaker 3 (07:28):
I just know I I'm like ninety five percent sure
there's something more there because I'm really thinking back to
that conversation where they have it zoned in on her
and was like, I'll take care of it, and then just.
Speaker 2 (07:40):
The negotiation about the dawna y yeah, And that.
Speaker 3 (07:43):
Tells me, Oh, she's in control, and that's someone that
wants more than just week.
Speaker 1 (07:47):
Hope, I really do.
Speaker 2 (07:48):
Hope you're right, because that's that's the most frustrating thing
for me, is being like, Okay, Sinatra finally got the
bullet she deserved, right, and by the way, her daughter
and husband are alive. That was one of the biggest
things that I was kind of theorizing is know there
they've been dead the whole time. No, they are alive.
So that came as a total shock to me. But nonetheless,
like she finally gets the bullet, she deserves this monster,
(08:11):
and it comes from a person whose motivation just seems
so weird right now now, so the librarian, Okay, logical,
It's just it doesn't fill my soul the way I
guess I wanted it to. And I'm like Chris throughout
the in the last episode, throughout the idea of could
it be Marcia who's the secretary for the President, and no,
(08:31):
because it wouldn't have made logical sense of how do
you get you know, yes, you can go underneath the
White House, into the into the whatever it's called. I forget.
Speaker 1 (08:39):
I think this is the best really quick.
Speaker 2 (08:41):
I think, sure she can go in, but you're still
underneath five hundred feet of water. So there's lots of,
you know, illogical choices you could have made. This is
the most logical choice, I think with the way they
spelled it out. So there's that, there's Jane, and then
there's Xavier who gets his kids back. I guess Robin's
is gonna take care of his kids, and now he
(09:02):
flies to Atlanta to find his wife, who, as you
pointed out a few minutes ago, may not even be alive,
as I then immediately said afterwards, probably isn't even in
Atlanta anymore. And yet he's still flying there. You're going
on a plane where what's the fuel situation? You're flying
from Colorado to Atlanta. Buddy, does that plane even have fuel?
(09:23):
And if it has fuel, what you're going to be
your plan to get back? And what if Terry's like, well,
on her way to Colorado it's been three years. None
of that made much sense to me.
Speaker 1 (09:33):
Yeah, it's those are for me, it's those are small nitpicks.
Speaker 3 (09:36):
Oh, definitely the thing that the stuff that doesn't really
hit with me. I still think it's a good episode.
I think I'm higher on it than you are. That's
fair personally. And I just looked at the IMDb ratings.
Granted there's only like fifteen out right now, because it
literally just came out. It has a nine point four Wow,
so obviously that could change.
Speaker 2 (09:57):
I believe I think it's gonna that's gonna come way out.
Speaker 3 (10:00):
And keep in mind that's the second highest to the day,
which is nine points.
Speaker 2 (10:03):
I think it's the worst episode of the season.
Speaker 1 (10:07):
I would I don't think so.
Speaker 3 (10:08):
I honestly think it matches a lot of the rest
of the season. It endings are so hard, man, they
are so so hard. So few shows really nail the ending.
We saw it with Game of Thrones, we saw it
with Westworld, and I get it. This is just the
end of the season. It's not the end of a show.
But like we said, they're trying to wrap up a
ton of stories instead of kind of keep things open.
(10:32):
The one thing that worries me, yeah, is I think
the best aspect of this show was the murder mystery
plot of the President. And I'm not even a huge
murder mystery in a murder mystery guy like, and that's
the whole thing that kind of makes it as interesting
as it is. Otherwise it's just a character drama that
(10:53):
takes place in apocalyptic times, which that's literally what The
Last of Us is. I love that show, So I'm
not saying that's a bad thing, but I'm saying that's
what this show had going for it, and that that's
gone now, like there's no more mystery about who kill you? Yeah,
So I'm wondering where that goes in season two.
Speaker 2 (11:14):
I mean, for me, the biggest aspect of the show
that I loved so much was the whole mystery of
how this got built. Who built I mean, we got,
honestly the whole backstory of the librarian in the fact
that he was a project manager of the city and
there was some sort of relationship with with another worker, Adam,
(11:34):
who is down there. We can get into that in
a set the way it was a great opening, I
just didn't feel like they we can get into it
right now. I just didn't feel when they then ended
up bringing Adam back around and you hear the phone
call and you hear that he's dying and paid off
that I don't I don't feel like I didn't feel
that as emotionally as much as I wanted to feel that,
(11:55):
because you built it up I think really well at
the start, and you gave this kind of really nice
backstory into the motivations of this guy and how much
he really truly hates President cal Bradford. But at the
end he just shows you why he would go back
and kill him. But the same time you try to,
you know, drive in that emotional connection to Adam and
the people who worked on the site, and I just
(12:17):
I didn't feel that deep emotional connection, I think as
much as I needed to.
Speaker 3 (12:21):
Yeah, I'm with you again. I think there was so
much to do, and I think a lot of that
is due to them leaving so many things open going
to the last episode, so they had to close off
so many parts of the story, and so they just
didn't have time to like really like sift through everything,
(12:41):
and that I think leads to a little bit quick
pacing at the end of the movie. And yeah, you
mentioned that too as we were driving back to record,
and I agree with you. I think it kind of
too many things are revealed too quickly to where you
can't even process it and you don't really see the
full reactions to everyone. I didn't even get to see
the I don't even remember the reaction to Xavier seeing
(13:01):
that Sinatra is what he thinks is dead. Yeah, he
did like just runs out to go get his daughter,
which I understand, but like that's a big moment for him.
That's someone that he's been like against this whole season.
There's moments like that where I think it's it's not great,
and I think, like I said, I think it's a
lot to do with almost their own doing, where they
had to wrap up so many things in such a
small time.
Speaker 2 (13:21):
The episode's forty seven minutes, I think it needed to
be a sixty seven minutes at least.
Speaker 1 (13:25):
Yeah, maybe an hour and a half episode on it.
Speaker 2 (13:27):
You really, I think, Hulu and listen the day was
I think fifty yeah, fifty eight. You needed to make
this one even longer, to just let that ending breathe,
build the emotional connections because at the end of the day,
there's all these things and you know, all these questions,
and I like, see and this goes back, I'll go
back to the earlier point. Is the biggest aspect that
(13:50):
I loved about this was the mystery of Paradise, how
it got built, who built it, and who knows about.
Speaker 3 (13:56):
Other aspect that's introduced here with the builders it very much.
Speaker 2 (13:59):
So I want to know, I really want to hope
season two continues through the flashbacks and back in time
of you know, these aspects of who knew about Paradise,
who is making their way towards Paradise, and then kind
of building up towards is the city at some point
going to be in jeopardy because people enough people know
about it from here and there, that word will get
(14:22):
out and people will kind of, you know, you know,
fall upon the city as it is from outside of Colorado,
coming in, Terry Collins, being with Terry Rogers, Collins being
one of them. But like you know, the mystery of
the place itself is something that really really attracts me.
And I think that's still there and you can really
(14:43):
build around that, but I'm not sure that it's enough
for the show to really hang the hat on. And
and there's gotta be more going. And that's why Jane,
Jane's whole thing with Sinatra, There's gotta be more there
because if they if the whole plot of the show
is season two is him finding his wife, well, what
the hell is going on in the city?
Speaker 3 (15:04):
Yeah, and I mean, yes, there is the plot of
his kids, and maybe something's gonna happen to the kids,
and Jane's gonna find a way to think.
Speaker 2 (15:11):
Right Robinson, who's never seen them before in her life,
maybe she will do anything to keep them safe out
of nowhere. I will do anything, he keep saying, when
have you ever reinteracted with his kids?
Speaker 3 (15:20):
Yeah, that was a little that was a little weird
part to me. It just felt rushed. I think that's
the best way to describe it for me. It just
felt like they had to wrap up so quickly. Maybe
there was a budget issue, I don't. I don't know
for sure, but I liked the direction. Like most of
the things about the story, I liked the direction that
(15:41):
was taken. I just felt it was a little bit
rush and it could have been well done. And that's
something that I haven't said about this show yet. I
think every aspect I've really liked how they've gone about
doing it. Yeah, and this is one of those times
where I wasn't as thrilled about it. But again, I
you know, I'm not as low on it as probably
you are. I'm not as high in it as what
(16:02):
IMDb says right now. I think it falls in line
more with the rest of the season besides the day.
That's kind of where I feel about it.
Speaker 2 (16:11):
One of the biggest things that I'm coming away with
as as I think about season two ahead is the
fact that he gets in the plane very nice because
he had his he had his wings. He couldn't become
a pilot because they took him away because of his eyeside,
So how poignant. He gets back in a plane he's
gonna fly off to Atlanta, and he opens the blast
(16:31):
doors and is he opens open the.
Speaker 1 (16:35):
Doors, you get that.
Speaker 2 (16:39):
As he opens the blast doors, sunlight shines through. Okay,
a couple of things. First up was that when we
saw the flashback to Billy being outside and killing the
four explorers who were going to bring a survivor back,
I guess five survivors. As it was as he's coming him,
(17:01):
it's very clear Denver has been nuked and there seems
to be a nuclear winter because it's dark, there is cover.
He opens the blast doors and sunlight blasts through. So
that tells me that the ash cover of planet Earth
may not be what they thought it was right the outside.
I mean, I need I need to see about a
(17:23):
dozen screenshots of the book that Bradford wrote in because
there's all this writing and we only get flashes of it,
but very clearly it says fifty five million people are alive.
That's quite a lot a lot of people. And and
then it says a lot many people in Atlanta.
Speaker 1 (17:37):
That's actually a very low percentage compared to eight billion.
Speaker 2 (17:39):
I guess I just thought that, like it was going
to be a much lower number, fifty five millions a
ton of.
Speaker 1 (17:45):
I mean, if that's the whole world, that's not that's nothing.
Speaker 2 (17:47):
I guess I interpreted that to be America.
Speaker 1 (17:48):
Maybe if that is America, it's a whole different story.
Speaker 2 (17:50):
Maybe that's a good point.
Speaker 1 (17:51):
But either either way, anyway, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2 (17:53):
There is sunshine shining through, so that ash cover from
the volcanic eruption. Maybe that wasn't as bad as y'all thought.
Speaker 3 (18:01):
Well, And honestly, that's not a plot hole for me,
because they remember in the day, they misread how quickly
everything would happen, right, so.
Speaker 2 (18:10):
I misread how quickly everything would wear.
Speaker 1 (18:11):
Off exactly right.
Speaker 3 (18:12):
So I mean these things they're not like perfect, and
these projections and scientists and everything, So where are my nerds?
Speaker 1 (18:19):
Yeah seriously, and like.
Speaker 3 (18:20):
That's ps uh No, that's not a plot hole for me.
Speaker 1 (18:24):
I mean, I'm not sure if it's plot hole.
Speaker 2 (18:25):
It's just interesting to me, how like, oh this the
sun is the sun is blasting.
Speaker 3 (18:28):
Maybe maybe it is because maybe that they didn't think
about that and they just wanted a nice shot of
him going into the sunlight because he was leaving the bunker.
Speaker 1 (18:35):
Maybe that's maybe that's all it is.
Speaker 2 (18:38):
Uh, I need to rewatch it, okay, but my first
glimpse is that I am not emotionally fulfilled like coming
out of the Day, which again like episode seven. I
mean I've seen it now three times. I watched it
right before. I mean, it's just so damn good. And
I think what you said first to lead off the
podcast as we wrap this up, I think was so perfect,
(19:01):
which is that coming out of an episode that fulfills
you so much? This was never going to reach it
never was, It couldn't. No, So the question is how
at what emotional level is okay to end the season.
And I don't feel emotionally fulfilled enough to be happy
with the ending.
Speaker 3 (19:21):
I'm with you, I think I need to watch it again.
Raw reaction is I was. I think I liked it.
I didn't love it. That's kind of what I That's
what I thought. Like I said, most of the plot
decisions I actually agreed with.
Speaker 1 (19:35):
I still think there's more with Jane.
Speaker 2 (19:36):
I have thumbs up on the librarian. Yeah, I think
that worked.
Speaker 3 (19:39):
Yeah. I think because you wanted to have someone that
you knew and sprinkled him in exactly but not predictable.
I think I don't think anyone was, you know, predict him,
and they did an excellent job and like giving him
a good motive. I think all that checks out for me,
and I like the way they went and just felt
a bit rush.
Speaker 1 (19:58):
That's it. That's really how I feel about it.
Speaker 2 (19:59):
Yeah, all right, well we'll talk and we'll get Christopher
Kidd and Jessman McIntyre's thoughts on it. I'll Watchmater on
here as we have another But this is I mean, listen,
I think at the end of the day, we're still
psyched that we have a series that's headed towards season two.
It's been green lid. Dan Fogelman has something great on
his hands.
Speaker 1 (20:17):
Yep.
Speaker 2 (20:18):
I'm eager to see season two in the directions they take.
But I think I think this is going to be
a very divisive finale. I haven't even looked at the
reddit or anything else yet go online.
Speaker 3 (20:28):
Well that's another thing that I want to mention real
quick before you get out of here. Is like I
kind of teeter on both sides of this because on
one level, I'm a huge prequel in Star Wars, saying
we just did our Star Wars episode, and on first
watch I kind of was with the masses and that
it wasn't great movies. And then I did more research
on like why things happen the way they did, and
(20:51):
I will like, was mind blown and it changed everything
for me. And then I rewatched them again and I
am all of a sudden in love with him. So
I think, on one hand, looking up things that other
people saw and then maybe you didn't, or just a
way to interpret it that you didn't, can enhance your
viewing experience.
Speaker 2 (21:08):
And I think that's what's happened to me. I'm sure
about this, But.
Speaker 3 (21:13):
If it's expertly done, I will say this, you shouldn't
have to do that. You shouldn't have to go and
find ways to like it. It should just be immediately.
And I get it, I get it, everyone has different tastes.
But you shouldn't have to go and find every detail
and be like, oh, okay, that makes everything else so
much better. Like it should be just enough, and I
(21:34):
think this show did such a good job of that
so far that it falls just short in this in
this finale.
Speaker 2 (21:40):
Falls just short but perfect perfect wording. We should make
that of the title Yeah, that's good. That's not a
giveaway or anything. Paradise reaction falls just short.
Speaker 1 (21:52):
All right.
Speaker 2 (21:52):
This has been the quick instant reaction to the season
finale of Paradise. Hope you all enjoyed. Hope you all
are enjoying as we head towards season two. We'll have
another episode of Hollywood Weekly with all of the normal
stuff later on this week, where I'm going to also
rip Amazon for what they've.
Speaker 3 (22:09):
Going to do with James Bond, all right, Lord of
the Ring, So we will yes, they did well have
sort of.
Speaker 2 (22:14):
We will talk to you later this week for more
Hollywood Weekly. Until then, hope you all enjoyed Paradise and this.
We will talk to you later. Have a good one, everybody.
That was an idea, felt like I was going to space.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
Kid.
Speaker 1 (00:07):
I'm not sure what to do with my hand.
Speaker 3 (00:10):
You have part of my attention, you have the minimum amount?
Speaker 2 (00:13):
What name? Who are you steal?
Speaker 3 (00:16):
Someone? Just want to watch the world bun.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
Let's see it drinking one percent? Is that because you
think you're fat?
Speaker 3 (00:24):
Let's rock.
Speaker 1 (00:25):
Let's rock today.
Speaker 2 (00:27):
Alrighty, Welcome into Hollywood Weekly. This is a special reaction
podcast to the season finale of Paradise. If you listen
to our Hollywood Weekly episodes, you know this has kind
of been our pod show that we have all been watching.
Jackson Feltz, Andrews Christ we are too sports radio producers
who finally have a podcast to talk about something other
(00:48):
than sports. This is Hollywood Weekly. We talk about things
all TV and movies. We'll have a full podcast coming
out later this week where we'll have the whole crew
to talk about not only the season finale of Paradise,
but also what we've been watching. Oscars just happened on
Sunday Lot that we will get into coming up later
this week. But this is It is currently ten twenty
(01:12):
nine pm. Anders and I just finished watching the season
finale of Paradise from this moment on. This is a
full spoiler podcast. Spoilers abound for Paradise only keep listening
if you have finished the entire season of Paradise. This
is your spoiler warning right here. Okay, now we react
(01:38):
to the end of season one, I think anders the
initial question we need to answer is are we happy
with how they decided who killed the president? The direction
we go into season two, the departure from Paradise for one,
Xavier Collins, how do you like, if at all, how
(02:00):
they wrapped season one?
Speaker 1 (02:01):
Listen, It was always going to be hard.
Speaker 2 (02:04):
Oh wait, that's not the right mic oh hello, hello, Okay,
always going to be hard to shy that in listen.
Speaker 3 (02:11):
It was always going to be hard to top episode
seven The Day right, which was one of the better
episodes of television that I have ever seen. And they
had to wrap up so many stories, at least unless
you wanted to leave a lot of people with a
lot of questions before season two, which I think they
(02:34):
they wanted to wrap up as much as they could
with still leaving a sliver of thoughts and you know,
interest for the next season because it's going to be
at least a year. And you mentioned this to me
before we watched the episode that Dan Fogelman with his shows.
I haven't seen this as us, but he tends to
wrap up stories at the ends of seasons, not leave
(02:55):
things like completely wide.
Speaker 2 (02:56):
And then lead you right into the next big storyline.
Speaker 1 (02:59):
Right.
Speaker 3 (03:00):
So, with all of that being said, I think they
did a good job.
Speaker 1 (03:06):
Not great, yeah, not excellent. Good.
Speaker 3 (03:10):
It was a good ending, and it seems a little,
I don't want to say subpar compared to the rest
of the season, but it just I almost think this
episode fell in line with a lot of everything leading
up to episode seven. I just think episode seven was
(03:31):
so good and so much better that compared to the
one we just watched, it didn't live up to it.
Speaker 2 (03:38):
I think I'm with you on a lot of that.
I would not say it was good. I'd say it
was fair. I'd say it was logical is probably the
words I would use. I didn't love it, and I'm
not sure I even liked it. There's a lot here,
and there's too much to get into just tonight, but
(04:00):
we're reaction. We'll we' rattle off a few things here.
So the first thing that is is we now know
that it is the librarian, that is the one who
killed President cal Bradford. The librarian is also the same
person who tried to murder him on the White House lawn.
Before they all went to Paradise, he went to a
(04:23):
prison in Colorado, escaped the prison on the day, and
in the same day also made it upstole identities, and
got into Paradise all in the same day, which seems
a bit convenient. But nonetheless, I think the logical steps
(04:44):
of how it all may be broke down seemingly somehow
makes some sense. It checks out to a degree. It
just seems a bit convenient. So that's the first part.
The second part is everything that happened with Jane, which
is probably my biggest issue with the finale here where
(05:06):
of course, she is the one who puts a bullet
through the throat I guess of Sinatra. Yeah, and her
entire motivation this you know, what we thought at one
point was a ditsie girl. Turns out she is the
biggest m refer down there according to Sinatra and everybody else. Right,
(05:29):
maybe she is just a ditsy girl because her whole
motivation was just to get a video game. Yeah, I mean,
we see at the very end. She's playing the Wii
at the end, and she seems real happy about playing
that Wii. And if her lone motivation, the whole motivation,
including putting a bullet through Sinatra's throat, if the motivation
(05:49):
is to get a video game, dude, I look, we
both love video games.
Speaker 3 (05:55):
Come on, I I almost think that can't be the case.
Speaker 1 (06:01):
I have not.
Speaker 3 (06:02):
I have to think there's something more there. And the
more I'm thinking about it, you and I raw reaction
all for a weei now that I'm remembering back her
conversation with Sinatra when she kind of cut her off,
there was like a oh shoot, They're like there's there's
kind of a little badass like I'm in control situation
going on here. So I do feel like there's more there,
(06:26):
I hope so. And it would make sense that you
don't want to necessarily reveal what she has. And Sinatra
now is the only one that she knows that knows
that she is more than that ditsy agent, and she
has the trust of Agent Collins, she has the trust
(06:47):
of Robinson. Uh. Still they still think that she's with them,
right uh. And those are the ones watching Agent Collins kids.
So there could be some stuff going on there she
could want, honestly as high as what Sinatra had before.
She could step into Sinatra's role and kind of play Jane, Yeah,
(07:08):
like I control you, I can kill you as quickly
as I want. I am the baddest mfort there is,
so I'm gonna I'm gonna tell or not even take
Sinatra's role kind of she plays puppet master to Sinatra,
just as Sinatra played to cal sort of speak, I
don't know.
Speaker 1 (07:26):
There's a lot of ways they can go about this.
Speaker 3 (07:28):
I just know I I'm like ninety five percent sure
there's something more there because I'm really thinking back to
that conversation where they have it zoned in on her
and was like, I'll take care of it, and then just.
Speaker 2 (07:40):
The negotiation about the dawna y yeah, And that.
Speaker 3 (07:43):
Tells me, Oh, she's in control, and that's someone that
wants more than just week.
Speaker 1 (07:47):
Hope, I really do.
Speaker 2 (07:48):
Hope you're right, because that's that's the most frustrating thing
for me, is being like, Okay, Sinatra finally got the
bullet she deserved, right, and by the way, her daughter
and husband are alive. That was one of the biggest
things that I was kind of theorizing is know there
they've been dead the whole time. No, they are alive.
So that came as a total shock to me. But nonetheless,
like she finally gets the bullet, she deserves this monster,
(08:11):
and it comes from a person whose motivation just seems
so weird right now now, so the librarian, Okay, logical,
It's just it doesn't fill my soul the way I
guess I wanted it to. And I'm like Chris throughout
the in the last episode, throughout the idea of could
it be Marcia who's the secretary for the President, and no,
(08:31):
because it wouldn't have made logical sense of how do
you get you know, yes, you can go underneath the
White House, into the into the whatever it's called. I forget.
Speaker 1 (08:39):
I think this is the best really quick.
Speaker 2 (08:41):
I think, sure she can go in, but you're still
underneath five hundred feet of water. So there's lots of,
you know, illogical choices you could have made. This is
the most logical choice, I think with the way they
spelled it out. So there's that, there's Jane, and then
there's Xavier who gets his kids back. I guess Robin's
is gonna take care of his kids, and now he
(09:02):
flies to Atlanta to find his wife, who, as you
pointed out a few minutes ago, may not even be alive,
as I then immediately said afterwards, probably isn't even in
Atlanta anymore. And yet he's still flying there. You're going
on a plane where what's the fuel situation? You're flying
from Colorado to Atlanta. Buddy, does that plane even have fuel?
(09:23):
And if it has fuel, what you're going to be
your plan to get back? And what if Terry's like, well,
on her way to Colorado it's been three years. None
of that made much sense to me.
Speaker 1 (09:33):
Yeah, it's those are for me, it's those are small nitpicks.
Speaker 3 (09:36):
Oh, definitely the thing that the stuff that doesn't really
hit with me. I still think it's a good episode.
I think I'm higher on it than you are. That's
fair personally. And I just looked at the IMDb ratings.
Granted there's only like fifteen out right now, because it
literally just came out. It has a nine point four Wow,
so obviously that could change.
Speaker 2 (09:57):
I believe I think it's gonna that's gonna come way out.
Speaker 3 (10:00):
And keep in mind that's the second highest to the day,
which is nine points.
Speaker 2 (10:03):
I think it's the worst episode of the season.
Speaker 1 (10:07):
I would I don't think so.
Speaker 3 (10:08):
I honestly think it matches a lot of the rest
of the season. It endings are so hard, man, they
are so so hard. So few shows really nail the ending.
We saw it with Game of Thrones, we saw it
with Westworld, and I get it. This is just the
end of the season. It's not the end of a show.
But like we said, they're trying to wrap up a
ton of stories instead of kind of keep things open.
(10:32):
The one thing that worries me, yeah, is I think
the best aspect of this show was the murder mystery
plot of the President. And I'm not even a huge
murder mystery in a murder mystery guy like, and that's
the whole thing that kind of makes it as interesting
as it is. Otherwise it's just a character drama that
(10:53):
takes place in apocalyptic times, which that's literally what The
Last of Us is. I love that show, So I'm
not saying that's a bad thing, but I'm saying that's
what this show had going for it, and that that's
gone now, like there's no more mystery about who kill you? Yeah,
So I'm wondering where that goes in season two.
Speaker 2 (11:14):
I mean, for me, the biggest aspect of the show
that I loved so much was the whole mystery of
how this got built. Who built I mean, we got,
honestly the whole backstory of the librarian in the fact
that he was a project manager of the city and
there was some sort of relationship with with another worker, Adam,
(11:34):
who is down there. We can get into that in
a set the way it was a great opening, I
just didn't feel like they we can get into it
right now. I just didn't feel when they then ended
up bringing Adam back around and you hear the phone
call and you hear that he's dying and paid off
that I don't I don't feel like I didn't feel
that as emotionally as much as I wanted to feel that,
(11:55):
because you built it up I think really well at
the start, and you gave this kind of really nice
backstory into the motivations of this guy and how much
he really truly hates President cal Bradford. But at the
end he just shows you why he would go back
and kill him. But the same time you try to,
you know, drive in that emotional connection to Adam and
the people who worked on the site, and I just
(12:17):
I didn't feel that deep emotional connection, I think as
much as I needed to.
Speaker 3 (12:21):
Yeah, I'm with you again. I think there was so
much to do, and I think a lot of that
is due to them leaving so many things open going
to the last episode, so they had to close off
so many parts of the story, and so they just
didn't have time to like really like sift through everything,
(12:41):
and that I think leads to a little bit quick
pacing at the end of the movie. And yeah, you
mentioned that too as we were driving back to record,
and I agree with you. I think it kind of
too many things are revealed too quickly to where you
can't even process it and you don't really see the
full reactions to everyone. I didn't even get to see
the I don't even remember the reaction to Xavier seeing
(13:01):
that Sinatra is what he thinks is dead. Yeah, he
did like just runs out to go get his daughter,
which I understand, but like that's a big moment for him.
That's someone that he's been like against this whole season.
There's moments like that where I think it's it's not great,
and I think, like I said, I think it's a
lot to do with almost their own doing, where they
had to wrap up so many things in such a
small time.
Speaker 2 (13:21):
The episode's forty seven minutes, I think it needed to
be a sixty seven minutes at least.
Speaker 1 (13:25):
Yeah, maybe an hour and a half episode on it.
Speaker 2 (13:27):
You really, I think, Hulu and listen the day was
I think fifty yeah, fifty eight. You needed to make
this one even longer, to just let that ending breathe,
build the emotional connections because at the end of the day,
there's all these things and you know, all these questions,
and I like, see and this goes back, I'll go
back to the earlier point. Is the biggest aspect that
(13:50):
I loved about this was the mystery of Paradise, how
it got built, who built it, and who knows about.
Speaker 3 (13:56):
Other aspect that's introduced here with the builders it very much.
Speaker 2 (13:59):
So I want to know, I really want to hope
season two continues through the flashbacks and back in time
of you know, these aspects of who knew about Paradise,
who is making their way towards Paradise, and then kind
of building up towards is the city at some point
going to be in jeopardy because people enough people know
about it from here and there, that word will get
(14:22):
out and people will kind of, you know, you know,
fall upon the city as it is from outside of Colorado,
coming in, Terry Collins, being with Terry Rogers, Collins being
one of them. But like you know, the mystery of
the place itself is something that really really attracts me.
And I think that's still there and you can really
(14:43):
build around that, but I'm not sure that it's enough
for the show to really hang the hat on. And
and there's gotta be more going. And that's why Jane,
Jane's whole thing with Sinatra, There's gotta be more there
because if they if the whole plot of the show
is season two is him finding his wife, well, what
the hell is going on in the city?
Speaker 3 (15:04):
Yeah, and I mean, yes, there is the plot of
his kids, and maybe something's gonna happen to the kids,
and Jane's gonna find a way to think.
Speaker 2 (15:11):
Right Robinson, who's never seen them before in her life,
maybe she will do anything to keep them safe out
of nowhere. I will do anything, he keep saying, when
have you ever reinteracted with his kids?
Speaker 3 (15:20):
Yeah, that was a little that was a little weird
part to me. It just felt rushed. I think that's
the best way to describe it for me. It just
felt like they had to wrap up so quickly. Maybe
there was a budget issue, I don't. I don't know
for sure, but I liked the direction. Like most of
the things about the story, I liked the direction that
(15:41):
was taken. I just felt it was a little bit
rush and it could have been well done. And that's
something that I haven't said about this show yet. I
think every aspect I've really liked how they've gone about
doing it. Yeah, and this is one of those times
where I wasn't as thrilled about it. But again, I
you know, I'm not as low on it as probably
you are. I'm not as high in it as what
(16:02):
IMDb says right now. I think it falls in line
more with the rest of the season besides the day.
That's kind of where I feel about it.
Speaker 2 (16:11):
One of the biggest things that I'm coming away with
as as I think about season two ahead is the
fact that he gets in the plane very nice because
he had his he had his wings. He couldn't become
a pilot because they took him away because of his eyeside,
So how poignant. He gets back in a plane he's
gonna fly off to Atlanta, and he opens the blast
(16:31):
doors and is he opens open the.
Speaker 1 (16:35):
Doors, you get that.
Speaker 2 (16:39):
As he opens the blast doors, sunlight shines through. Okay,
a couple of things. First up was that when we
saw the flashback to Billy being outside and killing the
four explorers who were going to bring a survivor back,
I guess five survivors. As it was as he's coming him,
(17:01):
it's very clear Denver has been nuked and there seems
to be a nuclear winter because it's dark, there is cover.
He opens the blast doors and sunlight blasts through. So
that tells me that the ash cover of planet Earth
may not be what they thought it was right the outside.
I mean, I need I need to see about a
(17:23):
dozen screenshots of the book that Bradford wrote in because
there's all this writing and we only get flashes of it,
but very clearly it says fifty five million people are alive.
That's quite a lot a lot of people. And and
then it says a lot many people in Atlanta.
Speaker 1 (17:37):
That's actually a very low percentage compared to eight billion.
Speaker 2 (17:39):
I guess I just thought that, like it was going
to be a much lower number, fifty five millions a
ton of.
Speaker 1 (17:45):
I mean, if that's the whole world, that's not that's nothing.
Speaker 2 (17:47):
I guess I interpreted that to be America.
Speaker 1 (17:48):
Maybe if that is America, it's a whole different story.
Speaker 2 (17:50):
Maybe that's a good point.
Speaker 1 (17:51):
But either either way, anyway, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2 (17:53):
There is sunshine shining through, so that ash cover from
the volcanic eruption. Maybe that wasn't as bad as y'all thought.
Speaker 3 (18:01):
Well, And honestly, that's not a plot hole for me,
because they remember in the day, they misread how quickly
everything would happen, right, so.
Speaker 2 (18:10):
I misread how quickly everything would wear.
Speaker 1 (18:11):
Off exactly right.
Speaker 3 (18:12):
So I mean these things they're not like perfect, and
these projections and scientists and everything, So where are my nerds?
Speaker 1 (18:19):
Yeah seriously, and like.
Speaker 3 (18:20):
That's ps uh No, that's not a plot hole for me.
Speaker 1 (18:24):
I mean, I'm not sure if it's plot hole.
Speaker 2 (18:25):
It's just interesting to me, how like, oh this the
sun is the sun is blasting.
Speaker 3 (18:28):
Maybe maybe it is because maybe that they didn't think
about that and they just wanted a nice shot of
him going into the sunlight because he was leaving the bunker.
Speaker 1 (18:35):
Maybe that's maybe that's all it is.
Speaker 2 (18:38):
Uh, I need to rewatch it, okay, but my first
glimpse is that I am not emotionally fulfilled like coming
out of the Day, which again like episode seven. I
mean I've seen it now three times. I watched it
right before. I mean, it's just so damn good. And
I think what you said first to lead off the
podcast as we wrap this up, I think was so perfect,
(19:01):
which is that coming out of an episode that fulfills
you so much? This was never going to reach it
never was, It couldn't. No, So the question is how
at what emotional level is okay to end the season.
And I don't feel emotionally fulfilled enough to be happy
with the ending.
Speaker 3 (19:21):
I'm with you, I think I need to watch it again.
Raw reaction is I was. I think I liked it.
I didn't love it. That's kind of what I That's
what I thought. Like I said, most of the plot
decisions I actually agreed with.
Speaker 1 (19:35):
I still think there's more with Jane.
Speaker 2 (19:36):
I have thumbs up on the librarian. Yeah, I think
that worked.
Speaker 3 (19:39):
Yeah. I think because you wanted to have someone that
you knew and sprinkled him in exactly but not predictable.
I think I don't think anyone was, you know, predict him,
and they did an excellent job and like giving him
a good motive. I think all that checks out for me,
and I like the way they went and just felt
a bit rush.
Speaker 1 (19:58):
That's it. That's really how I feel about it.
Speaker 2 (19:59):
Yeah, all right, well we'll talk and we'll get Christopher
Kidd and Jessman McIntyre's thoughts on it. I'll Watchmater on
here as we have another But this is I mean, listen,
I think at the end of the day, we're still
psyched that we have a series that's headed towards season two.
It's been green lid. Dan Fogelman has something great on
his hands.
Speaker 1 (20:17):
Yep.
Speaker 2 (20:18):
I'm eager to see season two in the directions they take.
But I think I think this is going to be
a very divisive finale. I haven't even looked at the
reddit or anything else yet go online.
Speaker 3 (20:28):
Well that's another thing that I want to mention real
quick before you get out of here. Is like I
kind of teeter on both sides of this because on
one level, I'm a huge prequel in Star Wars, saying
we just did our Star Wars episode, and on first
watch I kind of was with the masses and that
it wasn't great movies. And then I did more research
on like why things happen the way they did, and
(20:51):
I will like, was mind blown and it changed everything
for me. And then I rewatched them again and I
am all of a sudden in love with him. So
I think, on one hand, looking up things that other
people saw and then maybe you didn't, or just a
way to interpret it that you didn't, can enhance your
viewing experience.
Speaker 2 (21:08):
And I think that's what's happened to me. I'm sure
about this, But.
Speaker 3 (21:13):
If it's expertly done, I will say this, you shouldn't
have to do that. You shouldn't have to go and
find ways to like it. It should just be immediately.
And I get it, I get it, everyone has different tastes.
But you shouldn't have to go and find every detail
and be like, oh, okay, that makes everything else so
much better. Like it should be just enough, and I
(21:34):
think this show did such a good job of that
so far that it falls just short in this in
this finale.
Speaker 2 (21:40):
Falls just short but perfect perfect wording. We should make
that of the title Yeah, that's good. That's not a
giveaway or anything. Paradise reaction falls just short.
Speaker 1 (21:52):
All right.
Speaker 2 (21:52):
This has been the quick instant reaction to the season
finale of Paradise. Hope you all enjoyed. Hope you all
are enjoying as we head towards season two. We'll have
another episode of Hollywood Weekly with all of the normal
stuff later on this week, where I'm going to also
rip Amazon for what they've.
Speaker 3 (22:09):
Going to do with James Bond, all right, Lord of
the Ring, So we will yes, they did well have
sort of.
Speaker 2 (22:14):
We will talk to you later this week for more
Hollywood Weekly. Until then, hope you all enjoyed Paradise and this.
We will talk to you later. Have a good one, everybody.
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