Prodigal Son Review: The Trip (Season 1 Episode 5)

The last thing we need is even MORE Bright on Prodigal Son. Give it a rest, already! 

The character of Malcolm Bright, including Tom Payne’s still poor performance of him, is the weakest thing about the freshman series. 

Prodigal Son Season 1 Episode 5, “The Trip,” missteps even further than Prodigal Son Season 1 Episode 4, “Designer Complicity,” by leaning into that weakness. 

Bright as his father Martin Whitly in the hallucination is wildly unconvincing. I suppose it makes sense that for someone as narcissistic as Bright, that his hallucinations would be dominated by his vision of himself. 

But still, it makes for eye-rolling scenes rather than scary ones. 

Instead of providing Dani some meaty and interesting content that allows us to get to know her, we get a plotline drenched in white savior and women of color tropes. 

Dani is a woman of color detective who has worked undercover in an advanced unit. She is highly qualified to do her job and has already demonstrated, even with very little screentime, that she is beyond competent. 

Prodigal Son has her expertise situated in a drug cartel case. 

I am offended. 

The only specialty or particular prowess the show gives Dani, despite her aforementioned skills, is in the area of drug cartels. 

There have been many other areas of crime and criminality that have come up, one per episode, and for each of those Bright had particular expertise. 

So, the very first and only area where Dani, the woman of color on the series, has expertise is drug gangs. 

By doing this, Prodigal Son reinforces the stereotype that all people of color are connected to drug enterprises. Even if they’ve gotten out, like Dani, gangs are their culture. 

Barf. 

It’s beyond barf though; it is dangerous. When TV reinforces the stereotype that all people of color are criminals or come from criminal communities, it creates a bias of guilt against us. 

In a sad coincidence, Bright as a profiler is contributing to racial profiling stereotypes. 

Just because Dani is mixed-race doesn’t mean that she is automatically appropriate for the drug cases. 

The point of the story, to give us insight into Dani’s past and her connection to someone in an underworld, could have been established easily in another realm that is not racially coded against people of color. 

How about fine art theft? The dark web and bitcoin crimes? Ponzi schemes? Instagram festival frauds like Fyrefest?

Or, to link to the newest character on the show Eve, Dani could have experience in the truly horrific area of human trafficking.

The same story beats could have been met without harming communities of color. It would also expose viewers to new areas of organized crime other than drugs. 

None of this takes away from how Aurora Perrineau shines on the episode. Her acting is grounded, authentic and warm. Dani is fascinating and layered. 

I know I want to be her friend, too.

I would gladly see the show shift away from Bright and come to have her as the prodigal son of the title. In fact, that may be the only way to save Prodigal Son for me. 

Case Notes

• I miss Dr. Adrisa! She’s a trip in herself.
• New love interest Eve looks just like Ainsley. Yuck. 
• The tea moment is actually quite nice. No tea spilling on that one. 
• I need a flashback of Detective Gil going on stakeouts with baby-Dani. 
• Detective Gil needs more to do on the show than light exposition. More Gil and Jessica, please!
• I eat those nightmares for breakfast, just saying.
• Sassy Jessica is back and I’m grateful. Her snark game is on point.

What did you think of this episode of Prodigal Son? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

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Prodigal Son airs Mondays at 9/8c on Fox.

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