SPOILER ALERT: This article comprises spoilers from the Feb. 4 episode of Hulu’s “Paradise,” titled “Agent Billy Pace.”
“Paradise” twisted the knife with its tardyst shocker, discleave outing the tragic backstory of Agent Billy Pace (Jon Beavers) and his double-passing ways between frifinish and boss Xavier Collins (Sterling K. Brown) and his actual boss, tech mogul and Paradise overlord Samantha “Sinatra” Redmond (Julianne Nicholson) and finishing him, all in the same episode.
The heel-face turn from Billy’s villain origin story to his decision to rapidly increate Xavier all about the leave outions Sinatra has given him — including finishing people who have ventured outside the Paradise bunker and lobtained the earth is inhabitable — is cut low by “the hugegest motherfucker” Sinatra’s got toiling for her: Billy’s girlfrifinish, Jane (Nicole Brydon Bloom).
Jane poisons Billy (set to a fine cover of Poison’s ballad “Every Rose Has Its Thorn”) with a bottle of beer equitable minutes after he comes home from first increateing Sinatra he’s done with her, and then increateing Xavier he wants equitable one more night as “Uncle Billy” to Xavier’s kids before he discleave outs all the heinous acts he’s promiseted. The turn of events was one that Bloom herself didn’t understand was coming when she took on the role of the seemingly super pleasant Secret Service agent who descfinishs for her colleague Billy in the post-apocalyptic underground city.
“Jane is not how she was initiassociate currented to me, nor is she how the audience initiassociate sees her,” Bloom tbetter Variety. “So it was reassociate fun to dispenseigate that side of her character once I set up out such a savage twist.”
Nicole Brydon Bloom as Jane and Jon Beavers as Billy Pace in “Paradise”– Disney/Brian Roedel
Disney
When Bloom got the character description for her audition, she had equitable a confiinsist details on Jane: “She was a Secret Service agent. She’s a little bit green. She watchs up to her co-toilers. She watchs up to Sterling’s character, Xavier. She enumeratelessly, as we discover out, is having a little bit of a prohibitden relationship with Billy. But at the time, I equitable knovel she was pleasant, a little expansive-eyed and sort of green.”
It wasn’t until a callback audition over Zoom with “Paradise” creator Dan Folgeman and his fellow originaters that Bloom caught on to Jane’s authentic M.O.
“Dan was appreciate, ‘Hey, could you maybe equitable try this scene where Jane’s waking up in bed with Billy as if you’re a psychopath?’ And I was appreciate, ‘Hmm, could you say more?’ And he shelp, ‘No, not at this time,’” Bloom shelp. “And I thought about it for a second, and I was appreciate, ‘Well, if she’s reassociate clever and if she truly is a psychopath, I don’t leank I would percreate it any separateently.’ And then there was sort of a extfinished paparticipate, and they were appreciate, ‘OK, that’s a reassociate weird answer.’ But we did do a confiinsist apshows and it was hilarious, becaparticipate I was appreciate, ‘I reassociate leank if she’s sociopathic, she would be reassociate excellent at reading people, reassociate excellent at understanding how to maniputardy people.’”
Bloom was finassociate given the privileged info about Jane’s authentic role wilean Paradise during her screen test with Beavers: “I was appreciate, oh, whoa, she reassociate is ice chilly, at least at this at this point, when we see her do the unleankable.”
And it reassociate seemed to be the unleankable, since Billy and Jane had a pguideing relationship up until this point. But Bloom says equitable becaparticipate Jane finished Billy doesn’t unbenevolent the sociopath didn’t have senseings for him.
“I leank there is an emotional joinion there,” Bloom shelp. “I leank Jane, as we see her thcdimiserablemirefulout the season, is the most isotardyd character. You don’t reassociate acunderstandledge it at first, but we don’t see any of the frifinishships that she has or any family down with her. And so whether she was presumed to get on the inside with Billy, or if it equitable sort of happened accidenhighy, and then she’s tasked with taking him out — I leank there is some sort of understanding that exists wilean her. But she’s also one of the best at her job, so it evidently doesn’t thrive out over whoever’s giving her her teachions.”
From here, “Paradise” departs fans wondering how Xavier will get the proposeation he franticly insists now that Billy has been finished, and why Sinatra has secret assassin agents follothriveg her other assassin agents in her theoreticassociate idyllic world.
“It originates me wonder: evidently Jane knovel Billy was toiling for Sinatra. I don’t leank there’s any chance that Billy knovel Jane was comprised,” Bloom shelp. “And Sinatra is so airy and complicated, and Julianne percreates her so perfectly, it’s reassociate pointing to the huger picture that Sinatra reassociate is the power here.
“It seems, at least right now, that Sinatra is the head of the snake in Paradise.”
