Paradise Season 1, Episode 3 “The Architect of Social Well-Being” follows the same format as the prior two episodes, shining a light on another of the underground city’s inhabitants. Or perhaps that suggests a bit more insight into the character than we actually get. It might be more accurate to say it centers on another character. Unlike “Sinatra,” we don’t really get much meaningful insight into the character of Dr. Gabriela Torabi (Sarah Shahi). But that doesn’t mean we don’t learn a few things. Like, for one…she should probably be a mastermind behind any post-apocalyptic city I ever get sent to.
Playing God
My joke actually brings up a point that I’ve pondered as I watch the series. In a real-world scenario, who would be left to live, and who would be left to die? To a certain extent, that answer is sadly obvious. The people in charge in Paradise are billionaires. Money may not buy happiness, but it without a doubt would buy one of the last seats on a train out of Dodge. It can buy longevity in many cases.
But the entire city isn’t comprised of billionaires. There are grocery stores and flower shops in this post-apocalyptic Eden, and that means people are running them. I would never believe that Jeff Bezos would buy a ticket to salvation only to clock in for an 8-hour shift at the underground Starbucks.
So who chooses? Who chooses who lives and who dies? As it turns out, in the world of Paradise, it was Dr. Torabi. She chose Xavier Collins (Sterling K. Brown) to protect President Hairdo (James Marsden). She chose every person who now stands as the last of the human race. All 25,000 of them. (Or at least 24,950 as, again, there was never a question of the people with the money making the cut.)
Unlike “Sinatra,” we don’t really see into her psyche, into the ways her task has changed her. In fact, she seems almost too well-grounded, if perhaps a little too obsessed with I-can’t-believe-it’s-not-cheese. (That was a test, readers. There is no such thing as being too obsessed with cheese. Even when it is made by alternative products.) But when she admits that she sees the faces of everyone she rejected for salvation, there’s no question the task did change her. This only leaves the question of what role she still has to play.
And if we were actually facing the end of the world, I have no doubt I would not be chosen to carry on the human race. But if by some chance I were, I would want someone as dedicated to the preservation of the World’s Best Cheese Fries in my bunker. I’m a woman of simple needs.
Hidden Threats
Dr. Torabi didn’t just serve as the emissary of cheese(-like)-based products in Paradise Season 1, Episode 3. She shined a little more light on Collins’s character and just how good he is. And she reminded him – and the audience – that everyone in Paradise lost something. Which – although she didn’t directly say it – suggests anyone might have had a reason to kill the President.
I mean, okay, I’m sure it won’t end up being anyone who did it. We’re not going to get to the end of the season and discover the culprit was Cheryl from the Food Court. Shows don’t work that way, and it’s fine. It’s also still unclear what role the President played in, you know, the end of the world. Or what people know about his role in the end of the world. But make no mistake about it: everyone in Paradise lost something.
Collins lost his wife. The woman at the diner sitting alone? Maybe she lost her kids. The guy walking by on the sidewalk? Maybe he was able to save his immediate family, but not his parents. His grandparents. Cousins. Coworkers. Friends. Everyone lost. And they didn’t just lose someone. They lost everyone. It’s a hell of a weight to bear. And if the weight of that grief ends up being even part of the motivation for the murder? Or if we discover that Collins isn’t the only character with at least a touch of seething resentment for the Powers that Be that brought them to the edge of extinction? I can’t say it wouldn’t be understandable, to a degree.
Good Man in a Bad Place
Though as before, there is certainly one person we can rely upon to be the “good guy” in this investigation. Xavier Collins isn’t just a good guy. He’s the best of the good guys. He’s the good guy who does the Right Thing even when it comes at a personal cost. And he does it without self-doubt or recrimination. He does it, he stands by it, and he owns it without apology. Even when doing the Right Thing cost him his relationship with his dad.
I’ll be honest. I never saw Brown in This Is Us, though I heard that he was phenomenal in it. But in just three episodes of Paradise, I can see why I’ve heard so much about Brown as an actor, even if I haven’t seen the full body of his work.
Brown brings incredible depth and poignancy to the role of Xavier Collins, I can’t imagine Collins is the easiest character to play. I always think that roles like Superman or Captain America – where the character is just inherently Good and strives to always do the right thing, even in the face of insurmountable odds – must be some of the hardest to play. It’s hard to play that level of Good without coming off as equal parts Boring.
In another actor’s hands, it would be easy to imagine Collins as the least interesting part of Paradise. He is admittedly rigid and inflexible. He’s a man who lives by absolutes and shies away from the grey area. But Brown takes the occasional opportunity to add underlying nuance and tenderness to the character. Even if he doesn’t imbue his depiction with overt tenderness. Like when he confesses to Dr. Torabi that his wife was the one person who could get sand on him. The love he felt for his wife and the grief he carries still for her was evident in Brown’s acting, even as Collins’s character strives not to be overly demonstrative about either.
Wildcat & Wildcard
Paradise Season 1, Episode 3 “The Architect of Social Well-Being” provided more than a chance for the writers to erect a little plot armor around “gotchas” that eagle-eyed (and eared) fans might try to declare while watching the show. (If they’re underground, why are there so many insect sounds? Oh, in building the city, they sent researchers to record insects to give a sense of reality to the atmosphere. Which insect, you ask? All of them.) It provided more, even than a chance for a shower scene that I have no doubt more than a few fans will pause and rewind several times between its airing and the next episode.
Dr. Torabi urged Collins to open up to her because she needed to know him as a person, and not just a file. Before she could trust him, she needed to know that he was exactly the person she chose him to be. Of course, he is that person and more, and so she finally shows him her hand.
She chose him, specifically, to be the President’s closest security detail because she wanted to add a “wildcard” to the underground city, in case anything should ever go wrong. Someone who wouldn’t stop until he got answers. Who will put what’s Right before his own personal interest? Someone she could trust as much as the President came to trust him.
And whatever their relationship became prior to his death, there’s no question that the President trusted Collins. Enough to leave Dr. Torabi a message to pass along to him: It seems Collins’s friend Billy (Jon Beavers) is not to be trusted.
To Trust or Not to Trust?
The end of the episode hits you so strongly with “This Man is Untrustworthy” vibes that I sincerely doubt Billy is actually the murderer. Besides, he was already a pretty suspicious character. Although Collins is the one in the hot seat, BIlly’s actually more reasonably the person to blame for the gaps in the security detail. He supposedly was napping on the couch when he was supposed to be alert and on guard.
That said, I am also sure there’s more to him than meets the eye. And not just because he’s a little lax when it comes to interoffice romance protocol. At least, I assume his romance with fellow agent Driscoll (Nicole Brydon Bloom) would be frowned upon. (Though given that his boss’s boss (Krys Marshall) was sleeping with their protectee, his job security may be less precarious than it otherwise might have been.) He admits to turning off the security feed several times to play the President’s video games. Okay, sure, I can buy that. But also so he could try on the President’s socks.
His socks? You have free rein to root through the personal belongings of arguably the most powerful man in the remaining world, and you try on his socks? Yeah, I don’t know that he’s the Bad Guy, but there’s something more going on with Billy’s character. That’s for sure.
Agree? Disagree? What did you think of Paradise Season 1, Episode 3 “The Architect of Social Well-Being”? Share with us in the comments below!
New episodes of Paradise are available on Tuesdays on Hulu.
What did you think about the scene with Billy in his car looking at Presley in the window followed by the camera focusing on his gun?
“I can see why I’ve heard so much about Brown as an actor, even if I haven’t seen the full body of his work.” Pun intended? LOL!