The following contains heavy spoilers for season 1 of “Paradise.”
The thrilling new Hulu series “Paradise” has set the bar as the best new TV show of 2025. The series quickly became appointment television, a perfectly timed show with poignant and sharp commentary on our current political hellhole, but also one with great character drama, and one of the best twists in a TV show in years.
“This is Us” creator Dan Fogelman delivers a compelling story amidst a mystery that evolves into something bigger. The show follows Sterling K. Brown’s Xavier Collins, a former Secret Service agent who fails at his job and allows President Cal Bradford (James Marsden) to be murdered. The rest of the season involves Xavier’s investigation into who killed the president, while the larger narrative of the show also explores what exactly happened that ended the world. Yes, ended.
As we learn in the first episode, the town Xavier and the president lived in is actually a massive secret underground bunker created after some world-ending disaster. But what exactly happened to end civilization as we know it? That’s one of the big mysteries of “Paradise” season 1, a puzzle that is very clearly explained in the TV show, leaving zero doubt as to what or how it happened. If you somehow still don’t know what happened, or you’re just not watching the show but are Googling to pretend you know what the show is as to not miss out on the conversation, here’s a guide to “Paradise.”
How the world ended in Paradise
Hulu
In episode 7, titled “The Day,” we flash back to, well, the day — of the end of the world. It began with a supervolcano eruption in the Antarctic, which triggered a tsunami 300 feet high. Though entire nations were fully aware this environmental disaster would happen, they are all apparently shocked that the eruption didn’t exactly follow their predictions and happened earlier than anticipated.
Throughout the episode, we see terrifying news footage of entire coastlines and even whole countries now being underwater. It’s an episode that doesn’t feel the need to show the disaster (outside of a brief, dark shot) but still feels as epic and thrilling as a Roland Emmerich movie. Under the thrills, however, lies also a compelling story of a man desperately trying to get together with his wife, a story of an employee who has seen disaster come and go and refuses to believe this is it, and many other small stories that convey the idea that this is what matters most that is being lost — people.
The destruction of most farmland prompts nations all around the world to do what they do best — make stupid decisions. War begins, as hungry nations anticipate a future battle for resources and begin brabbing and securing their future (by launching nukes that end that future).
While heading to the special bunker made for politicians and tech oligarchs, President Bradford makes his final on-the-surface executive decisions and chooses not to launch the nukes but instead trigger an electromagnetic pulse that disables the world’s electronics.
How bad is the surface now?
Hulu
Wondering about the surface raises plenty of other questions. We don’t know how many nukes still reached the U.S. before the electronics went out, but we do know that there are some areas less apocalyptic than others. Most importantly, we know that there are survivors out there, including whole settlements in Atlanta, where Collins’ wife Teri (Enuka Okuma) is presumably alive and well.
Still, that doesn’t mean the country is still intact, for there was also the damage from the tsunami that most definitely destroyed most of the country. We have seen glimpses of what lies beyond the walls of the bunker, and it seems like plenty of buildings are still around. The big city doesn’t look entirely desolate.
What happens when the people of Paradise and the people of the outside world discover each other’s existence? Will outsiders try to force their way inside the bunker, or will the townsfolk try to leave? “Paradise” needs to explore the state of the outside world, and thankfully it will have time for it when the show returns for season 2.
