'Prodigal Son' Episode 2 'Annihilator': Who is the girl in the box Malcolm thinks he saw in his father's study?
Spoilers ahead for episode 2 'Annihilator' of 'Prodigal Son'
When a quadruple homicide is brought his way by the NYPD, Malcolm Bright (Tom Payne) jumps at the chance to work with Gil Arroyo (Lou Diamond Phillips). This time around, there are four victims at the dinner table on the crime scene with the head of the family tied in such a manner that he could see the misery and pain of the rest of the family before dying. As Malcolm tries to get into the mind of the killer to know how he went about the killing, he finds himself dealing with something else.
Last episode, Bright had paid a visit to his serial killer father Dr Martin Whitly (Michael Sheen), who is better known as The Surgeon, in the psychiatric facility where he is kept. While this visit somewhat pushes him on the right path for the investigation, the repercussions of seeing his father for the first time in several years doesn't sit well with Bright. His mental health begins to deteriorate - he starts getting frequent night terrors, tremors, anxiety attacks and PTSD.
It is one particular nightmare that keeps coming back at him relentlessly.
It is revealed at the end of episode 1 that when Dr Whitly was arrested in the 90s, it was Bright who had phoned the police on his father. This is also where he meets Gil Arroyo for the first time - he is Dr Whitly's arresting officer. Following the arrest, Bright doesn't meet his father for long but is haunted by one vision. There is a girl in a box that Malcolm had seen - a girl crouched shut into the box and terrorised, in his father's study. Her face is not visible to Malcolm neither is it shown on the screen, but there is something disturbing about the way she is crammed inside. And then, he wakes up.
These nightmares keep coming back to him, but he cannot seem to make a thing of it. At the same time, his father's persistence that they are both the same could mean that there is a possibility that the "psychotic inclinations" that he was fired from the FBI could, after all, mean that the father-son duo is not all that different.
But Bright is more interested in finding out the mysteries that are hidden away in his childhood. Tormented by these terrors, Malcolm is faced with a question: are his dreams just nightmares or did they actually happen?
When Malcolm tells his mother Jessica (Bellamy Young) about these nightmares and his urge to find out the truth behind it, she puts it aside - as she has all these years. We are guessing that Malcolm's mother might know more than she lets on. Who on 'Prodigal Son' has the answers?
'Prodigal Son' airs on Mondays at 9 PM ET/PT.
