Episode 7 of Hulu’s Paradise reveals the catastrophic events that pushed 25,000 Americans to flee for safety and ultimately separated Xavier from his wife, Teri. The emotionally charged entry examines our society’s class system, which becomes heightened amidst tragedy. Think of the Titanic, where the wealthy were afforded lifeboats while those near the lower deck were abandoned.
The episode opens in October 1962. President John F. Kennedy had just negotiated the halt of what would have been a declaration of war in the Bay of Pigs invasion. A general, fearing nuclear warfare in the future, has an epiphany.
Viewers are raced to the present with Xavier holding Sinatra at gunpoint. She preaches that there are survivors on the surface, including his wife. Xavier stands in disbelief as we fade into a flashback of the day the Earth stood still.
The White House is abuzz with reports of the catastrophic event grinding into motion. A volcano below Antarctica’s surface has erupted, prompting the ice caps to collapse. The amount of debris in the sea is causing a massive tsunami to rise from the southern hemisphere, soon careening across the equator. Within minutes, Australia is no more.
President Bradford is prepared to address the American public with a diplomatic address. Meanwhile, Xavier is pressed to contact Teri, who is hundreds of miles away in Atlanta. After coercing Cal, Xavier relays an exit strategy to his wife to arrive in Colorado, an operation known as Versailles, to save a select group of people for the underground city. As Xavier calls to arrange safety for his children, a close colleague begs him to do the same for her son.
The tsunami’s early damage is captured live on the news as giant waves crash into South Africa and Chile. Cal sets Versailles into motion: Xavier and another agent grab weapons, expecting the evacuation to escalate. After a conversation with a custodial worker who served nine administrations, Cal decides to address the public a second time, telling them the magnitude of the situation. Once reality sets in, many staff members realize they are being left behind to accommodate Cal, most of his cabinet, and their families. And Xavier realizes Teri was never going to make that trip. Once in the air, barely escaping tragedy, Xavier bids his wife farewell over the phone.
Amidst the chaos, China and Russia activate their nuclear weapons, an inevitable outcome. Instead of answering their fire with fire, Cal opts to give those left behind hope. After forcing Sinatra out of the room via gunpoint, Cal enacts a fail-safe stopping nukes; a plan implemented by a general in the 1960s.
Back in the present, Sinatra convinces Xavier that the fail-safe worked. To prove her theory, she plays audio of alleged survivors above the surface picked up by radio signals. One of those voices is Teri. Sinatra threatens Teri and Presley’s lives if Xavier refuses to stand down and let life return to normal.
This episode was brilliantly written, with a hint of true historical fiction to link the series incident with factual events. James Marsden’s performance cements Cal’s true heart for the people, etching a good man in an unthinkable situation. The gut-wrenching moment many realized they weren’t meant to survive highlights a common trope in disaster stories. Whether man-made or natural events, the human caste system rears its ugly head for the greater good. Unfortunately, that good usually means those in a wealth of power and resources. If these things were equally shared, we’d all benefit from greater lives and a healthier environment.
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