# Almost Paradise (2020)

> A retired American DEA agent running a gift shop in the Philippines keeps getting pulled back into dangerous crime, and secretly likes it.

Canonical page: https://ember.film/tv/84335

## Facts

- Seasons: 2
- Episodes: 20
- Episode runtime: 45 min
- Status: Canceled
- Genres: action, crime, drama
- Network: WGN America, Amazon Freevee
- Cast: Christian Kane, Samantha Richelle, Art Acuña, Nonie Buencamino, Richard Kind, Zaijian Jaranilla, Elijah Canlas, Lloyd Zaragoza
- TMDB rating: 7.5/10
- IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt11266702/

## Ember's analysis

- Pacing: brisk
- Intensity: moderate
- Complexity: simple
- Violence: moderate
- Tone: breezy, tense, sun-drenched, light, adventurous

## What critics say

Audiences rate the series positively, praising its action, cast, and Philippine scenery.

## Synopsis

Almost Paradise (2020-2023) is an American action crime series created for WGN America and Amazon Freevee, set in the Philippines. Christian Kane plays Alex Walker, a former DEA agent forced into early retirement who runs a gift shop and hopes for a tranquil new life. Samantha Richelle plays Kai Mendoza, and Art Acuna plays Ernesto Alamares, while Nonie Buencamino plays Ike Ocampo, all woven around Alex's friendships with local police and encounters with people from his past. The engine of the show is the tension between his efforts to stay out of trouble and his pull back into a world of dangerous people and deadly situations. Each episode of this two-season, twenty-episode run delivers a self-contained brush with crime, with action set pieces and an expatriate's uneasy return to old habits. The atmosphere is breezy yet tense, with sun-drenched Philippine locations doing much of the work, and the cast of local actors giving the show a lived-in texture. Fans of Burn Notice, Magnum, P.I. and Banshee will find resonance in its retired operative premise, its exotic location and its blend of light humor with action. The series was canceled after its second season, leaving its story open.

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