Debuting this week on Disney+ in Canada and world wide is the new mystery thriller series from This is Us creator Dan Fogelman, Paradise. Set in a confined parameter for the universe that he created, Paradise looks to probe into interpersonal relationships within a highly regulated society while making direct parallels to real life events. Starring one of Fogelman’s favorite muses, Sterling K. Brown, Paradise looks to keep audiences guessing with dramatic twists at the end of what appears to be each episode through its entire 8 episode run.

Xavier Collins (Brown) works as the prime lead agent in the security service detail for President Cal Bradford (James Marsden). Once close friends after years of service, Xavier blames the death of his wife on Bradford, and as such the pair grows distant. Shortly after arriving for work, Xavier enters Bradford’s private bedroom since the rest of his detail has yet to see the president awake, only to discover that Bradfordis murdered overnight. Immediately suspicious and defensive, Xavier withholds the president’s status for 30 minutes while he investigates the surroundings, only entrusting agent Billy Pace (Jon Beavers) with helping him investigate. 

However, lead agent Robinson (Krys Marshall), who has her own special relationship with Bradford, and billionaire Samantha Redmond (Julianne Nicholson), dubbed ‘Sinatra’ by the special services due to her standing in the community, start to ingratiate themselves within the proceedings. And because of them, things immediately begin to go sideways. All the while, we learn at the end of the first episode that the outside world dies in a horrific event of nature and this society is a handpicked microcosm living literally inside a mountain in a fabricated environment.

With the science fiction slant introduced at the end of the first episode, Paradise seems poised to attempt to meld genres throughout the season and proceeds to attempt this through the first half of the season that I viewed. With a series like this though, where the premise relies heavily on a twist at the end of each episode, things can become hit and miss. Relying on delivering a killer twist to end the episode means that the entire episode is framed by its final moments, which means a predictable twist can negate good work. Without getting into specific episodes, there’s at least one twist that can be seen coming a mile away.

The casting here is solid though. Brown is playing more the stoic everyman here, the audiences main point of entry, and does a solid job. Marsden seems indelibly well cast, even if his story is told through flashbacks, as he gives Bradford a mischievous carefree attitude that belies what is happening below the surface. But it’s the women who get to really flex their muscles here as they seem to get the meatier roles here. Nicholson’s character backstory in episode 2 allows her to flex some chops here, painting the rest of her performance with pain and loss. Sarah Shahi is introduced as a therapist that inevitably will prove to be more involved in everything than even she will personally divulge to Xavier I’m sure, her past slowly being exposed to the audience over a longer period of  time than most. And junior agent Jane Driscoll (Nicole Brydon Bloom) should immediately strikes audiences as someone who knows more than they are pretending. There’s also a subplot involving the children of Bradford and Collins, Cal’s son (Charlie Evans) and Xavier’s daughter (Aliyah Mastin), that seems like it could become more pivotal as it develops.

Through the first half of the series,  the first three three episodes of which all drop on Tuesday, Jan 28th, Paradise remains intriguing enough to keep audiences engaged. It’s well written and despite some predictability also manages some real twists and turns. If the quality of writing and performance remains as high throughout the rest of the season I’m sure that it will continue to keep audiences coming back through the very end. Though the over reliance on twist episode endings and the possible series endings are already becoming more painfully obvious as the series continues, I’m still not convinced the series will end with a bang like the creators will hope for as opposed to a whimper that is starting to feel inevitable. One thing for sure, you can’t blame the cast if things don’t come together in the end.