Paradise (2025)

Some developments in the seventh episode may foreshadow shark jumps, but the way that hour concludes with a masterful array of cliffhangers gives me faith that Fogelman has it all beautifully figured out.

Seeing the dichotomy between Collins in flashback, once a stoic agent at the President’s side, and the weary, hardened, determined Collins of the present, see Sterling K. Brown at his absolute best. In every scene she inhabits, Woodley owns the screen, and the fear Collins feels of her moving him aside once he enters her ecosystem is immediately quelled as the two balance each other beautifully.

Season 2 doesn't pick up where we left off. In fact, it begins somewhere else entirely, reminding us that at the core of creator Dan Fogelman's exquisite and eerily timely sci-fi drama are the people desperately trying to cling to their humanity in unprecedented times.

Whether inside the bunker or beyond it, Paradise’s sophomore effort remains engagingly earnest and cleverly plotted.

Ultimately, "Paradise" rides on masterfully constructed mysteries and beautifully drawn characters, and those still abound in Season 2. And so do the twists

Sure, it can be a little soapy, but an ever-expanding ambition and continuously solid performances by its ensemble cast holds it all together and elevates it beyond just dadcore television.

Thanks to showrunner Dan Fogelman going back to his emotionally grounded This Is Us roots, an eminently watchable performance by star Sterling K. Brown, as well as great performances by Julianne Nicholson, James Marsden, and new stars Shailene Woodley and Thomas Doherty, this may not be TV paradise, but it's still thrilling pulp fun.

As season two unfolds, the secrets deep below the surface grow darker, the tension ratchets to new levels at each revelation. It may begin in Graceland. But by the time things move on, you can’t help falling in love with this show all over again.

The thought-provoking new direction will challenge, confuse, and likely divide viewers, but it will also deepen the show’s sci-fi roots and evoke more comparisons to Silo Season 2, LOST, and The Last of Us than ever before.

Nothing here matches the jaw-dropping “it’s a bunker” reveal of series one, but by the standards of the modern bingewatch, this subterranean thriller remains a cut above.

Final verdict on this sophomore season: Brilliant? Nope. Bingeable? Oh my yes.

Though occasionally a bumpy ride, the ambition and heart on display overall makes this an adventure you won't want to miss. And, if the latter half is any indication, this story may well be building towards one heck of a third season.

By not taking itself too seriously, Paradise finds the perfect balance of pulp and drama and though season 2 can feel like a stepping stone of sorts, it's one that is endlessly riveting and truly exciting.

Fogelman and Brown ambitiously bring Paradise to the next level with Season 2, and, by and large, they succeed.

If the loose threads of this season are tied together in a way that pays off next year, Paradise will have avoided the curse of shows that never capitalized on their initial wonder. But right now it feels stuck more in TV purgatory than paradise.

“Paradise” covers a lot of ground, physically, in Season 2, but it doesn’t appear any closer to finding its identity.

It’s just a collision of characters and ideas and subplots, resulting in the rubble — some of it salvageable and some of it less so — of something that used to run smoothly enough.

The things that grate remain (Really, we’re going to end a climactic showdown at the bunker’s gates with a self-serious rendition of “The Final Countdown”?), but the new characters we get just aren’t compelling enough to wallpaper over the fact we’ve lost, or neutered, the old characters we loved last time around. There are a few pulpy delights here and there, but this particular apocalypse moves a bit too slowly for my taste.