Prodigal Son (2×13) The Last Weekend Review

For our review of the last episode of Prodigal Son, click here.

Synopsis: The search for a serial killer known as “The Woodsman” might help the NYPD find one of their own. (IMDb)

So Prodigal Son is over but at least it went out with a bang with one of the best episodes of the series and that episode title is only fitting. We are not worthy of Tom Payne, Martin Sheen, and Bellamy Young while Catherine Zeta-Jones should do more TV.

The Last Weekend began with Bright waking up tied up in a chair. He was not particularly keen with working together with his father on whatever crazy plan he concocted but they would have to learn to trust each other. Whatever story Capshaw may have made about what happened, it was her word against Bright’s. At least Martin was in a cheery mood about everything. He was adamant in proving he had changed and hoped that solving a missing person’s case related to a case Bright had already worked on for years would help to redeem him and prove his son’s innocence. Meanwhile, Jessica was worried about the news as Capshaw continued to try to spin the situation to the authorities in her favor by pinning it all on Bright and Martin.

The rest of the team knew that Bright was innocent but they would need to prove it, especially to Ruiz. The suspect in Bright and Martin’s case, a man known as The Woodsman, was a thing of legend. Based on the evidence, Bright believed that he may be a cop and he quickly found a deputy that may fit the bill. Things would get worse there as he was named publicly as his father’s accomplice (Ainsley pushed the team towards the Woodsman case which may help). Bright and Martin still got a stakeout out of the way of their potential deputy suspect until they got caught and then were brought back to the local police station which suggested something bigger at play here as the two were taken hostage by The Woodsman.

Working over Capshaw herself in her own way to get a confession (as the team was watching), she seemed to have a plan of her own for Jessica but it’d be wrong to underestimate her. Overconfident, Capshaw blurted away everything until that overconfidence turned into frustration which proved to be her downfall (she was also discovered to kill 11 people during her tenure). Now that that situation was over, it was time to go all in on the Woodsman case as the team came up to Vermont but the local police was not so welcoming. The sheriff’s husband was the killer and she had been protecting him from the inside for years. As the team subdued Sheriff Cooley (Anna Gunn), Bright and Martin needed to help save the Woodsman’s last victim.

Despite the fact that Martin had changed, he would have to go back to his surgeon ways to get answers. Finally acknowledging that his father had changed, it was hard for Bright to ask in an emotional sequence where he appealed to his father as his son. Nevertheless, Martin did what had to be done without killing and found the location of The Woodsman’s victim before it was too late. Having saved the day, Martin was not interested in being around once the authorities showed up, slipping out behind Bright’s back as he called it in. Turning back into The Surgeon, even briefly, was still jarring for him. He became unhinged and his only solution was to try and kill his son.

The series would end with Dani walking in on Bright after he stabbed his father.

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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.