Common Sense Media Review
By Marina Gordon
,
based on child development research. How do we rate?
Mature themes, language in tense, bloody, twisty thriller.
Parents Need to Know
Why Age 14+?
Any Positive Content?
Where to Watch
Videos and Photos
Paradise
What's the Story?
A sad-seeming Agent Xavier Collins (Sterling K. Brown) awakens alone, goes for a run in a suburban PARADISE, eats the breakfast that his teen daughter has made for him and her younger brother, and gets dressed for work. His work is guarding U.S. President Cal Bradford (James Marsden), and we see in flashback that they have a long history. Collins has to keep his own pain—and secrets he knows about the president—under wraps. What will he do after discovering Bradford dead and a tablet crucial to national defense missing? What did Bradford's last conversation with Collins mean? And what exactly is this paradise?
Is It Any Good?
Fans of This Is Us will find this tense drama appealingly familiar—the actors, the back-and-forth story structure, the secrets slowly revealed encourage hitting "play next" again and again. But the worldwide, everything-at-stake focus of Paradise is hard to relate to, and Fogelman loses what made his earlier hit so beloved; these aren't characters who feel "just like us."
The ambitious world-building here will hook some fans, and it's fun to speculate on some of the real-world analogues to characters (the billionaire president, the young woman who sells a startup and says she'll be the richest woman in the world). Still, it's unlikely that this Paradise will reward an extended stay.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about the twist that changes the focus of the show. How did that affect your experience of the show? Does sharing theories about what's happening add to your viewing experience?
How do the characters on Paradise demonstrate courage and teamwork? Why are those important character strengths?
TV Details
- Premiere date : January 28, 2025
- Cast : Sterling K. Brown , James Marsden , Julianne Nicholson
- Network : Hulu
- Genre : Drama
- TV rating :
- Last updated : February 17, 2026
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