Every time I think, “Okay, I’m really going to need Paradise to focus on THIS next episode, it changes the focus and gives me something entirely different. Something I didn’t even know I needed. And, man. I needed Paradise Season 2, Episode 3 “Another Day in Paradise.”
I have made it painfully clear since the start of the series that I really love Sinatra (Julianne Nicholson). Of course, I know she’s the villain of the story. But I love her complexity, and even when I don’t like her actions, I usually can at least understand her driving motivations. Jane (Nicole Brydon Bloom), on the other hand, needed time to grow on me. And boy, did she. She’s uncontrolled chaos to Sinatra’s meticulous planning. Seeing the two of them face off? Well…let’s get to it.
MORE: Need a reminder of what happened last episode? Read our review for Paradise Season 2 Episode 1 “Graceland.”
Spy vs. Spy
Sinatra and Jane are different kinds of villains. Sinatra is cold and calculating. Methodical. As much as possible, she leaves nothing to chance. Jane, on the other hand? Well, to put it quite bluntly, she just doesn’t give a fuck. Which makes the two of them formidable together but also quite terrifying when pitted against each other. And make no mistake, they are at odds. Sinatra may be playing the long game. Pretending she doesn’t remember that Jane shot her. Even pretending that she’s still on Jane’s side. But I don’t think Sinatra is the kind of person to just let you get away with stabbing her in the back. Or shooting her in the chest.
Watching these two characters play off each other gave me actual chills. Sinatra brought the baddest killer on the planet underground to do her dirty work for her. She thought she had her attack dog under control. Now she knows she doesn’t (entirely), but that doesn’t mean that she’s done needing Jane entirely. More people may need breath mints in the future. It’s going to be an intricate dance, I suspect, over the course of the season. Eventually, there will be the devil to pay.
Who will come out on top? Honestly, it’s hard to predict. As much as Sinatra is cunning, Jane really just has absolutely no line. There is no “going too far” for her. Or even “acting too impulsively.” What would she do when backed into a corner? Absolutely anything. Sinatra underestimated her once; she’d better not do it again. She might not get away with just a chest wound next time.
MORE: Need a reminder where Season 2 of Paradise started? Read our review for “Graceland” here.
Two Faced
And Jane isn’t the only person Sinatra needs to watch. There’s also Dr. Gabriela Torabi (Sarah Shahi). The two used to be friends, but apparently, spying on your friends, murdering innocent people, and that’s just the start of it doesn’t do wonders for a friendship. I’ll have to bear that in mind.
I was a little on the fence about Gabriela’s loyalties last season. Even after finding out that Sinatra had bugged her house, she still seemed ready to defend herself. She didn’t seem quite ready to write her old friend off. And maybe that’s understandable. The world is a very small place, and few carry the burdens that the creators of this underground city do. Few would understand the guilt Gabriela carries about choosing who would be left behind.
But, at least right now, it seems Gabriela’s holding a grudge. Or maybe she isn’t. Maybe she wants to learn what Sinatra’s up to for her own purposes. After all, nobody in Paradise is likely entirely what they seem. At any rate, she’s got her eye – and at least one ear – on her former friend. What will she do with what she discovers? We’ll have to wait and see.
I do have to wonder if it’s the wisest choice to be so openly antagonistic towards Sinatra. Would it have been better to pretend to be her friend? To hide in plain sight? With someone like Sinatra, maybe that wouldn’t have mattered. I guess she’s the doctor. She knows what she’s doing. Probably.
Stop Breaking My Heart
Speaking of knowing what they’re doing…I normally love shows that remember enough about their own history to accurately do callbacks. Not Paradise. President Bradford (James Marsden) and his secretary joking she’ll never leave him? When we know he leaves her behind to die? Ugggh. That hit my heart hard.
On the other hand, I confess I laughed a little when someone answered “extended family” to the question of what the citizens of Paradise had once had but no longer did. And doesn’t it just sum up the utter idiocy of the new-and-short-lived president when his solution to the emotional repercussions from the first season is “people just need summer!” Look, I’m not a scientist or an engineer or anything. But if I were one of the last people alive in an underground bunker, I don’t think “messing around with the climate system” would ever cross my mind.
And speaking of the climate system. That’s Alex, right? Well, maybe not the climate system itself. But something related to it. I can’t quite imagine just yet what would be related to the climate system that would have to be so secret that Sinatra would kill for it. Twice, really. (Sorry, Billy (Jon Beavers).) Obviously, it’s related to the Venus pressure warning. But…how?
Sinatra did say she didn’t want her child living underground for decades. Maybe she wants to speed up the process on the surface to “get it over with,” so to speak? But if it’s been two years, what is she waiting for?
I’ve really got to stop trying to predict this show. I almost never get it right. They’re just too good.
A Few Tiny Nitpicks
Paradise is so good, in fact, that I almost never find things that are really worth criticizing. This episode, I’m going to go out on a limb and offer two. Knowing full well there’s at least an 90% chance these are intentional, and I’ll have my foot in my mouth in two weeks.
The first nitpick has to do with the underground “jail” where all the dissidents (including Jeremy Bradford (Charlie Evans)) are being held. This whole city had to be planned well in advance. They can’t exactly realize they’re short of real estate and dig another tunnel at this point. So that underground jail facility – or whatever it is – had to already exist.
But why? Why would Sinatra imagine a world in which she’d need to imprison several people – let alone dozens of people – at a time? Even if she thought there was a chance that someone could snap and commit a heinous crime, would she really imprison them for it? I’m not saying I’m pro-death penalty. But I’m pretty sure she is. When planning the city, I would imagine her approach to crime would be similar to Judge Dredd. Throw them outside the city walls and let the natural elements take care of the problem.
Which leads me to suspect that there’s a purpose to that secret area. One we haven’t discovered yet. Whatever it is, I suspect throwing a bunch of people unhappy with the current administration together will not lead to fortuitous results for anyone in power.
My second nitpick has to do with Jane. Just writing that makes me want to look behind my shoulder.
I suspect Sinatra is going to have to find a new cover position for her soon. Even if you didn’t suspect her of being an assassin, you’d have to think at this point that she’s just really bad at her job. I wouldn’t trust her to guard my hamster at this point, let alone the new-new president.
As thrilled as I was to see Agent Robinson (Krys Marshall) start to suspect Jane, I screamed at my television when she was framed in the end. I’m sure she’ll be thrown in the same underground prison as Jeremy and will help drive the revolution. Again. But Jane’s actions were still sloppy. Taking time to draw the X on the president’s back, to frame Xavier? Makes sense why she’d do it, but it adds a few holes to her story. So Robinson had enough time to kill the president and draw an X on his back in his blood before Jane could even get to her?
Jane had better start playing up that she is really, really bad at her job. That just doesn’t pass the smell test. Not for anyone who’s paying attention. But that may be the thing with the people living in Paradise. Maybe they just aren’t paying attention. Yet.
The first three episodes of Paradise Season 2 are now available to stream on Hulu.
