- Title: Prodigal Son – Head Case
- IMDb: link
Since it’s premiere, Prodigal Son has balanced how far over the edge to take it’s characters. In “Face Values” the show goes a bit too far over the line as Malcom (Tom Payne) is distracted from his latest case involving a doctor Botoxed to death by what turns out to be his sister Ainsley (Halston Sage) screwing with him after discovering what he has kept from her. While this means Ainsley isn’t a serial killer, it does mean she’s perhaps even less mentally stable than the show has explored so far as she is incapable of realizing just how far she has taken things to try and teach her brother (who risked his job and prison to protect her).
The episode is notable for the introduction of some new faces including Catherine Zeta-Jones as a doctor at the Surgeon‘s (Michael Sheen) hospital who could perhaps become a friend or ally (but whose addition also likely further delaying his escape attempt), Rachel York as Jessica‘s (Bellamy Young) irresponsible sister, and Alan Cumming as an investigator looking into the death of Nicholas Endicott. The last is saved for the epilogue but is likely to have the most affect on remainder of the season. With so much going on, the murder of the week doesn’t get all that much attention, but the episode still has its moments such as Malcolm not noticing how an offhand remark affects Dani (Aurora Perrineau) which works as a bit of a callback to his dream state from the previous episode.