I don't think I've ever changed my mind about a show as quickly as I did with Paradise, which took me from "meh" to "this rocks, actually" within the span of its very first episode.
The logline for Hulu's series, which reunites This Is Us star Sterling K. Brown and creator Dan Fogelman, reads, "Paradise is set in a serene community inhabited by some of the world's most prominent individuals. But this tranquility explodes when a shocking murder occurs and a high-stakes investigation unfolds."
The murder in question is the death of President Cal Bradford (James Marsden, Jury Duty), and his head of security, Xavier Collins (Brown), quickly becomes the main suspect. Not only was he the last person to see Cal alive — Xavier also wished for Cal's death in their very last interaction.
Based on that — as well as the show's trailers and super vague logline — you might expect Paradise to be a run-of-the-mill conspiracy thriller that positions Xavier as an unreliable narrator. Did he kill Cal, or is he innocent? Will this mystery be dragged out over an entire season of TV?
That was the sense I got from most of the show's premiere episode, which was engaging enough but did nothing to boost my confidence in a premise I already found to be lackluster. However, the episode's last three minutes changed that entirely, ushering in a twist that raises Paradise's stakes, switches its genre, and most importantly, proves that the show isn't afraid to get a tad goofy. I highly recommend you watch episode 1 of Paradise to experience the vibe shift for yourself — for my part, my jaw was on the floor — but if you still need convincing, read on to hear more about Paradise's bonkers twist. (And why it's only the beginning.)
What is the big plot twist in Paradise's premiere?
For almost all of Paradise's first episode, it seems like the "serene community" of Paradise that Xavier calls home is just a peaceful, sunny town, complete with a town square that wouldn't look out of place in Gilmore Girls. But in reality (and here's your last chance to turn away before we hit spoiler central), Paradise is the world's largest underground city built to withstand a global calamity. Its sun is just a massive heat lamp, its sky is just projections on a massive dome, and its citizens are all that's left of humanity.
That's right: Paradise is actually This Is Us meets Silo — and the sci-fi element only made me more excited to keep watching.
Paradise's underground city twist is just the first of many.
Just like with the show itself, nothing in Paradise is what it seems. The city may have been built to weather the apocalypse, but inside this strange utopia, a storm is brewing. Residents hide their true intentions and dark pasts behind facades — something Paradise cleverly acknowledges by naming several episodes after characters' code names or assumed identities.
We get to know these characters in both the present day, when Xavier is investigating Cal's death, and the past. Flashbacks reveal Xavier and Cal's first interactions, their blooming friendship, and how their relationship soured to the point of Xavier wishing for Cal's demise. The series also introduces us to Paradise's master planner, Samantha (Julianne Nicholson, Janet Planet), a tech mogul with a killer survival instinct and a suitably sad — if clichéd — backstory that lends depth to her master plan. Other players in this game include Sinatra's right-hand woman, Gabriela (Sarah Shahi), and Secret Service agents Robinson (Krys Marshall), Jane (Nicole Brydon Bloom), and Billy (Jon Beavers).
In the race to discover who killed Cal, each of these characters' true agendas come to life — often in the form of major reveals that rival that of underground city. Truly, Paradise being an absurdly large apocalypse bunker is just the start of Paradise's twisty narrative, and thankfully, Fogelman never lets a a question dangle for too long before hitting us with a wild reveal.
Paradise's plot twist offers up intriguing commentary — along with some goofiness.
That Paradise takes place in a community built for the wealthy to withstand the apocalypse gives it room for commentary about the climate crisis, and who will be able to weather its impacts the most. Most everyone in Paradise is a billionaire or world leader, continuing to live their lives as normally as possible despite the apocalypse. Meanwhile, the workers who built Paradise likely never got to actually live in it.
Paradise itself is also modeled off of quaint American towns for a sentimental reason we learn down the line but said designs also give the illusion of normalcy when the situation is anything but. (Contrast Paradise's production design with Silo's brutalist underground shelters to see two very different approaches to post-apocalyptic survival.)
But as Paradise's core conceit opens the show up for ever-relevant messaging about challenging authority and the ways in which the rich and powerful seek to help only themselves, it also creates opportunities for comedy. (Some intentional, some not.)
Take, for example, the worldbuilding of Paradise, some details of which are strangely funny yet telling. Paradise's citizens — the last 25,000 people on Earth —often discuss eating fake meat and cheese alternatives due to the need to conserve resources. Then, a few episodes down the line, we get an episode set at a carnival, where people can win small tchotchkes like rubber ducks. You're telling me there was room for rubber ducks and a whole Ferris wheel in the apocalypse bunker, but not more people? All in the spirit of maintaining the status quo, right?
Some details feel less intentionally funny, like the somber, slowed-down covers of various '80s bangers. Sure, they're tied to Cal's love of the music of the '80s, but my goodness, are they clunky ways to end almost every episode. Yet despite all that, I found myself reacting to each needle drop similarly to my reaction to Paradise's initial twist: my mouth open in confusion, my mind desperately trying to process what in the world was happening. The latter finally settled on the simple truth that Paradise is fun as all get out, and that fun begins with its twist.
The first three episodes of Paradise are now streaming on Hulu, with a new episode every week.
