‘Prodigal Son’ Season 1, Episode 5 ‘The Trip’ Review: Malcolm Gets High

This week’s episode on Prodigal Son took quite the creepy turn. After continuous nights without sleep, Malcolm’s (Tom Payne) hallucinations have turned from vivid memories to horror-like bodies under canvases with creepy hands reaching out from under them. And I’m not really sure how to feel about it yet. It definitely adds a new color to Prodigal Son but, if they’re going down that road, maybe do it a lot better.

What really takes the cake this week though is Malcolm’s little trip up the clouds. It’s both hilarious and a tad creepy. And it connects well with the revelation of Dani’s (Aurora Perrineau) past. See, this week on the Prodigal Son, Malcolm and Dani are caught in the middle of the tension between two drug groups. And as they plow through a murder involving both groups, Malcolm finds out more about Dani while he himself finds more pieces of the puzzle about his childhood. Unfortunately, for all the quirkiness of this episode, it’s not one of the finer written episodes of Prodigal Son. Here’s how it all went down.

A New Nightmare

From the girl in the box, Malcolm is now dreaming of a figure chained to a corner and covered in a white sheet. And his only reprieve of these nightmares is having a case to work on. Unfortunately, it seems that Gil (Lou Diamond Phillips) is intent on keeping him at a distance for now. Luckily for Malcolm, he has barged into a fresh case so Gil has no choice but to let him tag along.

David Giesbrecht/FOX

Jack Desir, a leader of a drug group, has been found dead in his bar with his throat slit and his tongue cut off. Immediately, suspicion falls on his rival drug leader Saulo (Robert Montano). But, as Malcolm surveys the scene, he notes that Desir welcomed the suspect and he’s more likely to be a friend than an enemy. Dani, however, insists on the first theory.

Later on, the team meets up with Saulo on neutral grounds. And he firmly disputes the claim that he’s behind the murder. Instead, he throws a new name to the table, Estime (Hampton Fluker), Desir’s right hand. Suddenly, Dani becomes very defensive of Estime. And Malcolm doesn’t fail to notice.

At the precinct, Malcolm tries to scratch away on Dani more. But, before she could reveal her relations to Estime, Gil and JT (Frank Harts) come in with Desir’s autopsy reports. There were two people killed on the scene, Desir and his guard. But, Desir died first proving that the killer went through the guard without qualm as if Desir welcomed the killer like a friend. The other odd thing is that while the guard was splattered with blood, Desir’s shirts were clean as if he was wearing something over it when he was murdered. All of this evidence further points to Estime. So, Dani offers to talk to him. But, Gil forbids her to do so until they have a warrant.

Bright Gets High as a Kite

Going against Gil’s orders, Dani visits Estime’s club later that night. Luckily, Malcolm was on to her and together, the two confront Estime. Dani tries to get Estime to admit the truth so she could help him. However, he’s firm that he didn’t kill his friend. And Malcolm agrees. Suddenly, someone starts shooting at them. As Estime escapes, the bullets hit Estime’s stash of drugs that explode in Malcolm’s face. When Gil gets to the scene, Malcolm’s already so far gone. As punishment for disregarding his orders, Gil sends Dani to babysit him at home.

David Giesbrecht/FOX

At home, Malcolm’s high makes him quirkier than usual. He invites Dani to an ax-throwing marathon. He asks her to dance. Then, he gives at the thought of grilled cheese. Basically, Malcolm getting high is like having annoying Malcolm times ten. Unfortunately, getting high also brings out the demons of Malcolm’s subconscious. In the bathroom, Malcolm sees a man hanging on a hook on his mirror. Then, later on, he hallucinates the box and a pair of hands grabbing him from the cloth-covered body.

Terrified, he rushes to the bathroom and his subconscious takes over. Eerily, it presents itself as him in his father’s cell, cardigans, chains, and all. And from that surfaces a memory of a shoebox where he kept mementos and pictures of his childhood. Dani finds him screaming bloody murder and with no other way to calm him down, she punches him unconscious.

Dani’s Debt

The next morning, Dani wakes up to find Malcolm as normal as he can be. This time, when he asks about her relations with Estime, Dani gives. Some time ago, she infiltrated Desir’s camp. There, she and Estime got close. But, it all fell sideways when she got hooked up. When she overdosed, it was Estime who took her to the hospital and even then, he kept her real identity as a secret. That’s why she insists that he’s not the murderer.

David Giesbrecht/FOX

Getting her bearings together, Dani walks into work later on with a clearer head. Coincidentally, the police have caught one of Desir’s hostesses who was involved in the club shooting. It seems that Saulo was the culprit behind it. More than that, Dani finds out what went down between Estime and Desir. As it turns out, Estime fell in love with one of Desir’s hostesses named Fabiola. But, Desir wouldn’t let her go. Instead, he sent her out on an operation as a mule where she died.

Officially Friends

With enough evidence to go on, Malcolm and Dani track down Estime to the hair salon he bought for Fabiola. There, they find Trini, the carer of Desir’s hostesses, and Estime about to get his haircut. When Dani confronts him, however, Estime gets emotional but adamantly maintains that he’s innocent. By the side, Malcolm notices the waterproof barber cape and Trini’s shifty behavior. Slowly, he connects the dots. And when he finds a picture of Trini on the side of the mirror with a younger woman, he figures out that Trini was Fabiola’s mother.

David Giesbrecht/FOX

Busted, Trini threatens to cut Estime’s throat and she almost does. But, when Dani offers to find her daughter’s body and to give her a proper burial, they manage to prevent another murder. Suddenly, Saulo and his men arrive to finish what they started at the club. Thinking quick, Dani comes out to face them and convincingly lies that Estime’s dead. Before Saulo can further investigate, backup arrives.

At the precinct, Estime gives Dani the location of Fabiola’s body. And Dani promises that she’ll make sure she’s buried properly. Afterwhich, Malcolm comes in bearing the gift of earl grey tea. And after denying and dancing around the topic for a long time, the two finally admit that they’re officially friends.

The Pickup Camper

Meanwhile, Jessica (Bellamy Young) has finally decided to remove the anonymous tag on her charities. More than that, she’s decided to send out offers for beneficiaries. But, just when she’s losing hope of anyone ever taking her up because of the Whitly name, a young human rights lawyer named Eve (Molly Griggs) shows up unannounced. And she offers Jessica to support her fight against human trafficking.

The two women get along smoothly. And without hesitance, Jessica gives away part of her fortune for Eve’s cause. At that moment, Malcolm barges in on two women’s meeting and asks his mother about the shoebox. But, Jessica insists that it has also gone up in flames along with other mementos of Dr. Whitly’s. In between the mother and son’s exchange, Malcolm still finds time to talk with Eve. And boy is she charmed.

Later on in the night, Malcolm is surprised to find the shoebox lying on his countertop. As it turns out, Jessica had a change of mind and sent it over. As Malcolm goes through the pictures, he finds a picture of him and his dad on a camping trip. Behind them is the familiar pickup camper that has been plaguing Malcolm’s dreams along with the body under the white cloth. The more pieces come to light from Malcolm’s lost memories, the more possible it seems that Malcolm may not be the innocent little prodigal son he is.

Prodigal Son continues Monday, October 28th, with “The Surgeon” at 9/8c on Fox.