Paradise season 1 episode 7 recap: The killer was never in the bunker
Paradise season 1 episode 7 came out on February 25, 2025. The show debuted on January 26, 2025, and quickly became one of the most talked-about new shows of the year. The show started with the murder of President Cal Bradford (James Marsden), but that mystery quickly expanded into something much bigger. Agent Xavier Collins (Sterling K. Brown) is uncovering the truth about what happened to the world above.
For weeks, Paradise has hinted at a massive catastrophe that wiped out civilization, forcing the planet’s wealthiest and most powerful into an underground refuge. Paradise season 1 episode 7, titled The Day, finally gives us the full story.
Just when it seems Paradise has delivered all the answers, Sinatra drops one final bombshell—President Bradford wasn’t killed by anyone inside the bunker. The DNA at the crime scene didn’t match a single resident of Paradise. The assassin came from the outside.
Xavier, still reeling from learning his wife might be alive, barely processes what she’s saying. But Sinatra isn’t done. She plays a new recording—one of the survivor transmissions picked up by short-wave radio. It’s Teri. She’s alive and searching for her family.
The weight of this discovery is almost too much to bear. Before Xavier can react, Sinatra tightens her grip. She has his daughter, Presley. If he wants to see her—or his wife—again, he has to return the weapons he stole, find out who killed Cal, and restore order in Paradise.
With only one episode left in the season, the stakes have never been higher. Xavier has spent weeks to uncover the truth, but the real fight is just beginning.
Paradise season 1 episode 7: The world falls apart as a tsunami wipes out civilization
For weeks, Paradise teased the disaster that forced the survivors underground. Paradise season 1 episode 7 finally shows it in brutal detail. It all starts with a supervolcano erupting under Antarctica, triggering a massive chain reaction.
As trillions of gallons of melted ice flood into the ocean, a 300-foot-high tsunami races toward major cities at 600 miles per hour. Within hours, coastal cities across multiple continents are wiped out. Australia is completely submerged. South America and Africa take direct hits. The U.S. watches in horror as its coastline is next.
In the White House, President Cal Bradford is scrambling for answers. As the government’s top scientists try to predict the extent of the damage, a chilling realization sets in—this isn’t just a tsunami. It’s a total planetary collapse. Russia goes dark. China prepares for war.
Countries begin launching nuclear weapons as they try to secure remaining resources. In a shocking moment, a live news report captures a reporter watching the ocean recede three miles from the shore—right before a deafening blast signals the incoming wave. Her eardrum bursts, blood drips from her nose, and the camera cuts to black as the water swallows everything.
Paradise season 1 episode 7: Xavier’s last-ditch effort to save Teri ends in disaster
While the White House scrambles to evacuate the president, Agent Xavier Collins is facing a more personal crisis—his wife, Teri, is stuck in Atlanta. As Xavier watches the disaster unfold, he finally gets through to her. She’s at the airport, but flights have been grounded. Roads are jammed with people trying to escape. The military is locking down transportation. She’s running out of time.
Desperate, Xavier tells her to steal a car and head to the nearest Air Force base. The final transport is leaving in 85 minutes. But deep down, he knows the truth—she’s too far away to make it in time. As he juggles his responsibilities to the president and his duty as a husband and father, the tension reaches its breaking point.
Just as he gets another call from Teri, chaos erupts in the White House. A staffer grabs a gun. Secret Service agents start shooting. Xavier fumbles his phone in the madness. By the time he picks it up, the call has dropped.
As he’s ushered onto the evacuation plane with his children, Xavier gets one last text from Presley: Mom isn’t here. It’s the moment he realizes the worst—he’s leaving her behind.
Paradise season 1 episode 7: Bradford is given a choice—destroy the world or save it?
As the U.S. government collapses, the military tells President Bradford he has only one option: launch America’s nuclear arsenal. Other world powers have already fired missiles. If he doesn’t act now, the country will be defenseless. But Cal has another option—one only the president knows about. Decades ago, after the Cuban Missile Crisis, a secret failsafe was created.
Instead of launching nukes, the president can trigger a global electromagnetic pulse (EMP) that will fry every electronic circuit on Earth, including active missiles. The trade-off? Civilization would be sent back 500 years, and communication with the outside world would be impossible.
Samantha “Sinatra” Redmond argues against it, saying they need real defenses, not a desperate gamble. But Cal refuses to unleash global destruction. He flips the switch. As the EMP takes effect, Xavier manages to get one last call to Teri.
In a heartbreaking moment, she tells him she stole a car like he said but didn’t make it in time. As he watches the nuke tracker on his screen, a missile heads straight for Atlanta. Teri’s voice shakes as she tells him, Be a good father to them. The call cuts out. Xavier collapses. The city—and the love of his life—are gone.
After Paradise season 1 episode 7, there is just one episode left, which is scheduled to premiere on Tuesday, March 4, 2025, on Hulu.
