Prodigal Son: "The Trip" Recap
Dr. Whitly count: 0
Gil turtleneck count: 2
Spoilers ahead for episode five.
This whole episode could be replaced with a picture of me pinching the bridge of my nose. It’s a fucking DOOZIE is what I’m saying. And not in a good way. Also, it turns out that Annie isn’t called Annie at all. Her name is actually Dani which is like… a testament to how little I care about her character.
Unfortunately, this whole episode is about Dani and her lame-ass backstory. I just want to let the show writers in on a big secret: We already had an irritating lady copy named Dani on LAW & ORDER: SVU. And she sucked, almost as much as this Dani does. Stop giving female cop characters this stupid name and backstories where they’re damaged because of some man. Wanna know how to write a good cop? Watch HBO’s BARRY and straight-up plagiarize Detective Moss because she is perfect and Paula Newsome is a goddess. Danis are trash.
On to the shit show.
We open. Malcolm sits in darkness. Monologuing. Is he trying to figure out a nice gift to buy his mom as an apology for acting like a massive dickhead last episode? Nah, he’s trying to talk himself into sleeping. As soon as he closes his eyes, he dreams about daddy and the woman in the box.
Ok, no sleep. A walk instead. On his walk he comes across a very conspicuous ‘80s station wagon, and as he gets closer he sees something writhing beneath a wool blanket in the trunk. He notices a chain attached to the inside of the car. WOOF WOOF WOOF tricked you it’s a dog in the car. Because people totally keep dogs chained to the inside of their cars. That’s a totally, totally normal thing all regular people do.
The next morning, Bright goes to visit Jess and she tells him she’s going public with her philanthropy. Good for her! Look at that character development. She’s moving on from her husband as much as this episode did (I shit you not Michael Sheen doesn’t make a single appearance in this ep other than in flashbacks). She offers him some pills to help him sleep (there’s that pill-poppin’ momma we all love) and he says nah, the only thing that helps him sleep is murder. I mean… same.
Bright talks Gil, who is wearing another one of his lovely turtlenecks, into bringing him in on a crime scene even though they don’t need a profiler. This one’s a cut-and-dry gang-related murder. Dani is convinced it has something to do with a turf war with the Dominicans and I’m going to be honest this is the point I stopped caring about the case entirely.
There’s just something about that t-neck, ya dig?
Why don’t we just get it over with? Ok. So. Annie I mean Dani used to work in narcotics and was deep undercover working with some gang dude. Estime or Xavier… I’m not sure which one he was but it really doesn’t matter. Anyway. She got into drugs AS YOU DO when you’re undercover, and almost died from an OD but he saved her despite knowing she was a cop. So they think this Estime guy killed a rival drug dealer and she’s all “He would never do that!” Why? Who the fuck knows. It turns out he did in fact kill this rival guy, cut out his tongue, and covered him in $20,000 worth of cocaine because this rival used his girlfriend as a heroin mule and she died when the balloon burst. But then—a twist!—the killer is actually the dead girl’s mom. That’s it. That’s the case. Can we move on?!
Bright spends most of this episode hallucinating—he keeps seeing a person, or the shape of a person, beneath an old blanket, and a grimy, undead hand keeps slipping from beneath it and grabbing him. At one point a bunch of cocaine explodes in his face (of course it does) and Dani takes him back to his apartment (of course she does) and he’s so manic it hurts. They end up having the awkward “Are we friends?” talk and Dani mentions she doesn’t have many friends because her trust issues take up most of her free time (of course they do yawn).
If you can name more than one person in this photo you get a prize.
In his dreams that night, Malcolm sees himself in his father’s cell, wearing his father’s signature sweater. This Whitly/Bright hybrid tells Malcolm that he wants to show him the truth about himself, and reminds him of a small box of mementos Malcolm held on to even after his father was arrested. Whitly/Bright tells Malcolm to go find that box.
Jessica, meanwhile, has a luncheon to meet some charity peeps and give them free money, but no one shows… Except for one woman: An attorney named Eve Blanchard who works with an organization that helps victims of human trafficking. Within minutes of meeting her Eve casually asks about Jessica’s maiden name. I’m pretty sure your “something fucky is going on here” senses should be tingling at this point.
Bright walks in the room as Jess is writing a check for the attorney. Jess makes a joke about making out with her and all of our brains short circuit because just when you think you get Jessica she surprises you again (in some insanely cliché ways but whatever you take what you can get with this show). Eve checks out Bright and she likes. What. She. Sees. They share some horrible banter, and you can tell this is another complicated woman for Bright to figure out. Or maybe he’ll just emotionally abuse her and accuse her of murder who knows with this guy.
At the end of this Surgeon-less episode (I’m salty), Jess brings Malcolm the memory box. Inside, he finds a picture of him and his father on a hunting trip standing in front of AN 80s STATION WAGON UH OH.
Will Michael Sheen be in the next episode, or has he given up on the show even before I have? Will Malcolm remember where they parked the station wagon? Will Jessica continue to wow us with her clunky character development? The only way to find out is by watching PRODIGAL SON Mondays at 9/8c on FOX.