It’s just another day in Paradise for our lead protagonist, Xavier, as he goes on his morning run, fathers to his two kids, and clocks into work, thinking he is just about to have another regular day on the job. But, he’s in for a rude awakening. We are introduced to Xavier and learn that he is a lead secret service agent and has something to live for through his children. He is shown to be well-respected and trusted as a leader amongst his peers. Just as Xavier is getting his day started, his whole world gets flipped upside down once he walks in and sees the president shot dead in his bedroom.
Upon this discovery of the president being dead in his home, we jump into exploring the relationship between them and it is more than meets the eye. We are shown the day that Xavier is promoted to lead agent and begins to learn more about both his and President Bradford’s personalities and how they mesh with each other. President Bradford has a charismatic and suave attitude with a very blunt approach, while Xavier is a straight-by-the-book no-nonsense type of man. Through learning why he is promoted, we see the relationship develop and grow from there and then jump back to the present day where Xavier is officially on the hunt for a killer.
As Xavier’s hunt to find the killer begins, clues are found throughout the bedroom of Bradford’s such as earrings, and the safe being open. These clues are tied back to more flashbacks as we uncover President Bradford’s and Xavier’s complicated relationship. We learn more about Xavier’s wife and his marriage situation as he was a loving family man with a wife and kids, but up to this point, the wife is absent in the series and we do not know about her whereabouts until much later in the episode. What makes the search for what happened to the president all more complicated is when we learn that Xavier was the last recorded person to see the president alive at the time. We see there used to be a deep bond between Xavier and the president as we see Xavier once took a bullet for President Bradford during a failed assassination attempt on his life, but somewhere in between the relationship went sour once we see the last conversation between the two. We learn that Xavier’s wife died and that the president and his actions may have had something to do with it.
These revelations and clues regarding the president and his actions may have led to him having a target on his back by multiple people, but the question remains who? All possible suspects are at play as the episode showcases just how much access the killer may have had to be able to be close enough to take out the president, including Xavier himself. Once the call is made regarding the president being out, Xavier is interrogated. That’s when we learn his final conversation with President Bradford ended on a sour note leading the government to view him as a possible suspect. We end the episode seeing final glimpses of a flashback scene involving the president and members of his cabinet talking to Xavier about a possible extinction-level event due to issues happening in Colorado. We don’t know what exactly happened in Colorado as the episode teases more information to come. The episode ends with the revelation that the president and the remaining survivors of a catastrophic event live in an underground civilization beneath a mountain, known as “Paradise”.
This was an excellent start to a political whodunnit murder mystery, where all suspects are on the table including our main protagonist. It does a great job introducing us to our characters and immediately getting us hooked with the shocking revelation of the president being killed which flipped the whole series upside down. It does a great job using flashbacks to help piece together parts of the story and clues regarding relationships between the president and Xavier and why he is a great lead agent for him. Sterling K. Brown gives a tremendous performance in this episode with his subtle and stern demeanor. We really buy into his character and follow him as he uncovers this mystery. James Marsden is also great as he gives a more suave and charismatic portrayal of his character. The two have tremendous chemistry together on screen and all of their scenes together left you hooked and engaged to learn more about their relationship and how it turned out. It does a great job introducing us to this world and the people residing in it and keeps us engaged to want to watch and uncover more with each new episode by the week. Overall, this is a very strong start to this series as we have a true political whodunnit murder mystery on our hands where everybody is a possible suspect.
Rating: 9/10