When Malcolm Bright, son of notorious serial killer Martin Whitly, realizes that sweeping under the rug and trying to hide all the trauma of having been chloroformed after witnessing a possible murder, he goes back to work with the NYPD solving all sorts of strange murders utilizing his less-than-ideal experiences during upbringing plus all the juice of past visitation to the mental institution where Martin is being held.
Naturally, not much time passes before Martin's expertise is needed in vivo, and so enters one of the most hilarious and likable characters of the series.
The series develops solving different cases, some better than others, but the average is good. There's even a Monte Cristo-inspired murder, though the resolution was a bit lacking. Malcolm is a mixture of Sherlock in the sense that he perceives things that no other detective is able to see, and some reckless maniac that throws himself into the maws of danger.
There are some hints as to whether Malcolm is a potential serial killer given his pedigree, but this idea didn't get much development.
There's an overarching theme of the Whitlys' conflicting emotions regarding Martin, with the all-time-high being the end of season one when they need him to instruct how to get rid of the body of Nick, some notorious billionaire that gets tangled with the family because Martin discovers a lot of dirt on him through one of his would-be victims.
Then, the story changes in season two, and the overarching theme becomes more predominant, with Malcolm's sister Ainsley getting "potential serial killer" episodes as well, but ultimately dying out to give way to Martin's unsuccessful prison break as he gets intercepted by another mad doctor.
Vivian, who tortures him a bit and then tortures Malcolm as well when he comes to rescue.
Considering that out of the four doctors that appear on the show, two are psychopathic murderers, one is a coke addict, and the other is just a psychologist, I'd say that Prodigal Son doesn't want you trusting those lab coats too much.
This leads to the resolution, clearly rushed by the way, where after having escaped Vivian, Martin tries to convince Malcolm that he's a changed man by rescuing a kidnapped girl but fails to persuade him, which angers him greatly, and he tries to kill him, but Malcolm foresees this and turns the table, leading us viewers with a last image of Martin bleeding out on the floor.
Naturally, while the plot reminder concerns the overarching theme, most of the series are individual cases, all very dynamic and fun to watch, even if personally I would have liked a more evil Malcolm as a protagonist.
There are other characters that serve as sidekicks and comic reliefs, with the most notorious being Edrisa, a nerdy forensic that idealizes Malcolm and his perspective, and whose crush on him is always subtly rebuffed (not that she notices).
Overall, the series is a nine out of ten, and I'm withholding that last point because, like I said, the development of the overarching theme, while well-handled considering, is clearly rushed, leading to a feeling of incompleteness.
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