GeekVisionz
GeekVisionz
So I Watched... Paradise
Paradise defies expectations at every turn, beginning as a tense political thriller before evolving into something far more ambitious and thought-provoking. When President Cal (James Marsden) is assassinated, his head of security Xavier (Sterling K. Brown) finds himself caught in a web of suspicion, secrets, and revelations that challenge everything he thought he knew.
The genius of Paradise lies in its dual timeline structure – weaving between present-day investigation and revealing flashbacks that gradually illuminate how these characters arrived at their current circumstances. What begins as a straightforward murder mystery transforms into a narrative that skillfully incorporates science fiction elements while maintaining complete narrative coherence. The writers have crafted a story where seemingly throwaway lines of dialogue in early episodes later prove to be crucial puzzle pieces in understanding the larger mystery.
Sterling K. Brown delivers a powerhouse performance as Xavier, a man torn between loyalty, duty, and uncovering uncomfortable truths. James Marsden brings nuance and depth to President Cal, while Julianne Nicholson emerges as one of the show's most compelling figures in a role that continuously evolves throughout the series. The supporting cast shines equally bright, with characters that subvert expectations and reveal hidden depths just when you think you've figured them out.
For mystery lovers, Paradise offers a uniquely satisfying viewing experience that rewards close attention and analysis. The show's marketing team deserves special praise for keeping its most surprising elements completely under wraps, allowing viewers to experience genuine shock at pivotal moments. With eight expertly paced episodes that balance character development with narrative momentum, Paradise stands as one of the most surprising and well-crafted television experiences of the year. Watch it, then immediately want to watch it again to catch all the brilliant foreshadowing you missed the first time around.
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Hello, all you awesome people, welcome, or welcome back to GeekVisions Entertainment, the one place dedicated to the big three of visual media, of course being film, video games and television. I'm your host, as always, hoover, and we have another review impressions, whatever you want to call it, because I just watched Paradise. It is the brand new series on Hulu, if y'all remember correctly, if y'all remember, if y'all watched it, if y'all haven't go check it out, I put it in the card or something, probably in the car somewhere in this video, if I remember to put it this early 30 seconds in, so we'll see. But I put it in my most anticipated of 2020, um, the year. I put it in my most anticipated of this year, um, um, because the stars, uh, sterling K Brown and James Marsden, who I am both very big fans of, I enjoy their work as actors, uh, and that was pretty much the main reason I put it on the list.
Speaker 1:Um, it was a. It seemed like it had a very, um, sort of like a political thriller type of vibe going for it. You know like, oh, by the way, for this whole video, mild to I'd say mild to heavy spoilers on this video. So if you've watched it and you don't want anything spoiled for you, which I would highly recommend, you know, because that's one of the best, that was one of the best parts about the show. Go watch the show, then come back and discuss it with me here and there. But uh, yeah, so to continue on, um, yeah, so I had this political thriller type of thing to it, uh, where the president winds up dead and his head security, uh, is looking into it or it's like the head suspect. So I was like, okay, I'm interested enough. I, like sterling k brown, like james marston, this, this premise, seems to be interesting enough. I'm willing to check it out, I'll see how it goes.
Speaker 1:And boy, I'm very glad because I did not watch it when it first came out, even though I put it on my list. I ain't glad of y'all. I just looked up things that were coming out for the year and I was like I'm just finding some stuff to throw on the list, and this was one of them and I just threw it on the list. So there you go. But man, am I glad I finally got around to watching this and am I glad I watched it?
Speaker 1:Because this show is some shit y'all. I'm telling you it is very, very good, like the mystery shit. I did not see any of that come. It's one of those shows where, like, it does a very great job of kind of getting you intrigued, um, at the at the start from the first episode. It does a really good job of getting you intrigued. Let me turn it a little bit so I can give the video its own little spot. Yeah, it does a very good job of getting you intrigued in the first episode, um, but there's a massive reveal at the end of the first episode that makes you go holy shit. I did not see that coming, and while I thought the show was definitely going to be that political thriller which it definitely is, um, there's also like some really good, like small, like it's some, there's some shit in there that makes it kind of in the avenue of like sci-fi, like, and that was really damn cool.
Speaker 1:And, man, I realize I'm gonna try my best to avoid like the actual major like reveals and spoilers, because it is kind of it is a mystery show, so I want to to not spoil it if anybody hasn't seen it, um, but, as I said, go watch it. It's a very well done show. It is very, very good. Um, so I'm gonna. I'm gonna tiptoe around the massive spoilers, the big reveal and the big twist of the big turns, but I am going to spoil some of the more smaller, maybe the more character related stuff and some things like that. So I'm gonna do my best to tiptoe around the big, the big reveals, but if I don't, I'm sorry. Go watch the show. It's very, it's, it's really fucking good.
Speaker 1:Um, yeah, so like it takes a turn to like damn near to like a sci-fi kind of show, which got me in there from the jump. Um, yeah, the acting is very well done. I never knew she was like the third bill actor on the show. I don't remember her name, julian something. Uh, I was not aware of her before the show came, before I got into this show. Um, I'm very much well for now because she was great in the show. Um, the kind of the turn to kind of make her uh the villain towards the end was very good. She plays that role extremely well. Um, yeah, sterling k brown and jayce morrison do the damn thing.
Speaker 1:I think literally the first three episodes are literally used to kind of introduce uh, the three of them. Uh, julianne nicholson, that's her name. Uh, she was very good. I think the first three episodes are used to kind of introduce them. Three of the three of them, uh, main characters, introduce them. So the that was really cool that they gave them all that time and that knowledge.
Speaker 1:And as the series goes on, there's these slight reveals that slowly kind of get peeled away, things that slowly get revealed as the show goes on, as you get more towards the end. That I've that I found just very, very enjoyable. Um, it honestly makes me want to go back and watch the show again, which honestly I might do to kind of just now that I kind of got the, you know, put my eye on everything to see if I saw, you know, those things that they talked about, and to really kind of get my eye on all of them. There's one really huge reveal in like the last episode, like the last two episodes, that I totally didn't see coming and I was like, oh, is that literally the same guy, or was it a different actor at the start? Now I gotta, I don't want to go back into like the first two episodes and see it was the same guy, cause I never would have put that together. So, yeah, it's, it's, it's very, it's very well done. Um, so, yeah, so the like I said, the basis of the show is show is a president gets assassinated.
Speaker 1:It's this big mystery of who killed him, what happened, you know, they kind of got to look for everything and the story is told from very much two timelines there's the current, there's the present. We already now, and then there's a ton of flashbacks to go and show um, that go back and sort of show some things that kind of show us what led us to get to this. It's really hard to talk about when I don't want to spoil the damn thing, fuck it. Spoiler alert for everybody. I'm probably gonna spoil the whole damn thing because it's very hard to talk about without kind of revealing it uh. But yeah, there's flashbacks to kind of show us how we got to this point in time, uh, what our character motivations were back then, why our characters are what they are now in this present, and it's extremely well done. I'm a big fan of lost um, flashbacks with character explanations and diving into character lies will always get me. It always does. Um.
Speaker 1:One thing I will say about the show that I really, really did like is this show does a great job of like dropping very. It's. It's small, but it's also kind of like all, but it's also kind of like important uh, lines of dialogue or words that you think mean nothing when they're being spoken and then later on it's a big reveal. It's like, oh shit, that's very important.
Speaker 1:One thing I can't talk about is when um sterling's character I believe his name was xavier when he first got the job and the president, jace marston, was interviewing him, he, um I'm sorry I got to use this. There's not a lot of footage to use for um to have here. There's only like two trailers, so I kind of had to grab some extra stuff. Um, but when he was interviewing him, he talks about him and we they established very early on that, uh, the president Kyle, that's James Marsden's character yeah, that's james kyle, the president. Uh, they established very early on that he is a huge college basketball fan, um, and he's a fan of the kentucky wildcats and he talks about some things there and he and he, basically it's two things that get dropped in these conversations. One, it's that that he's a fan of the Kentucky Wildcats and two, uh, he mentions when, um, who was it? Kukoc, tony Kukoc, I think that's who it was.
Speaker 1:I might be getting this wrong, but it was something. Something happened back in the day where a player hit a big like, I believe, a big game winning shot against kentucky and they lost and he said it killed him. He said it broke his heart and it killed him. So as we get those reveals, it's originally learned that the president's code name is wildcat. So once they talk about that and that's when you discover like, oh, his cold wildcat is the president, because he was a fan of the kentucky wildcats.
Speaker 1:And when xavier first finds his body, um, he radios to one of his, one of his guards. He's keeping it very close. When he first discovers the body, he keeps it secret. He keeps it just between him and one guard who he's very close to. His name is billy. He calls billy and he's like hey, you got to get over here like asap, it's serious. And he tells him, if I'm remembering the name correctly, he tells him it's a, it's Kukoc. I might be getting the name wrong, but you get what I'm saying the basketball player's name.
Speaker 1:And when they say it, of course you don't know what the hell it means until you get that story in the future. And it makes sense when he's like, oh, oh, that shot from that player killed me because we lost, and now you know that, oh, that's code, for the president has been killed, and they just do that a lot and I love it, and I can't tell you how many times, as I was going through watching this damn show, I would pause in the middle of the show and I'd be like, okay, let me, let me go back over, uh, and let me let me, like I'm investigating this, like I'm investigating this shit. I'm like, all right, let me go back, let's look over everything that's going on so I can know what is being teased and what the hell is going on and so on and so forth. So, like, um, like slight spoilers for something, I ain't gonna talk about it too much, but I do want to mention it um, like they, uh, like, um, one of the big moments there's actually the moment that led to the talk I mentioned, when he was talking about the basketball and he dropped the, the player who dropped the shot. Um, the president is giving a speech in a field and somebody in the crowd mentions something about Colorado and something's going on over there and they're trying to keep it a secret and the president brushed it off. He was like, oh, we ain't going to talk about that, this isn't about any of that. And an assassination attempt happens during that speech as well, and the guy who attempted to assassinate him talks about how they're keeping it a secret and the people need to know, and people should know what the hell's going on. So I paused and I'm like, okay, before we get to that point he was already, uh, an assassination attempt already took place about something in colorado and about them keeping something a secret. So somebody tried to take his life already. So I'm guessing the reason he's dead now is because it has something to do with that. Um and lo and behold, it actually did so. Um, but yeah, man, this series is really good.
Speaker 1:Um, for things that I kind of didn't enjoy. Um, they do have like a small little subplot with, like um's daughter and Kyle's son. They kind of have a little budding relationship going on in there. I didn't really like that one too much, mostly because up to that point we hadn't gotten introduced to either daughter, but we only really saw her within, like the, the scope or the.
Speaker 1:Um, the flurry of getting to know xavier as our main character. That was like the only uh uh spotlight we saw her in. So we never really got to see her on her own, on who she is, you know, as an individual character, on her own. We just we've really only seen her as xavier's daughter and with him being, you know, gone a lot. You know she's the oldest, so today she has a younger brother and you know she's like the oldest, so she takes care of them. You know her and her dad are very close. They kind of you know they they keep each other in line and shit like that. But we never really got who she is and what she's all about as an individual.
Speaker 1:And then the son was totally in that vein too. Like literally they start teasing the fact that they're into each other in his introductory scene, like he's barely spoken a word and they're already sort of throwing the two of them together. So I thought that was kind of weird and they're already sort of throwing the two of them together. So I thought that was kind of weird and only because, like I said, we didn't, we haven't really gotten to know them both as individual characters before we start lumping them together. So now kind of what we know the most as now is just they're together. So that's kind of what like the main thing is, of what like the main thing is um, so that was like that was a.
Speaker 1:That was a kind of a, a low point on there for me, as I wasn't really fully bought into this relationship, because it's literally like, like they're at school, she's with a friend who literally just has that one appearance, just just in this one scene. Um, they talk about oh, oh, there, he is the president's son. Oh, how you think it's? Because at this point it's known that the president uh, it hasn't been public that the president um is dead, but because you know, her dad's the main agent she knows. So the two of them know um, and then, like the assembly happens where they have to go, and this is when the, the uh, the world in general finds out about his assassination. Uh, he doesn't go, though. He goes to the library and she sneaks after him.
Speaker 1:So, literally, like I said right in the introduction of both of them, we're immediately sort of like in this weird, why is she following him? Why, well, you know, like they haven't really interacted with one another, we don't even know the relationship with the two of them beforehand. Do they know each other? Have they spent time with one another beforehand? What are their impressions of one another before this? I just thought it was weird that they threw them together so quick. Yeah, that's about the only low point I have for the show so far, but it was really good. The characters in this were very well done. Like I said, it does a really good job of sort of teasing you on why things are the way they are before they get fully revealed clearly, because that's how this stuff works. Like, clearly, we see through most of their time together.
Speaker 1:Um, we see that kyle and xavier are very close, um, at least back when he was, at least back. You know, when he was, um, you know, first started out as his, uh, his baby. You see, I'm trying to, I'm stumbling because I'm trying to find the good way, but I was spoiling shit too much. Um, when he first started out, they were very close, but now that we see him in present day, they very much aren't. Um, it seems that they're very distant. Um, you know, the president is drinking quite a bit, uh, so we gotta wonder, you know, why is it that they're so? What happened to cause the rift between the two and we do eventually get what it is. Um, and uh, yeah, it's a, it's a pretty, it's a, it's a pretty damn decent reason to be, uh, so, so pissed off at somebody. So I didn't blame xavier, but yeah, this show is is very good and, like the whole, the twists are extremely well done, um, oh.
Speaker 1:And then there's this character, billy. So, uh, if y'all watched my um where I talked about how I watched invincible season three, I'll talk about how one of my biggest pet peeves are when things are uh truncated into, like in an episode of, like a very small moment with very little to no tease or inclination on how things happen, uh, beforehand. Um, so that does happen in this show, but this show is kind of an exception in it, so I mentioned it before. His name is billy, he's basically xavier's right hand. Uh, when in the security detail, um, okay, I'm gonna spoil it, I'm gonna spoil it without spoiling it too much. In the security detail, okay, I'm going to spoil it without spoiling it too much. So when we go from the present to the past, in between those there's a massive, massive event that happens that basically changes everything, changes everybody's lives, changes everybody's relationships and it puts them in the situation we find them in now. So something big happens, billy.
Speaker 1:Um, so we, when we, when the, when x's investigating the president, he talks to like I think she was a therapist or something, and she talks about how the president gave her a warning before he died, and it was that Billy is dangerous. And Billy, like I said, is Xavier's right hand man, that's his boy, that's his best friend. Um, so I thought that was kind of weird because up until that point Billy was very much a character played up to be more of like, uh, the the comedic sidekick to Xavier, you know what I mean Like he seemed like he was pretty. He will, he was pretty uh I guess I guess dumb is the word I'm looking for, lack of a better term Like he seemed very lackadaisical. It seemed like he didn't take his job, he wasn't like a stickler for the job and for the rules as much as like xavier was. So like it's very lackadaisical, but he was competent in his job. But he was kind of a slacker, kind of lazy, kind of a comedic guy.
Speaker 1:So when they announced so, when they had that warning and like, oh, look out for, look out for billy, he's dangerous, billy is dangerous. I'm like and like oh, look out for, look out for billy. He's dangerous. Billy is dangerous. I'm like, is he really? Because they haven't given nothing about his character to kind of even tease or a slight doubt of that? You know, he isn't who he makes himself out to be, so I thought that was weird.
Speaker 1:So they did end up giving him an entire episode dedicated to his whole backstory, and they kind of shown that he was just this um, you know, just just a kid. It was kind of a abusive, you know. He was orphaned, uh, ran with bad crowds, just kind of a troubled teen. Uh grew up, got into some trouble, got into uh what's in trouble, got into a past and out of prison. He eventually joined this mercenary group that specialized in hiring people who had the issues that he did, which is where his skills came in. So I was like okay, they're giving him a little backstory to kind of explain as to why he's a bad guy and might be dangerous. I still wasn't fully convinced about it, though, but the beauty of all that was that all of this was not.
Speaker 1:They weren't doing all of it to convince you, as the viewer, that Billy was a bad guy. They were actually kind of doing it to the opposite effect, because we've seen the trouble he had growing up, that when that event happens and now that we're in the space we're in now, he basically given a second chance and now he's given a life that he never had before. He gets closer to xavier, they become best friend. Xavier introduces him to his kids. They view him as his uncle. Uh, he's in a relationship with another, uh, security woman on the team and basically showing that he had this trouble childhood.
Speaker 1:Growing up he was a troubled adult. He got into some to some dark, bad shit, uh, even when he was an adult. But now that he's given this second chance, now he's embracing and now he's kind of giving opportunities and people and giving a life that he unfortunately never really got a chance to have back when he was younger. So they kind of just completely subverted my expectations. Like, oh, they are doing all this backstory to explain why Billy's bad. They're actually doing it just to say that he isn't that. You know that. You know he isn't a bad guy and you know he really values his relationship with Xavier, because now Xavier is suspicious of him after hearing this. He values his relationship with the kids. And he clearly does know something because, again, there's a mystery behind everything. So he actually does know something.
Speaker 1:He vows to tell xavier everything, but unfortunately, um, probably one of my favorite twists in the show so far um, because again it they did a thing I hate doing, but they did things so well that I was that I actually liked it and I was able to excuse it. You know he talked to. You know, the woman I mentioned is the villain. He did something. He did something for her and it wasn't good, it was pretty bad, but he's kept it a secret this whole time. And now he's threatening to go public. But he's like so stay away fromavier and his kids and all that shit.
Speaker 1:And she's like oh so you thought you were like the only, you thought you were like the only hired gun I brought into this as protection. And he's like oh well, if, if you think you got a bigger gun, you better. Or what do you say? I was gonna go to the, the omar line, but I don't think that's what he said. He said well, if you got a gun, it may be a damn big gun if you're trying to take me out. So he goes home and it turns out that the big gun is actually the girl he's in a relationship with, who also, by the way, up to this point, kind of exuberated the same kind of character traits he did. It seemed like she was kind of an airhead, kind of ditzy, very happy-go-lucky type, but it turns out that she's like a badass assassin, that uh that she brought into, down here too to keep tabs on him and you know when the time will come to to take him out, which he did.
Speaker 1:So I like that and for a person who like that's because it's shit, I hate when shit is just takes a random turn for the sake of taking a turn, with no tease, no backstory, nothing like that. If there is a backstory, it all happens within the episode. I hate you like that. But I actually very much enjoyed that because of the constant subverting of my expectations in that episode. So I thought that was extremely, extremely well done. So, yeah, so I watched paradise and I gotta say paradise is a damn damn good show. I'm glad I finally got around to watching it. Um, you know, I took some, took some pto days off from work. Was just like you know what. I remember this let me turn it on. So fucking glad that I turned it on and that I watched it.
Speaker 1:Extremely well done, great performances. The writing is spectacular. The twists and the turns, the big, the big mystery and the big turns that happen in the show are just expertly well done. Um, it definitely gives me vibes of like lost and like what's that one show called, uh, what's revolution, is that what it's called? And like all the power and shit ran out or something pretty much like that, but also kind of has that that heavy political intrigue and all of it as well. So it's a murder mystery, it's a, it's a political thriller. Um, like I said, there's a, there's a huge twist and a huge reveal in there that kind of puts it on the verge of like sci-fi as well. So it's all these things mixed together, but it's all blended so damn well, enhanced by great performances, enhanced by great writing. You know, not too action heavy, as you would probably think it is, but it doesn't need to be. But yeah, paradise is very well done, done. It's probably, and it's one of the first like damn good shows to kind of original shows that come out this year.
Speaker 1:I'm glad. I'm glad I put it on my radar, I'm glad I finally checked it out and I watched it because I was not disappointed and it's definitely gonna be a show that I gotta gotta keep an eye on, um, for the future, uh, here. So, yeah, I highly, I highly recommend checking out I'm sorry, I highly highly recommend checking out Paradise because, uh, yeah, it's, it's damn good. So that is what we have here for today. That is what I thought as I just watched Paradise. You can catch it on Hulu. Uh, the entire series is on there. All I think it's like eight, eight episodes long. So it's all up there. Go watch it. I highly recommend it.
Speaker 1:Um, I did my damn this to avoid the big spoilers in there, because if you haven't seen it, I want, I would like for you to watch it and experience that for yourself, because it's one of the it's, it's, it's definitely like the thing in the show. And also, kudos to the marketing team for this show as well. They definitely made this out to seem like it was just a political thriller and that's all it was, and that was always going to be, which is, which was good enough, was good enough. But then it had the whole twist in there that really put it on the verge of something else and I was like, oh shit, the fact that they didn't reveal that shit in any of the marketing and it was actually a legit reveal and a legit secret of the entire show. Extremely well done. So, yeah, go check out Paradise on Hulu if you haven't already. It's very good.
Speaker 1:So, anywho, that is it for me here today. Thank you all so much for watching. I very much do appreciate it. You know I do. If you haven't already, go feel free to. You know, subscribe to the channel if you want to. I don't fuck up all my setup, I don't know how, but feel free to subscribe to the channel if you like what we're doing over here.
Speaker 1:Uh, check out some of the other stuff I got on the channel as well. Um, I watched Invisible Season 3 as well, so I talked about that. Um, we got our first one. I watched Captain America, brave New World, so check that out as well. Um, a news drop is gonna come before or after this, something I don know yet. I don't know yet. I'm gonna record it a couple hours from now. Um, so, yeah, feel free to check out stuff on the channel. We got some video game walkthroughs. I got some other reviews for some other shows and some movies. Um, there's a lot of other little opinion pieces here and there, so feel free to check all those out. Sorry, everybody, until next time. Always remember to please, to please, stay watching, stay playing, stay awesome and stay safe out there. All right, getting really goddamn crazy out there. Until next, everybody. I will see you all next time.