"I am not my father."
Hello everyone!
Most especially since FOX decided to cancel it after it's second season run.
Looking at the statistics alone that wouldn't be completely shocking if not for the fact this is a predominantly GOOD show, very character driven, with some absolutely stellar acting from an ensemble cast with a lot of plotlines still to tell, and stories that would have kept us on the edge of our seat.
But alas, it looks like that might not come to pass no matter how much we, the fans - called Prodigies - may want it.
Hot on the heels of news that SEAL Team is moving to Paramount+, it's becoming rather clear that networks seem to prefer cheap reality shows to good scripted drama, and people are beginning to take notice - and complain.
Who knows? Maybe someday this might make a difference. For the time being though, Prodigal Son has been axed.
The premise itself WAS interesting, but it didn't quite draw me in as much as one would have thought: a serial killer is turned in to the police by his own son (who is still very little at the time, I don't think he's even ten years old, or barely that), who then goes on to become a criminal profiler and one of the best in the federal field, but of course the past is always there to haunt him and he also deals with his erratic, potentially sociopath sister and pill-and-booze addicted mother.
Toss this into the pool that is New York City, and you've got yourself a story.
Malcolm Bright (Tom Payne) plays our profiler who is the son of the Surgeon, a serial killer who got away with 23 murders before he was finally caught, as Malcolm was terrified that the police officer who'd come to the house that night would also be murdered and told him not to drink the tea his dad was preparing.
Now an adult, Malcolm joins NYPD on a consulting basis after getting kicked out of the FBI pool of specialists, and of course this also brings him under Martin Whitly's radar once more.
Martin (Michael Sheen, and potentially the main reason why I chose to watch this show because Sheen is just BRILLIANT) has spent the last portion of his life at Claremont Psychiatric Hospital, trying one way or another to get himself back into the good graces of his son, whom he adores - despite the fact that, as it's revealed later, he was going to kill the boy, too, because Malcolm was starting to remember something from a 'hunting' trip his dad took him on.
Newsflash: it wasn't ACTUALLY a hunting trip - it was a trip to dispose of a body he found in a box in his father's basement, a body of a young woman, which haunts him til this day with nightmares and more and more revealing itself along the way.
Because the reason why he can't remember and is only slowly getting to the point is that he was drugged by Martin, regularly, to keep it all under in his subconscious, but now that's wearing off again and Malcolm is terrified of what he might discover as he slowly peels back the layers he's plastered on afterwards.
Of absolutely very little help is his fame-craving younger sister Ainsley (Halston Sage), who as a journalist keeps chasing down stories that often intersect with Malcolm's job, because, well, murder, and his mother Jessica (Bellamy Young of Scandal fame) who nurses the days with copious amounts of painkillers, other pills and alcohol.
Actually, Malcolm's support system comes from the cop-turned-lieutenant detective, Gil Arroyo (Lou Diamond Phillips) whom he saved back in the day from his own father, and who in turn took up the role in his life, becoming a sort of surrogate who tried to help and guide the boy through life, and who takes him under his wing at the NYPD when so many others only see the Surgeon's son, not Malcolm as a separate entity.
Along with Gil comes his team, JT, Dani and Edrisa, who all, in their own way, eventually come to like and respect Malcolm.
Which is good for him because he finally uncovers the secret of the girl in the box: aka that HE didn't kill her (which he'd been terrified of), that his father had an accomplice back in the day - that his father TODAY keeps insinuating that they're the same and won't let him go, and that the girl's sister has been looking for her for years since it happened.
And oh also his mom is back in the dating pool, apparently, but even though Jessica and Gil have unfinished business from the past, she gets charmed by a mogul who is beautifully portrayed by Dermot Mulroney - until the point when he threatens the family as a whole and Ainsley goes ballistic and stabs him to death.
The second season focuses primarily on the cover-up of the murder, what it's done to Malcolm, and the fact that his sister is a sociopath bordering on psychopathy herself, impeccable genetics she gets from their dear old dad, who she doesn't actually even remember all that well as she was incredibly small when the whole arrest and everything went down.
To top it ALL off, however, the Surgeon eventually escapes from Claremont - but it's never that easy as he gets taken captive by one Dr. Vivian Capshaw (Catherine Zeta-Jones, though one would never recognize her from all the stuff she's had done to her face so she can barely talk anymore), and now people won't believe Malcolm when he says his father is a victim in this scenario, not the aggressor.
You know, why have a profiler if you're not going to listen to him? For drama's sake, probably, as Malcolm then gives himself up to Vivian so he can attempt to save his father, which of course leads to a manhunt as the two of them disappear together, Vivian plays the victim, and the entire police force and FBI seems to be after the father-son duo.
Gil and his team, however, are suspicious because they know Malcolm - and despite the crazy stunts he's pulled in the past, they know he'd never be the person Vivian's describing, so they go on the hunt for the truth, which involves but is not limited to Jessica Taekwondo-ing Vivian after the former tries to drug her.
This family, y'all.
Meanwhile, the two men are on their own hunt for a serial killer which turns into all kinds of psychotic before it's over - and when I say over, it's really over in that Martin decides he needs to eliminate Malcolm if his son is going to turn him back to the police, but Malcolm turns the tables on dear ole dad and stabs him in the gut first, which only makes Martin laugh as he collapses, saying they ARE indeed the same.
And that's where the season - and now series - supposedly ends. Unless it can find a new home on a different network or streaming service, that's about it as far as Prodigal Son is concerned, and I'm actually kind of bummed about it.
The show is incredibly character-driven and really focuses on what goes on in people's heads. The relationships are complicated, messy, and feel so very real that it has you on the edge of your seat for the entire hour of airtime (and for me, it usually meant daytime viewing because it gave me vivid nightmares!).
Sheen and Payne are an absolute delight, though Sheen definitely steals the scenes he's in, with whoever it is. He's a powerhouse and he knows it, bu he doesn't flaunt it, instead using it subtly and gently to lure us in just like Martin does with Malcolm. Equally on par are Payne and Phillips, the other father-son duo.
The rest of the cast is stellar in their supporting roles of either family or concerned friends and co-workers, and the series even touches upon racial profiling and what's going on in America right now, something that's a very heavy topic and needs to absolutely be handled with care. Even with the overarching storylines each season, there was a case-by-week feel that gave it that serial tone which so many law enforcement shows thrive off of, and in all honesty the psychology of this show was on point, all the time.
I really, really hope Prodigal Son finds a new home somewhere. At least to give us some closure after that finale. Maybe Netflix can step in, like it has with other shows in the past?
Fingers crossed. But until then, remember: no one is their parents, but we ARE the end result of their actions and upbringing.
And we always get to choose.
xx
*images and video not mine
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