Prodigies, welcome back to the second installment of Nerds Rewatch Prodigal! If you’re not familiar with this series, every Tuesday night at 9 p.m. ET/8 p.m. CT, we’ll be pressing play to rewatch an episode of Prodigal Son. Last week, we put our rewatch goggles on for episode 10 of season 2, “Exit Strategy.” This week, we delved into the events of the season’s eleventh episode, “You Can Run…,” with a new perspective now that we know what events unfold in order to point out some of its most striking moments and features. Without further ado, let’s jump into what we noticed in episode 11!
Friar Pete Meets His End
In this episode, viewers bid a rather gruesome adieu to Friar Pete. While everyone can agree his character was extremely creepy, it was almost … sad (?) to see him go. Despite the shudder factor, Friar Creep Pete was definitely an interesting addition to Claremont’s halls, especially since before season 2, the audience hadn’t seen a deeper dive into characters besides Martin in the facility. And in his final episode, the audience got a deeper dive than ever, learning about his troubled childhood. Even though he grew up and became a serial killer, you can’t help but feel bad for the guy, especially when Ruiz bursts in and shoots him (in what’s arguably one of the most graphic deaths on the show).
JT and Jessica Have A Heart to Heart
This season, much like the first, has a lot going on all the time. But one thing the Prodigal Son writers excelled at was maintaining storylines. So when JT is left at the Whitly home to keep an eye on Jessica — in case Martin decides to show up — the two have a moment that brings JT’s storyline for this season back to the forefront. Jessica gets a creepy phone call saying horrible things that JT identifies as a targeted call, because he get calls like that, plus bricks in his locker and calls to his wife, because of the racial profiling he’s faced at work. Jessica asks him why he’s never told anyone about all of this, or even filed charges. It amounts to a really special moment between two characters who have not had much of a chance to interact before, and one that ties back to the earlier storyline in a very meaningful way.
Malcolm’s Realization About Dani
Malcolm and Dani have been through a lot this season, which might be an understatement. In this episode, their relationship is taken a little further, though it’s more on the vulnerable side. As the U.S. Marshals question Malcolm about Martin, Malcolm storms off and Dani follows him, trying to comfort him. For the first time, Malcolm admits that he’s not fine and Dani assures him it’s normal. Malcolm really opens up to Dani about what he really feels about Martin being in prison and how he feels now that he’s escaped. Dani tells him they’ll figure it out together. Later on in the episode, Dani points out to Malcolm that he almost took a bullet for The Surgeon, who has done nothing but make his life miserable. While Malcolm agrees that Martin isn’t worth it, he apologizes to Dani and tells her that being his friend can’t be easy. “I’ve never had a friend like you.” Their relationship, personal or professional, is one of the best ones on this show, because their chemistry is so pure and real. They care a lot about each other, whether that’d be platonically or in a romantic sense. But it definitely goes beyond work.
Nothing Good Starts in a Getaway Plane
It was the best of times (for Martin) and the worst of crimes when Martin Whitly concocted his getaway plan all those years ago. And this episode gave us a glimpse into that mysterious past. It’s revealed that Martin had a backup plan should the cops start to close in on him: a small plane stashed away on a farm complete with money, toys for the kids, and passports so they could flee the country. We don’t see a whole lot of what went on during Martin’s active serial killer years, so this was a shocking discovery for both the audience and Malcolm. It once again solidifies how aware Martin was of his devious actions and gives Malcolm some very conflicted feelings. Martin is a killer, but he was also a father who clearly wasn’t planning to abandon his family. It drives Malcolm even more as he hunts for the escaped Martin. We also have to shout out the amazing use of music during this episode as “Mad World” plays during the opening scene with the Batman toy in the 90’s and again as Malcolm finds that toy in the plane and recalls the memory. It’s just one of the many reasons we love Prodigal Son!
Make sure to join us next Tuesday for our live-tweet event under the tag #NerdsRewatchProdigal and the Twitter account @Call4BackupPod as we press play at 9 p.m. ET/8 p.m. CT on episode 8. Additionally, you can listen to our corresponding commentary for this week’s episode on our podcast Call For Backup here. Make sure to stay up to date with all of the news concerning Prodigal Son and the campaign to save the show here. Until next week, Prodigies!
