Plotlines

Since Paradise is still very recent, you shouldn’t continue reading if you don’t want to be spoiled!

I started watching Paradise because a short clip kept appearing during commercial breaks while I was watching Only Murders in the Building. The clip wasn’t particularly long, just a few seconds, and only showed what appeared to be a relatively interesting political crime series. At first glance, nothing especially remarkable, yet I have to admit the clip wouldn’t let me go.

When Paradise begins, you feel like you’re watching a political crime series almost until the very end of the first episode, even though there are small details that might make you slightly suspicious. However, you tend to dismiss these as artistic liberties.

But then comes the ending of the first episode, and it completely knocks you off your feet. Not only because you’re shown that this isn’t simply a political series set on Capitol Hill, but because there’s so much more beneath the surface. The entire setting, everything you see in the “present,” actually takes place inside a cave—the result of a global event that forever changed all life as we know it.

At the center of it all is Special Agent Xavier Collins, who’s trying to get his life back on track with his two children. It quickly becomes clear that there’s much more beneath the surface, particularly regarding his relationship with President Bradford and his deceased wife, the mother of his children.

The setting itself, this massive cave housing a city built for 25,000 people, also gradually moves into focus, as does the catastrophic event that forced humanity to take such drastic measures.

What begins as a crime story increasingly evolves into conspiracy, sometimes to an extent I’ve never seen in a series before. This is partly due to the setting, which almost becomes its own protagonist.

At the same time, the interpersonal relationships are further explored. How could someone manage to assassinate the President of the United States? Is the team of Special Agents surrounding the dead president really as cohesive as they seem? And what’s the deal with Sinatra?

Paradise has an unusual ability to answer questions while simultaneously uncovering a handful of new ones. This isn’t necessarily unique, but the series never loses focus—no matter if a new side character appears, further inconsistencies arise in Collins’ investigation, or a disturbing flashback disrupts the narrative.

Because the story isn’t told entirely linearly. Flashbacks repeatedly reveal why things in the “present” unfold the way they do. Sometimes they also explain why Character A speaks so disparagingly about Character B, even though they should get along. In my opinion, however, the most gripping aspect of these flashbacks is the gradual revelation of the aforementioned global event.

James Marsden surprised me greatly, he plays the relatively young American President Cal Bradford. The surprise also came because a recent image reminded me that he played Cyclops in the X-Men films, and I still had him in mind as the cowboy from Westworld.

One of the series’ greatest strengths is how it subverts expectations and occasionally even Hollywood tropes. By this, I mean that just when you think you’ve grasped the bigger picture, the series often dismantles and overturns it, though not as chaotically as The Blacklist, where you might lose the thread completely. No, Paradise does it in a much more likable and nuanced way.

And it’s precisely these twists that make it so engaging. You’re constantly surprised, and even though the series follows established narrative structures, it keeps you hooked. You don’t just want to know what happens to the characters, you also want to learn more about the megastructure, especially since the last two episodes already reveal quite a bit.

But the biggest impression on me was left by the final episode:

On one hand, because not everything was revealed. Not all questions were answered, and not all characters had to show their true faces. Normally, this is something I don’t particularly like, but here it happens with the same finesse and charm as everything else in the story, making it feel perfectly fitting.

On the other hand, because the entire time, the question lingers: Who killed President Bradford? The answer to this was incredibly unexpected and fascinating. In the last few episodes, you learn much more about the construction of the cave, and this context recontextualizes things you were shown early on. From there, the revelations come one after another. But when the series finally reveals the culprit, you might need to pause, at least, that’s how I felt.

With the knowledge that a second season is confirmed, the relatively open ending isn’t so bad. However, it raises the question of which genre the series will transition into, because it’s no longer just a political crime series, Collins’ journey already has strong survival-mystery undertones.

I almost forgot one thing, the music! A really nice mix of mostly 80s / 90s hits, partly in their original version but also partly in excellent cover versions. And this compliment comes from someone who can’t stand 99% of the cover versions out there.

One thing is made very clear at the end: For some, it’s all about the Wii!