User Reviews

This is one of the best tv shows with great actors/actress. You must continue episodes If Fox can't appreciate this. At least you should to end this properly!! Not like this.

I normally stay away from anything "horror" related. But, I am a criminal minds fan. Yes, I knew that it looked very silence of the lambs in the beginning, but I stuck with it and was thoroughly entertained. Michael Sheen was amazing! I hope the rest of the season continues this well.

I LOVE this show and all the craziness that goes on!

From the first episode, I was grabbed by the story of Malcolm Bright and his family (Eternally bummed with the short seasons, though!).

Lou Diamond Phillips' character, Gil, and Malcolm have a fascinating relationship, as well.

But mom (Bellamy Young) and sis (Halston Sage) have some surprises!

The supporting cast is solid.

This is a show of twists and twistedness, humor and heart.

I am extremely upset that this brilliant and creative show has been cancelled.

Though FOX seems to have a history of cancelling most of my favorite shows... on their network.

I hope it gets picked up by another network!

Just watched the final episode and I'm blown away. It can't end like this! This last episode had me on the edge of my seat. I pray Netflix, Hulu or another station picks it up. Everything about it is absolutely phenomenal and I'm saddened that Fox couldn't see the brilliance of the cast and writing.

I noticed that many of the less than great reviews are based on just watching the pilot, or a few episodes. After watching the first few episodes I wondered where it was heading, and was not yet hooked. But as I keep watching, every episode make me like it more. There is the weekly murder mystery, as well as the ongoing backstory.

While some people might compare this show to Criminal Minds, it's different. With Criminal Minds it is more of a good guys catch bad guys type of show. The last show I like as much as this was The Mentalist, the main character had a way to get into people's minds, and is not afraid to take it to the extreme. With Prodigal Son, much like the Mentalist, the main character has a perspective on the criminals based on personal tragedies.

I do not watch much television. Every year there are only a few shows that I make a point of watching. Prodigal Son has become one of those shows for me

I have not been so captivated of a network show in a very long time!

This show has potential but every scene is so over the top and convenient that it's hard to take it seriously.

I hate procedural detective shows. But I love Silence of the Lambs. It reminds of Hannibal Lecter show which makes me drawn to it....I don't know why..It's not something I would consider as greatly executed show. But it builds up to something. I love Malcolm character. I don't like show focusing on his sister or his mom. I want it to be simply him and his father but apparently it is not where the show takes us to. Anyway, I admire actors and I hope the show will go beyond norms and bring something nasty and horrific like "Hanniba"l did. I hope they won't deviate from Malcolm. He is charismatic. And there is a lot to explore in the relationship between son and a father/killer.

For a pilot episode it seemed a bit rushed, it was as if they were throwing a lot out at the viewers to keep them captivated and wanting more. Was it horrible? No, I still enjoyed the episode and the overall premise of the show itself is what's making me want to continue watching. His father is an infamous SERIAL KILLER!!!!! It's not going to be everyone's tea but if you are into crime/killer drama like me, then this may be for you. So many shows are cut short before even getting to show us what they got, try not to judge to much based off the pilot.

I really liked this show! Has a lot of action, some humor, and suspenseful. With the two seasons it has it is off to a good start and I always look forward to watching this show even if it's not live (but on Hulu) and it's interesting to see the new ways the surgeon influences the story as well as how Malcom is reacting with him.

As somebody else said here, Thomas Harris should consider suing. There's no doubt that this show is trying to piggy-back on the success of Hannibal and that Tom Payne's troubled Malcolm Bright is a slim shadow of Hugh Dancy's edgier and more interesting Will Graham. Nevertheless, the production is slick, the writing is solid if patchy in places and the story moves along at a relatively good clip. It's not going to change your life but it's not a terrible way to spend an hour.

Started well as a Hannibal serial killer thriller series but soon undone with constant flashbacks, overacting and oh so many cliches that it is actually embarrassing that the writers are allowed to get away with this laziness. With so many poor crime shows like this being pumped out these days an opportunity with the cast has been sadly lost. Shame

Seems like everything on tv is based on cops, lawyers, or drs and many of these shows get stale and monotonous quickly. I appreciate the originality of the show. It's dark and is interesting. The plot is pretty good. Hopefully the acting will improve as the show progresses. I really enjoy watching the father and Malcom. However, the sister and the detectives sometimes are unconvincing. Overall, it has some components of Criminal Minds, Blacklist and Hannibal which is a positive. Hopefully it sticks around because I am growing tired of the lack of variety on current tv.

I perused the new show line-up and saw nothing I would waste my time and/or DVR space on until I happened onto Prodigal Son and decided to give it a try. The first 5 minutes I began to yawn but I kept watching for another 5 minutes and suddenly I was "HOOKED" It is a unique TV crime thriller with a couple of twists to keep me guessing (and that's pretty hard to do). This is the only show in the Fall line-up that I will be watching and will probably watch until it has its final season. I hope that FOX keeps it in their line-up or I will be forced back to a streaming service to find anything that isn't the idiotic junk they try to pass off as a comedy or romance.

As always our handsome Lou Diamond Phillips is one of the best actors ever! ...also Michael Sheen is brillant and Tom Payne is a good actor...i love love this series!! Its on Fox and hulu

Malcolm's nuance of expression excellent. Camerawork alone is worth a look. Jessica is always overwrought but then she is supposed to be. Season ending quite a surprise and what a cliffhanger!

MAG

I've written a review for each season of "Prodigal Son" on their respective final episode pages, but I thought I'd put something here too

Usually, I try and avoid shows like "Prodigal Son", anything where is the same formula repeated over and over again wears on me pretty quickly, but the combination of Michael Sheen hamming it up Hannibal Lecter-style and Jesus from "The Walking Dead" doing his manic eyes thing was too much to resist. Though I made it through the whole run, by the end I was already watching out of a sense of obligation, rather than enjoyment.

Malcolm Bright (Tom Payne) is a disgraced FBI profiler, he teams up with the NYPD and specifically with Gill Arroyo (Lou Diamond Phillips) the police office who arrested his father decades earlier. Malcolm's father is Martin Whitly (Michael Sheen) a notorious serial killer nicknamed "The Surgeon". Profiling for the NYPD gives Malcolm a reason to reconnect with his father, who, though confined to his prison cell, has earned a number of privileges over the years by operating on wealthy clients.

It's really hard not to start with the frankly glaring casting decisions of the show. Tom Payne, charismatic lead as though he is, is far too old to convincingly be Michael Sheen's son - let alone Bellamy Young, who plays his mother. Anybody that doesn't pause the show in the first episode to check out everyone's real ages is startlingly willing to suspend their disbelief. That said, I like all the characters and I like the way they interact with each other. I particularly like Keiko Agena as Edrisa, a forensic doctor unable to hide her crush on Malcolm and of course, Sheen is tremendous - chewing the scenery wonderfully as he switches between caring, concerned father and vicious monster.

The trouble is that 90% of the time, the show is just a reskinned version of "House" - a dysfunctional genius gets last minute inspiration from an outside source and saves the day. I knew the show was cancelled before I started to watch the second season but the ending does, sort of, work as a conclusion for the show. Unless your tolerance for these sorts of shows is much higher than mine though, I'd suggest that life is too short to spend it on this one.

I'm 2 episodes in and hooked. Tom Payne is great as the genius profiler with a traumatic past and Martin Sheen is very convincing and creepy as the "loving" serial killer father. I like that the cases being solved feel like a background story and the manipulative father son relationship stays at the forefront.

I enjoyed season 1. In the first episode of season 2 I thought the incident where the police guy/detective was pinned to the wall by 'other' police officers was very clumsy and seemed totally out of place with what was going on!! It was there for obvious reasons and was as subtle as a sledgehammer!!!! I hope this was a one off. I watch this to be entertained, not to be lectured at. If they carry this theme on in future episodes I will stop watching.

I was not expecting to fall in love with a show like this but it blew me away from moment one.

Not only is every episode incredibly thrilling, captivating and leaves you wanting more with every new twist...

But they also beautifully portray a man with severe cPTSD in such an authentic way and I've never seen anything like it.

They openly discuss his struggles with trauma and how he fights to move forward in life despite a career he's chosen in direct reaction to that trauma.

Tom Payne doesn't just pull off this role, it encompasses him. The talent and emotion he pours into Malcolm Bright is overwhelming.

And his serial killer father played by Michael Sheen.... AMAZING! He makes you love him! He's funny but so manipulative of his family and it's twisted and delightful now it just sucks you in.

This show is gold.

Yes. In every episode, nothing actually happens and the bad guy is always who you think it is from the get go... Does it mean I am a great profiler, or that the storyline is weak?

One star because Michael Sheen is in there and is flawless. On paper the show seemed interesting. But right on you realize it's cheap. A tv show on the consequences of having a famous serial killer as your dad looks really interesting. Add Sheen as the serial killer, I thought "Yes! Brilliant!" On the first ep you realize it's not going to work. It should have been dark, it's not. They try to make it dark, and also funny and also a procedural. The characters are caricature, the rich mother, the blond naive daughter, and the son so damaged it doesn't make even any sense how he can hold it together enough to close a case and handle his father and his complex family dynamic. The show wants to be everything and it's nothing. But what's make me uncomfortable is that it's not well played, the actors are too much, the writing is too easy. I frankly don't understand how Michael Sheen ended up in this show.

Rather than focusing on the present, the show seemed to be tracing back into the past too much, even in the first episode. Malcolm's state of mind and his relationship with his SERIAL KILLER father is both complex and interesting. Michael Sheen's performance is fantastic as well, I'm already hooked!