Paraíso (TV Series 2021–2022) Poster

(2021–2022)

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6/10
A fantasy suspense series set not in the future but back in the year of 1992 starred by an unknown cast of teens .
ma-cortes13 July 2021
Warning: Spoilers
The disappearance of three teenagers, presented in the style of the event that marked a generation : Alcàsser girls' crime , is the starting point for this juvenile story to be released in 2021 . Levante, 1992, end of summer in a town on the coast. Sandra, Eva and Malena , 15-year-old girls, disappear into a disco without a trace . This happening will only be the beginning of an adventure story where the Albufera or the Santa Pola amusement park are one more element .As the police doesn't seem to be looking on the right direction , so Javi (Pau Gimeno) , Sandra's little brother , starts an investigation with Quino (León Martínez) and Álvaro (Cristian López) , his best friends, and Zeta (Héctor Gozalbo) , the class bully. Together, and through a parallel universe , they find out that those who kidnapped the unfortunate girls are not of this world, but supernatural beings . In constant coming and going , the motley group of friends take on a lot of dangers and weird events until a twisted conclusion at a weird Spa.

This is a bizarre science fiction series with thrills , chills, chases , intrigue , noisy action and a puzzling mystery . This suspenseful series has everything : a lot of night , fantastic fights , indoor swimming pools ... It results to be a delirium of series , but displaying a great time . Original series starring Macarena García as a Guardia Civil investigating the events , and it recovers the spirit of the adventures at the time with a soundtrack featuring the hits of Mecano and OBK. Almanzora de la Vega setting is one of the main elements of Paraíso. In order to recreate the coast of the Valencian Community of the early nineties , writer/director Fernando González Molina has created a puzzle with twelve of his most popular destinations . As the film crew went crazy during the first half of 2020 to get the town that González Molina was looking for . As Almanzora is the result of adding 12 towns and two natural parks , in them they found the 95 locations .The shooting during 2020-2021 was complex and the pandemic had been a huge challenge because when the state of alarm arrived , they cut the troublesome filming in March and resumed it in July . After the four-month break, the team had to re-start the whole series due to the health protocols that limited the production. Complicated moments also had to prepare along the seven chapters of about an hour . Some of these moments came with the two thousand extras from Valencia and Alicante or the twelve towns in five weeks . Nice production design by Antón Laguna , that has given the director a lot of security . He had already worked in the artistic direction with him, among others , in ¨Palmeras en la Nieve¨, the work that earned him the Goya award in its category. At that time they started the filming on the location of north of the Valencia Community in Xilxes , Requena and Villargordo del Cabriel and then they went down the coast of Sueca, El Perelló, Oliva . From there they entered Alicante through Xàbia, Calpe, Altea , l'Alfàs del Pi and Benidorm until they reached Santa Pola. To add the construction of the exterior in the Paraíso nightclub , it is inspired in various clubs of the time and in which the influence of the Banana's dome can be appreciated . It is one of the key scenarios in the two initial episodes that have been shown to restricted spectators of Moviestar .

To these difficulties have to be added another , as the recreating of the 90s time , it was really complicated, that's why when a fiction is attached to your days and the memory is recent , it is more difficult . The motion picture was professionally directed by Fernando González Molina with certain visual ambition , though it has some flaws , gaps and disjointed narration . This Spanish filmmaker has made various box-office films , being his first big hit : ¨Tres metros sobre el cielo¨ (2010). And he also made the sequel : ¨Tengo Ganas De Ti¨ (2012) , in which ¨H¨ Mario Casas falls for a gorgeous dancer called Gin , Clara Lago , but he discovers again his first great love : Maria Valverde . He went on directing successes as the $13.5 million period drama "Palm Trees in the Snow" also with Mario Casas and a thriller , this ¨El Guardian Invisible¨ and the recently premeired , the sequel ¨Legado en los huesos¨ (2019) with Marta Etura again . And has made several TV series as ¨Luna , Misterio De Calenda¨ , ¨Bienvenidos Al Lolita¨ and ¨Los Hombres De Paco¨ .
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7/10
A good weekend binge
kigaiyuuto23 November 2021
I know the haters come for this show because of its similarity with Stranger Things but honestly I did enjoy this one more than Stranger Things season 1.

The production is top-notch, love the authentic feel of the town, the acting of unknown teen actors are fine, the mystery was good. I wish they didn't wait until the final 2-3 episodes to get really intense but at least it's not as slow as Stranger Things.

7 or 7.5 out of 10.
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7/10
A Little "Gem" that grows on you!
johnfc-18-68485025 August 2022
Warning: Spoilers
Surprisingly interesting Spanish Series. Season 1, though poorly edited. Especially the last three episodes. Confusing at times with a crazy/weird story line. But in truth, I grew to "Love It"!

Despite the over all poor "flow and writing"! You just have to "buy in" to what happens by the pace and action of the show. Believe me, at times it just doesn't make any sense. That's why I'm only giving it a 7 instead of a 9 or 10. But neither does "Stranger Things" most of the time!

As for acting. Not bad at all. And all the young people did a great job. And though you kind of saw it coming. I absolutely loved the "twist" close to the end of the last episode with the two boys, Alvaro and Zeta. The place and timing was a bit weird. But I guess it had to happen at that particular time frame.

We don't have Season 2 here in US yet. Hopefully we will soon!
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7/10
In the style of Stranger Things and Dark, but in Spanish.
deloudelouvain2 August 2022
I just found out that there will be another season of Paraíso. Not sure if that's really necessary as the ending made perfect sense but I will watch it. I'm curious what the next season will be about. It isn't an easy show to watch though, a bit complicate sometimes, and the Spanish language doesn't really help. I get it that some people compare it to Stranger Things or Dark, it's in the same style. A lot of mystery keeps you guessing, which makes it interesting to follow. The acting is surprisingly good considering the young age of most of the cast. My wife and I binge watched it, and that normally means it's a good entertaining series.
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1/10
Dont waste your time
jovan_nl12 May 2022
Dont waste your time on this..please..HBO need to work on something better if they want to be paid..this is trash.. I was never so amazed with so much holes in a story..
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3/10
(Are they dead or eating) "Estan muertas o comiendo"
e_epistle6 December 2021
Warning: Spoilers
Well I have watched the first episode of Paraíso called "El incendio" (The fire) and I found it rather slow going. And the character Javi seems to always have the same angry/sad/confused look on his face for most of the episode.

Five minutes in, there is a scene in a school hallway involving students and a memorial type setup beside one wall. On the wall are the words "Estan muertas o comiendo" but there is no mention of what this means in the English subtitles. And I do not speak Spanish.

So I paused the episode and typed the words into a translation service to get a meaning (Are they dead or eating). Yes it's a minor thing, but it helps with understanding the scene and any message.

The main issue I have with the English subtitles is that in places they flash on the screen and then disappear so quick that I didn't get a chance to read them so this means I have to skip back a few seconds to read them and/or pause, which of course breaks up the flow of the scene :( Including three music symbols - (this IMDB submission contains the following invalid characters) - in the English subtitles constantly did get a bit annoying.

Also annoying was the background music: eerie and sombre in some places was ok, but I felt there was to much of it. And the constant cuts from one scene with people in it to a different scene - with different people in it - and then back again, was very distracting.

I quickly spotted moments very similar to Stranger Things (an example at 19:28) being a scene where Javi is riding at night - on his red lowrider-bicycle with a banana-seat and single dynamo powered front bike light.

The last ten minutes of the episode are the best (the fire in the Paraíso nightclub) but it made me sad to see a mirror ball burning on the floor and then lots of lights and truss on fire. The outside scene a few minutes later was a great twist though!

At 58:35 you get a glimpse of the right wrist of "Lieutenant Zhou, Central Unit." WALKING towards the camera. His wrist shows a tattoo of what looks like three propeller blades within a small circle. The problem is Lieutenant Zhou supposedly got a double barrel shotgun blast TO THE HEAD a few moments ago! Yep I paused the episode, and at 58:02 "Don't move or I'll shoot your brains out!" - a flame at the end of the barrels can be seen - with a large dark red splotch on Lieutenant Zhou's forehead in the very next frame.

Stranger Things indeed...
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10/10
Excellent!!
johnbonner-3382519 November 2021
I created an IMDB account just to write this review. As an avid TV and film watcher, I often rely on IMDB and Rotten Tomatoes to guide my viewing choices. Sadly, there are almost no reviews to be found -- anywhere -- about this series, which is a damn shame, because it's freaking awesome.

The only reviews that do exist on here or Reddit or RT are middling and claim this series is derivative or subpar, unfairly claiming it is a rip-off of shows like Stranger Things and that it pales in comparison. Being a *huge* fan of Stranger Things (I've watched the entire series all the way through three times), I have to disagree. Yes, Paraíso is similar to Stranger Things in tone, mood, era, score, and cinematography, but it also stands completely on its own in terms of originality, character development, concept and storyline.

As a devotee of The Expanse, Game of Thrones, Shadow and Bone, His Dark Materials, Foundation, Lost, Almost Human, Orphan Black, Fringe, Dark, Ragnarok, Locke & Key, The Nevers, The Mysterious Benedict Society, Timeless, The Mandalorian, Carnival Row, Sense8, and Humans, I can say without reservation that Paraíso absolutely belongs in that list of my all-time favorite fantasy/mystery/sci-fi series.

Paraíso is exciting, moving, and cathartic. The acting from the young teens in particular is outstanding. I loved the world-building, examination of grief and loss, bingeable suspense, depth of friendships explored, the burgeoning romances, and most of all -- a very satisfying conclusion. If you love any (or all) of the series I listed above, you'll likely fall in love with Paraíso, too. Give it a chance and keep watching to the end. You'll be richly rewarded when you do.

My only gripe (as someone who speaks Spanish) is that the English subtitles were inadequate and often inaccurate. That was disappointing. I do hope HBO takes the time to give this series the subtitles and closed captioning it deserves (and that they've afforded to all the other foreign language series I've watched on HBO). Despite this flaw, I still wholeheartedly recommend Paraíso.

I'm grateful to have come across this show. And while I wish there were IMDB user voices joining with mine to declare its greatness, I'm confident that after you've watched it, you're likely to become one of them.
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8/10
Worth watching
jakobishoey5 February 2022
If you liked Dark and Stranger Things, this is for you. It's an excellent weekend binge with an interesting and well paced story. The cast delivers a good performance over all. I'm looking forward to season two.
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9/10
Dark, weird, unique, and very, very good.
jackrosene11 May 2022
Warning: Spoilers
This show draws immediate comparisons to Stranger Things, and while there are some inherent similarities (synth soundtrack, kids on bikes, supernatural forces, parents searching for missing kids) at the end of the day, it's very much it's own show. This show is also a lot darker than Stranger Things. It's very somber and dark for the entire season. That being said, the mystery is really interesting, the characters are great, the score is awesome, the cinematography is beautiful, and the acting and direction are top notch. My only complaints are that the subtitles were kind of amateur and the ending wasn't the happiest and was pretty inconclusive. But hey, that's what Season 2 is for. I'll definitely be looking forward to it. Great show and absolutely worth checking out if you're a fan of Stranger Things or not.
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8/10
Well written characters and clever storyline
emmabottomleyproperty17 July 2022
I only signed up to IMDB to rate this series as I loved it! Way better than its current rating on here. Interesting and clever storylines across two series. If you like scifi and ghost stories etc with a coming of age theme this is for you!
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9/10
Superb
yankeedoo17 July 2022
Loved it very good and sad plz anyone tell me where I can watch or get s2 I'm still after s2/3 of the red door shame if never finishes ps need eng for it thou too. Yanksalotayskydotcom.
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9/10
Extremely enjoyable!!!!
chunkysock21 February 2023
Warning: Spoilers
I would just like to say that this show was truly a great experience. Even though some say it is very similar to Stranger Things, I think it's completely different. I really enjoyed watching it and I'm sad that the 2nd season was the final. I would've loved to see more. I really connected to the characters (especially Alvaro) and as a queer teenager, it was really nice to see great representation and characters I could relate to deeply. I would suggest this to anyone (currently trying to convince everyone around me to give it a chance). This is the first time I've ever watched show in Spanish and I think it's convinced me to try to find more shows that are highly underrated. Loved this to say the least!
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