Is ‘Prodigal Son’ Beginning to Tease a Malcolm & Dani Romance? (RECAP)
Spoiler Alert
[Warning: The below contains MAJOR spoilers for Episode 13 of Prodigal Son, “Wait & Hope.”]
Malcolm’s (Tom Payne) supposed to be taking a vacation in Monday’s episode of Prodigal Son, but being who he is, he talks his way into a crime scene drop-by. And in doing so, it seems that the Fox drama begins to truly tease the possibility of a Malcolm-Dani (Aurora Perrineau) romance. Plus, by joining this investigation, Malcolm has the chance to talk to his father face-to-face about the fact that Martin (Michael Sheen) tried to kill him when he was a kid.
Jessica (Bellamy Young) is so determined to get Malcolm on the plane to Tahiti that she has Gil (Lou Diamond Phillips) drive him to the airport. But that turns out to be a mistake since Malcolm talks him into bringing him to a crime scene on the way. Because he does, everyone gets to see him in the suit (below) his mother picked out for him. “What up, Miami Vice?” JT (Frank Harts) asks. “Were you able to kill James Bond?” Dani inquires. “Hello, Colonel,” Edrisa (Keiko Agena) greets him. “I love your chicken.”
But it’s when Edrisa shifts the body that they see the victim was on top of a landmine. It’s only Malcolm’s quick thinking to keep it steady that allows them to evacuate (with the body). Once it activates, Malcolm uses the ticking clock to quickly tell JT and Gil to look into auction houses for records of the murder weapon’s sale and the beginning of a profile for the killer. (He ends up using the weapon to shoot out the window before jumping out and landing on —and crushing — Gil’s car. “I think I’m going to miss my flight,” he tells the team. This might be the best use of “Under Pressure” in a TV episode.)
(David Giesbrecht/FOX.
When it comes to Dani, however, he hesitates. “Uh — never mind,” he says, staring at her. Later, he claims he was just going to tell her “something about the profile, nothing important,” but it definitely didn’t seem that way. Instead, there are moments sprinkled throughout the episode that could be the building blocks of a potential romance. When they have to crash a wedding to stop another murder, they stop to get her a dress and there’s the cliché “he stares at her and tells her she looks amazing” moment.
Furthermore, it’s Dani he opens up to when Gil assigns her to bring Malcolm to the airport. “I’m afraid of me,” Malcolm admits when she asks why he can’t tune out cases. “The more relaxed things are out there, the more time I have to think … Imagine a theater that only plays horror films about you.”
Dani’s also the one by his side when he goes to see Martin about the case and reveals John Watkins (Michael Raymond-James) told him what his father planned to do on that camping trip. Martin insists John just has “an active imagination,” adding, “If I wanted to kill you, I would’ve.” That’s, uh, quite the defense for Martin?
Whatever the truth may be about that camping trip — which serial killer do you believe? — the series has certainly set it up for Malcolm to continue to confide in Dani, which may be eventually leading to a potential romantic relationship. After all, Payne told TV Insider near the beginning of the season that he didn’t think Malcolm “should get into a relationship anytime soon.”
(David Giesbrecht/FOX.
Prodigal Son, Mondays, 9/8c, Fox
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