Paradise is back for a wild second season on Hulu, with three episode already live. And while the first season dealt with two overarching mysteries — who killed President Cal Bradford (James Marsden), and how did the world end — Season 2 has one, big honking question looming over it: who — or what — is Alex?
First of all, to get this out of the way: yes, I am Alex. But I am not the Alex who is central to the mystery of Paradise Season 2, unless showrunner Dan Fogelman has personalized these episodes for every viewer. In which case you’re probably wondering “who is Nicole” or “who is Juniper.” But assuming people are saying the name “Alex” a lot in your version of the three-episode premiere, let’s get into it. And spoilers past this point.
As usual for the series, there are a few different timelines running. In fact, the series premiere, “Graceland,” kicks off before the end of the world, following a panicky med student named Annie (Shailene Woodley) who ends up becoming a tour guide at Graceland when the world falls. She ends up surviving in the house Elvis built for years before she meets a group led by a guy named Link (Thomas Doherty) that stays at Graceland on their way to Colorado.
Why Colorado? Viewers likely know, but it turns out Link and company don’t just know about the Paradise bunker hidden there, which in Season 1 we thought was all that remained of the human population… They’re going there to “kill Alex.”
In case you’re scratching your head after the premiere, trying to remember who Alex is… We haven’t met Alex on the show yet. At least, we don’t meet anyone named Alex until Episode 3, “Another Day In Paradise.”
Is Alex A Dying Lady?
In Episode 3, we finally go back to the bunker after spending time with Annie and Link, then with Xavier Collins (Sterling K. Brown) and a group of post-apocalyptic ragamuffins in Episode 2, “Mayday.” But for the purposes of this article, the important part is the flashback. We go back in time to find out how the maniacal billionaire manipulator Samantha “Sinatra” Redmond (Julianne Nicholson) met mercenary Billy Pace (Jon Beavers). And she met him, hiring him to harass and/or kill a business rival.
That business rival is played by character actor Patrick Fischler, and he’s named Henry Miller. He’s a professor teaching a course called “Advance Wave Functions, Superposition, and Quantum Entanglement.” He’s also developed some sort of technology that Sinatra needs, very badly, and owns a company called Vestige Quantum that it later on turns out he runs with a guy he considers almost his son… Link.
Sinatra nervously instructs Billy to kill Miller if he doesn’t sign her contract. Billy befriends Miller in a bar, then reveals he needs him to sign or die… With Miller seeming to sign — but instead giving him an address, which turns out to be Miller’s house. Billy goes to Fischler’s house, ostensibly to kill him, and there sees his sick wife… Alex (Gwen Holloway).
She’s confined to a bed with an IV drip, and Miller explains that she’s “been like this for quite a while.” She has Huntington’s disease, which Miller calls “the motherf**ker of motherf**kers when it comes to diseases.” Miller gives her some medicine, and monologues about how they used to love to travel, he’d worry about a 50% chance of rain, and his wife would remind him that meant a “50% chance of sun.”
He says “I’ll see you soon my love,” kissing her head, and adding, “Goodbye, Alex.” Which certainly makes one wonder if this was an assisted suicide, and not medicine he was giving her.
Anyway, mystery solved: Alex is a lady! Case closed, good season of TV, right? Well… No.
Alex Is Some Sort Of Time Travel Thingy
Okay, there are a couple of tells that Alex is not a person, but a device of some sort. The first tell? They, er, tell us too quickly that Alex is a dying lady. When a TV show dispenses of a mystery like that, and clearly points towards killing Alex as if it was a person… It’s not a person. It’s also a pretty big tell that Alex (the lady) is dying of Huntington’s disease before the end of the world, so it’s not likely that she’s in the Paradise bunker, nor that her “son” Link would be headed to Colorado to kill her.
A device named after Alex? Yes, he wants to “kill” that. His mom? Probably not.
But there’s even more of an indication that some sort of time travel is at play here. The tells for that are the name of Miller’s course, which includes “Quantum Entanglement,” and his company, which also includes “Quantum.” While the word itself doesn’t scientifically indicate time travel, in sci-fi it’s usually a word associated with time travel of some sort.
Doubling down on this? “Do you think that things happen for a reason, or are they just random?” Miller asked Billy at the bar. And then his final words are a monologue that expands on it further.
“I asked you before if you think that things happen for a reason,” Miller says. “Do you think that you’re here by random happenstance, or are you here because you are supposed to be here with Alex and me? That you are supposed to be here. In which case… You may need this.”
Miller hands a confused Billy a tissue. “I ask only one favor of you, my new friend,” Miller continues. “When the boy comes, let him go. Do not harm him. It is not hyperbole to say that the fate of the world may depend on it.”
Then Billy kills Miller, and when he’s leaving, sure enough he sees Link, letting him live. Why? There’s a “high-pitched ringing” sound, and Billy gets a nosebleed, which is why Miller handed him the tissue.
So yeah, listen. It’s early going, but I — and probably you — have seen TV shows before. We’re dealing at the very least with some sort of causality loop, where the things that happen in the past and the future are increasingly tied together. But to throw out a wilder theory, what if we’re dealing with some form of time travel? Specifically, time travel meant to (going nuts here) change the destruction of the world? Alex could be some sort of device that can prevent the catastrophe that brought about the end of everything. Or it could rewind time enough so that they have the possibility to stop things.
In my opinion (and I’m getting really nuts), I could see a world where whatever Alex is either sends minds back in time or bodies, and we get a third season setup where our hero Xavier is sent back pre-“The Day” in order to try and stop it… For no other reason than it allows the show to better incorporate Marsden, and gives us another ticking time bomb. Also they did that on LOST and this show owes a ton to LOST.
So what — or who — is Alex? As of Episode 3, a lady who is dead/dying. But going forward? We’ll see, as Paradise Season 2 continues…
Paradise Season 2 Premiere Dates And Episode Guide:
New episodes of Paradise premiere Mondays at 12 am ET / Sundays at 9 pm PT on Hulu. The season will premiere with three episodes on February 23, followed by one episode a week until the Season 2 finale.
Here’s what we expect from the full list of episodes in Paradise Season 2, with premiere dates.
- Monday, February 23, 2026: Paradise, Season 2, Episode 1, “Graceland”
- Monday, February 23, 2026: Paradise, Season 2, Episode 2, “Mayday”
- Monday, February 23, 2026: Paradise, Season 2, Episode 3, “Another Day In Paradise”
- Monday, March 2, 2026: Paradise, Season 2, Episode 4, “A Holy Charge”
- Monday, March 9, 2026: Paradise, Season 2, Episode 5, “The Mailman”
- Monday, March 16, 2026: Paradise, Season 2, Episode 6, “Jane”
- Monday, March 23, 2026: Paradise, Season 2, Episode 7, “The Final Countdown”
- Monday, March 30, 2026: Paradise, Season 2, Episode 8, “Exodus” *Season Finale*
Where To Watch Paradise Season 2
Comic Book Club Live Info:
Share this:
Discover more from Comic Book Club
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.