Prodigal Son promo poster. 

Promoting on Facebook is one of the best ways to market a blog or a TV show. I had seen ads about Prodigal Son almost every day as I scrolled through my Facebook feed. Serial killer TV shows / documentaries / podcasts are my jam as I’m a lifelong fan of Criminal Minds. Eventually, I caved into the ads around me and watched the first episode of Prodigal Son through Fox. Of course this is right up my alley and now I’m curious to see how the show plays out this season. It’s also available to watch on Hulu which I prefer versus watching on Fox’s website.

Prodigal Son follows Malcolm Bright (played by Tom Payne), a gifted FBI profiler. He’s fired after punching a police officer, but soon recruited by NYPD lieutenant, Gil Arroyo (played by Lou Diamond Phillips). Both Gil and Malcolm are called to investigate a series of grisly murders. These murders are eerily familiar as they are identical to the killings committed by Malcolm’s imprisoned father, Martin Whitly (played by Michael Sheen). Malcolm is forced to visit his father in prison to get his expertise as to who committed these murders. Their communication doesn’t stop and in fact triggers PTSD memories in Malcolm from the time his father is caught by the NYPD when he was a young boy. There’s something amiss within Malcolm’s memories which includes a woman in the box that no one seems to know about.

Michael Sheen can do no wrong in his acting range. He’s creepy in his positive demeanor and erratic bursts of anger when his son doesn’t communicate with him. Bellamy Young appears as Malcolm’s mother. She plays the part of the innocent mother, but I believe she knows more than what she lets on. There’s Detective Dani Powell (played by Aurora Perrineau) who is the most sympathetic to Malcolm’s PTSD outbursts. It seems the show is trying to build a romantic relationship between the two, which I hope doesn’t happen because Malcolm needs therapy, not romance.

The one downside with this show is that it’s premiering on Fox. Fox cancels everything, so I’m not sure why I’m bothering to invest my time into this show. It’s too late now, but I’m hoping Fox has learned from their errors committed in the past with cancelling Firefly and Almost Human. 

Prodigal Son has set up a nice build up being only two episodes into the first season. I’m wondering whether there is a woman in the box which is what Malcolm seems to think or if it’s a delusion. Prodigal Son airs on Fox at Mondays on 9/8 c.