Paradise Season 2, Episode 5 introduced a strange mailman named Gary, and his act of unexpectedly shooting his best friend, Ennis, stemmed from his feelings for someone close to Xavier Collins. Hulu's apocalyptic thriller introduced Gary as a seemingly sympathetic loner who, with Ennis, mapped out a plan to form a group to be prepared for the imminent end of the world.
Gary met Xavier (with Annie's baby) to let him know that he had been friends with Xavier's wife, Teri, during The Day (aka the peak of the apocalypse), and that she had been abducted by a group days before Xavier arrived at their hideout. Gary also told him that Ennis betrayed them by giving up their location, which led to Teri's abduction. However, the real truth was eventually revealed in the episode's final moments.
Paradise Season 2, Episode 5 ended with Gary shooting Ennis and ultimately killing him while they were on their way back from the base of a group of survivors boarding a train heading to Colorado. Gary ended up betraying and killing his best friend after Ennis pointed out that he should brace for the reality of losing Teri sooner than expected.
Gary's possessive feelings for Teri led him to pull the trigger, as he was willing to go to extreme lengths to control her fate and keep her by his side no matter what. What made Gary even more dangerous in Paradise Season 2 was his ability to fool everyone (including Xavier) with his lies, thanks to his lonely, everyman portrayal, making it easy for him to kill unknowing allies in cold blood.
The situation became more tragic because Paradise Season 2, Episode 5 positioned Ennis as the villain in the good chunk of its runtime. While he started out as an unlikeable character in the latest installment, Ennis' growth eventually manifested by showing him as someone who genuinely cares for his teammates, unlike Gary, who had a hidden agenda all this time.
Thankfully, Gary's murderous betrayal was witnessed by Bean (Teri's adoptive son after The Day), and he appeared to have told Teri the truth behind what Gary did.
It remains to be seen where Teri went after Gary's cold-blooded killing, but there is a good chance that she went to seek refuge with the group of survivors because their goals are aligned in terms of heading to the Colorado underground bunker. This same group was also the one Gary blamed for Teri's disappearance to Xavier, which further explained why he wanted to get rid of them in the first place.
Why Gary Is the Perfect Paradise Season 2 Villain Hiding In Plain Sight
Paradise Season 2 is full of complex characters, and Gary is perhaps the perfect ideal villain due to the show's slow-burning reveal of his darker side.
Aside from his sympathetic, two-faced portrayal, Gary's deceptive, tragically obsessive nature positions him as someone with nothing to lose and only wanting to be with the love of his life. Gary's scary manipulation not only tricked Xavier but also fooled his former companions (Crystal and Jackie) into believing that Ennis was the villain, not him.
Although Gary did confess to Xavier that he was deeply in love with Teri (though she never reciprocated), he appeared to cover his tracks by presenting a twisted portrayal of honesty to make Xavier trust him more.
After Annie's heartbreaking death in Paradise Season 2, Episode 4, it is widely expected that Xavier came well prepared, and some have theorized that he could already be one step ahead of Gary. It's worth noting that Xavier already told Gary he doesn't trust him, because he knew Teri didn't allow him to read to Bean while they were in the bunker (a sign that Teri doesn't trust people right away). Hopefully, Xavier's realization that Gary is a fraud happens sooner rather than later.
Overall, Paradise sneakily revealed Gary as a compelling antagonist whose evil deeds stemmed from human flaws (aka his obsession with Teri), and he could easily manipulate unknowing allies into aligning with him and eventually kill them by stabbing them in the back.
