‘Paradise’ Star Julianne Nicholson Explains Sinatra’s Need for Control in Latest Series Twist
Spoiler Alert
[Warning: The below contains MAJOR spoilers for Paradise Season 1 Episode 4, “Agent Billy Pace.”]
Paradise‘s twists keep on coming in the latest installment, “Agent Billy Pace,” which shifted focus to Xavier Collins’s (Sterling K. Brown) colleague and fellow special agent, the titular Billy Pace (Jon Beavers).
It is through flashbacks that viewers learn more about the mysterious man’s background, which uncovers a spotty past with Billy being an abused child who turns to crime and ends up in juvie. It is through his circumstances that Billy is eventually shaped into a mercenary killer who is hand-plucked by Sinatra (Julianne Nicholson) to join the masses in “Paradise.”
The flashbacks to Billy’s life pre-Paradise aren’t the only ones viewers are clued into as additional sequences reveal he’s visited the outside world following the catastrophic event that sent him and several others underground. But what would have sent him outside? Initially, viewers are made to believe he’s hunting deer, but when his gun scope shifts perspective, we learn his true mission.
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In an effort to appease survivors underground, President Cal Bradford (James Marsden) had tasked scientists with exploring the outside world again in an attempt to find life. But while the public is told this mission is unsuccessful and life outdoors isn’t liveable, we learn that Billy was sent out by Sinatra to kill the scientists.
Confronting Sinatra about this in the episode, Billy feels guilt for his actions and pleads with her to leave Xavier and his family alone as the man continues to dig into Cal’s mysterious death, knowing that Sinatra has the capability to do bad things. But why was Sinatra so determined to prevent the scientists from making outside contact with other survivors?
“In terms of having those people killed, if anyone comes back, if anyone comes to Paradise and word goes out, people are going to be coming from all over the world trying to find them, and then it’s over,” Nicholson explains. “[This plan has] been orchestrated for the people who are there, and mathematically… there’s enough food and oxygen and all these things for that amount of people, no one else.”
In other words, “Everyone dies if anyone comes in,” Nicholson says of her character’s motivation. When that motivation becomes clear to Billy, he essentially goads Sinatra by threatening her and telling her to send her toughest threat his way. Sadly, her toughest threat is Billy’s girlfriend, the seemingly meek agent Jane Driscoll (Nicole Brydon Bloom) who poisons him.
Can Sinatra keep the secret mission and killings under wraps, or will the truth come out as Xavier continues to dig into Cal’s death? Stay tuned, and let us know what you think of the latest twist from Paradise.
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