Paradise “The Day”

I wasn’t expecting to find out how the apocalypse happened.  I actually liked that I didn’t know.  I just had to know it was terrible.

That said, the more important thing here is how good a man Cal Bradford was all along.

Yeah, the end of the world happened when a volcano went off in Antarctica, one that set off a massive tsunami that pretty much wiped out the nations of the Southern Hemisphere.  Russia was overthrown in a coup, coastal communities all over the world disappeared as the tsunami went to the North Pole and then doubled-back the way it came to repeat the process until the wave gets bored or something.  Wars are breaking out over resources, and Bradford knows what’s going to happen.  Xavier is trying to get his wife to a plane to Colorado where he and the kids will meet her, but she never made it.

Xavier, it seems, never forgave Cal for not saying something sooner and letting his wife die.

Except…that’s not actually what happened.

See, the one thing I think this series has done right is make these characters far more complex than a lot of other shows would have.  Cal, in the pilot, appeared to be a dim, stupid man, someone who didn’t much care about anything but his own pleasures, and he was the president.  It’s like how Sinatra isn’t just a heartless control freak.  She lost a son, and that affects how she sees the world.  Sure, Xavier is a straight-arrow good guy, but someone had to be.

But the thing is, Cal isn’t heartless in any way, shape, or form.  His path into politics was the idea of his wealthy, control freak father.  And now, he sees the path he’s been given, one that will minimize panic by simply not telling the public what’s happening.  But Cal, he sees an old man who’s worked for the White House through nine administrations and doesn’t know doom is coming, even when Cal recommends the man go home and see his family.  He has to leave behind longtime staffers, and when the time comes to launch America’s missiles, all according to plan to essentially mercy-kill most of the human race, he opts to do something else instead with a worldwide EMP that knocks out the missiles, even the ones in mid-flight, but also ruins the world’s computers.  Yes, there’s still fallout, but the thing is, the human race has a chance that people like Sinatra weren’t willing to give them.

Essentially, Cal is the reason anyone, including Xavier’s wife, is still alive outside the bunker called Paradise.

Honestly, I’m not 100% sure I saw that level of character work coming, but honestly, I approve.  Paradise has been doing this sort of thing right the whole time.