Paradise's Sinatra and Link blow future wide open ahead of next week's season 2 finale
'The Final Countdown' is not messing around when it comes to answering all our long-held questions
Paradise’s Sinatra and Link finally met in season 2’s penultimate episode, The Final Countdown – and in doing so, they set off a chain of events that could change everything.
This Disney+ mystery is heading towards the season finale at light speed. As some of the long-standing mysteries finally get answers, major questions remain.
As Xavier finally reunited with Teri in Atlanta, things were going very wrong in Paradise. The ultimate crisis situation that could tear down the entire bunker. As Jane stalked Gabriela, three prisoners – Jeremy, Anders and Robinson – stagd a prison break to get out of the underground silo completely.
Their plan? To strip the bunker of its oxygen supply. Doing so would force the bunker’s system into crisis mode, opening the doors to the outside. But then there was Sinatra – as always – with a plan of her own.
We’ve got a lot of ground to cover in this recap. Here’s everything you need to know ahead of next week’s finale.
Paradise season 2 episode 7 recap: What happened to Xavier and Teri in Atlanta?
Xavier and Teri’s mission to find each other has been the sole thing keeping the pair of them going these three years. Unfortunately, neither of them imagined Xavier nearly blowing her up in the process.
Under false information from Mailman Gary, Xavier enacted a well-meaning, but ultimately stupid, attempt to save her from a train of survivors who “took her”. Turns out they were protecting her from Gary, who didn’t want her or their “adopted son” Bean to leave him.
In the commotion of the bomb, Gary kidnapped Bean and demanded Teri “return home” to him.
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Thankfully, these train folks are quite understanding, even after Xavier set off a bomb near their location. After a quick chat to confirm he’d been in Paradise, they let him stay, and shared their plans for Sinatra and Link’s meeting at the bunker.
They then armed both Xavier and Teri so they could retrieve Bean from Gary, as well as get Annie’s baby, whom Xavier had left in the safe hands of two less-deceptive survivors.
At the post office, Teri was unnerved by Xavier’s rush to kill Gary (which, to be fair, was a little warranted at this point). Instead, she headed in alone to talk with him. He was heartbroken, but eventually accepted she needed to leave, and let her take Bean with them.
With the family now all together, the train got moving towards Colorado and the bunker. As they set off, Xavier got yet another nosebleed – but what does it mean?
What does Jane have in store for Gabriela?
Gabriela got too cocky with her information in the last episode. After discovering Jane’s involvement in several of the bunker’s murders, she vowed to take Jane down.
It’s not particularly wise to tell that plan to said assassin’s face. Especially when Jane is not the most hinged of people at the best of times.
So Jane goes on the defensive and stalks her, leaving Gabriela living in fear for her life with simple mind games.
Gabriela tries to warn Sinatra about Jane – but Sinatra already knew, even confirming she instructed her to kill President Baines. When Gabriela pushed, she dismissed her, with Sinatra and Link’s meeting weighing too heavily on the new interim President’s mind to listen.
It’s clear Jane was waiting for the coast to be clear before she took Gabriela out. But Jane underestimated her foe. When she finally went in for the kill, Gabriela was two steps ahead, stabbing her in the back and leaving her to bleed out in her shower.
Gabriela did try to warn her: it never ends well.
Paradise season 2 episode 7: What happened in the meeting?
Sinatra and Link coming face-to-face blew the whole future of Paradise wide open. Link entered the bunker with a handful of survivors, but no weapons, and was surprised to see Sinatra greet them. When he asked about President Bradford, she informed him that Bradford is dead.
Handing him his requested slice of apple pie, they sat in Air Force One to discuss their terms. He wanted one of their nuclear reactors to restart the world. When she denied it, he shared what he really wanted: Alex.
Sinatra was somewhat disarmed by Link, and not just because he knows about the mysterious Alex. The young leader is 26 years old – the same age her late son would have been. Dylan’s death weighs on her relationship with her husband, and she still struggles to even refer to him by name.
He also loved the video game Legend of Zelda – the same one Link had taken his code name from.
So imagine how quickly she buckled when, as Link left, one of the survivors referred to him by his real name… and she checked his birthday. It’s Dylan.
While this should have scared her, it delighted her. That night, she tells her husband that “it worked”. Though she doesn’t share what “it” was to him, for eagle-eyed viewers, it’s apparent.
At the start of the season, Sinatra was told by a scientist that the only thing her billions couldn’t buy is “time”. With her son now seemingly alive, it appears she has proven him wrong.
How it brought back Dylan from a deadly illness, though, is anyone’s guess.
What is The Final Countdown?
Sinatra and Link’s conversation should have been the least of anyone’s worries. In the episode’s final moments, a disaster Bradford referred to as ‘The Final Countdown’ kicked in. (Yes, including the iconic song, naturally.)
At the start of the episode, a flashback showed President Bradford and Sinatra touring Paradise’s control centre. In an almost Titanic-level of foreshadowing, bunker architect Anders boasts it will “outlive us all”. Fully automated, it can withstand a nuclear blast if it needs to.
Bradford, however, wasn’t so sure. He told Sinatra that “empires don’t fall over lack of preparation”, and noted that while the system is prepared to handle fire, oxygen issues or siege… there’s no answer for what happens if it needs to handle all three at once.
So, guess what happened in the final moments of the episode?
As Link’s men prepared to storm Paradise, the government initiated a full lockdown of its residents. However, leader Sinatra was missing, with no one able to contact her.
Meanwhile, in the “Down Below”, Anders (now a prisoner) led Jeremy and Robinson in an attempt to cut off the bunker’s oxygen supply, forcing the doors open to make their escape from the bunker.
Sinatra, however, had other ideas. As Paradise descended into chaos above her, she headed to an underground area so remote that she needed a little train to get there.
Once she arrived, she slipped on a blue protective coat and greeted Alex. It appeared to be a supercomputer, and clearly what’s been using all the extra nuclear power she’s been siphoning off the main bunker. With that, the episode cut to black.
Just one episode to go. What could the future hold now?
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