Paradise “You Asked For Miracles”

Here it is:  the big showdown between Xavier and Sinatra!  Someone is going down for…wait, this isn’t the season finale.

Yeah, this episode was a tense, well-made hour (or so) of TV, and yet, the more I think about it, the more it feels like a stock episode.  It opens with the first on-screen appearance of Xavier’s wife, a tough-talking woman who takes no guff and requests that people address her as “doctor” instead of “mrs.”  Contrasted with her more “go with the flow” husband in this opening scene, and yeah, I can see they make a good match.  Both are good parents, but the more I think about it, the more I think this is a character I have seen many times before.

Oh, the scenes are still good, and I wouldn’t object to seeing this character again, but there isn’t much to go on here that makes her unique.

The same thing more or less happens by the end of this episode.  Xavier’s daughter Presley and Cal’s son Jeremy found the evidence that Cal found before he died, and the (probably) more dangerous killer Jane manages to talk Presley into leaving for somewhere else.  Should I be surprised that Jane got one of Xavier’s kids?  Well, only if said kid dies later.

I will admit, that when Xavier calls in his Secret Service buddies, they opt not to call Jane because they think she’s a lightweight, and that’s kinda funny in retrospect.

Actually, this episode does one thing really well:  it shows who might have the real power in this underground city.  Sure, Sinatra might be making all the decisions, but Xavier knows how to deal with people.  Oh, and he got whole of the guns and a bunch of flares that can freak out people without hurting them.  Seeing the rich get spooked, that sure is a nice thing once in a while.  All this, of course, is to get Sinatra and Xavier in a room together where he can demand a confession.  Or answers.  Something along those lines.  He gets it too, in another pair of moments that feel cliched but still works.

See, Sinatra says she didn’t kill Cal (Billy she cops to).  Oh, and Xavier’s wife is still alive somewhere.  As I said above, it’s too early to get the answer to the murder of the President, but as far as Mrs. (or Dr.) Collins goes, yeah, that seems like something that would make Xavier pause even if the fact that survivors on the outside were an already-established thing.

These are TV cliches, but I don’t mind ’em so much when they’re well-done.