Kai finally got out of Ike's doghouse.

The chief sent her undercover again in quite dangerous conditions on Almost Paradise Season 1 Episode 9.

She proved she had great investigative instincts and even managed to manipulate veteran agent Alex into providing her additional backup amid a gathering of Asian triad bosses and foot soldiers.

Now, if only she and Alex could stop pushing each other's buttons.

Give Dean Devlin credit for keeping them essentially being a big brother and little sister, constantly ragging on each other, with stoic Ernesto stuck in the middle as the father figure.

There have been a few sparks between Alex and Kai, so their becoming a couple at this juncture of the season would ruin the chemistry among the three agents.

Remember the Moonlighting Curse. And that was hardly the last series ruined by a forced romance.

Besides, between his quick temper and his hypertension, Alex couldn't handle Kai.

It would be nice if the Mactan Police Department would be more consistent in its treatment of Alex. 

Maybe Chief Ike could find a stipend to put Alex on retainer. If Alex is getting by on government disability payments, every little bit would help.

Granted, Alex involved himself in about half of the cases that he worked with Mactan P.D. In those cases, he was a volunteer.

Otherwise, he should get reimbursed by Ike for his time.

Then Alex wouldn't be whining about being broke all the time. Also, he could take the occasional cab rather than tying up P.D. vehicles.

This episode, Alex was tricked into volunteering by a sassy young detective.

So maybe Ike should just take care of Alex's medical bills, unless Dr. Patel treated him again and somehow can bill the U.S. government for it.

Truly, finding Tommy's murderer should have been a no-brainer.

Always, always, always suspect the young airhead fiancee, especially if she refused to sign a prenup.

How did it take Kai and Alex most of the hour before they determined one of her essential oils was cyanide?

Better yet, why didn't Jung Chow and all the other Triad folk, who hated Amber anyway, not assume she killed him for his money?

K.I.S.S., people.

It isn't just the police that have image-recognition software. Wouldn't someone in Tommy's organization have done a deep dive on her?

Sure, the other triad bosses had good reason to get rid of Tommy.

Now they just had to deal with Jung. He was that dumb, entitled second-generation baby, a thug without any management skills. They would likely have eliminated him in no time.

But a young wife would have worn down Tommy in any event. But before long, Amber would have wanted to travel, and he would have retired, had he not been poisoned first.

An FBI study revealed that women are seven times more likely to kill with poison. That left Big Sister Ling and Amber as suspects, and Amber was the one who would have benefitted first, had she lived that long.

Again, how did Amber stay under the radar? Because she had the New Age and astrology babble down cold?

Kai was quite believable as a wedding coordinator. Either she was a really quick study or had gotten detailed notes from the real wedding planner.

I mean, that was one smoothly run wedding, up until, you know, the groom dropped dead upon entering the reception after his bride tried dirty dancing with her "gay" stylist.

Her fake undercover title allowed Kai to improvise her way all over that resort, with the triad types none the wiser.

Thank God the resort had makeup and hair artists for Amber so that Alex didn't have much to do beyond locating her train. 

His ogling Amber didn't do much for his cover, either.

Tell the truth: Wouldn't you have liked to have seen Ernesto as the stylist?

Unfortunately, poor Ernesto was on monitor duty again.

But at least he got one scene where he and his two unnamed sidekicks kicked ass against a more significant number of thugs.

Then he was the one who had the hunch to run Amber through image-recognition and discovered she was a black widow who had killed four other "husbands."

By that point, Kai had gone off the grid so Ernesto couldn't fill her in on what he had determined. But she had reached the same conclusion on her own.

Dead last was Alex, who was still trying to help Amber escape almost up until the time she stuck him with a syringe. It was a good thing that he had developed some immunity to poisoning.

It was surprising it took Kai that long to take down Amber, even with Alex's help. That gown must have been somewhat confining, even with that high slit.

Hey, and how about Alex's new partner, Rita? She knew how to sweat a good deal out of Alex.

Then, while he was recovering, she had more people in that gift shop than he ever had. Fifty percent is still better than the nothing Alex generally brings in, so he shouldn't complain.

It's good to see Alex with a surrogate daughter since he's unlikely to see his own daughter anytime soon.

To revisit past action before next week's finale, watch Almost Paradise online.

How long were the investigators before landing on Amber?

What did you think of Kai's undercover work?

Is she playing Alex or vice versa?

Comment below.

Dale McGarrigle is a staff writer for TV Fanatic. Follow him on X.