Paradise Season 2’s penultimate episode delivered a reveal for the books and left viewers with even more burning questions heading into the finale.
From a Xavier (Sterling K. Brown) and Teri (Enuka Okuma) reunion to a battle between Jane (Nicole Brydon Bloom) and Gabriela (Sarah Shahi), soooo much went down in Season 2, Episode 7, “The Final Countdown.” But we’re gathered today to talk about the huge Sinatra/Link/Dylan twist that has viewers spiraling.
Paradise Season 2, Episode 7 spoilers ahead.
After several episodes of prep, Samantha Redmond — aka Sinatra (Julianne Nicholson) — finally cracked open the bunker doors to meet with Link (Thomas Doherty) and learn what his team truly wanted. Once Link had a few bites of apple pie, the two got down to business in Air Force One. Link admitted, “I’m here for Alex.” Sinatra played dumb and warned him not to mess with the bunker, but Link refused to back down. In hopes of diffusing the tense situation, Link’s pals yelled his name a few times, and when he failed to respond, they shouted, “DYLAN, let’s go!”
Since Season 2’s premiere we’ve known that Link was a nickname, but his school ID didn’t have a name on it, so we never learned the true identity of Doherty’s character until now. Upon hearing the name “Dylan,” Sinatra’s eyes grew wide. She asked for Link’s birthday, and he replied, “May 16,” which meant that Link shared a name, age, and birthday with Sinatra’s late son. What the heck?!
The big reveal understandably left Paradise fans perplexed. So who is Dylan on Paradise? How did Sinatra’s son die on Paradise? Is Link Sinatra’s son? And as always, what is Alex on Paradise? Here’s what we know after Paradise Season 2, Episode 7.
Who Is Dylan On Paradise? How Did Dylan Die On Paradise?
Paradise first introduced viewers to Dylan, played by Peter Gorbis, in Season 1 flashbacks. For those who need a refresher, he was Sinatra’s son, who died when he was a child from a mystery illness. The loss nearly destroyed Sinatra, and she told Gabriela (Sarah Shahi) in therapy sessions, “I have no desire to heal. I’m broken forever. My marriage is broken forever, but I have a giant business with tens of thousands of people who rely on me. And I have a daughter… so I need to be functional.”
A little over a year after Dylan died, Sinatra went to the International Financial Summit where she first learned about the impending climate catastrophe and met scientist Dr. Louge (Geoffrey Arend). He told her, “There’s only one thing that can fix this, and it’s the one thing even you can’t buy…time.” And that’s how the bunker idea — and Sinatra’s side project plans, it seems — began…
“[Dylan’s] loss is is basically why Paradise exists. Her need to protect her remaining family has been at the top of her list ever since then. Everything is driven with that as the end 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 Link Sinatra’s Son?
As noted above, the man we came to know as Link is actually named Dylan, and he shares the same name/birthday/age as Sinatra’s late son. So is Link Sinatra’s son? While we don’t technically know the answer yet, it seems like Sinatra thinks he is…
“I was like, ‘Wait, how does how does that work?’ Physics! quantum physics, guys! Get on board with it!” Nicholson told Decider. “I found it very moving. I obviously don’t know quantum physics, so I had to have faith in the writers, who did all this research. But I found it very moving, even just for Sinatra to imagine that this is her son. We don’t we don’t know, exactly. But the idea of it, and the peace it brought her, and the hopefulness was really beautiful.”
When Sinatra went back to her husband Tim (Tuc Watkins) after the encounter with Link, she told 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 died? Great question! While we don’t fully know the answer, it’s definitely related to Alex!
Who Is Alex In Paradise? Or Rather, What Is Alex?
Three episodes into Paradise, we shared our early thoughts about Alex and the Lost-style time travel/multiverse/causality loop-type twist that appeared to be at play in Season 2. Since then, especially after Episode 206, it’s become a bit clearer as to what kind of work Sinatra is likely doing with Alex. So here are some more thoughts!
Episode 3 revealed that Link’s former business partner/mentor, professor Henry Miller (Patrick Fischler), had a company called Vestige Quantum with technology so valuable to Sinatra that she had Billy kill him for it. Miller also had a wife named Alex, who suffered from Huntington’s Disease, and who he seemingly killed before Billy killed him. Because of Miller’s wife, viewers assumed Sinatra’s side project “Alex” was a person, but it’s far more likely at this stage in the game that Alex is Sinatra’s codename for the advanced technology she’s using to manipulate time, rather than a human being.
Why do we think that? Episode 6, which showed “Alex” sending warning messages about Jane’s upcoming birth to a man in 1997, suggested Sinatra was using the technology to send messages back in time in hopes of re-shaping or tweaking the future. Whether there are actually multiple timelines at play or Sinatra is simply trying to go back in time and alter certain fates remains unclear, but Link likely knows the reverberations from those efforts can have dire consequences, which is why he’s trying to “kill” Alex.
As a result of her work with Alex, it seems Sinatra believes it’s possible her son Dylan survived. Whether she solely got her quantum physics on to prevent Dylan’s death, or was also hoping to stop the super volcano from erupting, both, or some secret fourth thing has yet to be revealed. At the end of Episode 7, however, Sinatra took a secret underground tram and walked down the same hallway we saw in Xavier’s vision where he’s following Link (another example of time being toyed with). When she arrived at the restricted area that held her secret project, she put on a blue coat, opened the door, looked up, and said “Hi, Alex” as a warm orange glow shone down on her.
So what is Alex? And is Link really Sinatra’s son? We don’t have the answers yet! But we have faith that the finale will deliver, and if we’re still left with burning questions, we thankfully have Paradise Season 3!
New episodes of Paradise premiere Mondays on Hulu.