The Hulu drama continues to shock
When we last saw Xavier Collins (Sterling K. Brown) at the end of “Paradise” Season 1, the rogue Secret Service agent was leaving the Colorado compound where he and his two children, Presley (Aliyah Mastin) and James (Percy Daggs IV), had lived for the past three years. After the assassination of President Cal Bradford (James Marsden) and the revelations that followed, Xavier discovered that his wife Teri (Enuka Okuma), whom he thought had died, was still alive above ground. Moreover, he also struggled with the fact that the picturesque community that houses him and 25,000 carefully selected residents, led by Samantha Redmond, aka Sinatra (Julianne Nicholson), has a much more sinister origin than he thought. Determined to find answers, Xavier sets out to find Teri, leaving his children in the care of fellow agent Nicole Robinson (Krys Marshall).
Despite that cliffhanger, season 2 doesn’t pick up where we left off. In fact, it starts somewhere else, reminding us that at the heart of creator Dan Fogelman’s excellent and eerily timely sci-fi drama are the people desperately trying to hold on to their humanity in unprecedented times. Season 2
of “Paradise” opens in Memphis, Tennessee, long before the extinction-level event that would ultimately level the planet. Viewers get a glimpse into the life of Annie Clay (an exceptional Shailene Woodley). After spending her childhood as a caregiver for her mentally ill mother, Annie perseveres and reaches her third year of medical school before a nervous breakdown forces her to withdraw. Doubtful and desperate, she takes a job as a tour guide at Graceland (yes, Elvis Presley’s sprawling mansion) and befriends Gayle (Angel Laketa Moore), one of the property’s security guards. Annie and Gayle are together in Graceland on the day a black cloud covers the world.
It would be a spoiler to reveal how Annie and Xavier’s paths cross, but eventually they do, and the pair leave together in an attempt to locate Teri and then return to the Colorado bunker. Season 2 also reveals what Teri has been up to over the years, detailing how she survived and how she radioed in to find Xavier and their children. The threads of these three characters act as pillars in the story and showcase Fogelman’s best skills: portraying the intimacy, beauty, and flawed nature of people. Episode 4, “A Holy Charge,” and Episode 5, “The Mailman,” highlight the anger, sadness, and psychological turmoil that comes with trying to survive and trust in a terrifyingly unstable environment. These moments are compelling and emotional. Yet the events that unfold in the Colorado bunker this season reveal the real darkness that still pervades a society gutted and controlled by billionaires and boring stooges.
In Episode 3, “Another Day in Paradise,” the audience is finally led back to the bunker and the political thriller aspect of the series begins again. There’s no murder mystery this time (Cal’s killer was revealed at the end of season 1). Instead, “Paradise” turns the spotlight back on Sinatra, her long-term plan and the inner workings of the bunker’s deepest, most hidden crevices. Life underground is no longer the Pleasantville-esque, happy place that viewers first encountered in Season 1. Sinatra is in a coma after being shot by a rogue Secret Service agent Jane Driscoll (Nicole Brydon Bloom), newly elected President Henry Baines (Matt Malloy), is desperate to control the opposition led by Cal’s teenage son Jeremy Bradford (Charlie Evans). Moreover, grief specialist and psychotherapist Gabriela Torabi (Sarah Shahi) reels from the realization that Sinatra is not the woman she once revered. As is typical of Fogelman dramas, these truths are revealed through twists, turns and time jumps.
When all is said and done, at least when episode 7, “The Final Countdown” comes to a close (critics received seven of the eight episodes for review), audiences are once again reminded of what “Paradise” is really about: unbridled ambition and control, even in the most dangerous of circumstances. Something always goes wrong. As we all know from looking around in today’s society, unexpected situations are often among the surest ways that empires can meet their end.
The first three episodes of Season 2 of “Paradise” will debut on Hulu on February 23, with the remaining episodes streaming weekly on Mondays.
