As Shady Palms prepares for the winter bash, Lila's estranged cousin Ronnie returns after fifteen years of absence, hoping to bring life to the Shady Palms Winery with his friends. Lila and Lola Flor are skeptical about his return, but Tita Rosie greets him with open arms. Then Tita Rosie gets an email threatening to reveal Ronnie's crimes in Florida if she doesn't pay $50,000, so she and Lila pay the winery a surprise visit to see if something is going on. During the visit, one of the investors passes out after drinking a lambanog that Ronnie gave her. She dies in the hospital, and Ronnie's group is suspected for murder. As much as Lila distrusts Ronnie, she has to set out to prove he isn't the killer, if only for Tita Rosie's sake.
This page may contain unmarked spoilers for Arsenic and Adobo and Homicide and Halo-Halo.
Blackmail and Bibingka contains examples of:
- Adoptive Peer Parent: Denise was married to a much older man; she's implied to be not much older than his kids.
- The Alcoholic: Denise is known for being an alcohol addict; she's initially thought to have died of plain old alcohol poisoning.
- Beneath Suspicion: The killers turn out to be the people Lila overlooks. She strongly suspects Izzy for blackmail but thinks Pete is boring. Likewise, she suspects both Xavier and Quentin due to their strained relationship but pays no mind to Olivia. It turns out Pete and Olivia were the killers.
- Big Bad Duumvirate: All the (attempted) murders were committed by Pete and Olivia, who were also having an affair.
- The Gambling Addict: Xavier is known to be addicted to gambling. The Ninangs quickly end their casino session when they find this out, and Quentin insists on finding his mother's wedding ring before Xavier sells it off to a pawn shop to pay off his gambling debts.
- Gaydar: Quentin tells Lila that her gaydar needs work when she accuses him of having an affair with his stepmother; she couldn't tell he was gay despite working with a lesbian couple.
- Good Stepmother: Denise was kinder to her stepchildren than their biological father was, though she still wouldn't put them in her will.
- Grievous Bottley Harm: In the final confrontation, Lila throws a wine bottle at Olivia when she's about to kill Izzy. Izzy proceeds to pick up the bottle and smack Pete with it.
- He Knows Too Much: The final confrontation starts when Izzy discovers Pete and Olivia's crimes. Olivia insists on killing her because she knows too much, but Pete is reluctant to go through with it.
- Implausible Deniability: The culprits provide a flimsy explanation for the final crime scene. Pete claims that Ronnie attacked him and he struck back in self-defense, but Izzy points out that there's no blood on the supposed weapon. She then finds a suicide note, and the jig is up.
- Inheritance Murder: Denise's late husband left everything to her and nothing to his children, which is a strong motive for her murder. There was a clause that his assets would default to his children if Denise died without an heir, so she had to be killed before she could marry Xander.
- Love Forgives All but Lust: Downplayed; once the culprits are caught red-handed, Izzy denounces Pete for his infidelity before Olivia points out that he has committed far worse deeds.
- Never Suicide: While both victims survive, they were clearly made to look like they overdosed and committed suicide, respectively. Quentin is only rendered comatose, and Ronnie is saved when Izzy catches Pete and Olivia in the act.
- Passed-Over Inheritance: The twins' father gave all of their inheritance to their stepmother, Denise, saying the kids should work for a change.
- Reformed, but Rejected: Ronnie claims he waited to come back until he had something to show for his 15-year disappearance. While his mother greets him with open arms, Lila and Lola Flor are far more skeptical about whether he really changed.
- The Runaway: Ronnie abandoned his mother after he got convicted for someone else's crime and finished his community service.
- Writers Cannot Do Math: Ronnie and Bernadette used to date in high school, but their age gaps in relation to Lila make them too far apart to have been in high school together.
