Paradise Series Premiere Review: An Intriguing Murder Mystery With a Post-Apocalyptic Hook

Paradise broke through in ways many shows do not when it touched down on Hulu earlier this year, so it was only a matter of time before it got a run on ABC.

We thought it would be a good idea to follow the broadcast network’s lead and watch along with it to explore the episodes more deeply.

Paradise features continually changing mysteries, so it’s the perfect show to unspool weekly. It got a lot of attention when it burst onto screens in January.

Dan Fogelman is a visionary storyteller with a knack for playing with expectations.

Details about This Is Us were left on the table until the premiere, and he’s pulled off something similar with Paradise Season 1 Episode 1.

The mystery straight off the bat is, of course, what happened to Cal Bradford? James Marsden brought this charismatic man to life with ease.

Cal knew there was every reason to believe that Xavier wasn’t buying much of what he said, so he used his charm to get Xavier on his side.

Xavier and Cal Have A Complicated Dynamic on Paradise

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These two don’t strike me as the type of personalities that would find much in common in the real world.

Thankfully, it seems that they learned a lot about each other throughout their many long-winded chats.

At least, that’s what the flashbacks would like us to believe.

A lot of work has gone into crafting the perfect murder because how can anyone be brought to justice when hours upon hours of evidence have disappeared from the security cameras?

The premiere desperately tried to throw us off the scene by having Billy and Jane act like they know more than they’re letting on.

My best guess about those two is that they’ve been sleeping together and somehow found a way to keep their trysts a secret.

Whether that means Billy left the house for some time to meet with Jane, I don’t know. But I’m sure as hell not convinced that either of them carried out the act of murder.

There’s so much we don’t know about most of the characters because we’re at the beginning of the series, but the revelation that Xavier is the last person to see Cal alive will surely come back to bite him.

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Then again, Xavier has helped Cal through a lot and took a bullet for him.

But something happened to make their bond go sideways, and it’s probably related to the classified intel about an imminent threat to the world.

Xavier took his job protecting the president very seriously, and even if they were at odds at the end, he strikes me as the type of person who would follow every part of his job to the letter until the bitter end.

It’s hard to have a pool of suspects when we know so little about everyone, so I’ll have to hang fire on the suspects until I’ve watched another episode or two.

That said, I believe the argument between Sinatra and Cal before his death is a red herring to cast doubt on anything Sinatra says for the rest of the season, at least until the death is resolved.

Paradise is both compelling and subversive from the start. If a series has a good mystery, I’ll probably stick with it for the long haul.

The post-apocalyptic twist threw me for a loop but also made a lot of sense. Paradise is one of those locations that is too good to be true, and it probably is.

There are many things, such as how many people live there, that we don’t know about.

The Mystery Is Unique

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However, these shows tend to feed residents many lies, and it doesn’t seem like anyone is being lied to about the state of the world.

If we’re to take the end scene at face value, Paradise is located in a mountain, due to something going wrong in the outside world.

Are things as dire as Xavier was told in that meeting with some of the most influential people in Paradise?

I’m not sure, but we will get answers soon enough because Xavier seems determined to solve the murder and bring some not-so-savory things about Cal to light.

I’m intrigued to learn more about this place everyone calls home, and to understand why Xavier and Cal’s relationship deteriorated so much.

The good news is that flashbacks seem to be here to stay. Sometimes, they can detract from good stories, but they’re a critical element of Paradise that stitches the narrative together.

Despite the premiere running at a breakneck pace, I wanted more by the end, and I think ABC should have gone with a two-episode premiere to get viewers invested.

Over to you, Paradise Fanatics! What are your thoughts on Dan Fogelman’s This Is Us follow-up?

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Do you feel it’s such a departure from that show and that it upends the mystery genre?

What’s your take on the significance of James and the Giant Peach?

Hit the comments below.

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