Prodigal Son 1.19: The Professionalsby Wolfen MoondaughterReviews may contain information that could be considered 'spoilers'. Readers should proceed at their own risk. Network
Credits Grade: 7 Malcom and the team investigate a murder that hits close to home, while Ainsley tries to prove Jessica's new friend, Endicott, is up to no good.While the mystery plot was decent, I am not thrilled about the big development of this episode (which is why the score is 7 instead of 8); I can't say I didn't see it potentially happening, and it did make for a good story, but ... a good story could have been told without this happening, too. Or at least it could have happened with less certainty (especially given how things turned out for another character in the previous episode). On the other hand, I am overjoyed about a certain other development! Spoilers now. Still with me? Okay. I am not happy that Eve, a woman with her own dream, was killed off to give Malcolm man-pain, as well as give him a need to seek vengeance against the new villain (and, I guess, to also clear the way for him and Dani, even if that might not actually happen for a while). It just doesn't sit well with me that she and her sister will never be reunited; they could have made this sitch be another one like with her sister, where everyone thinks she's dead -- even Endicott -- and the killer set her free, or failed and lied about killing her. She could have ended up helping take down the villain. But no, we saw a body. She got more or less damseled (even if it happened off-screen, and she wasn't rescued) and fridged. (Did they somehow think that having her die after going off on her own made it less of a fridging, even though the intended impact for the story was the same?) While I am angry about the execution, though, I actually could have used more angsting and hurt-comfort than we actually got! (I mean, if they were going to kill her for man-pain, at least use it! Let's see him really fall apart! There will little moments here and there -- and that moment at the very end, right before his place was swarmed, had great potential -- but there have been much better moments in other episodes. If only his team had been there to comfort him instead of arrest him!! Loved the chat between the siblings. It's nice to see Aisnely act more personably -- while she was grilling Malcolm, she didn't feel so much like a predatory reporter while doing it, but rather more like a typical sister. I'm glad that Edrisa's awkwardness was toned down to be more realistic and even personable, not the usual borderline-caricature-- she was sweet! But I don't understand how everyone else at the precinct knew that Eve was Malcolm's girlfriend except her -- like, shouldn't they have made sure she knew, so she would be careful of Malcolm's feelings?? Loved Malcolm's well-rationed (even while very emotional!) plea to the team about how Eve wouldn't have committed suicide. And I'm glad that the team seemed to grasp it easily, not putting up much of a fight about his theory or his wanting in on the case. They've come a long way since the start of the season! Loved TJ's emotional support for Malcolm later in the investigation, too -- but wish there had been more of it. Of course, seeing the whole Whitly clan together was great fun -- Martin and any of them one-on-one is always entertaining, so it can only get exponentially more so with all of them together! I loved how they all ganged up on Martin. And the sequence was well-used to introduce us, innocuously, to the killer! Watching Martin and Endicott go head-to-head later, and Ainsley and Endicott was pretty engaging, too. Endicott's certainly scary, but the Whitlys are pretty formidable, and don't lose that when next to him. It's a good balance. The scenario with the ("Black Widow"-inspired?) assassin and Times Square Station was great fun, too -- I hope we get to see her again! It was great to see Dani get to showcase her fighting skills. And I liked seeing someone else teach profiler Malcolm something. I enjoyed the trauma of Malcolm seeing his father try to kill -- and manage to significantly maim -- a man with his own two hands! Despite all that's happened to him, Malcolm never had a memory like that before -- imagine how much worse his dreams will be now! And I appreciate the emotional complexity of him wanting his father to live. I'm over the moon that we got a moment of Jessica / Gil -- and that it turns out they have history already! Jessica's angsting over her bad relationships, and what that might say about her, was the icing on the cake. (I may have whopped and pumped the air when they kissed. *cough*) I appreciated that Malcolm at least was cognizant of the fact that vengeance against the hit man wouldn't bring Eve back; whether or not he wants justice or vengeance with Endicott may be another story, though. At any rate, I saw Malcom's ultimate fate coming the moment he stepped into the killer's hospital room -- I'm sure he didn't kill the guy, but it was obvious that the guy would die, and he would get blamed. I'm a little disappointed that his team wasn't more hesitant about arresting him, but I guess can see how he's been erratic enough, coupled with the grief over Eve, for them to believe he's guilty .... Written: April 26, 2020
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