PARADISE (2025): Episode 1.1: “Wildcat Is Down”

Name: PARADISE (2025): Episode 1.1: “Wildcat Is Down”
Item: PARADISE (2025): Episode 1.1: “Wildcat Is Down”
Author: Review

"Trouble in Paradise"

Family Content: -2 Extreme caution for older teenagers and adults.

Entertainment Quality:

	None	Light	Moderate	Heavy
Language
Violence
Sex
Nudity

Credits →

What You Need To Know:

PARADISE is an apocalyptic political thriller series on Disney’s Hulu outlet. Agent Xavier Collins, the head of the President’s Secret Service detail, has a complex relationship with the leader of the free world. Collins launches his own investigation into the President’s mysterious murder in an idyllic American town called Paradise, which has a shocking secret revealed at the end of Episode 1. Agent Collins takes the case into his own hands. With no one else to trust, the stoic agent starts to unravel a grand conspiracy with many dark secrets. Will he be able to solve the case?

The pilot episode of PARADISE is well paced, has great dialogue, and keeps viewers riveted. Sterling K. Brown and James Marsden deliver brilliant performances as Agent Collins and President Bradford. Episode 1 of PARADISE has a strong moral worldview. The lead character, Agent Collins, exemplifies loyalty, service, patriotism, and being a good father. However, Episode 1 of PARADISE has strong foul language, including four “f” words and five strong profanities, and light references to drunkenness and marital discord. So, MOVIEGUIDE® advises extreme caution.

Content:

(BB, PP, PC, Anti-cap, Ab, Fe, LL, VV, S, N, AA, D, M):

Dominant Worldview and Other Worldview Content/Elements:

Strong moral worldview in first episode where the lead character is a stoic Secret Service Agent who protects the life of the President and the country and who exemplifies loyalty, service, patriotism, and being a good father, with some light politically correct allusions about race and a flawed wealthy man, plus the president is cheating on his estranged wife, and some light and brief feminist elements in one scene where the hero says his wife wants to stop at only two children so she can focus on her career;
Foul Language:
19 obscenities (including four “f” words), four strong profanities using the name Jesus Christ, one GD profanity, and references to a man having to go to the bathroom after eating a spicy Mexican dish (later the man briefly is shown sitting on the toilet when his boss calls him to return to his job right away);
Violence:
Moderate realistic violence in episode one, a Secret Service Agent spots a gunslinger in a crowd and takes a bullet in the chest for the President, the hero survives a gunshot wound to the chest, the President lies dead in his mansion bedroom, and the President has a light argument with his wife;
Sex:
No depicted sex scenes, but the President seems to hook up with a female Secret Service Agent (thus cheating on his estranged wife), and the President asks sensitive questions on the protagonist’s private marriage;
Nudity:
Brief upper male nudity when hero takes off pajama top to put on his shirt and pants for work;
Alcohol Use:
President drinks whiskey a lot and is tipsy and is drunk in at least three scenes, and a Secret Service agent drinks alcohol while on duty and sleeps during the time that someone shuts down the security cameras and kills the President;
Smoking and/or Drug Use and Abuse:
President smokes a lot and mentions he’s a heavy smoker; and,
Miscellaneous Immorality:
The President and the protagonist get into an argument on whether the President is better off “dead,” the protagonist refuses to immediately notify the government over the former president’s untimely murder for half an hour to do some investigating on his own (that’s because when he releases the info he knows he won’t be allowed back into the scene of the crime), the hero jokes about his Secret Service colleague eating a bad taco, and the Secret Service briefly denies entry to the President’s wife for a time when knowledge of the murder starts to be released.

More Detail:

PARADISE is an apocalyptic political thriller series on Disney’s Hulu outlet, where the head of the President’s Secret Service detail has a complex relationship with the leader of the free world and launches his own investigation into the President’s mysterious murder in an idyllic American town called Paradise, which has a shocking secret revealed at the end of Episode 1.

In Episode One, “Wildcat is Down,” Agent Xavier Collins (Sterling K. Brown) finds the murdered body of President Cal Bradford (James Marsden) in the upstairs bedroom of the presidential mansion in the idyllic town of Paradise. Collins withholds knowledge of the president’s death for half an hour so he and another agent named Billy Pace searches around the mansion for clues. Collins was the last person to see Bradford alive, other than the assassin. He and Pace discover that someone shut off the security cameras for about an hour around midnight. When Collins finally tells his superiors about the murder, interviews of Xavier’s Secret Service team begin. After Collins is interviewed, the episode reveals that Paradise is not just any regular small town.

Meanwhile, the episode flashbacks to show the relationship between Agent Collins and President Bradford. Bradford wanted a younger man to lead his security team. On the first day after his re-election, Bradford tells Collins he picked him because he was best. He also admits to Collins that it doesn’t hurt that Collens is black. A couple months into his second term, Collins saves Bradford’s life from an assassin’s bullet. A few weeks after that, Collins returns to duty, where he’s informed of a literal earth-shattering secret. Does the secret hold the key to solving the president’s demise?

The pilot episode of PARADISE is a rock solid piece of dramatic television. It’s well paced, has great dialogue, and keeps viewers fully engaged. Sterling K. Brown and James Marsden deliver brilliant performances as Agent Collins and President Bradford. Thus, from a production and entertainment standpoint, PARADISE knocks it out of the park. Sadly, the same can’t be said for the episode’s content.

For example, though Agent Collions clearly cares for his two children, the episode reveals that his wife doesn’t want any more children because she wants to focus on her career. Also, the President has become estranged from his wife, because she doesn’t like some of his recent decisions. Later, however, she’s really upset when the news of his death is finally leaked. She knows something’s terribly wrong, but the Secret Service momentarily stops her from finding out what happened.

When President Bradford offers Agent Collins the job of leading his Secret Service detail, the President admits that it doesn’t hurt that Collins is black man. However, he assures Collins that he didn’t pick him because of his race but because he seems to be the best man for the job. That said, the President notes that two of his major cabinet officials, including the Secretary of Defense are black. Thus, it doesn’t appear that President Bradford makes some decisions because of political correctness.

However, Episode 1 of PARADISE does depict Agent Collins as a conscientious family man and government official. So, as the hero of the series, the strong moral character of Agent Collins gives Episode 1 a strong moral, pro-family worldview. Even so, the hero is apparently surrounded by lots of intrigue and secret conspiracies. So, that apparently will be a major theme of the series as it continues.

Sadly, Episode 1 of PARADISE has some other objectionable or negative content. For example, it reveals that President Bradford has grown even more estranged from his wife and is actually having an illicit affair with a black female Secret Service Agent. The episode shows that she went upstairs to his bedroom and left just before the murderer cut off the security cameras. Although the episode shows the attempted assassination of the President, it doesn’t depict the President’s murder. Instead, it just shows his dead body lying on the floor with blood pooled under his head and down the side of his face. Finally, Episode 1 of PARADISE as 24 obscenities and profanities, including four “f’ words and five strong profanities.

So, although PARADISE opens with an engrossing murder mystery and political thriller, MOVIEGUIDE® advises extreme caution because of the negative content, especially its strong, gratuitous foul language.