Alex Walker’s vacation is about to end… again. IMDb TV has renewed Christian Kane’s action series Almost Paradise for Season 2, almost two years after the first season aired on WGN America. That’s fantastic news, because the show is an incredible adventure that’s never gotten its due. But where exactly will the story pick up after the extended hiatus — and when it moves from cable TV to streaming?
For the uninitiated, Almost Paradise centers on former DEA agent Alex (played by the multi-talented Kane from the Buffy spinoff Angel and IMDb TV’s Leverage: Redemption). After being forced into retirement, he thought he’d quietly run a gift shop at a resort in the Philippines, but instead he was pulled into a different kind of crime-fighting. Alex alternates between working with local detectives Kai Mendoza and Ernesto Almares (the underrated Samantha Richelle and Arthur Acuña) and getting in their way, while still trying to get the better life he came for.
Obviously, Almost Paradise Season 2 will have Alex continuing to fight bad guys — literally and metaphorically — on the Philippine island of Cebu. The series is built on Kane’s talents as a martial artist and stunt performer. But what makes it must-watch television and sets it apart from other “fish out of water” stories is the character through-line. Season 1 was an exploration of Alex’s backstory, culminating in the DEA partner who betrayed him trying to kill him again. Meanwhile, he was also reunited with his teenage daughter. The finale “Something Walker This Way Comes” put everything Alex had been carrying to rest.
No one wants to see him backslide in a second season after he worked for that peace. So what’s Alex’s next personal challenge? Is it that he accepts he’ll never be out of the crime-fighting game and becomes more dedicated to working with the police? Is it exploring his relationship with Kai, which vacillates between a sibling dynamic and the potential romance seen on procedurals like The Rookie? It’d be wonderful if the show would continue his dynamic with his daughter, because teenagers usually aren’t very developed on crime dramas, although that might be hard since she was last seen going off on a journey of her own. But there’s a whole world opening up to Alex Walker that has nothing to do with past angst or any kind of crime, and Kane has a great emotional range to play with.
Having a second season also means more screen time for Ernesto and Kai, as well as their boss Ike Ocampo (Nonie Buencamino). The police in Almost Paradise have backstories just as interesting as Alex does, and while they were explored in Season 1, needing to get Alex to that place where he could turn the page meant that the show couldn’t devote a ton of time to them. Season 2 could continue Kai moving on from her difficult past — something that Alex could help her with now that he’s gotten closure. Ernesto seems to have several hidden talents; he’s like a soft-spoken Pam Poovey from Archer. And Ocampo isn’t a typical police boss; that guy’s seen some things. If Season 1 was Alex helping them out, Season 2 could have him learning from them.
The impressive thing Almost Paradise did was that it played all its cards in Season 1. It resolved Alex’s problems instead of stringing his ex-partner along as a recurring bad guy, constantly raining on his parade. He’s completely free now emotionally, so what’s he going to do with that freedom? How does he do things better the second time around? Alex should admit that he’s not actually retired and move the focus off himself and onto his friends and his new community on Cebu. Maybe he just needed to retire from the nonsense of the DEA and doing good without the red tape and backstabbing is his real getaway.
About The Author
