Sterling K. Brown’s ‘Paradise’ Season 2 Is Heart-Wrenching and Revelatory: TV Review

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 been living for the past three years. After the assassination of President Cal Bradford (James Marsden) and the revelations that followed, Xavier learned that his wife, Teri (Enuka Okuma), whom he thought had died was still alive above ground. Additionally, he was also grappling with the fact that the picturesque community that houses him and 25,000 hand-selected residents, led by billionaire tech CEO Samantha Redmond, aka Sinatra (Julianne Nicholson), has far more sinister origins than he thought. Determined to find answers, Xavier sets out to locate Teri, leaving his children in the care of fellow agent Nicole Robinson (Krys Marshall).

Related Stories

'Here Lies Love': David Byrne and Director Snehai Desai on Adapting the Dance Musical for L.A.'s Taper, and Why Imelda Marcos' Story Nervously Parallels Contemporary America's

Leonardo DiCaprio, Emma Stone and 'Hamnet' Win at Irish Film and TV Awards With Indie Drama 'Christy' Taking Top Prize

Despite that cliffhanger, though, 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. Season 2
of “Paradise” opens in Memphis, Tennessee, long before the extinction-level event that would eventually level the planet. Viewers are given a glimpse into the life of Annie Clay (an exceptional Shailene Woodley). After spending her childhood as a caretaker for her mentally unwell mother, Annie perseveres, getting to her third year of medical school before a mental breakdown forces her to withdraw. Floundering and distraught, she takes a job giving tours 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 at Graceland the day a black cloud blankets the world.
​
It would be a spoiler to reveal how Annie and Xavier’s paths cross, but they eventually do, and the pair set off together in an effort to locate Teri and then return to the Colorado bunker. Season 2 also reveals what Teri has been up to over the past several years, chronicling how she survived and how she accessed a radio searching for Xavier and their children. The threads of these three characters act as pillars in the narrative, showcasing Fogelman’s best skill: depicting the intimacy, beauty and flawed nature of human beings. Episode 4, “A Holy Charge,” and Episode 5, “The Mailman,” highlight the rage, grief and psychological turmoil of trying to survive, and to trust, in a terrifyingly unstable environment. These moments are riveting and emotional. Yet the events occurring within the Colorado bunker this season depict the real darkness that continues to permeate a society gutted and controlled by billionaires and vapid straw men.  
​
In Episode 3, “Another Day in Paradise,” the audience is finally led back to the bunker, and the political thriller aspect of the series kicks off once again. There isn’t a murder mystery this time (Cal’s killer was revealed at the end of Season 1). Instead, “Paradise” puts the spotlight back on Sinatra, her long-term plan and the inner workings of the deepest, most hidden crevices of the bunker.  Life underground is no longer the Pleasantville-like, cheerful place viewers first encountered in Season 1. With Sinatra comatose after being shot by rogue Secret Service agent Jane Driscoll (Nicole Brydon Bloom), newly elected President Henry Baines (Matt Malloy) is desperate to keep the lid on the teaming opposition led by Cal’s teenage son Jeremy Bradford (Charlie Evans). Moreover, grief specialist and psychotherapist Gabriela Torabi (Sarah Shahi) is reeling from the realization that Sinatra is not the woman she once revered. As is typical in Fogelman dramas, these truths come to light through twists, turns and time jumps.
​
When it’s all said and done, at least as Episode 7, “The Final Countdown” comes to a close (critics received seven of eight episodes for review), audiences are reminded again what “Paradise” is really about: unbridled ambition and control even in the most perilous circumstances. Something always goes awry. As we all know from looking around our present-day society, unexpected situations are often among the surest ways for empires to meet their end.

The first three episodes of “Paradise” Season 2 debut Feb. 23 on Hulu, with the remaining episodes streaming weekly on Mondays.