“Paradise” looks almost nothing like what we remember in the dystopian thriller’s second season.
That makes sense considering where things left off in the Season 1 finale. As viewers remember, Sterling K. Brown’s Xavier left the underground bunker city after Sinatra (Julianne Nicholson) revealed that his long-lost wife, Teri (Enuka Okuma), might still be alive years after the catastrophic event that nearly wiped out humanity. Beforehand, Xavier learned secrets about the sinister origins of the Colorado compound sheltering his family, which prompted him to take a plane above ground in search of more answers.
However, that’s not where things pick back up at the start of Season 2.
Instead, series creator Dan Fogelman (best known for helming NBC’s “This Is Us”) kicks off the first episode in classic “This Is Us” fashion — with a character-driven flashback that transports viewers far from the bunker to introduce a host of new faces — including Shailene Woodley and Thomas Doherty — who we come to learn are among the remaining survivors of the doomsday event. Their interesting origins shed more light on how the rest of the nation pulled through after everyone else either perished or took shelter underground.
It’s new layers like this that keep “Paradise” fresh in its second season, evolving from a tense political thriller into a post-apocalyptic sci-fi drama that balances depth with even more high-stakes action — including that of the traitorous Jane Driscoll (Nicole Brydon Bloom), who’s still running amok.
It’s in this expanded scope of the series that we also see more of a world struggling to preserve what little humanity and free will remain under a controlling government trying to force peace in the bunker by any means necessary.
For viewers who were expecting Brown’s Xavier to be at the helm of everything again this season, you may be slightly disappointed by the rather complex pacing. However, with all the world-building the show does with these new story points and its ensemble cast — which includes Sarah Shahi, Krys Marshall, Aliyah Mastin, Percy Daggs IV, Charlie Evans, and recurring guest stars James Marsden and Jon Beavers — you’ll quickly remember why “Paradise” became such a runaway hit last year.
That isn’t to say Season 2 is without its flaws — the interwoven time-jumps that bounce between pre-doomsday and post-Season 1 events can feel occasionally disjointed, and the story expansion isn’t always balanced from episode to episode. Still, the sci-fi drama is rich with nuance and plot points that only grow bigger as the story unfolds around life in and above the bunker.
At this point, it seems clear that Fogelman and the “Paradise” team are trying to push the series beyond the conventions of your average TV thriller with Season 2’s new direction. And that’s exactly what makes the show such a thrill to still follow.
The first three episodes of “Paradise” Season 2 are streaming now on Hulu, with the remaining episodes premiering weekly on Mondays.
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