Editor’s note: The below contains spoilers for the Paradise Season 1 finale.
Throughout the entire first season ofParadise, one central question has hung over the show:who murdered President Cal Bradford(James Marsden)? Since finding Cal’s body early on in the pilot, Secret Service Agent Xavier Collins (Sterling K. Brown) has been investigating the murder, in spite of Paradise’s main architect, Sinatra (Julianne Nicholson), threatening him to back off. Sinatra certainly seemed to be the most likely suspect, as the main villain of the series. She has even been known to have other people killed on occasion when they get in her way — including Xavier’s fellow agent, Billy Pace (Jon Beavers). Still, it would have been way too obviousif Sinatra had been the killer.
The reveal of Cal’s murderer was a tricky one to navigate, especially because the suspects are limited to those who live in Paradise. When Sinatra revealed that the DNA found at Cal’s crime scene didn’t match anyone in the bunker, however, it then looked like the killer might be a random person, which would have been surprising but unsatisfying. In its Season 1 finale,Paradisepulls off a truly phenomenal reveal by exposing the identity of Cal’s killer: Trent (Ian Merrigan), the librarian in Paradise.
‘Paradise’ Reveals That Cal’s Murderer Tried To Kill Him Before
In a flashback early on inthe pilot episode ofParadise, Xavier accompanies Cal to a public briefing shortly after he’s hired as Secret Service. A man in the crowd tries to kill Cal, and Xavier blocks the shot, saving Cal’s life and earning his trust while taking a bullet in the process. It turns out thatthat man is the same man who successfully kills Cal years laterin the bunker. In retrospect, it is obvious that the person who tried to kill Cal once before then would have killed him in the present day, but such an outcome never even seemed like a possibility when other characters initially presented as more antagonistic — like Sinatra, or Jane (Nicole Brydon Bloom).
Because Cal discovered the secret about the air on the surface world being breathable on the day he died, it seemed likely that he was killed to keep this information quiet. As it turns out, though,that was a complete red herring. The real killer didn’t have any of that information and was someone who had had it out for Cal for years. The scene of Trent’s initial murder attempt seemed to only be about Xavier saving Cal’s life, so it was easy to dismiss Trent as a possibility and assume he never made it to the bunker.
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James Marsden also stars in the series.
‘Paradise’ Reveals That Trent Has Been Working as the Librarian Since the Beginning
The real name of Cal’s killer is never actually revealed.He goes to prison for the murder attempt, and ends up doing time in Colorado — conveniently very close to the bunker. On the day of the apocalyptic event, however, Cal’s killer is able to escape from prisonin the midst of the chaos, disguising himself by donning a guard’s uniform. He then steals the identity of the real Trent, killing the man and his wife to take his place in the Paradise bunker. The murderer, now known as Trent, asks a random woman to join him — someone who we’re first introduced to as diner waitress Maggie (Michelle Meredith) — and they sneak into Paradise together.
When Xavier finds a book with Cal’s hidden notes in the library, Trent knocks him out and ties him up. He tells Xavier his story, and he says that he got comfortable living in Paradise and decided to give up on his intention to murder Cal. When Cal came in one dayto make a mixtape for Jeremy, though, Trent was reminded of his hatred of the president and his original desire to carry out his plan.That night, Trent snuck into Cal’s house and killed himwhile Cal was standing on the porch, distracted by the tablet. Since then, Trent has been hiding in plain sight as the librarian.
‘Paradise’ Gives Trent a Heartbreaking Motive
As theParadisefinale reveals, Trent is a very different villain from anyone we’ve met before, even though he has ties to the bunker going back many years. While Sinatra’s desire to create the bunker stems from her own ambition and fear, Trent is first introduced in the flashback as the project manager leading its construction. The actual project is kept secret, and nobody working on it knows what they are building. As Trent gets to know the guys working with him very well, he becomes especially close with Abdourahman (Cornelius Macarthy). Later on, he discovers that the site is full of arsenopyrite residue, and that anyone working there will ultimately be poisoned long-term. He tries to warn those in charge of overseeing the bunker’s construction, but he gets fired before he can raise his suspicions higher up the chain of command.Trent is ultimately radicalized by the tragedy of watching people he cares about be sacrificedin order to build a bunker that will protect the rich and powerfulduring an impending global disaster. His motive is also what makes his character such a compelling villain, because he is right to question the unfairness of the situation.
Trent’s villain reveal is memorable enough on its own because he’s both the most obvious person as the previous shooter and one of the least obvious people as the librarian in the background. To a point, he’s even an incredibly sympathetic character — until he takes things into his own hands and ends up killing three people in the process. YetParadiseis not a show that shies away from nuances. Cal wasn’t simply a hero who was killed, buthe also wasn’t a villain who deserved to die. Trent, in turn, is not just a cold-blooded killer, even if he takes himself out of the equation before being made to answer for his crimes against those in the bunker. It’s a complicated situation that serves as just another reminder of what a terrific storyParadisehas been telling so far.The real killer was hiding in plain sight all along, but the reveal of his identity still managed to shock and surprise.
Paradiseis available to stream on Hulu.
