Paradise – A Holy Charge review S2 E4

March 2, 2026 Jeffrey Lyles Dan Fogelman, James Marsden, Jon Beavers, Julianne Nicholson, Paradise, Shailene Woodley, Sterling K. Brown, Thomas Doherty

A Holy Charge felt like a further exploration of how Paradise’s second season will play out without a driving murder mystery to propel it. If last season felt like a cross between 24 and Lost, this season feels more like a mix of Lost and The Walking Dead — minus the random zombie acts.

The question for showrunner Dan Fogelman comes down to is that enough for Paradise to thrive as appointment TV going forward? The murder mystery and frantic “who do you trust” nature of season 1 made for an easy binge. So far, this season has played out more like a slow tango and the verdict is still out.

A Holy Charge did provide some strong emotional moments, terrific character beats and a wild twist offering enough to fill in for the lack of adrenaline rush moments at every commercial break opportunity. There are three subplots at play through Holy Charge — Xavier and Annie deciding on their destination: Atlanta or Colorado; Link and his much larger caravan than the Graceland crew and a flashback featuring the first of its kind in Paradise.

Naturally, the main one focused on Xavier and Annie.

Link seems to be seeing the flashes that Xavier has with Xavier with a full mustache following him. Since Xavier is still clean shaven (at least for the start of Holy Charge), he seems to be having visions of a future event? And it’s not just one sided. Xavier has also been experiencing these flashes of him following a cautious but determined Link.

Annie chalks it up to his concussion and gradually starts to trust him. Xavier is stuck since his wounds required stitches and she warned him it’s the little things that will kill him up here — like getting infected and sepsis setting in. Annie asks about the Colorado bunker, which shocks Xavier. There were newspaper headlines about it and some of the children of the chosen few were actually making social media videos about their wrist bracelets so it’s not like this was a secret to the rest of the country.

Hopefully, Annie was kidding about having to like rat for breakfast. Maybe starving isn’t a bad thing? Holy Charge did raise another question — if the billionaire’s built an entire city for 25,000 people would it have killed them to go the Noah route and bring some animals? At least chickens, cows and pigs? Maybe some baby elephants and sheep for the carnival?

The musical selections for Paradise have been solid renditions of popular hits, but a Holy Charge’s rendition of Hound Dog isn’t really working, however. Annie cedes any illusion of control and agrees to go with Xavier to Atlanta to find Teri so long as they take her to Colorado to reunite with the father of her baby. Trust is huge for Annie. She didn’t trust people before the end of the world. That seemed to be another thing she got from her mother based on the small attendance at her funeral.

On the long road at ATL, they see a family on a horse and buggy. Annie advises Xavier not to make eye contact or speak, which he does anyway only to get ignored and stared at menacingly as they show their guns. The question is would Xavier be worried or consider that a welcome return to normal life in the real world? That certainly wouldn’t be the first time that’s happened to him regardless of his Secret Service status.

Throughout A Holy Charge, Annie and Xavier’s interactions have been filled with quiet moments of the joy of parenting. Xavier teaching Annie how to swaddle felt like a pure This Is Us moment. This makes Xavier think back to the last baby he saw come into the world.

That was three years ago with Paradise citizen Luisa Mirana set to deliver the city’s first baby. For this big moment, President Cal is headed to the hospital Xavier and Billy in tow. Cal was hoping she’d consider naming the baby Hope, which probably won’t work well for a boy. It was a great call by Fogelman and the rest of the Paradise crew to keep Cal and Billy as part of the show even if it’s just via flashbacks now. Luisa’s husband was a pilot who was flying Congress, whose plane went down on The Day. Cal tries to get Sam to come see the first Paradise baby while not being completely oblivious to how she might feel.

Cal holds Luisa’s hand when she has to go to the OR and assures her that her son will be fine. It’s Cal at his best and perfectly illustrates why he was the best man to be Paradise’s first president. He’s truly a man of the people with sincere empathy and concern for others. And he can be a positive influence on even the most callous as evident by Sam actually watching the birth.

There isn’t a mystery to be solved this season, but it seems like the writers should give Xavier a cathartic moment to lose the anger he felt towards Cal and finally grieve the man who legitimately cared for him. As well as being a guy thrust in an unwinnable position trying to do his best. It feels like there is one easy way to partially get Xavier there stemming from one of the subplots of Holy Charge.

Xavier shares with Annie a story his father relayed to him about people being capable of great promise. That’s a holy charge. This was a nice, very well-performed moment with Sterling K. Brown and Shailene Woodley.

Remember that mention of how this episode felt like This Is Us? That cuts both ways — for the charming, gentle moments of life and the other turbulent, rocky moments no one can see coming. Fogelman specialized in those moments on This Is Us and he’s brought that over to Paradise as well.

Annie’s water breaks, which seems way too early. Xavier runs to get help from the family down the road despite Annie’s pleas for him to stay with her and not trust those dangerous people. After a brief misunderstanding, Xavier brings the older guy and a bunch of women to help her deliver the baby. It’s a girl and a sweet, tender moment for Annie…until it’s not. She can’t stop bleeding. Annie was bracing for this and wrote a note for Xavier to give the baby. He asks him to find her baby’s father — that’s your holy charge.

After Graceland and her subsequent meeting with Xavier it sure felt like Annie was going to be a series regular going forward. Now, beyond the occasional Link flashback, she’s done. That was a pretty shocking development. Xavier and the guys in the family bury Annie with a tombstone that reads “daughter mother friend.” They’ve been doing solid work in giving people at least a peaceful rest in their homemade cemetery.

They have some formula and sew a makeshift baby carrier. Getting the horse to leave Annie’s gravesite is another thing. That was impressively touching.
After a few days, the horse is ready to go now. Holy Charge didn’t actually have him do it, but Xavier has to call the baby Hope, right?

Back to Link and the caravan, who’ve arrived at the bunker gate. He holds up signs asking to be taken to their leader. “I’m going to ask nicely but not for long.” Just how could they crack the gates since they’d have to be strong enough to withstand a nuclear device. Also, Paradise is short at least seven citizens that we know of — the four explorers, Cal, Billy and the “librarian.” Counting the likely hundreds for Congress and the Joint Chiefs, there really should be plenty of room for Link’s crew in Paradise.

One final flashback scene with Sam going to visit Luisa and her son, Calvin. That was sweet. Sinatra is the kind of crazy that it was highly probable that she might harm Calvin. Thankfully, she’s not that big a monster. She tells Calvin a secret — one day you’ll see the real sun. “I swear, Calvin. I have a plan for you and all of us.” If Sinatra’s scheme was just her being over the top rude and dismissive to people, she’d be prickly, but amusing character. It’s the signing off on assassinations makes her a villain when she really just wants what’s best for everyone. Provided they fall in line with her way of getting that accomplished.

Xavier entering Atlanta on a horse sure feels similar to another apocalyptic show. He reaches that area where Teri’s broadcast hailed and meets a guy who correctly guesses that he’s Xavier. The guy states for the last three years, Teri has been the closest thing he’s had to a sister. Now, she’s been taking from me. Seems like Xavier has a new main quest ahead. And at least this guy seems like he can be a decent babysitter.

A Holy Charge flipped expectations for how this season was going to play out as Paradise once again proves with a few exceptions that no one is truly safe.