Prodigal Son Season 1 (2020) Review

So for the last 20 weeks Prodigal Son has been on and I just finished the finale and here is my review for the first season of the the show. The premise of the show focuses on a criminal psychologist who's Father is a famous Serial Killer, which drives his work. 

Main Character

Tom Payne who is best known for playing Jesus on The Walking Dead plays Malcolm Bright and does a really fantastic job. Malcolm is such an interesting character and as you see him work, you see the really interesting way his mind works and how it is so different to the rest of the cast and the rest of the characters. He is a character you care about, but he has way more to him then being a generic good guy and one that is captivating and one that you really want to keep watching. 

Supporting Characters

Michael Sheen plays his Father on the show and you can tell he is having so much fun in his role, his dynamic with Payne is probably the most interesting part of the show and as you learn more about their relationship the more interesting it gets. The rest of the crew that Malcolm works with are great too, Lou Diamond Phillips as Gil, Aurora Perrineau as Dani & Frank Harts as JT, they are great supporting players for Malcolm and they are a likeable crew and one that works very well together as they go from case to case. Bellamy Young plays his mother and yes she overacts quite a bit, but it actually fit her character, she is a different part of Malcolm's life and it works in terms of the story they are trying to tell here. Halston Sage plays his sister and for the majority of the season I thought she was underutilised, but by the end of the season it all makes sense and is really interesting and fully develops her character. 

Story 

The story is good, the characters are given plenty to do and Malcolm is a great protagonist. There are plenty of investigations that the crew have to work on and for the most part they are really unique and interesting and keep you guessing every week. It also does a good job of blending the weekly investigations with the overall plot and keeping that progressing at a nice pace. But there are a few issues with the plot, the main one being that the show chucks some big villain twists in the last few episodes that come out of nowhere and it makes you question why this idea couldn't have been introduced a few episodes earlier to develop it better. Also the show can't quite get over its episodic nature and it does come across that way but the ending of the season is fantastic and does a great job in setting up the next season and keep you invested. 

Script

The script is very good, it does a really good job with its dark humour, you can go from real drama to chuckling along and that is well done. Also credit to the show writes to coming up with these interesting investigations that do feel pretty diverse as the weeks go by. 

Style 

The show has an interesting style, it doesn't hide away from violence and that helps, it makes everything feel bigger and worse, even though it is crazy how much crime there is. The style of the show keeps you interested and its unique feeling and good characters keeps you invested and wants to keep watching. But onto the worst part of the show is that it is 20 episodes long, there is a brilliant 12 episode season but because of American networks they have to have too many episodes and it does hurt the quality of the show. 

Overall

Overall, this is one of the sleeper hits of 2020 and is a great show. It does have an investigation of the week feel but it does enough to keep it interesting and a great selection of characters with a great ending that makes it worth a watch. 

Rating - 8/10