Paradise season 1 episode 5: EP talks Sinatra’s motive
Based on where things are at this point entering Paradise season 1 episode 5, it feels clear that you can make one argument — Sinatra is far from a saint. Samantha may not have directly killed Billy, but she had Jane do the deed on her behalf. There is also a chance that she did away with the President in Cal. For the time being, all of this stuff is on the table.
So what is really motivating the character? You can argue that a part of it has a lot to do with with trying to make this community “a better place,” but it’s complicated. Remember for a moment that she wanted to eradicate evidence that people could go outside! Why do that?
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Speaking in a new interview with The Hollywood Reporter, showrunner Dan Fogelman did his best to line up some of the viewpoints that are at play for Sinatra at this point:
I think there’s two type of viewpoints of the world, right? And there’s one viewpoint which is that people are naturally terrible, right? And if I have something good, people will try and take it. Then there’s the other viewpoint, which is people aren’t all terrible, and that there is goodness in people, even under dire circumstances and you don’t have to do the wrong thing because you’re afraid of other people doing the wrong thing. I think those two points of view are at war for Sinatra.
It’s not really your typical post-apocalyptic show. But in those early seasons of The Walking Dead, that was such compelling television, because there was one central question underneath it all, which is, what lengths would you go to in a catastrophe to protect your family and the people you care about? Would you kill? That is a core question underneath Sinatra. She’s been doing a lot of bad things for a really long time under the umbrella of protecting not just her family, but eventually all of the people under her charge. You have to have a spiritual reckoning with that. I think that’s coming for her.
It does feel like a part of her motive is to prove that she has the right way to a better future and in the end, we’re just not sure that this will be the case. Also, we don’t think that Xavier is going to take well to what happened to his friend — even if he doesn’t know he is gone as of yet.
Related – Learn more now about Paradise, and what else is going to be coming up soon
What do you think Sinatra is ultimately trying to do on Paradise at this point?
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