This show is so close to being great it’s kinda driving me nuts. The pilot had me leaning in- it’s actually one of the better pilots I’ve seen maybe ever. But it’s a bit of a rollercoaster from that point on. On the whole, it has an abrupt and jagged feel. The episodes don’t flow from one to the next; rather, each one builds to a flashy cliffhanger that the following episode has to go back and explain- time that would be better spent laying the groundwork for what’s to come. Episodes 5 and 6 were action packed and dazzling, but it was at the cost of investing the time to really make it make sense.
But this season’s (they’ve been renewed) penultimate episode reminded me of Paradise’s potential. It felt like a special episode in the best way, and in a way you don’t see much anymore. It convinced me to be more forgiving to the previous episodes and see them in a new light. While episodes 5 and 6 served to make Sterling K. Brown’s action hero reel, “The Day” did some much needed character development.
Aside from tense bookends with Xavier and Sinatra, “The Day” unpacks exactly what happened on- there’s no better way to put it- The Day. As in, the day the world ended. The way everything went down felt hyper realistic, which, on top of being terrifying, made all the players incredibly human.
Until now, Xavier has been a machine, and Cal, while charming, has been held at arm’s length from the audience. Dr. Torabi says that Xavier was brought to Paradise because of his character, but we haven’t really seen his tender side. Meanwhile, all we’ve seen of Cal is his tender side. But he’s pissed off more than a few people, including Xavier who said he wouldn’t sleep until Cal was dead. Cal’s charisma is off the charts and his situation with his dementia-ridden bully of a dad tugs at the heartstrings, but in terms of global-scale ethics, we haven’t really seen him do anything yet. “The Day” gives us the full picture of both of these men.
On the day, Xavier is by Cal’s side through it all. His wife Teri is due back from her ill-fated trip to Atlanta but shit hits the fan before her flight takes off. Through frantic news broadcasts and an emergency meeting of top-level White House staff, we learn that a volcanic eruption in Antarctica has triggered massive tsunamis that will cause global destruction within hours.
Overwhelmed but truly a show of strength, Cal braces himself as country after country goes dark, while others ready their nuclear arsenal. Every projection indicated that there would be at least a few days’ notice before disaster was this imminent- before news anchors were being swept away by tidal waves on national television. And yet, every one of his advisors votes to implement Versailles- which we know is the code name for Paradise- right now, today, immediately.
Cal puts it in motion. And it quickly becomes clear to those within the White House that death is imminent for everyone who isn’t a part of a plan that’s already been made. On a personal and national level, the sheer impossibility of Cal’s position is palpable. He tries going by the book, taping a watered-down address that will appear live, but in reality, will air when he’s already well on his way to Paradise. That plus the fact that it “reads like we’re prepping people for a goddamn snowstorm” is too much for him to stomach.
After taking the time to introduce himself to the White House janitor and urge him to be with his family, he realizes he needs to give all of America that same courtesy. He insists on being put back on TV, live and with no script, derailing the Versailles timeline and putting himself at risk in the process.
“My fellow Americans… I know you’re aware of the situation we now face. And I wanna tell you the truth. Our modeling shows imminent worldwide disaster, including here at home. I’m telling you this so that you can make decisions based on where you want to be right now. And who you want to be with… Despite all the ugliness in our world… despite our tendency to focus on the grotesque, and the conflict. Despite all of that, you are inherently decent. You love your families, your parents, your children. And I hope we can find that decency and love now. And if I may be so bold. To all of you watching who have meant something to me personally. Too many to name. I just want to say I love you. And uh… God bless you and good luck.”
I actually think Cal might be my favorite TV president since Jed Bartlet. I love this speech, and it’s abundantly clear that it’s the only thing in his power that he can do for the American people. Not everyone can be saved. Doing anything more would be futile and only serve to assuage his own survivor’s guilt while jeopardizing the people he can save by following the Versailles protocol. So when from here he lets himself be ushered into elevators and helicopters and planes as chaos erupts around him, it’s a show of both humanity and strength. James Marsden actually does an incredible job- the weight of it all is right on his face and you just want to hug him.
Now let’s talk about Xavier. His anxiety for his family is palpable, but he doesn’t miss a beat on the job. In the few moments he’s able to get through to Teri, he makes sure someone else takes his place beside Cal. He’s beyond efficient, finding Teri’s best chance at making it to the necessary plane and ensuring his kids stay where they need to be.
All the while, he gets Versailles off without a hitch, holding panicked, lower-ranked staffers at bay, and elevating precautionary measures as needed without going overboard. You can really feel the utmost importance of both his family and the task at hand. And he doesn’t neglect either one. But when they get to the plane and Teri hasn’t made it, we finally see the chink in his armor.
He hesitates to board, finally letting it all out on Cal:
“She’s alone. I don’t know where she is. I don’t know who she’s with… I can’t get on that plane without her… She was there [Atlanta] because she didn’t know what was coming... You hinted! You danced around. There was no urgency!... I would have kept her close! I would have prepared. People would have prepared. But instead you played this game… You think you’re brave because you told everybody the world was ending 10 minutes ago?... You should have told us all 10 years ago… Look at what’s happening… Look at what you let happen!”
Xavier’s right to be feeling all of this. But Cal is also right that it is simply an impossible situation. And in a lot of ways, Xavier had more privilege than most, driven home by Cal’s final statement of “If you don’t want a seat on that plane, there’s roughly eight billion people on this planet who will fucking take it.” And he’s right. So Xavier gets on the plane.
To me, this exchange retroactively justifies Xavier’s leap into action in the previous episodes. To go back for a second, episodes 5 and 6 saw Billy’s death spark Xavier to launch a near instantaneous all-out heist against Sinatra. While Billy’s death was suspicious, it felt like a bit of a leap for that alone to justify Xavier’s immediate and extreme reaction.
While that was happening, we learned that Xavier’s daughter Presley has had the President’s missing tablet this entire time (?). After spending some time with Cal’s son Jeremy, they were able to get it open, and they learned of Sinatra’s secret missions to the surface and the killings she ordered of survivors that were found there.
If they had gotten the tablet open sooner (which would’ve made more sense anyway- why has Presley been doing nothing with it all this time?), and shared its contents with Xavier after Billy’s death, his full throttle attack on Sinatra would be a completely proportionate response.
That all would still have made for much more seamless storytelling, but emotionally, this conversation on the tarmac in “The Day” explains Xavier’s behavior. All this time, Xavier couldn’t separate Cal from losing Teri, but he also knew him more intimately than most. Deep down, he does understand that it was an impossible situation, and he understands that Cal was a single, good-natured individual who had just been shouldered with quite literally the world’s biggest burden. One that he didn’t cause.
But Xavier, too, did everything right. He executed the Versailles protocol to the letter, and at the same time he did everything he possibly could for his family. His rage and grief are perfectly justifiable, it just wasn’t justifiable to direct it all at Cal. So of course he leapt at the chance to let all those pent up feelings out on someone less complicatedly innocent; someone who isn’t simultaneously responsible for the salvation of him and his children. All this time he was a powder keg ready to explode. If anything, it’s a miracle it didn’t happen sooner.
I’d be remiss not to talk about the last few moments of “The Day”, where Cal and Xavier both prove to us that they’re stand-up guys. On a call with the joint chiefs on another plane- one that isn’t going to make it to Paradise- Cal is urged to use the nuclear football to unleash America’s entire arsenal of atomic bombs. Seizing on the chaos from the natural disaster, other countries have fired their own missiles at the US, and if they’re permitted to make contact, they pose a threat to Paradise. Sinatra drives the point home by telling Cal that every modeled potential outcome of the Antarctica volcano ended in nuclear warfare.
But Cal reveals a third option. In addition to firing retaliatory missiles, the nuclear football also gives him the power to essentially shut off every electronic circuit on Earth with the flick of a switch. It would diffuse any atomic bombs that haven’t yet made contact. “It would also take the planet back 500 years. But that was better than the alternative, because it would give people a chance.”
How this doesn’t affect Paradise is a plot hole I’m willing to ignore. Cal takes this option in the face of Sinatra’s increasingly panicked pleas not to do it, to instead kill everyone left on Earth.
Meanwhile, Xavier has managed to get on the phone with Teri. She’s alone and scared and there’s nothing else to do. As far as he knows, he’s watching a nuclear bomb close in on Atlanta on a map. While Cal finally proves to us that he can do something, Xavier, for the first time, can do nothing. With no protocol to follow, no swift action to take, all Xavier can do in this moment is be present with his wife and love her. With tears streaming down his face (and mine) he does just that:
“Hey, I’m here. I’m here… Yeah. You feel me? I’m… I’m holding you right now. I’m protecting you, baby. I got you… I got you… I love you more than anything on this planet. I love you so much, Teri. I love you.”
So all this to say, I have some logistical problems with Paradise. But I’m willing to ride out plot holes if they come alongside emotionally sound and compelling characters. And I’m looking forward to season 2! What about you? Is this the new show to watch? Or do you not get the hype?
I love a good apocalypse -back -story- flashback episode, and this one kept me uptight the entire time. I agree, Casey: that episode made the rest worth watching for sure. I’m in for season 2.