This article contains spoilers for Paradise Season 1; Paradise Season 2 debuts on Hulu on February 23.

The first season of Hulu’s Paradise was extremely hard to talk about before it was released, particularly because the premiere episode’s big twist – that the show takes place entirely inside a suburban-style bunker under a mountain in Colorado after the apparent end of the world – was expressly forbidden from being mentioned in reviews. Well, the secret is out, and while there are plenty more twists and turns in Season 2 of the series – including a likely game changer in the finale (seven of the season’s eight episodes were provided to critics for review) – it’s a little easier to talk about this time around. With Season 2, Paradise continues to be one of the most propulsively binge-worthy dramas on TV.

To revisit Season 1 just a bit: After the murder of third term President Cal Bradford (James Marsden), Secret Service agent Xavier Collins (Sterling K. Brown) went down a conspiracy rabbit hole, unraveling some of the truth behind the bunker community of Paradise and how Samantha "Sinatra" Redmond (Julianne Nicholson), the billionaire behind its construction, was maybe not being so truthful about what went down outside its walls.

Specifically, after a bit of the ol’ insurrection led by Xavier, he discovered that not only are there people alive outside Paradise, his wife – who he thought died the day a super-volcano exploded, causing a tsunami to wreck most of the world – is alive as well, and living in Atlanta. There’s a lot more that happened as the show jumped backwards in time to show how we got here, as well as moving the conspiracy plot forward in the present, but the most important bit of info to know is that the season ended with Sinatra on life support, Xavier exiting the bunker via a small airplane to go find his wife, and Cal (ostensibly the third lead of the show) still very much dead, though often popping up via flashback to give ghostly advice.

With the dual secrets of the premise and how the world ended out of the way, we’re in literal and figurative uncharted territory in Season 2. Granted, showrunner Dan Fogelman has a fair amount of post-apocalyptic TV shows and movies to pull from, as well as mystery box/flashback-heavy shows like Lost, which he picks and chooses from liberally as we explore more of the world outside as well as how life continues inside Paradise. But what characterizes the new season more than anything is that while Fogelman lays in new mysteries and new sci-fi concepts to replace the ones tied with a bow in Season 1, he also leans straight into his comfort zone: emotionally charged character studies.

The thing is that Paradise is an odd note on Fogelman’s resumé. He hasn’t shied away from more fantastical concepts in the past; he wrote Cars, Tangled, and even a draft of Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny. Most of the time, however, he’s been known for more grounded human fare like: Crazy, Stupid, Love; the late, lamented TV show, Pitch; and most notably, This Is Us.

Paradise Season 2 – at least in its first half – might as well be called This Is The Last Of Us without the fungal zombies. Yes, they’re in a post-apocalypse that’s been devastated by climate change – though the show rarely says those words – but everybody is so nice. We’ve been trained time and again by shows like The Last of Us and particularly The Walking Dead to expect that every time you encounter a new community, they might seem good at first, but it will turn out that they’re eating people, or they’re fascists, or they’re just not prepared to survive the circumstances of their particular apocalypse.

While Fogelman plays with that, he seems far less interested in what makes a world fall apart than what helps build it back up again. To that end, the majority of the season also takes the form of the more focused flashback episodes from Season 1. There, we got the full-on flashback episode of “The Day,” which revealed how the world fell in pulse-pounding real time. Paradise Season 2 isn’t quite on par with that high watermark episode, but instead channels the feeling of an extended sequence in the finale, where we met a construction worker helping build the bunker and followed him as he befriended his crew, discovered things weren’t quite right, tried to stop the bunker from being built, and ultimately failed.

Season 2 takes the feeling of that extended sequence and runs with it, almost becoming a Paradise anthology-style series where each episode is done in one, only lightly connecting to the episode that came before, and often keeping our main characters off-screen for episodes at a time. Part of that is utility, given we’re now following multiple characters in multiple locations versus the more focused locale of “just” Paradise in the first season. But another part of it is that it allows Fogelman the space to spend time emotionally with the characters, particularly new cast members like Shailene Woodley’s lost Graceland tour guide, and Thomas Doherty’s mysterious Link (yes, named after the Legend of Zelda character). We don’t know those folks yet the same way we know Xavier, Sinatra, and Cal, so while there might be some audience frustration about our Season 1 stars being in absentia for large chunks of episodes, when you’ve got good actors digging into meaty speeches and one-on-one scenes, you won’t really miss the folks you already know.

But don’t worry: Paradise falls back on a more conventional TV structure eventually. The level of restraint shown in the early part of the season is laudable, and particularly with Hulu dropping three episodes on premiere day, it should be less frustrating for fans of the series than if, say, you had to wait three to four weeks to find out what happened to Xavier, or what’s going on back in Paradise.

On that note, Sterling K. Brown continues to be the most ridiculously charming man on TV. While most of his arc falls under the heading of “I just want my wife back!” action heroes, and Brown’s chiseled muscles certainly make him convincing in the show’s infrequent but well-staged blockbuster action scenes, it’s Brown’s smile that makes viewers melt. Early on, there’s a swoon-worthy flashback to Xavier’s past that lets the actor flex all his rom-com muscles, and you will grin a goofy smile the entire time as Brown provides more raw romance power in a single scene than most movies can manage in their entire runtime. Other episodes let Brown flex his dramatic muscles as his hard-earned steely demeanor begins to melt thanks to Paradise’s Nice-pocalypse. And then other times, he just flexes his muscles, and when he does – hubba-hubba.

Nicholson also gets some substantial dramatic work this season, and though we may run out of rope eventually with the plotline that she’s been traumatized and motivated by the death of her son well before the end of the world, we haven’t gotten there yet. Nicholson is a master of the locked-up microexpression performance, and her sympathetic bad guy persona lets her play that to the hilt.

As for other members of the cast, Nicole Brydon Bloom continues to be a delight as the Wii-obsessed psycho secret service agent, Jane Driscoll; she bubbled in the background in Season 1, but the show knows what they’ve got with her unhinged performance and lets her freak flag fly in Season 2. And while he has less to do now that we know how he was murdered as well as his role in ending/saving the world, Marsden’s Cal is still incredibly engrossing in every flashback appearance. His folksy “I’m just a dumb, young guy who happens to be President” attitude belies a sharp judge of character, and an episode late in the season gives Marsden a stellar monologue. Cal may be back essentially because the show likes working with Marsden, but we like watching Marsden, so they get a pass here.

If Paradise Season 2 excels when it’s working with dramatic, human scenes, it struggles a bit with the sci-fi elements, which become more outlandish and farther from reality in Season 2. While this was never an expressly political show despite opening with the murder of the President, the idea of billionaires abandoning Earth to a climate disaster they caused is very present in our reality. The second season moves further away from that with new sci-fi ideas that are far less based in reality and seem more focused on the longevity of the series than reflecting something happening outside our window. It’s unfortunate, because it moves the show from pressing sci-fi warning to something more akin to naive fantasy. Granted, naive fantasy is where Fogelman lives, even when his shows are ostensibly set in the real world versus some time in the near future. But depending on how the finale pans out – there are big secrets being held back – it’s possible we could get something very timely, or we could end up diving completely into something less relatable and more fantastical.

Even given that, and with some of the jankier decisions on the part of our characters later in the season – choosing niceness, all apologies to Fogelman, is not always the answer when the stakes are this high – Paradise remains engrossing pulp fun. There’s a lot resting on Brown’s prodigious muscles to keep this show going, but thanks to a game supporting cast and plenty of twists, turns, and flashbacks that will tug on your heartstrings, the Hulu hit may be almost paradise, but it’ll keep you knocking on Heaven’s door, begging for more episodes.

With a slim, comfortable feel and a premium-only feature at a 25% discount, the EasySMX S10 has a leg up on most of the market when it comes to great third-party Switch 2 controllers. While it doesn’t pack the same punch as the first-party Switch 2 Pro Controller, the S10 makes for a solid second option for anyone willing to sacrifice ancillary stuff like Amiibo support. Plus, it comes with better triggers and a customizable d-pad.

EasySMX has made a big push into the third-party controller scene with one big claim: remote wakeup. It’s odd that Nintendo locked this basic, highly convenient feature behind the $80 Switch 2 Pro Controller or its even pricier counterpart, a pair of Joy-Con 2 controllers. This confusing change from the original Switch keeps just about every pro controller option from waking up the Switch 2 with the Home button. Even the official Switch 1 Pro Controller falls short here, effectively paywalling what should be a universal, standard feature. Enter EasySMX with a somewhat awkward solution to the issue, promising remote wakeup with a strange workaround.

Per the instructions provided by EasySMX, I synced my shiny new controller, detached both Joy-Cons, and then reattached them within 20 seconds after the initial sync. After putting my console back into sleep mode and trying to wake it up again… I got nothing. A few frustrated tries later though, it did work. I haven’t had any issues since it clicked, aside from when I connected the controller to my PC and then went back to the Switch 2, but I just repeated the process without issue.

In motion, the controller itself is really comfortable, especially for anything that relies heavily on its two buttery-smooth sticks, with comfortable, textured grips that kind of remind me of the DualSense’s stick grips. I played the entirety of Once Upon A Katamari, which is controlled almost exclusively using both sticks, using the S10.

My only real gripe with the sticks extends to the rest of the controller’s face; it’s all too low-profile. The grip part of the stick, where it mushrooms out from the rest of the stick, is too close to the rest of the controller, considering the distance between each controller element. This gives a kind of claustrophobic feel to swapping between sticks, buttons, and the d-pad. Granted, my thumbs are a bit bigger than average, but I found myself accidentally bumping the stick when pressing up on the d-pad.

That flaw aside, this d-pad is great. Despite literally inventing the d-pad decades ago, Nintendo has repeatedly dropped the ball in recent iterations, with a design that often accidentally triggers a secondary input in an additional, adjacent direction. I can’t tell you how many games of Tetris 99 I’ve had to salvage because of an accidental input from Nintendo’s first-party Pro Controllers. The Switch 2 Pro Controller is a step in the right direction, but it’s not where I need it to be.

The S10 offers customization between a classic d-pad and a circular design similar to the one found on the current Xbox models. I usually prefer the circular setup, but the traditional mode is a little more precise. Either way, it’s nice to have a choice.

The mechanical face buttons press with a satisfying little click like a mechanical keyboard would. They’re also pretty low-profile – which unfortunately isn’t my preference, because they give each press a kind of soft feeling that I can’t get behind. The triggers and bumpers, on the other hand, are much more comfortable and satisfying to press. They’re still low-profile like the first-party options, but this works much better for non-analog triggers than it does face buttons.

The grip buttons are the weakest link, though. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve accidentally pressed them just by gripping my controller tighter. This won’t be an issue for everyone, especially people with smaller hands and fingers, and it only became an issue when I had those buttons mapped to an input. Still, I wish there were a tighter gate to minimize accidental presses.

Charlie is a freelance contributor for IGN. You can reach them via Twitter or Instagram at the handle @chas_mke.

Razer has announced a new high-end addition to its Huntsman line of mechanical keyboards. Called the Huntsman Signature Edition, this tenkeyless keyboard will be made of more premium materials, cost $499.99, and "is debuting in a limited drop of 1,337 serialized units," the company says in its announcement. Why that number? You know why. (But if you don't, here's a primer on l337 speak.)

It's in the construction and materials where the spendy new Signature Edition sets itself apart from the older Huntsman V3 models it resembles (and that don't quite measure up to the Razer BlackWidow V4 that IGN prefers for gaming). Where previous Huntsman keyboards are encased in plastic, the Huntsman Signature Edition will be housed in a CNC-milled, anodized aluminum chassis, with a shiny, mirror-like finish on the underside and other parts of the keyboard, such as the company's special triple-headed snake keycap.

The company also promises that the keyboard's interior is "carefully layered ... with tuned foams and sound-dampening materials" to create "a full, rounded typing sound while improving overall key feel."

Otherwise, this fancy USB-C-wired keyboard will feature the same analog optical switches and Rapid Trigger Mode found in the Huntsman V3 Pro, as well as the 8,000Hz polling rate the company has given the latest version of that keyboard.

So, if you liked the responsiveness of the V3 models, there's probably a lot to like for you here, as well. Look for other typical Razer Huntsman keyboard features, including RGB lights under the keys, adjustable key actuation (between 0.1mm and 4mm), and on-the-fly macro recording. The Huntsman Special Edition will be available on Razer's website starting at 8AM PT on February 22 for $499.

Wes is a freelance writer (Freelance Wes, they call him) who has covered technology, gaming, and entertainment steadily since 2020 at Gizmodo, Tom's Hardware, Hardcore Gamer, and most recently, The Verge. Inside of him there are two wolves: one that thinks it wouldn't be so bad to start collecting game consoles again, and the other who also thinks this, but more strongly.

Nowadays it's quite difficult to find an RTX 5070 Ti prebuilt for under $2,000, and when you do, it's usually stripped of any other high-end component. However, for this week only, Lenovo actually has two RTX 5070 Ti configurations priced under $2K, and they're actually pretty well equipped otherwise. This is made possible thanks to a 10% off coupon code "PDLIVE26" that went live on Presidents Day and is, fortunately, still avaialble.

Thinking of saving money by building your own DIY RTX 5070 Ti system? Think again. The RTX 5070 Ti graphics card is currently selling for at least $250 over MSRP. Other options, such as the Radeon RX 9070 XT or RTX 5080, also have a steep markup. With the rising prices of GPUs and RAM, you don't want to miss out on this rare opportunity.

Lenovo Legion Tower 5 RTX 5070 Ti Gaming PC for $1,799