This review contains spoilers for the first episode of Paradise
Sometimes a show comes along with a twist that immediately makes you go “huh?” As a self-styled “reviewer,” this is always a wonderful treat. Whether the twist is good, bad, or just strange, it immediately makes the show more interesting to think about. I’m not only evaluating the show I watched before the turn, but the show as it exists with the twist. So, imagine my delight at the end of Paradise’s first episode when we learn that the events in the current timeline have all taken place in a domed city built inside a mountain. You can’t get more “huh?” than that!
In retrospect, I should have expected a twist the moment I saw Dan Fogelman listed as creator/writer. Fogelman’s previous two shows Pitch and This is Us, also had big twists in their pilot episodes. Neither goes as big as Paradise, though. What starts out as a pretty standard political thriller quickly adds in elements of sci-fi and family drama to the mix.
At its core, Paradise is about Sterling K. Brown’s Xavier Collins. Collins is the lead agent on President Cal Bradford’s Secret Service detail. Things go awry one day when Collins discovers a pool of blood and Bradford’s corpse. We’re introduced to a growing list of suspects and, soon after, the knowledge that this is the first murder in this new community. All the while, someone attempts to frame Collins for the crime. Brown brings a presence to the proceedings that helps ground the show even during its more melodramatic moments.
If you’re familiar with the works of Dan Fogelman, you expect a certain level of melodrama. Paradise is no exception. The show jumps between the present day and flashbacks to the world before the cataclysm occurred. These flashbacks help us understand the characters and the decisions that they make. It’s a good idea in theory. Too often, these scenes stop the momentum of the present-day story when it should ratchet up the tension.
The best and most ridiculous example comes at the end of the 2nd episode. During a flashback scene that involves the death of a character’s young son, the show plays a slow acoustic version of Starship’s “We Built This City.” The idea is to draw big emotions from the viewers, but all it does is distract. When we return to the present and get to our cliffhanger ending, I’m not thinking about what will happen next. Even now, I’m still wondering why they used that song.
Paradise feels like two entirely different shows vying for control. One is a tense thriller with high stakes and a fun sci-fi twist. The other is a drama that treats tragedy as the only tool for character development. Unfortunately, the less interesting show wins out on screen time. The result is something I want to like, but that I barely tolerate. There’s a fine line between “don’t think about it too hard” and “don’t think.” Paradise opts for the latter and lets down a fun premise and a strong cast.
Paradise is currently streaming on Hulu. New episodes release on Tuesday.