Rise of the Kalangay

**"Rise of the Kalangay"** is the sixth episode of the first season of *Almost Paradise*. The episode first aired on May 4, 2020, on WGN America (now NewsNation).

## Synopsis

The episode opens fifteen years prior to the series. A teenage Kai Mendoza is at the funeral of her mother Diwata Mendoza, who was murdered. Officer César Rabara gives Kai a bracelet he says her mother was holding when she died and promises that they will find the killer.

In the present day, Kai, Ernesto Alamares, and Alex Walker, are at the cemetery paying respects to Kai's mother. Ernesto and Kai are talking at the grave while Alex is waiting in the car, as this was a stop on the way to his doctor's appointment. Alex hears a report of a homicide on the car's police scanner, but silences it as going there would make him miss his appointment. This proves unsuccessful, however, as the notification was also sent via text to Kai and Ernesto.

The trio go to the scene of the crime where college professor Alistair Thornton was murdered in his hotel room. Also at the scene are several police officers including Ike Ocampo and César Rabara, who has since become a highly decorated detective in Manila. Rabara is in town on vacation and is there at Ocampo's request. Ocampo says that Rabara is one of the most skilled detectives he has ever worked with and has him analyze the crime scene. Rabara estimates the height of the killer based on the angle along with several other details and recreates the killing based on his observations. This is met with applause from the other police officers on scene, although Alex is unimpressed. On the way out, Rabara tells Kai privately that there was one detail he left out, he believes the killer was a police officer. Meanwhile, Alex privately tells Ernesto that some of the details in Rabara's story do not line up with the evidence, such as the lack of blood on the floor and on the laptop.

Kai and Rabara investigate the case while Alex and Ernesto launch their own separate investigation. Alex and Ernesto figure out that Thornton was in town doing research on one of the local villages and had set up a meeting with the widow of the man who had allegedly killed Kai's mother before committing suicide. The man's widow is adamant that he was not the real killer and that he did not actually commit suicide, but was murdered.

Kai and Rabara recreate the crime scene at the police station using a dummy filled with blood. Rabara hands Kai a gun to fire at the dummy, but Kai insists Rabara fire it as he was the one who checked it out. Rabara convinces Kai it is fine and has her fire at the dummy, spilling blood onto her shoes. Alex and Ernesto see Kai and Rabara's findings and realize the suspect profile also matches Kai.

It is revealed that Rabara was actually the one who killed Kai's mother and the man he framed for it did not commit suicide but was also killed by Rabara. Rabara forcefully takes Kai to her mother's grave to kill her and make it look like a suicide, with the intention of framing her for both killing her mother and killing Thornton to prevent him from uncovering the truth. Ernesto and Alex arrive just in time to stop him, and he is arrested.

Back at the police station, Ocampo reveals he was also privately investigating Rabara and congratulates Ernesto and Kai for bringing a corrupt cop to justice.

## Cast

### Main

* Christian Kane as Alex Walker
* Samantha Richelle as Detective Kai Mendoza
	+ AC Bonifacio guest stars as teenage Kai
* Arthur Acuña as Detective Ernesto Alamares
* Nonie Buencamino as Chief Ike Ocampo
* Ces Quesada as Cory Santos

### Guest

* Raymond Bagatsing as Detective César Rabara
* Lotlot De Leon as Ms. Bautista
* Ruth Alferez as Diwata Mendoza
* John Harvey del Corro as Mr. Bautista
* Roland Empleo as Cop
* Arnel Pahang as Senior Detective
* Ligaya Rabago as Villager
* Lewis Schoenbrun as Alistair Thornton