“You’ll still be scared shitless, but you will not believe the joy. You’ll be playing with your kid, watching them splash around in the bath or play soccer for the first time, and sometimes, Annie, I swear it feels like your heart will fuckin’ explode.”
“My dad used to say if you were lucky you got a few moments where you got to experience life at full volume. That’s how he put it: ‘life at full volume.’ Those moments when you’re completely present, and everything slows down, and all the textures and colors and sounds, they all go, like, hi-def.”
I’ve struggled to explain the power of Paradise. On the surface level (haha, no pun intended) it’s one of the goofiest shows I’ve ever seen, combining the basic premise of Fallout with the aesthetics of an NBC prime-time drama. Yet somehow, time and again, the goddamn thing hits me like a freight train. I like to think I’m not a sucker, a mark, a cheap date when it comes to drama. So what gives?
It’s simple, as it turns out: Paradise is a show about life at full volume. It’s a show about moments when it feels like your heart will fuckin’ explode. It’s a maximalist emotion machine, using both human interest and post-apocalyptic/survivalist/political-thriller/sci-fi genre tropes to blow the part of you that feels love and hope and grief to smithereens, as often as possible. I’m not sure I’ve ever watched anything quite like it.
I reviewed today’s episode of Paradise for Decider.
Tags: decider, paradise, TV, TV reviews