‘Paradise’: Who Is Alex? Breaking Down Season 2’s Biggest Mystery | Entertainment

While Xavier Collins (Sterling K. Brown) continued his mission to find his wife, Teri (Enuka Okuma), outside of the titular bunker located in Colorado, the latest episodes made way for the recovery of Julianne Nicholson‘s Samantha, a.k.a. Sinatra, the true puppeteer behind the operation. Along with the introduction of new characters, the biggest mystery that has surfaced within Season 2 revolves around someone (or something) named Alex.

Scroll down for a closer look.

In the premiere episode, “Graceland,” Shailene Woodley‘s character Annie was introduced as a survivor who took shelter at Elvis Presley‘s famous estate. Years into her life there, Annie encountered Link (Thomas Doherty) and a collection of his fellow survivors as they trekked out west to Colorado toward the rumored bunker. While Link told Annie they were trying to get supplies to help sustain the people on the outside, a comment made by one of Link’s pals as they left Graceland suggested the mission entailed more. There was a particular emphasis on the fact that they need to kill someone named Alex, but the name comes up more than once, leading us to additional questions below.

While Sinatra recovered from being shot at the end of Season 1, the new president suggested raising the temperature in the bunker to give residents a faux summer, but the architect was against it, noting the drain on power. It was also revealed that power reserves were going toward a secret project that Sinatra had hidden from most. When she recovered enough, Sinatra was questioned about the project, but the first time we saw her bring it up was to her paid cleaner at the end of Episode 3, asking how Alex was doing, assuming the project was what she was alluding to.

The topic of Alex has since been broached by Dr. Tourabi (Sarah Shahi), who bugged a frame in Sinatra’s office. Eager to learn more, she presses for information and is pointed toward Jane (Nicole Brydon Bloom) by Robinson (Krys Marshall) as someone to watch out for. Still, the presence of this supposed Alex is curious nonetheless.

The only visible version of someone named Alex that viewers saw was in Episode 3, but she was presumably dead after her husband, Henry Miller (Patrick Fischler), injected her with something lethal. Henry was the owner of a company called Vestige Quantum, and the tech he’d had was something Sinatra wanted to buy out for her future project or plan, prior to the final construction of the bunker.

Sinatra sent Billy (Jon Beavers) after Henry to sign the papers required, but things turned deadly. Even still, Henry’s words were certainly curious as he spoke about the importance of fate. He told Billy that his wife had Huntington’s Disease, as she lay sick in her deathbed upon the hitman’s arrival at his home. Apparently, Link was Henry’s protege, and he pleaded with Billy to sustain the boy’s life, noting the fate of the world could depend on it. So Billy shot Henry, and as he bumped into Link on his way out of the home, he advised the young man to turn around and run away.

In Season 2’s sixth episode, a City Circuit employee receives a message from someone going by the screen name, Alex Q, that “A killer will be born on June 6 at 12:01 a.m. She can be stopped when it matters, if you deliver a message to her.” The catch? The message was sent on May 29, 1997, right before the birth of Jane, who would later fulfill this prophecy. But could it be indicating a time-bending twist is on the horizon? If Alex is sending messages in 1997, are they someone who always existed, or knows things about the present day because of some time-traveling ability? The reveal raises more questions than anything else, but we’re hopeful as Paradise Season 2 races towards its finale, some kind of answers loom.

In Season 2’s seventh episode, “The Final Countdown,” Sinatra sets out to a secret section of the bunker, just as everything seems to be melting down. While some attempt to put the bunker in lockdown, above ground, Link tries to break in, and Sinatra carries on to a room buried deep below, where she greets “Alex,” which casts a glow on her happy face. After an implication that Link could somehow be her dead son Dylan, Sinatra’s awestruck expression has us wondering if Alex is actually some kind of predictive computer or device, rather than a person.

Will all of these questions be related to one another, and will they be answered by the time Season 2 concludes? Stay tuned to find out, and let us know your theories about the Alex mystery looming over this latest chapter in the comments section.

Paradise, Season 2, Mondays, Hulu