Paradise season two

Paradise feels simultaneously like a high-tech, contemporary thriller and a throwback to 1970s dystopian sci-fi. The early season one reveal that Paradise is an underground bunker suggested a nod to big reveals in films such as Capricorn One and Soylent Green. But, of course, Paradise is not a pastiche and, rather, a pertinent look at how the rich and powerful would be protected from catastrophe following a doomsday event.

Shailene Woodley is a welcome addition to the series. She plays junior-doctor-turned-Elvis-tour-guide, Annie, who survives the catastrophe thanks to a coalescence of her book smarts and encyclopaedic knowledge of Elvis’s mansion (she even uses the doomsday event as an opportunity to rehash her all shook up joke). Special Agent Xavier Collins (Sterling K Brown) crosses paths with Annie when his mission to find his wife, previously presumed dead, backfires, and the two soon form an unlikely bond.

Considering the tensions that are currently rising in the United States, both due to the violent actions of ICE and President Trump’s retraction of his erstwhile anti-interventionist stance, Paradise feels eerily well-timed. While the show certainly isn’t high art, it does explore the class warfare that would likely result from a separation of the elites and the proles via a defined material separation of the two.

Annie has learnt to be resilient and self-sufficient, enjoying a quiet and humble life free from the trappings of capitalism and a nine-to-five. A scene in which she gazes out at a group of fellow survivors frolicking in the grass, no electronic devices in sight, illustrates the communal, non-materialist alternative the series posits. Woodley imbues her role with warmth and an astute survivalist instinct, working well alongside the always excellent Brown. The pair’s relationship gives the show a somewhat softer edge following the decidedly male-centric first series.

But as with the previous season, Paradise all too often falls into exposition rather than meaningful character development. A reliance on flashbacks, for instance, begins to wear thin. The series is at its best when it’s not bogged down with explanation and lets the characters breathe in this new reality, rather than forcing plot.

It may not be a programme for those seeking analytical depth, but Paradise nonetheless offers a compelling look at how a late-stage capitalist dystopia would play out. A twisty post-apocalyptic thriller with winning lead performances, it’s a show that will leave you all shook up.