Prodigal Son Review: Exit Strategy (Season 2 Episode 10)
Prodigal Son Season 2 Episode 10, “Exit Strategy,” starts out normal enough as Capshaw wakes up from a dream in which she and Martin are lusting for each other as they operate on a body. Sorry, did I say normal? Yes, I meant incredibly chaotic.
The writers came up with a very smart way to get three escapees out of Claremont. The only problem is that it ridiculously hard to believe.
How on Earth is Capshaw this naive? She finds Friar Pete messing with the hospital rats (casual) and lets him blackmail her, is told to her fact that Martin is an antagonist, and then she still goes to him for reassurance on the situations?
Girl, he’s a serial killer. He’s killed 20+ women and you thought he found the light with you?
She’s shocked and upset when Martin leaves with her badge, which would make a lot of sense if she was truly that dumb. She’s not, though.
Dr. Capshaw, while massively inappropriate and unprofessional, is not stupid. To insinuate that we the fans believe that doesn’t make sense.
From everything they’ve told us, Capshaw is this brilliant, beautiful doctor who doesn’t take anyone’s crap. (See: her beating up Pete in the boiler room.) So now, after figuring out that Pete did in fact poison everyone with the rat poison, she decides the smartest thing is to uncuff Martin and let him go somewhere alone?
Yeah, I absolutely blame Capshaw for their breakout.
Also, can we talk about how Martin’s guard, Mr. David, was there one minute and gone the next? When he comes to get Martin, he seems stable, healthy, like he didn’t eat any of the poison, but then he completely disappears.
I’m sure he was going to get other sick inmates or something of the sort, but since he’s usually right outside whatever room Martin is in, it was odd.
Again, it was a great plan that was clearly successful — but to think that Capshaw wouldn’t put all the pieces together ahead of time is a bit of an insult to her character. If they’d activated this plan with a different person, or if Capshaw wasn’t literally hand-fed the information, it would be a lot more believable.
Meanwhile, on the other side of town…
It always makes me laugh whenever Jessica is just hanging out in Malcolm’s loft while he’s sleeping or just getting home. He clearly doesn’t mind too much, but the initial reaction from him, confusion and wonder, to her, who always acts like this is completely normal, is hilarious.
This time is even better when Jessica points out that Malcolm didn’t wake up screaming and he looks fairly well-rested. Later, when Gil says the same thing, it becomes a brief moment of Mom and Pseudo-Dad looking after their kid.
Let’s go back though: Malcolm Bright is finally getting some sleep.
The cases on Prodigal Son are famous for having a deeper meaning. “Exit Strategy” is no different. We’re finally confronting head-on Malcolm’s feelings for Dani.
His fear about hurting her and putting her in danger is completely valid… and also a bit of a scapegoat. Dani makes her own decisions, and she should be allowed to decide if she wants to take the so-called risk of being with him.
While there’s plenty of reasons to be nervous about Prodigal Son jumping the shark, watching Dani and Malcolm bloom would really flip the type on its head. I would assume they’re going for a slow burn, hence Malcolm being interrupted immediately before telling her he has feelings for her.
But wouldn’t it be awesome if Prodigal Son was the show that got the main characters together in Season 2 and it worked?
Jessica goes to Claremont to ask Martin about the key she found as if he’d really tell her, and she figures out what Martin is doing from one sentence and the lockdown… Queen activity.
Speaking of queen activity, has anyone seen Darryl lately? You can’t miss him. He’s got a stiletto sticking out of his head.
Jessica having to defend herself is really quite heartbreaking. She walks around every day ready with a quick rebuttal or an eye roll, shrugging off Martin’s actions, but when faced with who he really is, and the thought that he’s sent someone after her, she is incredibly scared of him.
Hopefully, now that Gil is involved, she’ll be safe and sound, as well as Malcolm and Ainsley. Maybe Gil can figure out where that key belongs too.
Stray Thoughts:
- The second Malcolm said he was trying to separate himself from his father we should’ve known the line “we’re the same” would come up. Ugh.
- When Malcolm is ending the phone call with Martin and he says “that felt good” you can practically hear the writers laughing from the writer’s room.
- Jessica saying “I do hope there’s something wrong with him,” was absolutely iconic. This show may just end with her snapping and killing Martin. Not actually, but wouldn’t that be fun?
- This back and forth was so funny:
JT: Who still has a landline?
Gil: I still have-Dani: Old people.
What did you think of this episode of Prodigal Son? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
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Prodigal Son airs Tuesdays at 9/8c on FOX.
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Laura Wanberg
Laura is a homebody who loves everything about TV. Some of her favorite shows include Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, Parks and Recreation, and The Morning Show. With her ever-growing list of new shows to watch and books to read, her favorite thing to do is to cuddle up with her cat and get lost in someone else's world.