‘Almost Paradise’ Recap: ‘Uncle Danny’

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 thing that we can all agree upon, when it comes to life in general, it would have to be that family is something that is supremely important to all of us. For family helps to build the foundation for the person that we are today, since they help us to understand the ideologies of the world, and their support and guidance help us to handle just about anything that life throws our way. But while we often ponder upon family and everything that it stands for with rose colored glasses since our experiences with it are often positive in nature, not everyone has wonderful memories of the folks they grew up with. Because sadly, some people have poor experiences with their family, the kind that produce trauma and lasting psychological damage and that prompts those same people to keep those family members away as they get older.
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But while that is healthy in its own right, and downright smart, one way or another; those family members will find a way to sneak back into our lives. Because family is forever, and the universe has a way of forcing us to face our past and it just so happens that last night’s episode of Almost Paradise took the time to explore these matters. For ‘Uncle Danny’ saw that very relative with the same name arrive on Cebu to see his nephew Alex, and to get into all kinds of illegal shenanigans, of course. But while the plot was engrossing and entertaining in its own right. Because watching Alex do his best to keep Danny out of trouble was quite the delight, the fact of the matter is, what this episode had to say about family, and what it taught us about Alex made for some powerful moments and those are really what we need to focus on today.

Because in many ways, this was Alex’s origin story episode. For we came to learn that he had quite the troubled childhood, one that saw his parents more or less ignore him growing up and that’s where Uncle Danny came into play. For he took Alex in and unfortunately, taught our hero everything he knows about running a hustle. But while that is a tragic backstory, how Alex handled it, is also oddly inspiring. Because eventually, Alex came to realize that this is not how someone should live their life, and he turned these twisted teachings into something productive, since we know now that much of what he learned from Danny, he uses on a regular basis to catch criminals. And this just serves as a powerful lesson in that, we don’t necessarily have to be a product of our environment or our past, we can choose to learn from it all and find a way to apply it in a positive manner and it was just wonderful to see that lesson present within the framework of this story.

But there was mention of how this episode also has some commentary to add in regard to family and its views upon that were equally as uplifting. Because often times stories that feature the return of a toxic or abusive relative, end with a powerhouse confrontation, the kind where the main character closes a painful chapter in their life in epic and fiery fashion. But here, this story presented Alex and the audience with a different way, one that involved understanding and kindness in order to change that toxic person’s behaviors. Because Alex did everything within his power to show Danny that his way was the wrong way, even going so far as to putting his freedom and health on the line to hammer home that point and that was just beautiful to see, and it speaks volumes to what Alex stands for and it also helps to teach the audience that perhaps we too need to approach things differently in regard to how we handle family members that we outright avoid on a regular basis.

If anything, all of these elements made for one incredibly intimate episode. Because we were really able to see Alex in the raw here and understand his pain and how hard he’s worked to be free of it. Plus, his actions here also helped us to understand just how good of a person he really is, and how much he longs for a stable family life and hopefully someday he can have that with his daughter. In the end however, this is just another wonderful episode from this series, one filled to the brim with magnificent performances since Christian Kane stuck all the emotional landings here and Richard Kind (Uncle Danny) was just phenomenal as a busted uncle trying desperately to find his way in the world and really, this once again proves that there is nothing that this series cannot do storytelling wise. Because it added beautiful moments into a crime drama, which is no easy task. But this show pulled it off with ease, and once again, this reviewer and every fan out there will be counting down the minutes until next week’s episode. So, that we can once again be treated to a delightful story, one that will undoubtedly surprise us and move us. Until then.

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