Prodigal Son: The Complete First Season Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		0.0
Overall		3.0

Prodigal Son: The Complete First Season Blu-ray Movie Review

Better than the parable.

Reviewed by Randy Miller III September 14, 2021

Fox's recently cancelled television series Prodigal Son aired for only two seasons, the most recent of which could be seen just a few short months ago. Created by Chris Fedak and Sam Sklaver -- whose joint producing credits include Legends of Tomorrow, Chuck, Deception, and American Housewife -- it's a police procedural (stay with me) in which a criminal psychologist (seriously guys, don't click away) creates profiles to catch a serial killer... and you know what? I actually wouldn't blame you one bit for rolling your eyes at this point, because I sure as hell did a few times during the first couple of episodes. It's true that Prodigal Son heavily rides the coattails of dozens of genre entries seen during the last 30 years including Hannibal, Criminal Minds, and, of course, The Silence of the Lambs, adding little to a formula that felt old at least a decade ago. But it still has its moments and mostly gets better as it goes on, honest.

Prodigal Son's main hook is the father/son relationship at its core. It's alluded to immediately when recently-arrested serial killer Martin "The Surgeon" Whitly (Michael Sheen) offers a disturbing goodbye to his young son Malcolm (Tom Payne, as an adult), assuring the boy that they have a lot in common, as his mother Jessica (Bellamy Young) looks on in horror. Yet during the next decade, Malcolm only visits his father once in captivity, choosing instead to use his unique insight to catch serial killers for the FBI. Not surprisingly, though, Malcolm -- who now adopts the surname "Bright" to distance himself from dear old Dad -- has an awful lot of emotional baggage, from nervous hands to chronic insomnia that requires light restraints when he does fall asleep. His mental condition leads to an early exit with the Bureau, but a safety net arrives when NYPD lieutenant Gill Arroyo (Lou Diamond Phillips), who years ago was one of The Surgeon's arresting officers, offers Malcolm a similar position in the department. Together with detectives Dani Powell (Aurora Perrineau) and JT Tarmel (Frank Harts), as well as other regulars including flirty medical examiner Dr. Edrisa Tanaka (Keiko Agena), Malcolm attempts to solve a string of recent murders eerily similar to his father's own work... which, unfortunately, might require a few visits to the asylum. But is Dad actually pulling the strings?

Family layers aside, its kind of a weak premise to frame an ongoing series in 2019. Too much has been done before, and most of it ends up distracting from what Prodigal Son seems to do best: teasing Malcolm's mental instability while keeping our guards up for the next heavy punch. Most of the supporting characters are nothing special, there are too many "monster-of-the-week" episodes, and even the production design feels like a blatant mish-mash of earlier genre entries -- hell, Malcolm even wears suits nearly identical to Dr. Lecter (as famously portrayed by Mads Mikkelson) in Hannibal. Yet the series, viewed in part during this 20-episode first season, remains perfectly watchable from start to finish thanks to its two over-the-top leads, as well as some of the better supporting characters including detective Powell, Malcom's mother Jessica, and his adult sister Ainsley (Halston Sage), a local news reporter. These 20 episodes don't always feel like appointment television -- largely due to the too-slow unraveling of its main arc -- but the genre's most faithful should enjoy it as a whole. They're served up on four Blu-rays in Warner Archive's compact first-season set, lightly summarized below, which was followed by the recent release of Season 2 (review coming soon).

Episode List (and mild spoilers)

Disc One - The first leg of this journey sets up Malcolm's new path in life, as the newly-recruited NYPD consultant begins to see similarities between recent murders and those committed by his dad 20 years ago. Reluctantly visiting him at the asylum, Malcolm uses his insight to piece together a few cases including an elaborate family poisoning, a (ugh) social media influencer, and a drug dealer while struggling with his own personal demons. Meanwhile, Malcom's already-dysfunctional family life is strained further due to the asylum visits, leading to a fight with his mother and rare contact with his sister, who's portrayed as something of a well-adjusted outsider to most of the drama.

• Pilot
• "Annihilator"
• "Fear Response"
• "Designer Complicity"
• "The Trip"

Disc Two - Several new cases lead to personal changes within Malcolm, none more than one involving a young boy named Isaac who reminds him of himself at an early age. Although a few suspects have been named thus far in the ongoing string of murders, the latest shows promise due to his particular background and personal habits. And hey, Malcom has a girlfriend now: lovely Eve Blanchard (Molly Griggs), a lawyer who's dedicated her life to fight human trafficking. I'm sure his career and family history won't cause problems and they'll life happily ever after.

• "All Souls and Sadists"
• "Q&A"
• "Family Friend"
• "Pied-A-Terre"
• "Silent Night"

Disc Three - Fallout continues from recent tragedies, including the murder of NYPD's Chief of Detectives, and the suspected killer is given a name: John Watkins. Malcolm goes missing after an attack, waking up in Watkins' hideout, and it's revealed they have history that goes back several years. He escapes but suffers a self-sustained hand injury, with the experience and other factors leading to an extensive medical evaluation by the police department. After an intense visit from Malcolm, father Martin spends the foreseeable future in a medically-induced coma. Whoops.

• "Alone Time"
• "Internal Affairs"
• "Wait and Hope"
• "Eye of the Needle"
• "Death's Door"

Disc Four - Malcolm's mental stability worsens and so does the show's interest in compelling cases, with the lamest one involving a "mommy blogger" whose husband was recently found murdered (and the follow-up, involved a poisoned dancer, ain't much better.) Luckily it gets better with the last two episodes, when drama between Malcolm, Eve, and the family tightens considerably, a major character is arrested for murder, fishy stuff happens down at the crime lab, and a hell of a lot of people get stabbed. Stabbing is a really big thing with this series, come to think of it. That, and vibrating cell phones. Seriously, don't take a drink when either happens or you won't make it past the second disc.

• "The Job"
• "Stranger Beside You"
• "Scheherazade"
• "The Professionals"
• "Like Father..."

Prodigal Son: The Complete First Season Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Although it carries a few interesting visual flourishes, Prodigal Son is pretty derivative within genre boundaries and, frankly, kind of a dull-looking show. The colors are mostly drab, certain scenes don't look to be lit all that carefully, and only the tight compositions keep this from looking like pretty run-of-the-mill network TV fare. But that doesn't mean it doesn't get a decent Blu-ray edition from Warner Archive, who successfully squeeze five episodes on each dual-layered disc with mostly great results. Compression artifacts do creep in on occasion, but some of that might be baked-in source material issues or a result of those lighting choices, most of which do no favors to select close-ups and wide shots alike. Likewise, colors seem well saturated within the show's narrow palette, with skin tones looking either vibrant or kind of sickly depending on the location. Image detail holds up well enough in the right lighting conditions too, with other moments coming off softer in direct comparison. So while there are a few intermittent issues here and there -- again, some of which may be source-related -- there are no flagrant red flags, which should please die-hard fans unsure if Prodigal Son would get a halfway-decent home video release... or one at all, really.

Prodigal Son: The Complete First Season Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Similarly, the sound mix doesn't exactly aim high but gets the job done, serving up crisp dialogue and a few sonic stylings that heighten the suspense and overall mood on plenty of occasions. Channel separation and panning effects are regularly present during these moments, but the bulk of Prodigal Son is a front-loaded affair that intermittently opens up depending on the location and number of characters involved. No sonic rules are rewritten here, so at the very least it's a presentation that ironically doesn't call a lot of attention to itself and that's just fine.

Optional English (SDH) subtitles are included during all 20 episodes.

Prodigal Son: The Complete First Season Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

This four-disc release ships in a dual-hinged keepcase with appropriately creepy cover art and no inserts of any kind. Sadly, no extras are included either... but hey, it's almost 15 hours of a TV show for under $30, so no biggie.

Prodigal Son: The Complete First Season Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Chris Fedak & Sam Sklaver's Prodigal Son was cancelled after just two seasons, but thankfully Warner Archive rescued both for separate Blu-ray releases. Although this first season starts slow and its premise borrows a little too much from the glut of crime dramas we've all seen during the past 30+ years, it's still worth a run-through for genre fans. This is not the most impressive looking or sounding show but, predictably, Warner Archive serves up a solid A/V presentation and bonus features. Even so, it's cheap enough to pick up on a whim and, with the recent release of Season 2 (review forthcoming), not exactly a huge commitment for interested newcomers. Recommended.