Roush Review: Getting Lost in the Thrilling Second Season of ‘Paradise’

Paradise

Matt's Rating:

Put aside any fears of a sophomore slump. Think second-year sensation, as Hulu’s post-apocalyptic Paradise exceeds expectations with a surprising, emotionally exciting, and robustly suspenseful new chapter. Amazing what getting a little fresh air will do for you.

The first season contained most of its action and mystery within a sprawling underground bunker in Colorado that created the illusion of an idyllic suburban utopia. This supposed paradise was reserved primarily for the billionaires and connected power players who could afford access to this elaborate top-secret project, providing shelter from an environmental doomsday calamity that wiped out a significant portion of the human population of the World As We Knew It.

Disney/Anne Marie Fox

But toward the end of the season, we learned that there were indeed survivors above ground, most notably Teri (Enuka Okuma), a biologist and beloved wife of the show’s hero: Secret Service agent Xavier Collins (This Is Us Emmy winner and emo master Sterling K. Brown). He never forgave the fallen president, Cal Bradford (charismatic James Marsden), for making the father of two leave her behind. Xavier’s mission, as seen in last year’s cliffhanger, was to commandeer a small private plane to search for Teri somewhere in the Atlanta region from whence her last communication came.

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This quest occupies a great deal of the season (I’ve seen seven of the eight episodes), but Paradise has other tricks up its sleeve, with detours introducing memorable new characters with vivid backstories of their own. As their narratives play out in flashback and real time, it’s reminiscent of how Lost gripped us for years by grounding action through depth of character, reinventing itself, and world-building along the way.

The first person we meet is Annie (the terrific Shailene Woodley), a medical-school dropout who finds refuge from the deadly storm and its nuclear winter-style fallout in a most unusual, iconic setting. Annie’s story, which will eventually and inevitably overlap with Xavier’s, sets a shifting tone of terror, romance, fantasy, heroism, and wrenching loss that are hallmarks of the best genre entertainment. It’s impossible to predict where the next episode will take you, and it’s a good thing Hulu opted to launch the new season with three episodes to fully immerse the viewer in the intrigues up top and down below.

Disney/Ser Baffo

In fact, you might get itchy to return to the surface whenever the show dwells too long on the bunker’s increasingly fractious society, where rebellion is brewing despite the best efforts of tech mogul Samantha “Sinatra” Redmond (Julianne Nicholson) and her hench-people, including the deceptively lethal agent Jane Driscoll (Nicole Brydon Bloom).

To say much more would risk ruining the many surprises that the producers, led by series creator Dan Fogelman (This Is Us), have cunningly crafted. It’s a rare show that can have you on the edge of your seat one minute, fighting back tears the next, all while disarming you with moments of unexpected tenderness and grace. My idea of TV paradise: more shows as original as Paradise.

Paradise, Season 2 Premiere (three episodes), Monday, February 23, Hulu