SPOILER ALERT: The following contains spoilers for Paradise Season 2, Episode 1.

It shouldn’t be surprising that the Paradise Season 2 premiere “Graceland” comes out of left field, but it is anyway. The Hulu drama builds on all of the momentum and attention it generated last year by not even showing its main character until the final minutes. On any other show, this would be a recipe for disaster. But this is Paradise, where everything has some point you just don’t know about yet.

To be fair, it does feel emotionally like a bit of a letdown to have the whole first episode focused on a character whom audiences haven’t even met yet and thus have no attachment to. Why do fans care about the post-apocalyptic struggles of Annie Clay, played by Big Little Lies star Shailene Woodley? Especially when all they want to know is what happened to Xavier Collins after he left on the airplane? “Graceland” is its own separate story, similar to “Long, Long Time” from the TV version of The Last of Us—except for that Annie and her fellow survivor Gayle Edwards (portrayed by Angel Laketa Moore) have no direct connection to Xavier. It takes the full first act to become hooked into their saga, even as The Day starts to unfold eight minutes in.

But if one looks at “Graceland” as a sort of prologue for Paradise Season 2, that’s when the episode starts to come alive. Yes, this is very much telling Annie’s story—poor Gayle dies 45 days in—as well as introducing the band of would-be bunker-stormers that audiences have already seen in the trailer. The episode never quite shakes off that expositional feeling, particularly because most of it is a ponderously slow affair. Yet the Paradise Season 2 premiere is also establishing what the world was like outside the bunker beyond the snippets viewers got last season. It’s filling in those edges of the puzzle. Season 1 was one perspective, and now Season 2 is creating a different and contrasting point of view that starts with Annie and Link, her love interest played by Thomas Doherty (from Little Shop of Horrors off-Broadway).

“Graceland” follows Annie from the death of her mother when she was a teenager, through years on her own living at Graceland, and through a rushed romance with Link that ends when Annie turns down his request to travel with his group. The latter is somewhat a victim of the episode’s pacing; there’s only so much time to spend in any part of Annie’s life. It’s always going to be hard to buy a romantic relationship for characters who have just met in the same episode. But the later reveal that Annie is pregnant with Link’s baby, while not as shocking as “everything is in an underground bunker,” is a pretty good surprise. It’s also very good motivation for the semi-cliffhanger, in which Annie rescues Xavier from the wreckage of his plane. Paradise makes viewers care about Annie because she has her own personal storyline wanting to be reunited with someone she loves, just like Xavier. Her quest is just screwing his up.

Woodley fits immediately into the world and tone of Paradise. It’s not uncommon when a new character comes into a TV show—especially one played by an actor with name recognition—for that character to get hero status, pushed to the forefront to gin up as much attention as possible. But Paradise doesn’t have anything to prove, and Woodley understands the assignment. Her character Annie may be on screen most of the episode, but she’s not always the center of attention. In fact, Moore is a scene-stealer as Gayle, at least until the episode kills her off. TV buffs will also get a kick out of seeing veteran actors Michael McGrady (Southland) and Timothy Omundson (Psych) amongst Link’s colleagues.

And just like last season, the Paradise season 2 premiere cannot be watched passively. The writers may not get to Xavier until the end, but they do drop a few hints as to where things are going. McGrady’s team leader Geiger talks to Link about the bunker and how they plan to kill someone named Alex. That sets up another mystery beyond the fate of Dr. Teri Rogers-Collins. Viewers are essentially watching the same show from the other side of the table.

Another aspect that is worth noting is that in repeating The Day, Paradise mercifully avoids any tragedy porn. It’s dangerous business to even put that back on screen because the Season 1 episode entitled “The Day” was so brilliantly done and crushingly terrifying; the last thing the show wants to do is undercut that with something out of a B-grade disaster movie. By only showing bits and pieces of the aftermath, the Season 2 premiere preserves viewers’ memories of that earlier episode. It’s also just refreshing to have a series that can create those emotions of fear and sadness without having to show them, particularly in an episode in which animals are briefly involved. Other writers would likely have been much more heavy-handed, but even in the moment in which Gayle dies, it’s a very quiet scene focused more on Annie realizing Gayle is about to die than anything else.

This is not the explosive Paradise Season 2 premiere that fans were likely expecting and even wanting. There are still a ton of unanswered questions and viewers are asked to be patient in putting Annie’s plot ahead of Xavier and the characters people already care about. But just as the first three episodes of Season 1 were dropped together for a reason, by the end of “Graceland,” viewers will understand why the first three episodes of Season 2 are coming together. Dan Fogelman and his team are telling a three-part story, and while part one is very different, that’s because the payoff is slowly building. Paradise doesn’t play like any other TV show, and “Graceland” is a quiet reminder of that.

Paradise streams Mondays on Hulu. Photo Credit: Courtesy of Hulu.

Article content is (c)2020-2026 Brittany Frederick and may not be excerpted or reproduced without express written permission by the author. Follow me on Twitter at @BFTVTwtr and on Instagram at @BFTVGram. For story pitches, contact me at tvbrittanyf@yahoo.com.