The Emmy® Award-nominated hit drama series returns for Canadians February 23rd with three episodes, followed by new episodes weekly on Hulu on Disney+. I was granted access to a pre-screening of all episodes except the finale of season two for review. Is it as good as the first season? What is this season about? Is it something for your family to watch together? I give you my thoughts, without spoilers.
If you haven’t watched the first season of Paradise, jump on it. It may have come into your streaming feed without catching your attention. Disney+ has a lot of choices, ranging from family-friendly, to very strange and inappropriate. I landed on a few shows that I checked out to see if they were interesting, appropriate and worth my time. Many failed. But as soon as I started watching season one of Paradise with my husband, I knew my teenage boys would like the series. Granted, there were a few scenes that crossed that line of what you want to watch with your teens, but nothing was outrageous. With time constraints and school responsibilities, sitting down to watch the first season together was tricky…so instead, my husband I rushed through the first season without them.
There are very few shows being created that I desperately do not want to wait until a new season comes out to keep watching. Paradise is one of those shows. When the first season ended, I couldn’t wait to know more about each of the characters, and the story behind the bunker, the natural disasters and the life outside of Paradise. So as soon as I was offered a pre-screening of the second season, I jumped. I was offered the season two trailer to show you here, but if I were you, I would not watch it. It doesn’t necessarily give anything away, but it jumps through all the episodes and now that I have seen them, I’m glad I didn’t see the trailer before.
What is Season two of Paradise About?
“Paradise” stars Sterling K. Brown, Julianne Nicholson, Sarah Shahi, Nicole Brydon Bloom, Krys Marshall, Enuka Okuma, Aliyah Mastin, Percy Daggs IV and Charlie Evans, with recurring guest stars James Marsden, Shailene Woodley, Thomas Doherty and Jon Beavers.
In Season two, Xavier searches for Teri out in the world and learns how people survived the three years since The Day. Back in Paradise, the social fabric frays as the bunker deals with the aftermath of Season one, and new secrets are uncovered about the city’s origins.
Yes! You read right. Origin stories of Paradise characters, and new characters are developed and introduced. We start to understand how everyone is connected in the story, and it is exciting to see how people have survived. Yes, survived.
Without giving anything away, I can tell you that I thoroughly enjoyed learning about the new and recuring characters of Paradise. Flashbacks make the storyline much more interesting and full as you slowly discover connections.
Is Season Two Just as Good?
In my humble opinion, I think season two is better. In season one, you have the suspense of trying to understand who everyone is, where everyone is, how they are living and who is really in charge. The suspense of the murder is front and center. But in season two, the truth is being discovered further, and the back stories are exposed. The new characters bring depth and the outside world is a whole other story in itself.
If you are fuzzy on everything that happened in the first season, there is a Paradise official podcast on Disney+. It is roughly a thirty minutes recap of season one with some details discussed. The podcast is hosted by Ryan Michelle Bathé, and the guests are Sterling K. Brown, Dan Fogelman and James Marsden. I found it interesting to hear them speak about their roles and the importance of their personalities to the story.
Why is Paradise a Good Series to Watch with Teens?
Paradise captures your attention from the start with suspense, an apocalypse and a murder mystery. The confusion you have turns into understanding and then even more suspense. It makes for great television, especially for teenagers looking for an interesting series.
The episodes give you major topics to chat with your teens about; morals, political power, psychological struggles, family dynamics, trust and conflict.
Season two does not have any inappropriate scenes to flip through, and although the show has violence, teens will be interested in the series, without being disgusted. There is little swearing if any, but the characters do have issues to work through, some are disturbing, but not more difficult to watch than other movies teens enjoy.
The series lends itself to interesting conversations with your teens because depending on how you see each character, you can have a lot to discuss on who is good and who is bad. The concept of preparing for an apocalypse and seeing how people survive in different situations is also an interesting discussion. I think your teens will like season two and I’ll be watching it again with my boys when they come out each week.
You can watch the first three episodes starting February 23rd on Disney+.
Disclaimer: I was offered the pre-screening of season two of Paradise (except for the finale) to review. All opinions are my own.