Hoo-boy! Prodigal Son has solidified last week’s impressive episode with another one! No more of this one episode procedural crap. Malcolm is hell-bent on finding Paul, an old acquaintance of his father, who has been killing people for the past 17 years. He thinks back to their phone call and remembers Paul saying that Malcolm interrupted him when he went looking for his father’s old car in the junkyard. That’s all the ammo Malcolm needs to go back to the junkyard, where him and Gil find a buried Winnebago. Against Gil’s wishes, Malcolm jumps in and eds up finding a man handcuffed in a room.
They get him out, then go to the church where the victim, and two other of Paul’s victims sometimes go. Father Leo is a grumpy man, but he just wants authorities to care about these people before they die. Jackie seems to think with that attitude, that Father Leo is the killer, but that’s dashed pretty quickly when JT shows up with a package for Malcolm. That package happens to have a freshly chopped hand that belonged to Father Leo.
With that, Paul calls to speak with Malcolm and tells him some things about his memories with the girl in the box. Rattled, Malcolm heads out for air and then follows who he believes is Paul into a dark tunnel. Paul then traps him in a security gate demanding that they meet up later so Malcolm can get more answers about the girl. Malcolm is pretty beat up, but Gil agrees to let the meeting take place.
That night, once Malcolm gets to the meeting location, Paul calls and leads him to a bag which contains a charm bracelet that the girl in the box was wearing (according to Malcolm’s memories). He sees a figure at the end who he thinks at first is Paul, but then discovers it’s father Leo. He tells Gil over an earpiece that this was all a distraction so Paul could finish killing the man who was trapped in the Winnebago earlier. Turns out, that’s true.
Ainsley’s been in the hospital with Jin while he recovers, but has been distracted by her footage and the next scoop. She happens to be in the wing where the man is when Malcolm calls, so she checks it out, discovers the man is dead, but also gets a glimpse of Paul in the bathroom. She runs and locks a door, and soon after the police arrive, but what a nerve-wracking scene! After all the hoopla, Ainsely goes back to Jin’s room where he is watching to footage of his surgery. Disgusted, he breaks up with her.
Elsewhere in the episode, Jessica is, rightfully, afraid, and has been carrying a gun around. This wouldn’t be a problem, except Eve shows up uninvited because she’s “worried” about her. After that visit, she goes to Malcolm’s apartment also uninvited to tell him of his mother’s drinking and gun-waving. She’s just really fishy, and I’m ready to see her true colors, which I can’t imagine are in the Whitly’s favor.
Ultimately, after the death in the hospital, the news gets ahold of all the facts of this stealth serial killer, and Malcolm gets informed by Gil that the FBI is taking over. We see the camera flash to an agent who seems to know Malcolm based on stern look on her face. I’m keen to know what that’s all about. Malcolm is distraught, and I’m sure we’ll see him ingratiate himself very soon, wanted or not.
Based on the preview for the next episode, I’m a little disappointed that it looks like they’re going back to the one episode procedural thing, but I feel like there is enough peripheral activity that will keep this show interesting and moving forward.