Take Your Father to Work Day
Episode 4 of Prodigal Son Season 2 begins with Martin in Claremont, gritting his teeth and listening as Jerry excitedly talks about being released soon. Martin struggles to concentrate though, but just as he talks to the guard outside about Malcolm, Jerry suddenly falls out the sky and lands in a crumpled, bloody heap in front of him. Elsewhere, Malcolm returns home to find Jessica with a German named Hans; a designer who’s there to help replace furniture Malcolm and Ainsley destroyed with Endicott’s murder. Next, Malcolm visits Ainsley who claims she can’t remember anything from that night. Right now, she seems to be doing okay as Malcolm tells her to focus on work. Throughout the episode though Ainsley continues to experience flashes of the past, including a vision of the bloodied knife. Malcolm does his best to encourage her but it’s clear she’s starting to crack. Our criminal psychologist eventually learns about the murder inside Claremont and heads off to investigate. Gil arrives to do an autopsy as Edrisa examines the body and notices the fingernails bent back. This backs up the theory that Jerry was pushed. Well, fellow physician Edria winds up talking to Martin and getting pretty close with him… until Gil reminds her he’s a mass murderer of course. Malcolm eventually shows and speaks to his Father. Martin wants to be part of the team before he’ll say anything, prompting Gil to grit his teeth and succumb to his wishes. Martin mentions how 3 of his friends have acute stress disorders, Hector, Herbert and Fire Pete. It could well be that one of them was responsible for what happened. Martin wants Malcolm to show during therapy and eventually he agrees to do just that. In the circle, Malcolm tries his best to talk but the other patients continue to interject and probe this father/son relationship. In fact, therapy turns on Malcolm as he and Martin talk about the girl in the box and their troubled past. Malcolm’s sudden, impassioned outburst is enough for the other patients to open up and reveal that gold card open every door in the building. This turns the tide as Martin places the blame across to Dr Marsh. When he brandishes a gold card of his own, the inmates immediately lash out. Upon examining things further, Dani feeds back to Malcolm that a gold card was used on the fourth floor which happens to house the women’s ward. Now their inmate list has just doubled. Well, Dani and Malcolm both head up together where they meet one of the workers, Andre. Malcolm spies scratch marks across the wall too, and as they all begin talking, Malcolm narrows down the suspect list to lobster-loving Rhonda. Unfortunately, seeing Rhonda brings things back full circle to Martin whom she claims was responsible. As Malcolm shows up, he accuses Martin of killing Jerry while manipulating someone to do it for him. Eventually Martin convinces him otherwise as it turns out Rhonda was the one to kill Jerry. It turns out she’s been having an affair with Andre all this time. With his guard down, Rhonda beats him down, takes his gold card and prepares to escape. Unfortunately things come to a dramatic conclusion in the basement when Rhonda blindsides Malcolm, electrocuting him with a taser. Martin seizes his opportunity and grabs the gold card. He immediately confronts Rhonda though and distracts her long enough for Dani to put Rhonda in handcuffs. With the case solved, Malcolm heads back home and talks to Jessica. She chuckles, discussing the rug and how she was trying to find evidence surrounding Endicott’s death. Despite doing a thorough clean-up job, Jessica shows him a book that Malcolm missed featuring a spatter of blood on. It’s here she learns that Ainsley was the one to kill Endicott but she doesn’t remember anything. Malcolm pleads with his Mother not to say anything as this dysfunctional family unit continues to struggle with the sins of a father.
The Episode Review
Prodigal Son returns this week with a much-improved episode, and easily the best of the season so far. With a murder inside Claremont and more progression over the central cover-up with Endicott’s murder, the shocking climax sees both these stories come to a head in a suitably dramatic way. Martin helping with the investigation is a fun little twist, while his banter with Edrisa – while brief – is actually quite a neat addition to the episode. The case inside Claremont, and learning there’s actually a women’s ward there too, helps to give a sense of scale to the building, especially given we’ve only seen a handful of sets inside up until this point. With an episode focused solely on telling a good story rather than a good message, it looks like Prodigal Son is back on the rise again!
