Paradise Season 2’s Shocking Death Scene Explained – SlashFilm

This put up comprises main spoilers for the primary 4 episodes of “Paradise” season 2.

In 1999, comics author Gail Simone coined the time period “girls in fridges” to explain feminine characters experiencing assault, hurt, or demise solely for the aim of motivating male characters throughout the story. You could be aware of the extra colloquial “fridging,” which displays the unconscious (and infrequently, acutely aware) sexist tropes that find yourself driving feminine narratives in fiction. 

This feels particularly egregious if the feminine character in query has been arrange as the brand new co-lead, as within the case of Shailene Woodley’s Annie, who opens the extremely-anticipated second season of “Paradise” — which might be thought-about the collection’ largest danger that pays off straight away. The primary three episodes flesh out Annie with nice conviction, her arc working parallel to that of Xavier Collins (Sterling Ok. Brown), who’s now on the floor to determine what occurred to Earth after the world seemingly ended. In a tragic flip of occasions, Annie dies after giving beginning in episode 4, entrusting her new child to Xavier earlier than respiratory her final.

Annie’s sudden demise positively appears like fridging, contemplating how her character has been mapped within the first three episodes (which dropped collectively as part of the season 2 premiere). We’re aware of her troublesome childhood, her acute loneliness, and the main points of her survival inside Elvis Presley’s Graceland, which evolves into her sanctuary. Annie’s resilience places loads of issues into perspective. For starters, she is consultant of the thousands and thousands left behind for the sake of the secretive Paradise challenge, deemed unworthy of survival regardless of having the identical proper to exist as everybody else within the underground bunker.

That mentioned, Annie’s demise is extra complicated than the “girls in fridges” trope. Let’s discuss it. 

In “Paradise,” Annie will not be a damsel in misery. When the doomsday occasion happens, she is the primary to assemble necessities and ask Gayle (Angel Laketa Moore) to do the identical. Gayle’s demise leaves Annie utterly remoted, leaving her with nobody to depend upon. This explains why she’s so hostile in the direction of Hyperlink (Thomas Doherty) and his males after they infiltrate Graceland. As soon as Hyperlink and co. show that they imply no hurt, Annie warms as much as the group. Finally, she and Hyperlink forge an emotional bond, and have intercourse. It is a main turning level, because it underscores the vulnerability of being held and identified amid excessive circumstances. This similar vulnerability prevents Annie from accompanying Hyperlink the following day, as she is afraid to enterprise outdoors.

Xavier’s arc intersects with Annie’s when she’s out to seek for Hyperlink whereas being pregnant. This evolving friendship is completely balanced, as Annie’s innate compassion and Xavier’s religion in humanity rub off on the opposite. Xavier’s willingness to belief strangers pays off when he seeks assist from a familial survivor group, who do their finest to assist Annie by means of a troublesome childbirth. Protecting these developments in thoughts, can we nonetheless contemplate Annie’s demise an occasion of fridging? 

Sure, and no. Sure, as a result of Annie’s demise furthers Xavier’s arc, on condition that he has been entrusted with defending her youngster and preserving her legacy. She pleads with him to make sure that the kid grows as much as place confidence in folks with out harboring the fixed concern of being damage. However Annie’s complicated interiority, her stunning resilience, and her selection to assist others regardless of her traumatic previous, level in the direction of a effectively-written feminine co-lead. So, why did Annie should die in such a ugly method?

Trauma has been an integral side of Annie’s story, as cemented by her childhood flashback — a format that season 2 properly retains, as flashbacks are among the many finest elements of season 1. It takes immense bravery to outlive an apocalyptic occasion alone, and Annie shows a uncommon interior power throughout her time in Graceland. 

Earlier than she heads out with Xavier, Annie deduces she has Preeclampsia, a blood strain dysfunction that manifests in swollen limbs/distorted imaginative and prescient. No two situations of childbirth are the identical, however Annie’s is inherently traumatic as a result of makeshift nature of the help she receives inside an deserted diner. Though the infant lady is protected, Annie loses an alarming quantity of blood on account of Preeclampsia and tearfully says that nothing might be accomplished about it. This explains why she swiftly writes a letter for her youngster and insists that taking good care of the child is Xavier’s holy cost.

The emotional intestine-punch delivered by episode 4 is plain. It is a stunning demise that hits laborious, as we anticipate Annie to information Xavier by means of his journey and attain the Colorado bunker in some unspecified time in the future within the collection. Inside the ambit of Xavier’s arc, this can be a demise that serves a story function, because it offers him one more reason to maintain preventing whereas honoring the reminiscence of a pricey good friend. An analogous demise happens within the first season, the place Billy Tempo’s (Jon Beavers) premature homicide provides urgency to Xavier’s quest for the reality. 

Whereas Billy has discovered a solution to return to the story repeatedly, Annie’s case is one-and-accomplished. She’s going to endlessly hang-out the narrative, with the jarring tragedy of her destiny fueling Xavier’s “holy cost” because the collection protagonist.

“Paradise” is streaming on Hulu.