The following is a spoiler-free review of the first seven episodes of Paradise, Season 2.
It’s disappointing when a show with an outstanding debut season returns for its sophomore go-around, and it turns out to be a less-than-worthy follow-up. That is, unfortunately, the case with the second season of Paradise, which feels surprising given the pedigree of writer extraordinaire Dan Fogelman’s previous work. His award-winning, fan-favourite series, This Is Us, certainly had staying power.
Season Two of the Hulu/Disney+ post-apocalyptic political thriller sees Sterling K. Brown return to the role of Secret Service Agent Xavier Collins after discovering that the world outside the Colorado mountain bunker he and the presumed remnants of society live in may not be as uninhabitable as the leaders would have people believe. Not only that, Season One ended with Xavier discovering that his wife, Terry, whom he had to leave behind to protect their children, might still be alive outside their tension-filled haven.
At the end of last year’s finale, Xavier boards one of the hidden planes and heads out on a hunt for his wife. The premiere of Season Two picks up shortly afterward, but viewers may be surprised to learn that Xavier is almost entirely absent from the sophomore debut. Perhaps that’s less surprising when you realize this particular episode centres on one of the show’s new characters, Annie Clay (played by Shailene Woodley).
Another shocker is that this newest character, and Woodley herself, is easily the best part of the season—even if her storyline’s conclusion ultimately disappoints. But we’ll get to that later. On the positive side, Season Two, Episode One is one of the most brilliantly written episodes of television in recent memory, thanks to Woodley’s performance and Fogleman’s emotionally riveting writing. The episode begins with Annie as a child, decades before the world-ending events of Season One, and takes the audience on a brief but important run-through of her life, including why she has a particular affinity for Elvis and Graceland.
“Graceland” is also the title of the first episode, as most of it takes place inside Elvis’s old home, which has been turned into a museum and family resort in recent years. Working as a tour guide in the museum, Annie is there when the environmental collapse cuts her off along with Gayle, played captivatingly by Angela Laketa Moore. Using her medical school background and showcasing some essential survival instincts, Annie turns Graceland into a survival bunker for the two of them, which she keeps going for three years.
It’s at this point in the episode that some minor plot holes appear and questions arise. Like, how is there three year’s worth of food and water for them to live off? One could argue that they got it from the resort part of the property, but after some research, that’s a roughly 10-minute walk from the house, and it’s pretty clear the two never leave at any point. While it’s easy to get hung up on these details, the entire episode is so well crafted that it’s just as easy to forgive them. From start to finish, it’s suspenseful, deeply moving, and full of surprises. The performances are top-notch, and Woodley instantly feels like she belongs in this world and with the characters we already know and love. This is why it’s completely devastating that her character is utterly wasted just a few episodes later due to some truly inexplicable writing choices.
Perplexing choices are a major theme throughout Paradise’s second season, as almost all of the layered, captivating storytelling Fogleman beautifully wove together in Season One has vanished, leaving a muddled and frankly less interesting mess.
Julianne Nicholson was a powerhouse in Season One. The actress returns as Samantha “Sinatra” Redmond, a beyond terrifying antagonist, alongside Nicole Brydon Bloom as Jane, a Secret Service agent revealed to be the sadistic psychopath under Sinatra’s thumb. Sadly, both are underused this time around, as the B-plot set inside the bunker doesn’t spark the way it did before.
Another disappointing aspect of this latest season is how the Earth is now depicted after this so-called apocalypse. It turns out Mother Nature just needed three years to readjust as the world has become mostly habitable again. Given all the buildup about this world-ending disaster, the story is cheapened by how easily its problems are solved. Leading the charge on the mission to restart the world is a charismatic and nerdy millennial named Link (Thomas Doherty), who is introduced in Episode One and develops a strong connection with Annie, but, just like everything else this season, the payoff isn’t worth the lead-up.
Other subplots continue to develop but carry little weight, and it’s unfortunate that the character who suffers the most is Sterling K. Brown’s Xavier Collins. In Season One, he was the glue that held the sprawling storylines together, giving him great authority and gravitas over the series. Unfortunately, his single-minded quest to find his wife fails to generate any real momentum and also leaves him out of what’s happening in the bunker. The resulting storyline makes him seem less like the leading man he was and deserves to be.
With such a tight and controlled initial narrative, it’s extremely surprising and hard to watch as Paradise completely unravels before your very eyes. In these first seven episodes, clever storytelling has been replaced by cliché plot developments, messy character arcs, and an overall lack of direction, making it difficult to see how it can recover by the season finale. Dan Fogleman has said many times when promoting Paradise that he intends this to be a three-season arc—one that’s already been mapped out. It’s difficult to believe that, given what we’ve seen in the majority of the middle chapter. Let’s hope the unconfirmed final entry is a return to form for Fogelman and to a series still beaming with potential.
Paradise Season 2 returns with its first three episodes on Disney+ on February 23, with new episodes dropping weekly every following Monday.
