Almost Paradise Season 1 Episode 6 Review: Rise of the Kalangay

Finally, we got to learn about what made Kai into the person she has become.

At the heart of Almost Paradise Season 1 Episode 6 was the traumatic event which changed Kai's life.

That was the murder of her mother, a village elder against whom teenage Kai actively rebelled up until the time of Diwata's death.

First Ernesto started to get a life outside work on Almost Paradise Season 1 Episode 5. Now Kai took center stage.

Maybe soon we'll find out what makes Ike the ambitious, self-important prig he is.

Part of that attitude has to be attributed to his former partner, famed Detective Cesar Rabara, making his triumphant return to Cebu.

Cesar took his perfect arrest record off to the big city of Manila. Ike had to settle for working his way up to police chief of Mactan, being the big fish in a small pond.

Little wonder Ike seemed so resentful to Cesar, who he felt stole his promotion. And yet he still hooked onto Cesar's investigation of the murder of the visiting professor and even humored Cesar's request that Kai be attached to "their" team as well.

Man, did Ike want some reflected glory!

Kai's relationship to Cesar was more complicated.

He was the cop who was always arresting juvenile-delinquent Kai. But he was always the one who gave her a stirring talk after Diwata's murder.

Cesar also caught Diwata's killer, who in turn committed suicide before he could be brought to justice. No one considered how convenient that development was back then.

After swearing to Diwata that she would turn her life around, Kai decided to help people by joining the police force. And Cesar served as her mentor until he left for Manila.

So after resenting her mother for dedicating herself to public service, Kai ended up doing the same thing, in a different way.

Kai channeled her guilt over her mother's death into becoming the tough, hard-edged cop that she is today.

But what was equally evident is that Kai still feels like that conflicted young girl who isn't getting the respect she craves from the men in her professional life: Cesar, Ike, Alex, even Ernesto.

She certainly released that anger in her beatdowns of first Alex and then later Cesar.

Let's face it. The self-involved Alex was a dick to Kai during too much of this episode, starting with his obnoxiously honking the car horn while she was visiting Diwata's gravesite.

Dude, your check will still be there. Make more friends if you can't afford a car. Don't expect cops on duty to prioritize your needs first.

But Alex was also right to be suspicious about Cesar, even if his hunch may have originated from a bit of jealousy at not being in the spotlight for a change.

Yes, Alex had gotten accustomed to being the investigative "rock star" for the Mactan Police Department and wasn't going to give up the title easily.

Alex moves to Cebu to find a peaceful new base of operations. But the adrenaline junkie just can't let go of the action.

At least his hypertension made a cameo appearance this episode, with his monitor going off after the cops' applause for Cesar.

But that, and a passing mention of his anxiety journal, was the extent that Alex's condition was given lip service.

A smitten Kia opted to hang with Cesar after verbally, and later physically, beating the crap out of Alex, who did have her best interests at heart, eventually.

However, Ernesto, who may have been a little miffed about being edged out of the murder investigation, was willing to listen to reason.

That was why he acted as Alex's mole inside police headquarters. And, boy, was he slick moving around evidence so that no one was suspicious!

After that hideous turn as a British professor, Alex decided that all three deaths were connected. Kai got the same place, but unfortunately, she was reporting to Cesar, the killer, who knew what happened already.

But because of her history with Cesar, Kai was never going to be able to reach the proper conclusion as Alex and Kai did.

Still, there was no excuse for her to be ducking calls from her partner Ernesto, who had always had her best interests at heart. And that mistake almost got her killed.

Fortunately, Alex had pieced together Cesar's diabolical plan and arrived at the cemetery just in time to save Kai from her feeling of betrayal caused by Cesar.

Alex was able to bond with Kai over being betrayed by someone they trusted in their professional life.

They also got to reminisce over what Cebu used to be.

Then Alex went back to being a needy whiner, which wasn't a satisfying ending to such an emotional case. But that's Alex being Alex.

Ike did get some closure locking up Cesar.

And Kai made peace with her past in that touching final scene with Gloria.

We finally learned how Kai had carried on her mother's legacy of working with those in need among the natives of Cebu.

To revisit Kai's development, watch Almost Paradise online.

Are you glad to have learned about Kai's back story?

How soon did you suspect Cesar?

Did Alex mean well or was he motivated by jealousy?

Comment below.