Written by John Edward Betancourt THIS IS THE EMERGENCY SPOILER ALERT SYSTEM. YOU ARE ADVISED TO READ AT YOUR OWN RISKOne element that is supremely important in telling a great story, is that the characters have to be constantly challenged. Because without said challenges, these dynamic and fictional beings can never grow and become better, and their stagnant nature, will in turn bore the audience since they’re in essence watching or reading the same old story over and over again. Which is why the new WGN America series, Almost Paradise, is winning over fans in dynamic fashion. Because week in and week out, Alex Walker is put to the test and finds new ways to grow, and this is relevant to today’s discussion; simply because last night’s episode of this magnificent series once again took the time to challenge this dynamic character in a fascinating and epic manner. In fact, it is safe to say that ‘Unbecalming’ offered up Alex’s biggest challenge to date. Because this time around, Alex was able to bring down a man named El Diablo, who specialized in running guns and well, seeing another bad guy behind bars, brought joy to Alex’s heart. That is until Ernesto let him know that El Diablo was going to be extradited to the United States to stand trial, something that would likely end with him walking free on a plea bargain and that revelation is what kicked off the challenges in question. Because a trip to the station to talk some sense into the State Department ended in disaster for Alex and his friends. For El Diablo had a plan set up to escape, one that saw him take over the police station in the middle of a Typhoon and that meant that Alex had to think quick to save his buddies and bring down El Diablo in the middle of a massive storm and well, challenges don’t get much bigger than that. But while it would be easy to offer up a play-by-play breakdown of this particular tale, there are in fact, two key elements to this story that really allowed for it stand out as something special and it’s best we spend most of our time discussing those. Such as how this adventure actually ended being quite cinematic in nature. For the scale of the story was grandiose and the tense moments that unfolded within the walls of the police station, made this feel like a Die Hard spin-off. Especially when one considers that Alex was facing insurmountable odds as he worked to free his friends from the bad guy’s iron grip. And this was simply delightful to see unfold and it was further enhanced by some well-executed action sequences and a finale that would have gone great with popcorn and a cold soda and really, kudos to Dean Devlin and his team for assembling a story of this scale and scope. However, the wonder of this story goes beyond its cinematic qualities. Because this is a tale that put Alex’s full skill set as an agent and a soldier on display. Which may seem silly since he’s accomplished wonders in previous episodes. But here, he was completely unleashed, which makes sense since it was either turn it loose or see his friends die. But who knew that the man could turn duct tape into a nearly lethal weapon? Or that he was an accomplished strategist as well, since he came up with a wonderful plan to rescue the hostages that El Diablo was hanging onto in the lobby. But more importantly, this strange scenario also allowed for Alex to become a leader. Something he has flirted with on this series, and it was just wonderful to see him inspire others to go the extra mile in saving the day and of course, his hard work and efforts paid off since eventually; El Diablo was put back behind bars. If anything, it’s probably best to declare this episode to be the finest that this young series has offered to date. Which is saying something since this show has impressed from day one. But this one, well once the action got underway, it grabbed hold you of tight and never let go. Plus, we would be remiss to not take a moment and recognize Christian Kane and his acting abilities, because he did a phenomenal job of selling all the comedy and the drama and really in the end, this is just another episode that proves this series can do anything. For this particular tale had something for everyone and truly it is wonderful to know that every single week, this series is going to offer us a unique and intriguing story that leaves us smiling and that is going to make the wait for next week’s tale, a difficult one indeed. Until then.
6 Comments
Mary E Brewer
4/28/2020 01:48:53 pm
Blew me away!
Reply
4/29/2020 10:30:31 am
Everything that you've just said, is absolute truth.
Reply
Linda Scott
4/28/2020 08:31:13 pm
His name is Alex Walker NOT Alex Winter!
Reply
4/29/2020 10:30:10 am
My apologies, Linda! You're absolutely right, I somehow missed that typo. But I have fixed it!
Reply
Matt Bruner
4/28/2021 09:46:30 pm
Who were the audiotapes by that Alex listened to to calm down?
Reply
5/3/2021 08:52:53 am
You know. I don't think they ever specified. Perhaps they will if another season comes to fruition!
Reply
Leave a Reply. |
Archives
May 2024
|