In a serene, all-American community, Special Agent Xavier Collins discovers one of the world’s most powerful individuals has been viciously murdered and a high-stakes investigation unfolds.

The spoiler gods have it in for me. In the last two weeks Inside No. 9: Stage/Fright, Presence and Companion have all made reviewing nigh on impossible when so many fundamentals simply can’t be revealed for fear of ruining things for prospective audiences. But nothing has prepared me for the challenge of writing about multi-layered high concept genre mash-up Paradise now streaming on Disney+. Perhaps that’s why the pre-publicity seems to have been so scant.

For the first forty-five minutes, you could be forgiven for thinking you aren’t watching a genre show at all. Special Agent Xavier Collins (Sterling K. Brown with his excellent acting chops set to ‘Inscrutable’) finds the President dead… murdered… but this isn’t the White House, and flashbacks imply that President Bradford has completed his two terms and taken Collins with him into post presidential life. Xavier waits to call it in, immediately suspecting some kind of inside job, doing his own sweep of the crime scene before raising the alarm.

What follows is pure political thriller/whodunnit… until it isn’t, turning into something else altogether.

On paper this show shouldn’t work at all – surely it’s pulling in too many directions at once – but credit to the show’s creator Dan Fogelman, the first three episodes to drop are compelling, bingeworthy TV. Then, once the show lays its cards on the table it ought to be ridiculous hackneyed hokum, but it isn’t. It’s well written, well-acted, and keeps a surprisingly steady hand on convincing psychological throughlines for its central protagonists. At the end of three episodes I really have no idea who did do it, and I really, really want to know – and to know how the murder mystery ties into the higher echelons of the show’s concept.

None the wiser? Sorry. You might have to take this one on trust.

Verdict: Just be sure to give Paradise the whole of episode 1 before you make up your mind either way. But I’d be amazed if you didn’t click ‘skip to episode 2’ like I did. 8/10

Martin Jameson

www.ninjamarmoset.com