'Paradise' Season 2 Episode 6 Recap & Breakdown: Did Gary Try To Kill Xavier?

In Paradise, Season 2, Episode 5, we were introduced to a USPS mailman in Atlanta named Gary, who had coordinated with an engineer named Ennis and equipped the fallout shelter in his office for the impending apocalypse. And they had assembled a group of people, each of whom had a specific skill that would be integral to their survival over the next few years. They had a carpenter (Roberto), a mechanic (Jackie), a gardener (Ruth), a survivalist (Bob), and a nurse (Crystal). They had enough resources for the 7 of them, but when the apocalypse began and Gary and Ennis proceeded towards the fallout shelter, they picked up a kid named Bean and Xavier’s wife, Teri. Ennis wasn’t okay with that, but he tolerated it because, well, he couldn’t exactly send them out into the open to die. When the planet began to stabilize, Teri started making plans to drive all the way to Colorado to reunite with her family. That’s also when a train filled with an armed group of people passed through Atlanta, and Ennis and Gary learned from them that they were willing to take skilled people to Colorado for a secret project. Ennis thought that, instead of driving the distance, Teri could just hop on that train and leave. However, since Gary was in love with Teri, and he didn’t want her to leave, he killed Ennis. Now, when Xavier showed up at the fallout shelter, Gary told him that Teri had been “taken” by the armed convoy, thereby prompting Xavier to chalk out a rescue plan. Well, did it work? Let’s find out.

Spoiler Alert

Jane Has Serious Psychological Issues

Throughout the show, there have been several hints that something supernatural is at play. For starters, there were the nosebleeds that Link, Xavier, and even Billy suffered. Xavier and Link seemingly saw a vision of the future where both of them were walking through an undisclosed hallway. Before getting killed by Billy, Henry seemingly foresaw that the assassin was about to suffer a nosebleed. Henry also talked about Link being integral to the survival of the planet. We saw Henry’s wife, Alex, die before our eyes, but then Link and his crew were talking about getting to the bunker in Colorado to kill Alex. And then there was Sinatra’s secret project, which heavily hinted at being either multiverse traveling or time travel. Adding to this list, we have an email from Alex, which was sent to a random guy working at a computer repair shop in 1997, prophesying that Jane would grow up to be a killer. Yes, you read that right. In a flashback scene taking place in the ‘90s, this dude gets not one, but several messages across multiple platforms, stating that a killer will be born on June 6 at 12:01 AM, and that she can be stopped if a message can be delivered to her. 

Apparently, the computer repair guy is so convinced that there’s some truth to this prediction that he shows up at the hospital where Jane’s mother has given birth to her and tries to deliver said message. Of course, Jane’s mother and the hospital staff freak out, and he’s removed from the property. Therefore, that message is not delivered. So, is that man’s failure the reason why Jane became such a sociopathic individual? Well, I am not very sure. Jane’s mother can be seen clearly suffering from postpartum depression. That leads to neglect, and I suppose becomes a major contributing factor to Jane’s split-personality disorder. Yes, when Jane reaches the age of 10 or 12, she claims that she has a friend named Climby. That imaginary friend takes over her mind and almost makes her kill her mother and her mother’s friend by locking them in the sauna. When Jane comes to her senses, she frees them both, and instead of dealing with this situation in a sensitive way, Jane’s mother punishes the child by locking her in the sauna instead. How does this affect her psyche? We don’t get to see that, but as an adult, when she’s training at “The Farm,” which is a covert CIA facility, we learn that, while she’s great in every perceivable way, her psych eval results are bad. 

One of the major reasons why she fails to graduate from being a potentially good agent to a good agent is because she keeps taking everything head-on. She knows she can’t fight someone twice her size, like Radner, and yet she keeps trying because she lets her emotions do all the thinking. Stacy takes her under her wing so that she can “fight smarter” and be in control when faced with impossible odds. Jane gets so good that she manages to defeat Radner at his own game. When she sits down with Stacy to celebrate that win with a box of ramen, she learns that Radner has gotten the promotion that Stacy deserved. Jane can’t figure out why, and Stacy says that men have an unfair advantage when it comes to climbing up the ladder, because the steps on that ladder are sexist in nature. Jane thinks that that’s unfair; hence, she goes to Radner’s house and slices off the thing that makes him “a man.” Then, she goes to Stacy’s house and asks her if she’s going to get the promotion now. Stacy knows that Radner has been attacked, but when Jane asks her that question, the realization dawns on her that Jane is the one who put Radner out of commission and cleared the path for her. I am guessing Stacy “took the W” and didn’t rat on Jane; or else how would she have become a part of the Secret Service?

Jane Arranges A Meeting Between Link And Sinatra

In Paradise, Robinson is taken to the underground prison where Jeremy, Anders, and all the other people who have been protesting the fascist government are being held. So, a person who is accused (framed by Jane) of killing a president gets the same punishment as someone who talks rudely to the president? Also, how’s everyone in the bunker, except for Presley, okay with people being jailed like that? How can everyone just be okay with people being sent to an underground prison without a trial or anything? That’s weird but, looking around at things, realistic. Anyway, with Baines gone, Sinatra is back in charge, as per Jane. I don’t know how that makes sense, because Sinatra wasn’t holding any official position. Baines had an entire cabinet full of advisors and ministers. Shouldn’t someone from there be appointed the next leader of the bunker? How is it up to Jane to decide who should have the reins of the bunker in their hands? Well, maybe since the place is in such a state of chaos and disarray, nobody is asking these pertinent questions, and they are glad that Sinatra is around to take care of things like she used to before she was shot in the neck by Jane. Sinatra’s house arrest has come to an end, and Jane picks her up to take her to the office. She informs Sinatra that Link and his group are growing in numbers; hence, they need to deal with that situation as soon as possible. 

Before they head out, Hadley requests of Jane that she take care of Sinatra, because she has been through a lot, and Jane says that she will. Based on the flashback sequences, it’s evident that Jane has some mommy issues, and maybe she sees Sinatra as a mother figure? Does that mean that one day she’ll go crazy and kill Hadley so that she can have Sinatra all to herself? You never know. Before heading to the Advisory Council Meeting with Sinatra, Gabriela can be seen parsing through every conversation she has had with Sinatra to spot any and every mention of this “Alex” and figure out what that name means to her. We don’t get any concrete answers, but I think there’s a chance that “Alex” isn’t a person, but a program made of the real Alex’s memories and studies. I suppose we’ll know more about it later. For now, the focus remains on Sinatra, and Jane debriefs the advisory council regarding the assassination, Robinson’s arrest, and Link’s crew standing at the doors of Paradise. By the way, while Link is looking to get into the bunker, Jeremy can be seen working with Anders to bust open the doors from the inside. They want to shut off the oxygen supply to the entire facility so that the emergency protocol is activated. That’ll not only allow them to escape from prison, but also unlock the blast doors. Going back to Sinatra, she holds a private conversation with Jane to learn why, on that fateful day or night, Jane didn’t kill Sinatra. 

Jane admits that while she craves power and control, she isn’t a good diplomat. Hence, she needs someone to “do the talking” for her. Given how Sinatra is an expert in that department, she chose to keep Sinatra alive so that she could do her bidding. I have to point out that Jane uses the term “purpose.” What is this purpose? We don’t know yet. Sinatra gives her the mission of going outside and negotiating with Link and his men, so for now, that’s her purpose, and she is more than willing to do it. As Jane heads to the great outdoors, we briefly see Presley convincing Hadley to confront her mother regarding her fascist activities (which she does), while Robinson has a conversation with Gabriela regarding how evil Jane truly is (which she does by warning Jane that she is coming for her and Sinatra). Speaking of Jane, she holds one of Link’s men hostage and negotiates a deal where Link will enter the bunker with 5 of his men, unarmed. Link manages to add an apple pie to that deal (because Link really loves apple pies and it’s hard to get well-made apple pies on the surface anymore), and then Jane returns to the bunker. When will this meeting between Link and Sinatra happen? I guess in the next episode, and I suppose that’s when we’ll finally learn what this Alex business is, and how the person or the program managed to predict Jane growing up to be a killer. In addition to all that, we’ll also probably get to know if Jeremy, Anders, and Robinson’s plan to disable the bunker’s oxygen supply actually bears any fruit or not.

Gary Tries to Kill Xavier to Keep Him Away from Teri

In Atlanta, Xavier plans to set off the bomb somewhere near the train bogies where the armed convoy has established its base. Once the explosion happens, everyone’s going to be distracted, and that’s when Xavier is going to swoop in and save Teri. Before going about his task, Xavier shares an anecdote about his son going through a phase where he used to smash his toy trains instead of letting them run smoothly. He uses that to comment on humanity’s inherent nature pushing them to destroy something that’s functioning properly. I mean, Earth is the only planet that we know of where life exists. Yet, 99 percent of us are on a mission to destroy it. Some are doing it to gain money, while many others are doing it simply to irk the environmentalists. Both of these parties know that they can’t jet off to another planet after making Earth uninhabitable. Why? Well, after observing humans for decades, I think that’s just how we are as a species. We are self-destructive and incredibly arrogant about it. The few years that we were confined to our houses due to the COVID-19 virus, nature was thriving. If that does not prove that humanity is a disease, I don’t know what will. 

Anyway, Xavier reiterates the fact to Gary that he’s going to plant that bomb, run back to their hiding spot, detonate it, and then rescue Teri. Most of that plan goes smoothly, but in the ending of episode 6, Gary betrays Xavier in the most brutal way possible. Right when Xavier is about to place the bomb and make his way to the hiding spot, Gary takes the remote detonator and activates it. Xavier is nimble enough to throw the bomb away from him, but the explosion is so immense that he is knocked out for a few minutes. The people of the armed convoy surround Xavier because they think that he’s a terrorist, but Xavier expresses hope when he sees a familiar face emerge from that group of people; yeah, it’s Teri. So, what the hell does this mean? Well, it’s obvious that Gary is the villain, not the convoy of armed folk. Gary is an incel who is willing to kill anyone who’ll try to take Teri away from him. Ennis tried it, and he got shot to death. I don’t know how Teri got to the convoy. I suppose Gary doesn’t want to hurt Teri, which is why he allowed her to go to those people. 

I think, for a brief moment, Gary felt that he could use Xavier to kill those gun-toting people and bring Teri back to him, and then he’d kill him. However, after seeing him move like a super soldier, he realized that he didn’t stand a chance against Xavier, which is why he tried to kill him when he had a bomb in his hand. That said, now that Xavier has survived, what’s he going to do? Well, for starters, he’s going to realize that the convoy is actually headed to Colorado, and Teri has willingly joined them to reunite with her family. I think he’s also going to learn why they are going to Colorado and what Alex’s or Sinatra’s secret project is. I have a feeling that he is going to join Link’s cause (as predicted by that vision), and he is going to help him take down Sinatra and her allies. Before doing so, I hope that he puts a bullet in Gary’s head because that incel totally deserves it. I don’t think he’ll be able to get his hands on Annie’s baby and hold her hostage to extend his lifeline because Jackie won’t allow that. If he does try anything like that, I hope Xavier puts two bullets in his head, at least. Well, what are your thoughts on the topic of bullets and Gary’s head? Let me know in the comments section below.

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