‘Prodigal Son’ Season 1, Episode 2 ‘Annihilator’ Review: Kill For Love

I am liking Prodigal Son more and more. And this week’s episode, titled “Annihilator,” has definitely served the show a whole other level of intrigue. The case here doesn’t necessarily stray far from the predictable TV murder narratives. However, it does provide just enough of a thrill with its gruesome stints. What really took the spotlight in this second episode of Prodigal Son is the increasing tension between Michael Sheen’s Dr. Whitley and Tom Payne’s Malcolm Bright. Every conversation simply reels you in. And now that old forgotten memories from his childhood are back to haunt Bright, the mystery grows darker and deeper. Maybe Bright isn’t so innocent after all.

Tonight on Prodigal Son, Bright is faced with a case of a family annihilator. Meanwhile, his night terrors are getting worse. He keeps going back to his childhood 20 years ago where he remembers finding a girl in one of his dad’s chests before he called the police. But, when the police arrived, there was no girl. And as everyone around him insists, there was no girl from the very beginning. But now, parts of his memory from that night are slowly coming back in his night terrors. Desperate to know the truth, the prodigal son returns to his father.

The Snakes

Over brunch, Bright discusses his night terrors with his mother. But, Jessica (Bellamy Young) adamantly insists that Bright didn’t see a girl. He only saw a bunch of pictures of Dr. Whitley’s victims and he’s suffocating himself with guilt for nothing. Before he could argue any further, Bright receives a message from Gil (Lou Diamond Phillips) calling him over to help on a quadruple murder.

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At the crime scene, Bright is presented with the dead Boutsikaris family who all died from poison over an obligational dinner. What’s remarkable is that the patriarch Aristos (Mark Reay) has his mouth sewn shut. He also has a post-mortem scar on his abdomen. And since there was no forced entry, they can safely assume that the family knew the killer.

Coming closer Bright notices discoloration on Aristos’ face caused by vitiligo. There’s also fresh bruising on either side of Artistos’ face along with tear marks. Putting all these together, Bright realizes that the killer held Aristos’ head and made him watch his family’s execution. Suddenly, Bright receives a call from an unknown number and much to his surprise, it’s none other than dear old dad.

While Bright was busy with the call, the NYPD’s coroner Dr. Edrisa Tanaka (Keiko Agena) cuts the wire binding Aristos’ mouth. Slowly, a group of Black Mamba’s start slithering out of Aristos’ mouth. Frozen with fear, Dr. Tanaka couldn’t do anything but squeal as one of the snakes start climbing up her leg. Bright immediately comes to the rescue apparently having had a lot of experience with snakes as a child. Keeping calm, he uses a handkerchief to attract the snake’s attention. It launches itself at him and Bright immediately swats it away.

The Other Child

At the precinct, Bright lays out his initial profile of the family annihilator. He would be paranoid, kills family to protect them from threat, wants love, depressed, and is susceptible to committing suicide after the deed. Going with this, suspicion immediately falls on Aristos’ estranged son Liam. When Gil, Danni (Aurora Perrineau), JT (Frank Harts), and Bright confront him, Liam runs. They chase him into a warehouse and they discover that the guy’s a black market animal dealer. When Bright finds him, Liam grabs a snake and throws at Bright. The snake latches on to Bright and he falls unconscious within seconds.

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Hours later, Bright wakes up in the hospital. Despite the strong sedatives they’ve injected him with, his night terrors wake him and he immediately demands to go back to work. Luckily, his sister Ainsley (Halston Sage) comes to his aid. Noticing the numerous unheard voicemails on Bright’s phone and his secretive demeanor, Ainsley immediately gets suspicious. So, she snatches Bright’s phone and plays the voicemails. To her horror, she hears her dad’s voice. And, despite her begging, Bright decides to pay their dad a visit to get answers.

At the precinct, the Boutsikaris’ lawyer Jon Littman (Michael Esper) tries to arrange a deal for Liam. The lad’s willing to come in and cooperate as long as Gil turns a blind eye to his illegal operations. However, Gil refuses and instead depends on the warrant he has out for Liam to bring him in.

The Lost Son

Bright confronts his father about the girl in the box. But just like the others, Dr. Whitley firmly denies it. Trying to get Bright to stay, Dr. Whitley drives his son’s attention to the family annihilator noting that the murderer must have done it out of love. Confused, Bright defends the contrary. However, he too realizes that simply put, Liam didn’t want anything from his family. He wanted out. Unlike him, the criminal must’ve wanted in. But, Aristos didn’t love him so, consumed with rage, the killer took what Aristos did treasure, his family. With Dr. Whitley’s help, Bright realizes Aristos had an illegitimate son.

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Bright immediately calls up Gils. Unfortunately, Liam has jumped off his father’s building perfectly fulfilling Bright’s profile. And now, the higher-ups want the case closed. After a little bit of begging, Gil buys Bright some time. He and Danni follow up on some suspicious payments Aristos made with his lawyer Littman.

While Littman answers their questions, Bright immediately gets suspicious of his demeanor. As Littman serves food over to his family, Bright tells Danni that Littman fits the profile. He’s also exhibiting stress reactions and he’s very defensive of Aristos. Bright’s suspicions are confirmed when he notices that Littman’s daughter has vitiligo much like Aristos.

Littman doesn’t even deny it when Bright brings the truth out in the open. According to Littman, Aristos didn’t know. But, when he came to the old man with the truth, Aristos threw him a 50k check to leave. Danni asks him to willingly surrender himself but then, everything goes silent. Littman already knew they were on to him so he poisoned his family’s food. And now, the whole family including Littman is on the ground. Bright and Danni only have a few minutes before they’re all dead. Thinking quick, Bright goes to grab the atropine in Danni’s medical kit and successfully revives everyone.

The Girl in the Box

With the case solved, Bright and Gil have a little brandy to celebrate. Unfortunately, this triggers whatever sedative the hospital gave Bright and he’s rendered incapable of taking care of himself. With Danni’s help though, he gets home safely and settles himself to deep sleep.

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In his dreams, Bright goes back to his childhood. Terror takes over the young Bright as he sees the girl in the box and he screams. But, suddenly, his dad covers his mouth with a handkerchief and the child falls weak. Whitley takes Bright to his bedroom where Jessica peaks in. Bright tries to get her attention but, she leaves in a second and Whitley drugs his son again to completely knock him out.

The next time Bright visits his father, he directly confronts him about the girl in the box. Again, Dr. Whitley denies it. The terrifying thing is, as Dr. Whitley points out, Bright still has a huge chunk of time missing from his memory. If he didn’t call the cops right after he found the girl, when did he? How many other people died? And why can’t he remember? As Dr. Whitley warns his prodigal son, maybe it’s best he doesn’t remember.

Prodigal Son continues on Monday, October 7th, with “Fear Response” at 9/8c on Fox.