‘Almost Paradise’ Recap: ‘Rise of the Kalangay’

Written by John Edward Betancourt

THIS IS THE EMERGENCY SPOILER ALERT SYSTEM. YOU ARE ADVISED TO READ AT YOUR OWN RISK.

If there is one storytelling element that a vast majority of television shows struggle with, it would have to be finding a way to balance screen time for all of the characters present within its story. Which is, an understandable struggle. After all, every show has its lead, often played by a big-time star, and drawing attention away from the top dog could be disastrous for the ratings since hey, everyone’s here to see them do their thing. But while it is indeed important to focus upon the lead, the best shows out there understand that the main character is nothing without the support of the secondary characters and taking the time to explore what makes them tick only adds to the wonder of the story. Which is yet another reason that Almost Paradise continues to deserve our praise, since last night’s episode of the series embraced this particular lesson.
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For ‘Rise of the Kalangay’ focused its attention on Detective Kai Mendoza and what makes her tick and well, what we learned about her was quite fascinating for certain. Mainly because we came to discover that she was quite the troublemaker in her youth, one that was constantly in trouble with the law and constantly rebelling against the old ways that her community embraced. But the death of her mother, by way of murder, motivated her to play it straight for a change and obviously, that decision paid off in spades, since she eventually became the tough-as-nails police officer we’ve come to know. But while it was awesome to learn about her past and understand what drives her to chase bad guys and exhibit good above all else, this story went above and beyond in exploring the nature of Kai by providing her with one heck of a challenge. 

Because her mentor returned to the island to say hello and unfortunately for Kai, he was harboring all kinds of dark secrets. For a professor that came to the island to study the old ways, stumbled upon the truth about how Kai’s mother really died, before facing his own unfortunate end, and it turns out that the intrepid Detective Rabara was the real man responsible for her death. Because she had come to discover that his rise through the ranks was predicated on lies and really, what matters about this revelation is that the truth about her past and her mentor forced Kai to face quite the conundrum. Because in many ways, her path in life was predicated on lies. Something that can badly rattle a human being since it makes a person feel betrayed and confused, as if everything they’ve done and everything that defines them are also lies and when faced with that mental mess, she had to make quite the call; kill her mentor and get revenge for the pain he put her through, or do the right thing and stay on the path she’s been on for ages.

Thankfully she chose the latter, simply because Alex was able to remind her that giving into the darkness accomplishes nothing and it leaves one a shell of their former self. But what mattered more about this powerful decision, is that she also came to realize that it isn’t our past that defines us, but the choices we make. Granted, the past can factor into said decision. But in the end, we make the call to either give into our anger or to rise to the occasion, and it was wonderful to see Kai realize that it wasn’t her mother’s death that served as her sole motivation to become a better person, ultimately she is the one that chose to be more. She simply wanted more out of life, and that choice brought her great success and joy and that made for a lovely lesson for the audience to chew upon, and a happy ending as well since the scuzzy Rabara was finally put behind bars for his crooked ways. 

Yet while this episode was filled to the brim with wonderful moments involving Kai, we would be remiss to not point out that this episode also showed some character growth for Alex as well. Because he was able to demonstrate just how much he respects Kai, and how much he wants her to succeed in ways that he did not. Which is a fine indicator that he is opening up to people once again and believing in friendship and seeing him take on a mentor role was just delightful for certain and in the end, this was just a magnificent episode. For not only did it feature an intriguing murder mystery and some wonderfully philosophical concepts, it was full of fun and it really did let Kai shine and once again, this episode serves as proof that Almost Paradise is one of the finest shows out there right now. Until next time.

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