Paradise season one kicked off with two big reveals: one, that the President of the United States had been killed. Two, the setting was not, in fact, a typical American town, but rather a typical American town sealed under a dome beneath a Colorado mountain.
The high-level murder mystery propelled the main plot at first, but the many secrets being kept by the bunker’s leadership raised even more intrigue and suspicions as the season progressed.
Season two of Paradise arrives February 23 with the first three episodes; the rest of the eight-episode season will roll out weekly on Hulu and Hulu on Disney+. Here’s your catch-up on everything to remember about season one.
What is Paradise about?
© HuluFirst things first: a massive environmental catastrophe has wiped out huge swaths of humanity across the globe.
But years before, a billionaire who believed a lone scientist’s doomsday theories decided to build an underground city in Colorado that could withstand an extinction-level event. Only a select group of people, including the President of the United States and those closest to him, knew about the bunker as it was being constructed.
When disaster struck—turns out that scientist’s predictons were 100% correct—the chosen few were whisked away to Liberty Grove. (The show barely says the name; even Hulu calls the town “Paradise” in season two promo materials, which makes a creepier sort of sense anyway.) The main timeline of Paradise takes place in this reasonably convincing facsimile of a wholesome town. It’s a few years later, and the residents believe they might very well be the last of humanity.
But there are cracks in this shiny dystopia. In episode one, main character Xavier Collins discovers that someone has bludgeoned the POTUS to death. His electronic tablet, filled with important secrets, is also missing. Over the course of the first season, Paradise uses a patchwork of flashbacks to piece together not just the perplexing whodunnit (and its motive), but also how and why Liberty Grove came together, and how the billionaire—code name “Sinatra”—runs the place according to her own very careful design.
Corruption? Cover-ups? Secrets and lies and diabolical plots galore? You better believe it. But, of course, there are also heroes, some unlikely, some rather obvious. Paradise was created by Dan Fogelman (This Is Us), and it’s a show that spends time building characters and venturing into melodrama while also carefully laying groundwork for, then explaining, every twist and turn.
Who are the main characters in Paradise?
© HuluXavier Collins, played by Sterling K. Brown: A dedicated Secret Service agent, he’s extended an invite to the bunker city after taking a bullet for the president. He has two kids (a teen, Presley, and a tween, James) and is essentially a widower. To Xavier’s enduring torment, his wife, Teri, wasn’t able to reach her family before the world went sideways, and was left behind.
Sinatra, aka Samantha Redmond, played by Julianne Nicholson: A tech billionaire who had the vision to dream up and then construct the underground city, she now flexes her “I saved humanity” power as its ultimate leader. She’s a control freak, through and through. She’s married with a young daughter, but the family hasn’t had a healthy dynamic since a young son succumbed to a mysterious illness in the pre-bunker era.
President Cal Bradford, played by James Marsden: Yes, he’s found dead in the first episode, but Paradise is propelled by flashbacks. We see plenty of Cal in the White House and running what’s left of America after the bunker exodus. Cal is married but estranged from his wife; he has a teenage son, Jeremy. His elderly father—who has dementia now, but once led the billion-dollar oil-drilling company that helped with Liberty Grove’s construction—lives in a guest house adjacent to Cal’s Liberty Grove mansion.
Cal loves ‘80s and ‘90s music, movies, and sports trivia, and his musical taste in particular means Paradise is stuffed with retro songs; Phil Collins’ “Another Day in Paradise” is a particular favorite and gave the show its name.
Dr. Gabriela Torabi, played by Sarah Shahi: A psychologist who describes her role as “the architect of social well-being,” she helped Redmond with her grief after her son died. Now, she’s trying to keep everyone in Liberty Grove sane despite their extraordinary living conditions.
Nicole Robinson, played by Krys Marshall: She’s the Secret Service agent in charge of Liberty Grove, which makes her Xavier’s boss. She was having a secret affair with Cal. As season one begins, she and Xavier have a frosty relationship, but later become allies.
Billy Pace, played by Jon Beavers: He’s a Secret Service agent with a rough past who has done some terrible things in the line of duty (and beyond), but is not a villain. He’s Xavier’s close friend and an uncle figure to his kids.
Jane Driscoll, played by Nicole Brydon Bloom: A young, somewhat inexperienced Secret Service agent—or is she? About halfway through the season you learn Jane isn’t who she presents herself to be, though her obsession with Cal’s Nintendo Wii is completely genuine.
What’s happened in Paradise so far—and where did season one of Paradise leave off?
© HuluSeason one showed us how Sinatra assembled the bunker, as well as the damaging health effects it had on the men, mostly immigrants, who did all the actual construction. A would-be whistleblower became so obsessed with exposing the truth he tried to assassinate President Bradford; that’s the fateful bullet that caught Xavier instead.
After a season of red herrings and seemingly likely suspects galore, we learned that the man had managed to break out of prison and infiltrate Liberty Grove; he was posing as the curmudgeonly librarian this entire time. His urge to kill Cal had faded a bit with time, but it sparked anew after a chance encounter—inspiring him to finish the task. He ended up taking his own life at the end of season one.
However, all the necessary poking around to find the culprit revealed some ingrained ugliness in “paradise.” Jane is secretly working for Sinatra and kills Billy, who’s also her boyfriend, to prevent him from revealing what he knows about life on the surface (and his part in covering up the truth) to Xavier.
Still, she’s not completely loyal to Sinatra, as we learn when she helps incapacitate her at the end of season one. Since Xavier doesn’t yet know her true nature, and neither does Agent Robinson, Jane will be a wild card in the new season.
But the biggest reveal was this: Earth isn’t a completely desiccated wasteland after all. Yes, there were devastating tidal waves set off by an enormous Antarctic volcano. But the all-out nuclear strike that seemed inevitable, as the world’s trigger-happy nations panicked and moved to wipe out their enemies, wasn’t as obliterating as everyone in the bunker assumed.
© HuluAt the last minute, and despite Sinatra’s protests, President Bradford was able to set off an EMP that disabled all nukes that hadn’t yet hit their targets. It also wiped out all the world’s electronics. So while people survived—including Xavier’s wife, as a short-wave radio transmission, picked up by a device set up after the EMP, reveals—they’re living in a new dark age.
Meanwhile, the people in Liberty Grove are starting to find out Sinatra and her billionaire buddies have been lying to them this whole time. She doesn’t want the people under her control to know the truth; we learn she ordered Billy to murder a group of scientists who ventured to the surface and discovered that while radiation levels were high, the air was breathable and survivors were living nearby.
At the end of season one, we see the hapless Vice President, shoved into the POTUS role, trying to wrangle the bigwigs who’re really running the place—especially chaotic since Sinatra is recovering from being shot by Jane (told you she was a wild card). Cal’s son, Jeremy, has become something of a whistleblower himself, letting people know they’ve not gotten the whole story about the disaster and the current state of the planet.
Most excitingly, Xavier decides to take a small plane and try to find his wife, Teri, a major quest that will propel season two.
What’s ahead for season two of Paradise?
© HuluThe tagline is “It was never just about the bunker.”
Hulu’s official synopsis: “Xavier searches for Teri out in the world and learns how people survived the three years since the Day. Back in Paraside, the social fabric frays as the bunker deals with the aftermath of season one, and new secrets are uncovered about the city’s origins.”
The cast for season two lets us know who’s back (Brown, Nicholson, Shahi, Bloom, and Marshall, plus Enuka Okuma as Teri, Aliyah Mastin as Presley, Percy Daggs IV as James, and Charlie Evans as Jeremy). Also, “recurring guest stars” include Marsden and Beavers—more flashbacks, ahoy—as well as newcomers Shailene Woodley and Thomas Doherty. The latter two are seen in the trailer as surface-dwellers.
Early in season one’s run, Fogleman teased to the Hollywood Reporter that he has a three-season Paradise plan. “Without giving away too much, each season of the show is a slightly different show, within the same show with the same characters.”
“The pilot reveals something at the end, and then there’s twists and turns in the course of the season. Then the seventh episode is kind of a standout, standalone episode of the show. As we go into second season, we pivot a little bit, but in a way that I think is very follow-able. But yes, there’s big moves ahead.”
He continued. “I get frustrated by television shows that titillate and keep you guessing and have twists and turns, but then don’t give you the answers at the end of your first break going off the air. I want to provide a complete meal by the end of the episode for the audience that’s invested.”
“Any question that people have after the first couple of episodes should be answered at the end of the eighth episode. Then a new question and journey will start that takes us into the second season.”
This ain’t Lost, in other words.
Why should you watch Paradise?
© HuluAs Fogleman’s statements above suggest, Paradise aims to satisfy viewers—not frustrate them.
Season one’s week-to-week mystery was exciting to piece together, but then you also got the overarcing plot about the sinister undercurrents of Liberty Grove itself. While a lot of Sinatra’s secrets were spilled across the first season, the trailer for season two suggests there’s plenty more to come. What might the present-day storyline reveal, and what blanks might be filled in by Paradise‘s trademark flashbacks?
Also, Xavier exploring what’s left of Earth and (hopefully) reuniting with Teri is extremely compelling. What’s life been like on the surface for her and the other survivors?
The trailer suggests he’ll have to deal with a plane crash first, but if anyone can keep a cool head in a crisis, it’s Xavier Collins. Paradise returns to Hulu and Hulu on Disney+ February 23 with a three-episode drop.
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