Posted in: Fox, Review, Trailer, TV | Tagged: action, ainsley, bleeding cool, bright, cable, dr. whitly, drama, endicott, episode 19, gil, horror, Jessica, malcolm, martin, michael sheen, prodigal son, Season 1, streaming, television, the professionals, the surgeon, thriller, Tom Payne, tv

Prodigal Son Season 1 The Professionals Review: Family Divided, United

The opening to this week's episode of FOX's Prodigal Son opens in 1999, as two devils sit around a table at Claremont psychiatric facility and make a deal over a very expensive bottle of wine. The room had potential, not exactly the upper east side with chandeliers and gold crown molding but not a bad place to be for a man who brutally murdered over twenty people. In exchange for digs with a Persian rug, Nicholas Endicott (Dermot Mulroney) bought Martin's (Michael Sheen) silence.  The price of the exchange? Should the silence be broken, Endicott will screw Dr. Whitly's wife and destroy his children's lives. Fast forward to today, Nicholas walks out of Jessica's (Bellamy Young) bedroom clearly implying sexual escapades and joins her shocked and disturbed children for breakfast.

Ainsley (Holston Sage) and Bright (Tom Payne) are not too pleased with their mother's choice of bed mate. Ainsley quickly turns to reporter mode looking into Endicott even going as far as following him, not too discreetly. Bright gets word that Eve has been found dead. Not shocking, there was no way that Endicott would have left her breathing once she found out about her sister and he didn't waste any time. What appears to be a suicide happened shortly after she broke up with Bright to venture out on her solo woman on a mission journey. Poor Bright can't catch a break, the ME agrees that although the death appears to be a suicide it actually isn't and Bright sets out for blood.

There is nothing I enjoy more in Prodigal Son than the interactions when the entire Whitly family is together. "The Surgeon" has softened up so much in the presence of his family throughout the season, it is painfully obvious that they are his Achilles heel. Granted, his love for them set Endicott in motion to destroy his family. Or did it. The timing seemed way too precise, perhaps Nicholas has his own additional agenda. In case you missed it, Sofie, Eve's sister, worked for Nicholas and did everything he asked for, apparently no one says "no" to the sociopathic puppet master or all of their loved ones pay the price.

Prodigal Son Spills the Beans on The Surgeon and Endicott

"The Surgeon" spills the beans, a little too vaguely in my opinion. I wanted to hear more dramatic and sadistic tendencies. Endicott gets what he wants and turns the average person into a monster which I guess is what happened with Sofie. Dr. Whitly forbids Bright from continuing his investigation into Eve's death. Yes, it's clear she was killed by an assassin hired by Nicholas, but if he ventures down that rabbit hole he will suffer by possibly being set up for a murder he didn't commit? Hmm… I think I may have predicted that a few episodes back with Eve's death, although that was me subjectively wanting her gone so that Bright moves on to Dani (Aurora Perrineau).

A great scene plays out when the NYPD tries to draw the assassin out of a crowd, Bright stabs the mark with a knife (don't worry it's just ketchup). Dani takes down to assassin, unfortunately, it's the wrong assassin. The right one has been under their noses the whole time, and it was actually quite brilliant putting him as a guard with Dr. Whitly while Mr. David is recovering. The same assassin spied on Eve for weeks while she was in bed with Bright, Nicholas has eyes and ears on everything and everyone. Ainsley gets caught by Endicott and he offers her a brighter future – where will that lead? Is he trying to buy her loyalty, turn her into one of his puppets, or destroy her?

Probably the sweetest scene of the entire season was Gil (Lou Diamond Phillips) and Jessica having a moment. We finally get confirmation that they were together after "The Surgeon" got locked up, but Jessica left him because she felt she was not good enough. Yes, a little melodramatic, but their chemistry is absolutely fantastic on screen. I'm really rooting for those two, and this conveniently comes before the season finale, which to me clearly implies that Gil will be risking his life to somehow save Jessica's next week and get hurt in the process. While the lovers interlude happens, Bright rushes to Claremont to save his father from Eddie the guard aka the assassin. No need: while Eddie tries to choke The Surgeon out, he very calmly takes out his eyes with his thumbs, amazing.

Nicholas has a very extensive pull, how does a man become so powerful and never getting his hands dirty? Killing Eve, setting up Bright for murder, even taking away Dr. Whitly's favorite guard and companion and replacing him with an assassin. Set on destruction of the Whitly family, what will "The Surgeon" do to prevent this? Clearly, it won't involve just sitting back and letting it happen. I'm certain Dr. Whitly will be seeing the light of day next week after breaking out of Claremont. I just can't see him sitting in a cage while his son is arrested, Jessica is left unprotected, and Ainsley? Probably kidnapped, just a hunch, but we'll find out more next week in "Like Father, Like Son?".

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