Paradise The first episode of season 2 brought the revelation of the books and left viewers with more burning questions heading into the finale.
From the reunion of Xavier (Sterling K. Brown) and Teri (Enuka Okuma) to the battle between Jane (Nicole Brydon Bloom) and Gabriela (Sarah Shahi), soooo more went down in Season 2, Episode 7, “The Final Countdown.” But we’re here today to talk about the big Sinatra/Link/Dylan twist that has audiences spinning.
Paradise Season 2, Episode 7 spoilers ahead.
After several episodes of preparation, Samantha Redmond – aka Sinatra (Julianne Nicholson) – finally opened the bunker doors to meet Link (Thomas Doherty) and learn what his group really wanted. When Link has a few more pieces of apple pie, the two go into business on Air Force One. Link agreed, “I’m here for Alex.” Sinatra played dumb and warned him not to mess with the bunker, but Link refused to back down. Hoping to diffuse the tense situation, Link’s friends called out his name several times, and when he failed to respond, they yelled, “DYLAN, let’s go!”
Since the Season 2 premiere we’ve known that Link was a nickname, but his school ID didn’t have a name, so we never learned who Doherty’s character really is until now. When he heard the name “Dylan,” Sinatra’s eyes widened. He asked for Link’s birthday, and he replied, “May 16th,” implying that Link shared a name, age, and birthday with Sinatra’s late son. What the heck?!
The big reveal is understandable Paradise fans are confused. So who is Dylan Paradise? How Sinatra’s son died Paradise? Is Link Sinatra a son? And as always, Alex is with you Paradise? Here’s what we know after that Paradise Season 2, Episode 7.
Who is Dylan On Paradise? How Dylan Died Paradise?
Paradise first introduced viewers to Dylan, played by Peter Gorbis, in the shorts of season 1. For those who need a refresher, he was Sinatra’s son, who died as a child from a mysterious illness. The loss almost destroyed Sinatra, and he told Gabriela (Sara Shahi) during therapy sessions, “I have no desire to heal. I am broken forever. My marriage is broken forever, but I have a big business with tens of thousands of people who depend on me. And I have a daughter … so I need to work well.”
More than a year after Dylan’s death, Sinatra attended the International Financial Conference where he first learned about the impending climate crisis and met scientist Dr. Louge (Geoffrey Arend). He told her, “There’s only one thing that can fix this, and one thing you can’t buy…time.” And thus the idea of the bunker – and plans for a side project for Sinatra, it seems – began…
“[Dylan’s] loss is basically the reason why Paradise exists. His need to protect his remaining family has been at the top of his list ever since. Everything is driven by that as the ultimate goal,” Nicholson told Decider over Zoom. That brings us to the end of Episode 207…
Is Dylan Sinatra’s Son? Or Should We Say, Is Sinatra’s Link A Son?
As noted above, the man we know as Link is actually named Dylan, and he shares the same name/birthday/age as Sinatra’s late son. So Link Sinatra’s son? While we don’t know the answer yet, it seems that Sinatra thinks that…
“I was like, ‘Wait, how does that work?’ Physics! quantum physics, guys! Go with it!” Nicholson told Decider. “I found it very moving. Obviously I don’t know quantum physics, so I had to rely on the authors, who did all this research. But I found it very touching, even for Sinatra to think that this is his son. We don’t know, we don’t know, really. But your idea, and the peace it brought him, and the hope was really good.”
When Sinatra returns to her husband Tim (Tuc Watkins) after meeting Link, she tells him, “It worked! I think it worked…I think. [I’m OK]. I can’t explain it, but I think Dylan is too.”
So how is Link Sinatra’s son Dylan if Sinatra’s son he died? Great question! Although we don’t fully know the answer, it really has to do with Alex!
Who is Alex In Paradise? Or rather, What Is it Alex?
Three episodes in Paradisewe share our initial thoughts about Alex and It is lost-style time travel/multiverse/causality loop-type twist that seemed to play out in Season 2. Since then, especially after episode 206, it’s become clearer what kind of work Sinatra might be doing with Alex. So here are some thoughts!
Episode 3 revealed that Link’s former partner/mentor, professor Henry Miller (Patrick Fischler), owned a company called Vestige Quantum that had technology so important to Sinatra that he had Billy kill him for it. Miller had a wife named Alex, who suffered from Huntington’s Disease, and who apparently killed her before Billy killed her. Thanks to Miller’s wife, viewers assumed that Sinatra’s side project “Alex” was a person, but it’s more likely at this stage that Alex is Sinatra’s code name for the advanced technology he uses to manage time, rather than a person.
Why do we think so? Episode 6, which featured “Alex” sending warning messages about Jane’s impending birth to a man in 1997, suggested that Sinatra was using technology to send messages in time in hopes of reshaping or fixing the future. Whether there are actually multiple timelines at play or if Sinatra is simply trying to go back and change certain endings remains unclear, but Link probably knows that going back on those efforts can have dire consequences, which is why he tries to “kill” Alex.
Because of his work with Alex, it seems that Sinatra believes that his son Dylan may have survived. Either he only used his quantum physics to prevent Dylan’s death, or he was hoping to stop a large volcano from erupting, both, or a fourth secret that has yet to be revealed. However, at the end of episode 7, Sinatra took a secret underground tram and went down the same corridor that we saw in Xavier’s vision where he followed Link (another example of the timing). When he got to the restricted area to do his secret work, he put on a green coat, opened the door, looked up, and said “Hello, Alex” as a warm orange light shone down on him.
So what is Alex? And is Link really Sinatra’s son? We have no answers at the moment! But we have faith that the end will bring, and if we are still left with burning questions, we are very grateful Paradise Season 3!
New episodes of Paradise premieres Monday on Hulu.
