Prodigal Son 1.12: Internal Affairsby Wolfen MoondaughterReviews may contain information that could be considered 'spoilers'. Readers should proceed at their own risk. Network
Credits Grade: 8 A profile-defying murder leads the team to investigate a trauma therapy service that may be a front for a cult! Will Malcolm get involved in their extreme methods for treating trauma? And will he pass his psych evaluation?The mystery lays out well, without any glaring plot issues -- and, more importantly, it nicely serves Malcolm's personal narrative. There's also a really great twist (even if I did kind of see it coming) that, thanks to a subsequent twist (which I did not see coming) turns the whole ep on its ear! We get some decent physical "whump" for Malcolm, too (not as severe as two episodes ago), some thrillingly tense situations, some fun psychological stuff for Malcolm, and at least a little bit of hurt-comfort. It's a hard to watch ep for a bit, thanks to some inter-team strife, but it definitely pays off! And there's some nice (but also some not-so-nice) humour, as well. While we've seen Malcolm, a psychologist, talk to a therapist before, this instance was different enough to be really interesting, basically watching a battle of psychology, each of them trying to get the upper hand in questioning! The therapist was pretty good at his job! Spoiler time! Still with me? Okay! I appreciate that the episode made a clear distinction between beneficial electro-shock therapy as performed by true medical professionals (under anesthesia, after careful deliberation, and in very controlled conditions), and what the clinic was doing (extremely unsafe and ill-advised), not making a sweepingly harmful statement that shock-therapy can only ever be bad. Loved Malcolm being passionate about Jello. And amused that Jessica decided the way to keep Malcolm safe was to hire Ilsa -- a big German woman who competed in Judo in the Olympics -- to be his babysitter, and that she saw herself, Ilsa, and Dani as an army of nurturing women that Malcolm was lucky to have, and Dani saw fit to basically say she'd rather not be there. I enjoyed Jessica confiding in Dani. Not so thrilled that Jessica saw fit to describe Ilsa as a "present", or suggest that a world of badass women should revolve around her son, though .... Loved the pointed Look Jessica and Malcolm gave each other when she mentioned (in talking about someone else) settling down and having kids (even as I hate the sentiment). Idrisa. Meanwhile, was the usual mix of funny and uncomfortable trope of the awkward, lovesick smart girl, which this eo seemed to lean hard on. I really hope she gets a more humanizing story sometime, allowing her to be more nuanced and less caricature-ish. Loved Gill helping Malcolm with his tie, and being all fatherly (as usual) in multiple scenes, with Malcolm trying to convince him he was doing well, and Gill being adamant about how Malcolm wasn't. Watching Gill be angry with Malcolm, even just for a moment or three, was really hard to endure -- until we found out what was really going on with at least one of those moments! I love that Dani is tuned in to Malcolm enough to realise when something's off with him. I love that TJ really does seem to worry about Malcolm as a friend now. Therapist: "Were you concerned about Bright's mental state?" TJ: "Of course I was If Bright was an actual state, he'd be Florida!" And I adore that, despite the plan, they all still had reason to worry that Malcolm might actually have been wanting to try giving himself shock therapy for real! i enjoyed how believably Malcolm explained away the concern that very concern to the analyst. Really, all the commentary the team made to the analyst was true, even if they weren't as at odds with Malcolm as they pretended to be. I also quite appreciated Malcolm's logical speech he gave Andi about being in abusive relationships. I love how the show pulled the wool over our eyes, making us think the police therapy sessions were real. I had an inkling the therapist was really the villain, but I had not expected that everything was part of a trap! Loved Gil straight-up asking Malcolm if he was okay, telling him he freaked out Dani. Loved Malcolm quietly admitting he was not doing well . Loved him apologising for something he'd said earlier, and Gil being all, "I know, kid," with a smile. I have mixed feelings on Gil just up and leaving after, though, like they'd just had a pleasant conversation, with nothing to worry about. I mean, I enjoyed seeing Gill be relieved and positive and proud, sure. And yes, Malcolm's made a big breakthrough in being able to be truthful about how messed-up he is. But no matter how much the confessions might show Malcolm's on a better path now than he's been in a while, that didn't seem an ideal time to leave. Like, maybe stay and figure out how you can help even more, huh, Gil? More than "Take a vacation," I mean -- advice Malcolm has already repeatedly turned down. But the moments after Gil left were good: Malcolm coming to terms with his hallucination of his younger self, both in considering the kid to be his new norm (just in time for it to leave him), while also realising that Whitly didn’t kill him when he could have .... Written: February 1, 2020
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