# Prodigal Son (2019)

> A criminal psychologist who is the son of a notorious serial killer uses his dark insight to help the NYPD catch murderers.

Canonical page: https://ember.film/tv/77819

## Facts

- Seasons: 2
- Episodes: 33
- Episode runtime: 45 min
- Status: Canceled
- Genres: crime, drama, mystery
- Created by: Chris Fedak, Sam Sklaver
- Network: FOX
- Cast: Tom Payne, Michael Sheen, Bellamy Young, Lou Diamond Phillips, Halston Sage, Aurora Perrineau, Frank Harts, Keiko Agena
- TMDB rating: 7.6/10
- IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt10327354/

## Ember's analysis

- Pacing: brisk
- Intensity: moderate
- Complexity: accessible
- Violence: moderate
- Tone: tense, brooding, dark, psychological, gripping

## What critics say

Audiences rate Prodigal Son positively, valuing its engaging serial killer mysteries and the psychological interplay between Malcolm Bright and his father.

## Synopsis

Prodigal Son (2019-2021) is an American crime drama created by Chris Fedak and Sam Sklaver for FOX. Malcolm Bright (Tom Payne) is an acclaimed criminal psychologist and the son of a notorious serial killer, and he uses his unsettling understanding of how killers think to consult for the New York City Police Department. Opposite him, Dr. Martin Whitly (Michael Sheen) is his estranged father, a convicted murderer whose manipulative presence hangs over every case. Detective Gil Arroyo (Lou Diamond Phillips) and detective Dani Powell (Aurora Perrineau) bring Malcolm into each murder investigation, and the engine of the show is the tension between solving a fresh crime and confronting a buried past. Across two seasons and thirty-three episodes, the series runs as a mostly case-of-the-week police procedural with serialized threads about family, memory, and identity. The tone is tense and brooding, with a dark psychological edge and a steady undercurrent of dread. Fans of Hannibal, The Mentalist and Mindhunter will find resonance in its portrait of profiling, manipulation and damaged minds working on the edge of the law.

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