Prodigal Son, 1.15: Death's Doorby Wolfen MoondaughterReviews may contain information that could be considered 'spoilers'. Readers should proceed at their own risk. Network
Credits Grade: 8 While Whitly is in a coma (and we learn more about the girl in the box), Malcolm struggles with what he's done, and Jessica deals with the legal ramifications. Meanwhile, the team investigate a death involving embalming.I had hoped for a lot more time in Whitly's head than we actually get, but what time we do spend there is used well. The hurt-comfort is mild and only emotional, but still enjoyable -- especially when it involves others talking about Malcolm when he's not around, reflecting on his trauma and worrying about him! Also, Edrisa gets to do some field work, getting more fleshed out in the process! A story thread about Malcolm being unwilling to open up, however, leaves me a bit cold -- as does the killer-of-the-week scenario. Spoiler time. Still with me? Okay. Once again Jessica's life is revolving around Malcolm and Whitly, but it's at least mitigated by her wanting to accept responsibility for the actions she was contemplating, and by the fact that she doesn't feel she's lived up to her responsibilities as a mother (arguably true). And I'm glad we got a concrete statement as to why Malcolm let her take the blame for what he ultimately did (besides the fact that she was considering doing the deed herself): Malcolm needed to be free to go after the killer, and wouldn't have been if he'd been arrested. I'm also glad that Ainsley got brought into the loop sooner rather than later, and I liked the clever way she got her mother to lawyer up. I am wondering, though, why Jessica had Whitly's lawyer's number programmed into her phone, yet not blocked, despite hating the guy. It doesn't sound like the man had contacted her in years; would she have an obligation to stay in contact? I love Jessica's flip from hating Malcom's cases / obsession with death in the past, to now being glad for him to have the distraction -- it's hilarious, while also potentially showing growth on her part! Moving on to Dani's complaint of how Malcolm doesn't behave like a friend, while Malcolm does have a tendency to brush off his issues, it never really seemed to me that he refused to talk (he has a therapist!), so this plot point doesn't really fit with his character. And I intensely disliked Dani's attitude, her badgering him into talking and insinuating he was a bad friend when he wouldn't, even though he apologized for getting (understandably!) heated. (And I'm not even the type who keeps mum -- I tend to overshare, so this isn't me being defensive.) Sorry, Dani, but friends respect their friends' boundaries, and let them work through things at their own speed, with what level of help they ask for! What, precisely, makes you think you're entitled to more of Malcolm's life than he feels like sharing, Dani? It's like she's calling him out for not being as brave as she is. And I'm doubting she's going to later learn that she overstepped -- I don't think the show-writers would agree that she did. So form where I sit, that's frustrating. Personally, I would only consider Malcolm to be a bad friend if she needed help with her problems, and he wasn't there for her (with no extenuating circumstances), not the other way around. Still, I am happy that Malcolm got some good out of her rant, and that he's decided he does like talking to her. My issue with the KotW story is that I'm not particularly thrilled with the characterisation of two of the suspects in it. Another of the suspects is a woman who is creepily flirtatious with Malcolm when she thinks he's a customer buying a casket (and continues to be even when he reveals he's investigating the murder of one of her former casual lovers). I am all for sexual empowerment, but time and place, sheesh! And when Dani notes that the woman doesn't seem all that broken up about the death of her ex, the woman waves it off as a hazard of the profession, saying that they teach you in mortuary school not to cry in front of the family; are we to take it that morticians are self-taught sociopaths, or is she an anomaly? Icing in the cake: she's a career-minded woman who of course puts her work before everything (including common sense). Yes, tropes can be useful shortcuts in storytelling, but misogynists use stereotypes like this as reasons to hate women, and the flirtation aspect wasn't really necessary to this tale. And the other suspect is a woman (introduced as a surprise rather late in the game, by the by -- not really fair in a mystery) who is also the actual killer -- lonely, a lovesick woman with a twisted fantasy. I worry that the fact that she's heavyset might have been a matter of intentional casting, perhaps to double down on the idea that she was so desperate for companionship, she would kill for it; I really hope I'm wrong. Thankfully there's a backstory given that at least somewhat reasonably explains why she became a necrophiliac, distancing her from that fan-stereotype for a moment. But it would have helped if her relationship to the victim were fleshed out as well. Both women read a bit more like caricatures more than as people -- more so than the third suspect. And why are all the funeral directors in this episode depicted as social outliers? Even the third suspect admits that he's not good with people! Between the funeral directors we meet here and Edrisa, it's like the series is running with a stereotype that no person who deals with the dead can also deal with the living! Surely there are funeral directors who are not socially or emotionally awkward (or worse)? I get that these people are all supposed to be parallels of Malcolm, as a mirror to his story, but all of them? On the flip side of those, I'm so glad that we got a deeper look into Edrisa, with her becoming a bit more nuanced of a person! We got to see some of her inner workings, as well as more material with her that didn't involve her attraction to Malcolm. And she got to be a hero -- twice! And I do appreciate that Malcolm offers insight into the whys of necrophilia, beyond the death and the sex -- I hadn't considered that angle before. But I'm also glad that the killer was, in the end, treated as a killer, not someone who's just misunderstood; people may not be able to help what turns them on, but they can decide whether or not to act on those impulses. The killer crossed an unacceptable line from fantasy into reality; I'm glad that the show was able to be compassionate without actually excusing what the killer did. (And the reactions from the team were funny!) I find it interesting that there's also a parallel made between the killer and Whitly, in that there's much talk of necorphilliacs wanting to freeze time, and Whitly makes mention that there comes a point (with the killings) that he almost feels like he can stop time. It doesn't seem to me that he's like the necrophilliac, wanting to stretch time with his victims, so what does he mean? As for Whitly, I appreciate that the show did address how hard it must be to have a loved commit such evil deeds, and how it can be hard to decide whether, in a situation that could prove fatal to them, one wants them to live or die. I loved Jessica stressing to Ainsley that she wouldn't criticise her if she didn't want Whitly to die; she just wanted to know how her daughter felt. And I'm glad that the show didn't have Jessica secretly still love him, or act like Whitly's children absolutely shouldshould love him regardless. His hallucinations were interesting all around -- and unsettling, with it hard to tell who to root for! Certainly, I would want Whitly to fight to save his son rather than kill him (and it's disturbing that Whitly would see Malcolm as being utterly self-sacrificing in his father's favour -- but then, the man is a clinical narcissist). At the same time, like Dani said, he deserved some karma; his victim(s) deserved to shatter him (and it's not like the real Malcolm would be harmed), not be overcome by him again. I appreciate that, instead of revealing some deep trauma that led him down his monstrous path (the way things went with the necrophiliac), the show dared to tell is that Whitly doesn't know any more than we do why he did such awful things; he just does what he wants to, having been born that way. He does suggest other possible reasons in passing (including saying something that suggests some sort of abuse at the hands of his father), but he also shrugs all of them off as not mattering in the end, taking responsibility for his choices. But since the murderous victim was a part of his own psyche, does the very fact that's he asked him why serve to suggest self-reflection on his part -- does he want to understand why? Does he want to change for the better? Can he? Given how his hallucination ended -- with him being all dark -- maybe not. I also have to wonder if he saved hallucination-Malcolm out of real love, or some other reason, such as to believe his song loves and admires him. I'd like to think it's a sign of regret on Whitly's part, but the hallucination is supposed to be a nightmare, so it may just be his fear of losing Malcolm. It's interesting that he envisions his victim stabbing him -- just like Malcolm did, but more times. And then he got his dream-son away from the person who stabbed him, the person who's death Malcolm has been keen on answers about in real life -- perhaps the hallucination was symbolic of him hoping to get Malcolm to care for him again, and stop endangering him by looking for the lost girl .... Written: February 23, 2020
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