Malcolm Bright is a profiler for murders and when he is fired by the FBI he is given a job with the NYPD, the latest killer is a copycat of his father a serial killer known as The Surgeon. Having not seen Martin Whitly fo ten years this case is about to bring them back together again.
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Number of Episodes: 20
Prodigal Son is a a very impressive psychological thrilling drama which has plenty of time over the twenty episodes for you to fully get into it. That is certainly what I ended up doing and it really did not take me very long to become engrossed in the programme. It reminded me a little of Cumberbatch's Sherlock and with the way Malcolm works things out that is quite similar.
As well as doing his job and profiling the way someone has been killed in order to track down the killer, Malcolm must deal with the demons from his past and in particular the woman in the box. Something that his mother convinced him was a vision and did not actually exist. Each night he had to chain himself to his bed and not for anything kinky just the fact that he has night terrors in a very bad way. This creates a task at times as a viewer on what is real and what is a dream from Malcolm. I will admit that one scene in around episode 17 game me the biggest shock!
The scenes between Malcolm and his other Martin are pretty messed up as Martin tries to come across as a normal man very happy to see his son. Far from the extremely dangerous serial killer he had become! Committing twenty three murders (that were found out about) he spends his time via phone and internet actually helping surgeons during surgery, in his luxury cell in a Psychiatric hospital.
Malcolm is not the easiest to get on with and doesn't really form social relationships very well. I mean he was just a boy when he helped the police arrest his father and saving the life of Gil Arroyo who is the man who brings him in for the job with the NYPD. Det. Dani Powell becomes a good relationship and enjoyable to watch them together. JT Tamel another detective starts off on the wrong foot with him but this grows throughout the serious. Dr Edrisa Tanaka is probably my favourite character and she works on the dead bodies and finds the true causes of death, she has a bit of a crush on Malcolm. In terms of family he has a younger sister Ainsley who is an ambitious TV news reporter and cannot really remember much about what her father did. His mother Jessica is a successful businesswoman and from a high society family therefore the family have a lot of money.
Each episode brings a new case and this is something that keeps it very interesting with the woman in the box story running across the majority of the episodes. Not forgetting that other events also follow into the different episodes as well, I think this is important given the sheer number of episodes.
The performances are very strong from all of the cast and I felt that Tom Payne is perfect in the leading role of Malcolm Bright. Everything about the way he carries off the character is fantastic and that is what you more than need in a show like this one. The lead role has to be spot on and that is what Payne completely nails. Then his scenes with Michael Sheen are great as well, I mean where can I possibly start about Sheen in this series? He is utterly barking bad and yet so lovely as a deranged serial killer, which certainly does not feel right in saying at all. But that is what he manages to do! Lou Diamond Phillips, Halston Sage, Aurora Perrineau, Frank Harts, Keiko Agena and Bellamy Young all make up a very good cast.
The ending was utterly shocking and brutal, something I was not expecting at all. So I cannot wait until Season 2 arrives in the UK!
