Almost Paradise (2020–…): Season 2, Episode 3 - A Fisherfolk Tale - full transcript

You question your
older brother's judgment?

Why are you being so hardheaded?

This could change
everything for us.

We made an agreement.

The Castros do not go
back on their word.

Our word to who?

The Romeros?

Those pigs?

You think they wouldn't do the same to us
if they had this opportunity?

My decision is final.

You are a fool!



Our integrity is far more important
than any business opportunity!

And if I decide to do it anyway?

Then I will be
forced to stop you.

- My name is Alex Walker.

I'm ex-DEA.

One of my first assignments
took me to an isolated beach

right here on this island.

I sold what little I had
and bought myself a gift shop.

Just peace...
No stress, no drama.

Boy, was I wrong.

-She's beautiful.

She's sexy, you
know, but classy.

She's got charm.
She's got a great personality.

And for me, it was
love at first sight.



-What do you think?

I think you should have called me
before you got her.

What are you talking about?

Look, a boat like this is gonna
take forever to fix, all right?

You've never
even owned a boat before.

Come on. She's perfect, man.

She's got, her,
her hull was just scraped.

She's got a brand-new bilge pump.

She's got no salt deposits
on her water jackets

or her cylinders or her heads.

Do you know what any of that means?

No, but the guy with the
boat said it was great.

All right.
Well, let's have a look.

Be my guest.

She's great, yes?

She's great? No.

There's a ton of
corrosion happening here

and you don't want
premature impeller failure.

Well, I'm too young
for premature impeller failure.

I was talking about the boat.

I know, Ramon, I was joking.

Listen to me, I need you to
keep me in business, OK?

The only way I can make payments
is if I book charters and fishing trips.

I need you to help
me with this boat.

That's a lot of
responsibility, man.

Well, uh, everybody says you're the best
mechanic on the island, all right?

-You can fix anything.
-There's a ton to fix here.

Look, she's running
fine now, right?

Look, when problems start,

-just give me a call, OK?

You like the boat though, right?
I mean...

Huh?

- I was thinking.
- Hmm?

-If it's a boy, Angelo.

If it's a girl, Angela.

And you know...

Oh, come on.
It's cute.

We're not having anything.

Not until we're married and...

that's not happening,
so long as...

All right, all right, all right.

Fine, we're not having anything,

but we could keep practicing.

You have to go.

I don't even know why
I agreed to meet you here at our side.

Whoa, on your side?
Wow!

Uh, no one owns the beach.

That's not what
my family thinks.

Well, as my great, great, great,

great grandfather used to say,

"No Romero's afraid of any Castro."

Ramon!

-What?
-Run, run!

No. Please stop!

I got him.

Why are you doing this?

I told you to stay
away from him.

A Romero?

Take her home.

No, Dad, please,
I'm begging you!

Please don't hurt him!
He's a good man!

Please, Papa!

Mr. Castro, please.

I love your daughter.

Ramon, please!
Let me go, let me go!

Hold him up.

-You stay away from her!

I'm going to kill all of you!

All right, Rita,
if you run into any problems,

I will be on my boat.

And why would I run
into any problems?

-I said, "If."
-OK, just be back by 4:00.

'Cause it was hard
to get the tickets.

Tickets for what?

Tickets for the movie
I really wanted to see!

Oh, right, right, right, right, right.
Pepperfish Tales.

Rita, you're a little old
for stuff like that.

It's the sequel. But the first one's
actually my all-time favorite video.

-So don't be late.

I'm not gonna be late.

Maybe you'll find one for me?

Find you what?

A pepperfish angelfish.

They're native in
the Philippines.

All right, one deep fried
pepperfish sandwich coming up.

You are disgusting.

I'm back, honey.

All right, beautiful.

Take me somewhere special.

-No, no!

This is a Marine Assistance
Request Broadcast.

I repeat, a Marine
Assisted Request Broadcast.

-My location--
- Alex, is that you?

Ramon?

That's affirmative.

I'm gonna need a tow-in.

Thanks, man.

What happened to your arm?

Huh?

What happened to your face?

It's nothing, man.
You should have seen the other guy.

Was the other guy
Manny Pacquiao?

Let's have a look
at your engine, yeah?

Well, as predicted,

your cooling hump blew up.

So you're saying,
"Premature impeller failure"?

Yeah. You may have asked
little too much from her.

We were doing so great.

It's not that simple.

Lot of these parts they
don't even make anymore.

I have to cannibalize them
from a 1978 model.

Oh, great, yeah.

Let's do it.

First, I'm gonna
need a 1978 model.

Brutal.

Blunt force trauma,
not just to the head.

-Someone was angry.
-Yeah.

Hey...

Some of these individuals
are related to this guy.

They're accusing another family
of being behind the killing.

What is it about fishing
villages and blood feuds?

And why does it always result

in the death of someone
like Miguel Castro?

This type of pump usually shows up
on eBay every few weeks.

No-- wait, weeks?

No, I-- I can't be without her for weeks.
I'm gonna go broke.

The other option is
I could, you know...

machine some new parts
and Frankenstein a new pump.

Yeah, Frankenstein that.
Wolfman the radiator, you know?

Dracula, the drive shafts.
I don't...

You're joking again, right?

A little. How long is it gonna
take you to fix her?

Well... let me get started
and see how far I get.

I should be able to give you
an estimate after that.

All right.

You're just gonna
stand there and watch?

I like boat stuff.

OK. Well, grab a beer, relax.

This, uh, this
might take a while.

Tell me you didn't do it!

-Do what?
-Tell me!

Tell you what?
What are you talking about?

My father is dead.

Someone killed him.

-No, no.
-Julia-- Julia...

-I'm so sorry.
- Did you, did you do it?

Did I... No!

I was knocked unconscious
after they beat me so badly.

My brothers got me off
the beach, all right?

I was with my family
the whole night.

You have to go.
They think you did it.

And they're coming to get you.
You have to go.

Ramon Romero, come out!

Ramon, please.

-Ramon!

Get to the back.
Get to the back.

No, take the pump.
Take the pump.

- Ramon Romero!

We know you're in there!

Now listen to me...
Run silent and run deep.

Who's this?

It's OK.
He's fixing my boat.

Come on, Ramon.
We know you're in there.

It's all right.

Murderer!

Out of my way.

Aah!

Wait, wait, wait, wait,
wait, wait, wait, wait, wait!

Hang on, guys.

Just take it easy.
Wait...

just breathe with me
for a little bit, OK?

Breathe with me.
On three, all right?

-Ready? One, two--

This ain't your problem, man.

Drop your weapons!

Everybody out!

No, no, no.

-You'll pay for this, Amboy!
-That's him.

-Listen, there's been a huge mistake, OK?

-My boat broke down and--
-Alex?

-Yeah, hi, yeah?
-Alex.

What are you doing here?

I thought you were out cruising
Nalusuan Reef on your new obsession.

My, I had a minor
problem with the boat.

Guys, guys, you don't
have to take him, Sir.

-Can you stop--
-He's a suspect in a murder.

He's supposed to fix
my cooling pump!

I think you guys are
being too hasty on this.

We have witnesses who saw him threaten
to kill the victim last night.

There was a fight.

You guys know my instincts, huh?

I'm telling you,
you got the wrong guy.

Hey, he's got alibis,
he's got witnesses.

He was with his family.

Alex, we'll look into it, OK?
But family ties run deep.

Chances are they'll back him up
whether his story is true or not.

I found this in the tool shed, boss.

And also this one,
inscribed to the victim.

You take these in for processing.

-Thank you.
-Yeah.

What about bail? How about bail?

So as long as this guy
gets your boat going again,

you're OK with him being
booked on a murder rap?

Of course not.
He's innocent, OK?

But let me tell you something,

I got a bachelorette party
at sunset next Thursday.

Sorry, Alex. You're gonna have to find
another boat mechanic.

All right, do you need a ride
back to the Paradise, Alex?

No, thank you.

I'm not leaving her here alone.

He means the boat.

-Oh.
-Yeah.

There's too many police here now.

With that I agree, man.

I'm meeting
up with an Aussie

who says he can definitely get me
to Hong Kong on his high speed boat.

Why can't we get
some of the local people to help?

No! No one in this village
can know anything or I'm a dead man.

The big ship is now halfway
between here and Hong Kong.

Can the speedboat make two more trips
between now and tomorrow night?

Yeah, there's no problem
with auxiliary tanks.

We just need that
little time to refuel.

But I hope you're gonna pay
us our money by tomorrow.

- That's the deal.
- Good.

Let's go.

We are going on the working theory
that Ramon Romero committed the murder

as retaliation for a beating

on the orders
of Miguel Castro, correct?

That's right, Chief.

It appears to be part of a long-standing
feud between the two families.

And forensics?

The murder weapon appears
to belong to the suspect

and bears his prints,

but there seems to be
at least one set of unidentified prints.

And what about that alibi?

He claims to be with his
family members continuously

between the time of the beating
and this morning.

And no, uh, witnesses
outside the family?

Negative on that, Chief.

Look into the alibi.

Get witness statements
on the beating of Romero.

The regional prosecutor needs
background on this feud, OK?

Copy that, Chief.

Let's divide and conquer.

-I'll get witness statements.
-And I'll dig into the feud.

-Look, it's Captain Ahab.
-Where are you guys going?

We're going back to the village
to get statements.

I need to speak with Ramon.

Are you his attorney?

-It could it be vital to the case.
-Huh?

-What's with the backpack?
-Nothing, nothing.

-My boat pump.
-Seriously?

What?

You're bringing a file
to a guy in a jail cell with bars?

Look, I need him to help show me

how to modify a gasket
for a 1978 pump.

All right, Alex, you have five minutes,
but if the chief sees you,

just tell him you're actually
helping us with a case.

I'm on it. Thank you.

Also, I'm gonna
need a ride back.

Of course.

I want you to be honest with me.

Are you telling me

that I can't fix this on my own?

You could, but you
probably want to make sure

that the fire
extinguisher is ready.

It's the luck I'm having, you know?

I guess we're both
having some bad luck.

Look, I think you should just wait
until I'm out of here.

I'll have you going in no time.

Well, that's the problem.

-They think you did it.

You may not be getting
out of here anytime soon.

I have an alibi.

Would your family lie for you?

No, they wouldn't.

OK, yeah.

Maybe they would, but they're not.

All right, well, what about the wrench?
What about the watch?

The wrench is mine.
I have no idea how it got there.

Or the watch.

Look, someone is doing
this to me, OK?

I swear on Julia's life,

I did not kill Miguel Castro.

Nobody wants you out of here
quicker than I do.

So... you can help me?

Well, I don't really interfere

with police business
that often, but...

what can you tell me
about Emilio Castro?

I saw him talking to some Rastafarian guy
about something

that no one in the village
could find out about.

That doesn't exactly make
him a murderer, Alex.

He beat up Romero, OK?

He came at me with a broken bottle.
That's psychotic.

We'll look into it, OK?
But we're working on a theory

that it's an escalation
of this family feud.

Here's the problem
with working theories, all right?

You-- you-- you only see
the facts that fit.

-The Warren Commission? Hello?
-I said, we'll look into it.

And the Cuban connection, CIA involvement,
the New Orleans Mafia.

That's not funny, all right?
There's a man sitting in jail.

Who can fix your boat.

Exactly! Huh?
Thank you.

Hey, you guys, I'm-- I might need
a ride back a little bit, huh?

Forget it, forget it.

-Idiot.
-Hey, chill, mate.

-Get on board.
-Relax.

Get on board!

Hey, let's go,
let's go, let's go.

Hey!

Let's check this out.

What's going on, Amboy?

Oh, uh, I'm just doing
a little sightseeing.

This is Romero's friend.

The one from the shop.

He tried to cut up
Uncle Emilio with a broken bottle.

That's not how it,

you, who tried to cut up on who?

If you are a friend
of any Romero,

you're on the wrong
side of the beach, man.

There's a right side and
a wrong side of the beach?

-He's trying to be funny.
-You see, the dock is neutral territory.

That side of the
beach is Romero's.

And this side...

-this side's Castro's.

And we are the border patrols.

Now listen, you guys.
Calm down, calm down, OK?

I don't want any trouble, guys.
I don't want any trouble.

We're not gonna kill you.

You'd wish we did.

What's the Filipino term
for underestimating an opponent?

This isn't over, Amboy!

Tell your friends, we're coming for them.

Let's go! Run, run, go!

He was my father.
You don't think I'm upset?

Then how can you
still support the man

who killed him?

They're all the same.

Those Romeros!

Evil, evil, I tell you!

They're not all evil.

They're just like us,

filled with hatred over
something no one even remembers.

And our men are roaming
the village looking for revenge.

How many have to die
before this all ends?

Julia Castro?

Did you witness
the actual beating?

Well, my cousins were dragging
me away, but I looked back.

My father walked away
and left it with Uncle Emilio.

Isn't your father the leader
of the family?

He was a natural leader,

but there's some things
that Uncle Emilio does better.

Like... beat people up?

You'd have to live here to understand.
There is a history.

And each family,
they have their territories,

and if they get in trouble,
they'd be happy to have an Uncle Emilio.

I'm sorry, but you
keep saying "they."

It's your family.

But I don't believe in this war.

And neither did Ramon,
and it was our dream to see it end.

But other witnesses reported him
threatening to kill your father.

Well, he was just saying that
when he was getting beat up,

but he would never
do something like that.

He didn't have that
kind of hate in him. I know.

Hm?

What's with all the hardware?

You don't even know
what's going on here, huh?

I need to speak to Mr. Romero.

We're all Mr. Romero.

You're related to Ramon Romero?

He's my brother.

Well, then I need to talk to your father.

You arrested the wrong man, cop.

Be that as it may,
I still need to talk to your father.

In this village,

you are either with the Castros
or the Romeros.

Look, kid, I'm with Mactan PD

and I really need to have
a conversation with your father.

Because you're wearing a gun,

you think you can do
whatever you want?

Oh, boy.
Easy. Take it easy.

Be cool, all right?

Weird.

I don't feel any different.

Let him by,

I want to talk to him.

Excuse me.

Excuse me.

You can understand why we
might not be very friendly

to the police right now.

I do understand, Mr. Romero.

Or that I might help you
build a case against my son.

I'm just here to piece together
the facts, sir,

Then I will tell you the facts,
Detective Alamares.

My son was beaten.

Since the time that happened
till this morning, he was with us.

Mr. Romero, it's not that
I don't believe you,

but there are gaps
in that timeline,

and there's other evidence
that points to your son.

Now, that being said,

I'm here to conduct a balanced,
unbiased investigation.

How can you be unbiased?

You can see what's happening now.

You know the Castros will-- will attack
every Romero they can see.

One of my boys and two nephews
were jumped yesterday.

We are not the violent ones.

Mr. Romero, this battle, this feud,
what started it?

Like everything in our lives,
it started over fishing.

Fishing?

Back in the Spanish days,
both families claimed

the right to fish
in the same reef.

An actual battle began.

The battle of Bago Hill.

The clans were to meet
in hand-to-hand combat.

But the Castros,
they arrive with bolos and clubs.

Many people died.

If I went to the Castros and asked them,

would they say those Romeros
arrived with bolos and clubs?

They would say that...

but they would be lying,

because they are evil.

The Castros will resort
to anything to harm a Romero.

William, what's the matter?

- Hey.

William!

-William!

His eyes are dilated.
Does he have a drug problem?

- My William? No!
-Yeah.

He's in the church.
I-- I told you. It's the Castros.

He's been poisoned.

Detective Alamares,
I need an ambulance

to the Romero household right away.
Right now.

OK, let me be clear here.

William Romero is in the hospital...

but there is no
evidence to suggest

that he suffered from
any kind of poisoning

other than food poisoning
from tainted fish.

What are you talking about?

He was there, he saw it!
He saw what happened.

No, no. Please, please.
Quiet down. You need to trust us.

We have the situation
under control.

So long as you agree
to stop any escalation.

We never escalated
anything to begin with.

Your son killed my brother.

He was with us all night.
He's innocent.

But those idiots tried
to poison my other son.

Hey, wait.

Ramon Romero is in custody
and we continue the investigation,

but we cannot tolerate
any vigilante justice.

So, from now on, we are
imposing a temporary curfew.

Psst.

Yes. Let's go.

Yeah, I knew they'd be back.

He's a Romero, Get him!

We just got a
242 called in

on the other side
of the village.

On route to 20, copy.

It's like Whack-a-Mole.

Let's go.

Over there. Over there.

-Hey, come here.
-Uh-uh-uh!

Don't move.

-You got him, Kai?
-Mm-hmm.

On the hood. Come on.

There's another 242
going on behind the church.

It's gonna be a long night.

Yep.

Great haul, boss.

What do you think you're
gonna do with all that money?

Get as far away from
this village as possible,

before everyone finds
out that kid is innocent.

Down the steps.

Down the steps.
That's it. Move it.

You're gonna be here
for at least 24 hours.

Get in there.

-That's it.
- Ernesto.

We just got a call
from the hospital.

The Romero brother didn't get
food poisoning from the fish.

-It was--
- Cyanide.

-What did you say?
-Sodium cyanide.

How did you hear
about that before me?

How'd I hear about what?

-The Cyanide.
-I didn't hear about anything.

I saw it, a lot of it on
Emilio Castro's boat.

What were you doing
on Emilio Castro's boat?

Uh, did, you're not listen--

Look, I followed him and his Rasta pal
out to the reef, all right?

They're up to something.
Emilio said that he was a dead man,

if anybody from the village found out.

Now, whatever he's doing,
if it's worth dying for,

it may have been worth
killing for as well.

His prints are on this.
If you run it through, you'll--

Hey, there's some
unidentified prints

on the wrench in addition
to Ramon Romero's.

Check and see if there's a match
with the prints on this bottleneck.

Just like that?

You're not gonna argue with me?

Alex, we just got word that
the oldest Romero brother, William,

got poisoned by cyanide.

Emilio could have poisoned him,

but that doesn't explain
why there's so much cyanide

at the reef, or the reason
why they're meeting up

with a classic smuggler's
boat to go to Hong Kong.

What's the connection?

I have a good idea.

So, cyanide fishing?

-For food?
-No...

to sell... for aquariums.

You know it's been getting
a lot harder for us

to make a living from the sea.

Been pushed to smaller and smaller fishing
grounds by the Chinese.

The thing is,

the most valuable tropical fish

are indigenous to the Philippines.

Once people heard the news,
there's big money to be made.

Well, they started
doing it on their own

using...

cyanide to stun the fish.

But cyanide didn't
just stun the fish.

It bleached the corals.

It eroded the reefs.

Even made some of the food fish toxic.

Agreement was made
between the two families.

We only fish for food.

No one's allowed to damage the reefs.

That movement was led by...
Miguel Castro.

Julia said that Emilio is the not-so-sharp
hot-headed brother.

Maybe Miguel found out that
Emilio was cyanide fishing,

And then he confronted
Emilio and boom.

Plus, with the fight the night before,
it was easy to frame Ramon.

And nobody poisoned
William Romero.

At least not on purpose.

He just ate some fish that
got in the way of the cyanide.

Well, how much money
is in this anyway?

Is it really worth
killing someone over?

Here. "The most desirable
salt water species

goes for anywhere from 500 to $20,000."

And get this, "Demand is
peaking due to the release

of the blockbuster Pepperfish

-Tales--"
-Tales Two.

-How did you know that?
-It's a sequel, not the original.

Pepperfish Tales Two.

Well, people have killed for much less.

We got some results
from the lab.

Two of the unidentified
prints on the wrench

they're a match with two
on the bottleneck.

Huh.

-Let's go get Emilio Castro.
-Yeah.

Detectives
Mendoza and Alamares,

I'm putting through
Officer Hernandez.

-Hey, what's going on?
- They're all gone.

We were doing our rounds and forcing
the curfew, but it was too quiet.

We poked around.
The houses are almost all empty.

So where are they?

Only one old lady
was willing to talk.

She said they were off taking
care of "unfinished business."

-Bago Hill.
-What?

It's where the feud began
150 years ago.

Right there.

What about Emilio?

This is more important.

A gang fight is more important
than collaring a murder suspect?

This is no gang fight.

The last time this happened,
20 people died.

-That is more important.
-Mm.

Hey, the nearest fueling dock
to the village. Where is it?

Why?

Because this guy and his speedboat's
gotta get halfway to Hong Kong.

It's on the wharf near Bakhawan Point.
Just down the beach.

All right. Alright, let me out.
Let me out. Let me out.

Do you want
to take down Emilio or not?

Right here Right here,
here, here, here, here. Stop.

-Alex!
-What are you doing?

What?

Don't do anything stupid.

There is an innocent man in jail, OK?

He's the only one that
knows how to fix my boat.

Be careful.

Let's go.

You said the last time
they fought at sunrise.

What time's sunrise today?

Twenty minutes to go.

Let's get there
before the war begins.

Castros! Are you ready to fight?

-Romeros!

G'day, mate.

-Hey.
-Hey, how are you?

-Hey. Good.
-So, listen,

I don't how to say this, but...
I need to borrow your boat.

-You want to borrow on my boat?
-Mm. Yeah.

Well, how about I'll
shoot you in the yarbles?

Whoa, hey, hey.

Eh? Right down there, mate.
What do you reckon?

I was kind of hoping
you'd say that.

Sit down. Sit down.

OK, I'll borrow these too, mate.

I'm just gonna take
everything from you.

Mactan Police!
Everybody freeze!

Hello!

Back up! Back up!

-Back!
-Back, back, back!

Lay down your weapons!

I said lay down your weapons.
Now!

We have something very
important to tell all of you.

You little bastards are
going to make me rich.

It's about time.

What took you so long?

You better be able to get
me to Hong Kong in this.

-Is she ready to load?
- Sure, mate, yeah.

-Let's go, mate.
-Load, load, load, load.

Let's go, man. Let's go.

Emilio Castro is behind all of it.

Why would he do that?

The murder of Miguel Castro had nothing
to do with this feud between the families.

It was all to cover up
Emilio's smuggling scheme.

The poisoning of William Romero
had nothing to do with it either.

He just ate some
mackerel that got tainted

with cyanide and possibly
the other fish too.

So, for now,

do not eat any of it

until we get the all clear
from the Department of Health.

Do you understand?

Do you understand?

That's the last one.

I think it's time to square up.

That's the deal, right?

Everybody gets paid upon delivery.

Ok. Ok.

You'll get extra 10%, huh?

I'll see you in Hong Kong, all right?

Come aboard, mate. There you are.

Mactan, this is 3160 Foxtrot.

Rendezvous point in 0800 hours.

Roger that.

-What was that?
-What? Oh.

Force of habit, mate.

I used to be a Bush pilot.

Always like to ping the towers.

You rotten son of a bitch!

There.

It's out of control though.

What's he doing?

No! No!

Not my boat.

No. No. No. No. No!

-Ah!

You!

I don't want him anymore.
You take him.

Oh, my...

Hey, hey, hey, hey.

Stay back, back.
Stay cool.

Have we learned nothing
from all of this?

OK, you guys take him.

Hey, Alex.
Look on the bright side.

Ramon Romero is a free man.

Now you can have
your boat fixed!

My boat!

You know, working the boat and in
the gift shop is kind of, like, two jobs.

Yeah, but it's just
working on the boat,

you know what I mean?
It's more like a labor of love, huh?

For you, maybe.

But you know, last month,
I worked overtime

and I couldn't get
to see my movie.

Yeah, I know.
And I already apologized for that.

I said, "I'm sorry."

I had engine trouble in Cordova.
You know that.

It's fine.

I've watched it like
twice since then.

But... I think I deserve a bonus.

Ooh! And maybe an equity position?

Yes on the bonus.
We'll talk about the equity.

-Hey...

Everything looks good.

Your hull is better than ever.

Boom! You're the man.

You are the man.

You got the man
right there, huh?

We're back in business.

I mean, seriously,
I gotta thank you again, Ramon.

Ah, don't worry about it, man.

How's everything at the village?

We're just hoping we don't start
another feud with the wedding plans.

Oh, Julia and I wanted
to ask you something.

You want me to be your best man?

Well... no.

It's going to be William,
his brother, but,

we were hoping that you
could come to the wedding

and bring your police friends
to help keep things calm.

You got it.

-Thanks again for everything.
-Hey.

Yes. Thank you, Alex.

Oh.

And... no charge this time.

No, I could--
OK. OK, OK.

But I must be living right, huh?

I'm off to pick up
a charter party.

A bunch of dermatologists
from Korea.

Nice payday.

Great. Well, some of us have
to pay the bills with real jobs.

You don't think I
have a real job?

No. Now stop tying up
the emergency frequency.

Bye, Alex.

No!