Polygon.com / 28.01.25

Paradise is part Lost, part 24, and a dash of network TV melodrama

The president is dead? The Secret Service compromised? The idyllic town in which all hell is breaking loose isnt what it seems? Excellent. Fantastic. Lets go. Hulus new series Paradise has all the trappings of an airport page-turner Yep, thats exactly it, without irony. In a mode that would delight Michael Crichton, This Is Us creator Dan Fogelman layers the ensemble-driven, flashback-heavy dramatic playbook from his NBC drama with political thrills and a grounded science fiction scenario. Right off the bat, the first season feels like a formula perfected. Over the eight episodes of its first season, Paradise works in every one of its modes: as an absorbing, twist-filled romp; a sensitive character study; a perfect vehicle for This Is Us vet Sterling K. Brown to go full Jack Bauer on 24; and, most surprisingly, a searing indictment of ultra-wealthy opportunistic oligarchs who swoop in to grab power after cataclysmic disaster. (Ring any bells?) I was immediately hooked, especially after...
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