Paradise Review – A Secret Service Mystery and the Unravling of Power

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After the success ofThis is Usfor NBC, it was undeniable that showrunner Dan Fogelman would have carte blanche on his next series. Taking another swing with his superstar collaborator,Sterling K. Brown, Fogelman hopes to repeat that success withParadise. The new Hulu drama lands with mystery and Rated R content, giving Fogelman’s writing team more wiggle room than his last project. However, while Brown and the cast around him elevate their material, there’s a hollowness the show never fully overcomes.

PARADISE - “Wildcat Is Down” - It’s just another day in Paradise until Agent Xavier Collins discovers one of the world’s most powerful individuals has been viciously murdered. Xavier analyzes the crime scene while recalling his complex relationship with the victim. (Disney/Brian Roedel)
JAMES MARSDEN, STERLING K. BROWN

ParadisePlot

After a shooter tries to kill the President (James Marsden), Secret Service agent Xavier Collins (Brown) is read in on national secrets. Afterward, the President is murdered in cold blood. Collins and the other secret service agents try to investigate the assassination, but they’re thwarted at every turn. Meanwhile, billionaires led by “Sinatra” (Julianne Nicholson) continue covert actions. As the mystery begins to unspool, Collins realizes the life he leads may no longer be possible.

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Brown and Nicholson stand out in the ensemble.

In unsurprising news, the two actors with Emmy wins are extremely talented. Brown gets to drive most ofParadise, bringing his incredible intensity to the fold whenever the series needs him to shine. However, he continues to bring a warmth to the show that would feel disingenuous in less talented hands. He makes TV tropes, deployed by single dads to win their kids’ affection, feel heartfelt. On paper, these moments inParadisedo not work, but Brown continues to showcase why he’s a generational talent.

Nicholson also brings complexities to the billionaire class that we rarely see. She gets to be the ruthless corporate leader on several occasions, and expects the world to build to her will. However, these moments are meant to hide her more vulnerable self. She gets to play an excellent foil to Brown, and the two driveParadise‘s cat-and-mouse plot.

PARADISE - “Sinatra” - Agent Xavier Collins is interrogated. Samantha Redmond (codename Sinatra) begins to reassure the community as she reflects on how she got to Paradise. (Disney/Brian Roedel)

The surprise performer is Jon Beavers. The actor has begun to make waves with smaller roles inHorizon: An American SagaandSugarin 2024. However, by elevating him to a key figure inParadise, he proves he can hold his own with great actors. As he continues to do so, we have to wonder if he’s a star in his own right, just waiting for the right role. Beavers impresses, and we hope this helps him get some prominent roles soon.

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Paradisedoes not approach its biggest ideas with enough ingenuity.

However, whileParadiseopens the door for some genuinely interesting ideas, it rarely follows the threads it should. For one, Fogelman’s show is highly self-serious. It makes sense that a show about a Secret Service agent would follow that path, but then it rolls out James Marsden to tell jokes about the eighties and nineties pop culture. The tonal unbalance does little to help the narrative and makes it easy to question why there are not more entertaining aspects within the plot.

Throughout TV history, dramatic shows have tackled complex topics. Yet life is not serious at all hours. To paraphrase writers like Damon Lindelof, even at a wake, there is laughter. A series like Paradise loses some of its believability in its self-seriousness, and even the moments of high-stakes action begin to blend.

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Perhaps most frustrating of all, Fogelman does not say much inParadise. Maybe there’s a version that is more anti-billionaire and more focused on the importance of democracy, which got left on the cutting room floor. Maybe there’s a mystery still to come that will make everything fit into place. However, in this iteration, there’s not much to write home about. It does not have enough action to compare toThe Night AgentorThe Diplomat, and also feels too scattershot in its ideas to feel as deep as shows lamenting suburbia. Instead, it’s just hoping you buy into the mystery and ride it out.

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IsParadiseworth watching?

There are certainly worse shows on television, especially when you have Brown and Nicholson delivering at a high level. However, much of Paradise feels too gimmicky to embrace. It’s a show that hopes to catch your attention because of its conceit. With only seven episodes provided to critics, we do not know if there’ll be a second season on the way, but in its current form, we hopeParadisefinds some real energy to close out its eight-episode arc.

Paradise will begin streaming on January 28, 2025on Hulu. Seven episodes were provided to FandomWire for this review.

PARADISE - “Paradise” is set in an upscale 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. (Disney/Brian Roedel)