Sterling K. Brown promised it, and Paradise delivered: we finally know who assassinated President Cal Bradford. In its March 4 episode, Hulu‘s dystopian drama unraveled layers of deception, taking us 12 years into the past to the creation of the underground city known as Paradise. With this revelation, sacrifices buried deep in the shadows now make perfect sense.
A Dangerous Past and a Premeditated Murder
The episode opens with the construction of the bunker, unknowingly built by a group of workers exposed to fatal health risks. When the project manager raised concerns about the safety of the site, he was swiftly fired. His boss warned him to “forget this job” and hinted at an impending catastrophe.
But he refused to stay silent. Desperate to expose the truth, he reached out to journalists, attempting to uncover President Bradford’s hidden agenda. Meanwhile, viewers had already seen Xavier Collins (Sterling K. Brown) take a bullet for Bradford earlier in the season. The shocking finale revealed that the shooter disguised as a journalist was none other than the project manager himself.
As the investigation unfolded, Samantha “Sinatra” Redmond made a chilling discovery: the DNA found at the crime scene did not match any resident of Paradise. “It appears our killer came from the outside,” she declared, setting the stage for an even greater mystery.
The True Identity of the Killer
The most jaw-dropping twist comes when we learn that the man responsible for Bradford’s death is Paradise’s librarian. However, he is not who he claims to be.
Through a series of flashbacks, we uncover the shocking truth: after shooting Bradford, the project manager was imprisoned near the construction site. When the world collapsed, chaos broke loose, and he escaped from jail. Disguising himself as a police officer, he blended in with the masses desperately trying to reach the underground sanctuary.
There, he encountered a married couple granted access to Paradise—and murdered them, stealing their identities. From that moment on, he assumed the life of Eli Davis, the librarian, and even recruited an accomplice, giving his victim’s wife’s identity to a woman seeking refuge.
A Tale of Vengeance and Justice
The connection between Bradford and his killer becomes undeniable when Xavier Collins finds the president’s hidden journal. The truth is brutal: the librarian—formerly the project manager—had always planned to kill Bradford but grew comfortable in Paradise. His rage reignited when the president visited the library, casually asking him to burn a music CD. “All my anger came rushing back. I knew I had to finish what I started,” he confesses in a chilling monologue.
His motivation? Revenge. Bradford had condemned the workers who built Paradise to death, denying them a place in the bunker. To execute his plan, the assassin used a massive drill bit from the library’s exhibit, striking Bradford in the head.
In his final moments, the president attempted to leave a clue for Collins, marking an “X” in blood on his cigarette pack. As seen earlier in the season, these cigarettes contained a hidden code leading to a secret book—one that detailed the only known way to escape Paradise.
Realizing the president was still alive, the killer struck him again, sealing his fate.
In the present day, when Collins and Agent Robinson finally track him down, the murderer chooses his own ending: he leaps from a high structure, plummeting into the depths of Paradise.
With Bradford’s murder exposed, Paradise may never be the same. Will this revelation shatter the fragile order of the underground city?
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