Prodigal Son (1×01) Pilot Review

Another crime show led by a young genius and an eccentric veteran actor with a family twist. Lets see if Prodigal Son can break through.

Synopsis: It centers on Malcolm Bright, an acclaimed criminal psychologist. He knows how killers think, how their minds work. (IMDb)

When you take out the family aspect out of Prodigal Son, the result is a derivative crime drama. However, the two interesting characters at its center make it an intriguing watch though whether or not the series can sustain this remains to be seen. In terms of other crime dramas, it is surprisingly dark considering it is airing on a network. This pilot episode did what a pilot episode should do which was set up the story and the characters. While the pieces are certainly there, it will definitely be interesting to see where it all goes.

The story follows a former FBI profiller named Malcom Bright (Tom Payne) who holds the the important distinction of being the son of famed serial killer Dr. Martin Whitly (Martin Sheen). Wanting to get away from his father’s shadow, Bright changed his last name, but that would only go so far. Being fascinated with the mind of a serial killer, he would have a falling out with his father once he decided to join the FBI. All the trauma caused by his father, leading to PTSD, nightmares, and various other mental health issues, followed him there and would eventually lead him to lose his position there before being called back to New York City to work for the NYPD (where he of course did not get along with at first) and old friend Gil Arroyo (Lou Diamond Phillips) who was well aware of his past and how damaged Bright was (the others were not). Bright’s call to the cops was what led to Dr. Whitly’s capture and Arroyo was the officer who responded to that call.

Meanwhile, Bright’s family have since moved on from Dr. Whitly. It shouldn’t come as much of a shock when it was revealed that the case he was called in to work on was a copycat of his father. His profile led him to make a connection between the three victims so far and the world of BDSM. Suffice it to say that it wasn’t as simple as that as the killer left a man who they believed to be the suspect (he used their name) attached to a chair attached to the ground with a bomb attached to it. Bright did what any other would have done which was chop the poor man’s hand off (using advances in reattachment surgery as a justification). Thanks to the discovery of several of his father’s sketches, his profile was clearly wrong and he would have no choice but see his father who he hadn’t seen for ten years.

Bright’s reunion with his father was anything but cordial. Since he was Dr. Whitly’s connection to the outside world, threatening to never see him again was all that was needed to get him to help to find their suspect which was one of his patients, Carter Berkhead (Michael Cerveris) who was using his methods as inspiration. In order to diffuse a situation where Berkhead has Detective Dani Powell (Aurora Perrineau) at gunpoint, Bright had to talk him down, eventually revealing who he really was before being stopped by Arroyo.

The episode ended with Bright confronting his father who denied orchestrating the whole thing in order for them to reunite. Not wanting to lose his son again, Dr. Whitly offered him his services in helping to solve cases. Bright did not seem interested.

We kind of know where this will go but as long as it leads to more scenes with Tom Payne and Michael Sheen to flesh out their relationship and less of a procedural focus, this reviewer will keep watching.

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Keith Noakes

The EIC of the coincidentally-named keithlovesmovies.com. A Canadian who prefers to get out of the cold and into the warmth of a movie theatre.