Prodigal Son – Season 1 Episode 5 Recap & Review

A Bad Trip

Settling into its groove, Prodigal Son returns with another case-of-the-week nestled around more of the drip-fed truths regarding Malcolm’s past. With some nicely implemented flashbacks and a few well-worked twists in the case toward the end, Prodigal Son continues to deliver some compelling crime drama action.

Just like in every other episode, we begin with Malcolm trying to sleep and push the demons from his mind. Unable to do so, he wanders through the street where he comes across a car that seemingly has a body inside. Only, it happens to be a dog and he breathes a heavy sigh as he realizes his hallucinations are continuing to get the better of him.

Desperate to keep himself busy, Malcolm pleads with Gil for more work. Thankfully, they happen upon a new crime scene with two men who have serious history. One of the men had his tongue cut out while finding himself caked in a thin layer of cocaine. As the police discuss whether this was to do with drugs, Malcolm steps forward and suggests it’s a vengeance killing.

Falling out with Dani over the actual cause of death, as the results come back from the lab they learn that there’s more than meets the eye with this story. While Malcolm’s Mum manages to bag herself a new sponsor, Malcolm and Dani head to the nightclub and interview Esime, a man they believe is in connection with the killlings. It turns out he’s not involved and a machine gunner backs up that theory as he shoots the place down.

When he wakes up, Malcolm is completely off his game and high thanks to ingesting drugs from the air. As he flamboyantly runs around his flat, he eventually comes down to Earth when he sees a dead body in the mirror and then the box from his past at the top of the stairs. Hallucinating, he rushes into a room where he finds himself dressed as his Father. His double tells him to find a childhood box hidden under the bed for more answers.

The next day, Dani tells Malcolm about his connection to the nightclub owner. Heading to the station, she apologies to Gil for acting out of protocol while Malcolm heads home and immediately stumbles upon a spark with Eve, the woman asking for Jessica’s money.

As more of the puzzle comes together, Malcolm and Dani hold a stake-out before they find Esime anda showdown ensues. Trini holds him up at knifepoint and it’s here we find out she killed the man in the club in order to find Fabiola, her child. Esime agrees to play ball and Trini puts down the knife as the case is wrapped up and Malcolm shares tea with Dani.

When he gets home, he finds the box from his dreams, courtesy of his Mum dropping it off. As he opens it, he finds childhood trinkets as well as a picture referring to a time in the woods with his Father. In the background he spies the car he had visions of at the start of the episode. Given there was a body in the boot during his vision, this early hallcuination may well be real.

With another stand-alone case and plenty of drama nestled throughout, Prodigal Son continues to deliver intriguing questions in its narrative. Although the case itself this week is unremarkable and unlikely to be remembered for long, Malcolm’s history and the issues with his Father is enough to keep things interesting. What happened in Malcolm’s past? Only time will tell but with 22 episodes in total, there’s plenty of scope for this story to evolve over time.