History Series / ProdigalSon

** The same goes for Bellamy Young, who plays Malcolm's mother Jessica and is also only 13 years older than him. It's more noticeable in her case, as she doesn't look old enough to have children in their 30s unless she had them in her very early 20s or had a lot of plastic surgery.

* DemonicPossession: In "Speak of the Devil", two different people are convinced they're possessed by a demon. In one case, his psychosis is kept relatively under control by rituals that convince him it's restrained. The other though was a killer, driven to commit ritual murder after lead poisoning caused him to develop delusions. He too though is stopped by Malcolm performing an exorcism with a friar's instruction since it's something that the killer ''[[PlaceboEffect believes]]'' works. It's also mentioned that the modern Catholic Church only quite rarely performs an exorcism, since so many cases are like this, the result of delusions.

* SinisterMinister: In Season 2, Martin befriends Friar Pete, a former monk-turned-serial killer also incarcerated in Claremont.

* DarkSecret: As of Season 2, there's the matter of [[spoiler: Ainsley killing Endicott and Malcolm disposing of the body to protect her]].
* DemonicPossession: In "Speak of the Devil", two different people are convinced they're possessed by a demon. In one case, his psychosis is kept relatively under control by rituals that convince him it's restrained. The other though was a killer, driven to commit ritual murder after lead poisoning caused him to develop delusions. He too though is stopped by Malcolm performing an exorcism with a friar's instruction since it's something that the killer [[spoiler:(a priest himself)]] ''[[PlaceboEffect believes]]'' works. It's also mentioned that the modern Catholic Church only quite rarely performs an exorcism, since so many cases are like this, the result of delusions.

* RealLifeWritesThePlot: Martin earns his transfer from Ryker's back to Claremont by helping the prison deal with the UsefulNotes/COVID19Pandemic.

* DemonicPossession: In "Speak of the Devil", two different people are convinced they're possessed by a demon. In one case, his psychosis is kept relatively under control by rituals that convince him it's restrained. The other though was a killer, driven to commit ritual murder after lead poisoning caused him to develop delusions. He too though it stopped by Malcolm performing an exorcism with a friar's instruction since it's something that the killer [[spoiler:(a priest himself)]] ''[[PlaceboEffect believes]]'' works. It's also mentioned that the modern Catholic Church only quite rarely performs an exorcism, since so many cases are like this, the result of delusions.

** [[spoiler:Happens again in the cold open of the first episode of the second season:]]
--->[[spoiler:'''Malcolm:''' I profiled you. That's how I knew you'd come here tonight, to kill the Rose family. Slit their throats, like you did the Catlins last week. You're the Penthouse Slasher. But when you got here tonight, something spooked you. So you ditched the knife, climbed out here, onto my ledge. ... Except you're smiling. ... ''Oh.'' You didn't ditch the knife.]]

* DidntSeeThatComing: Invoked when Malcolm does a fantastic sting on a corrupt shrink. About to be arrested, the man snarls "did you see this?" as he points a gun in Malcolm's face. Malcolm is forced to admit "No, I did not."

* {{Foreshadowing}}: Early in the Season 2 premiere, Dani mentions the world's renewed focus on systemic racism in police forces. During the episode's climax, JT is assaulted by beat cops who mistake him for a perp.

Now a profiler, formerly with the FBI (until he was fired) and currently working with the New York City Police Department, Malcolm is forced to confront his father after a copycat serial killer uses Dr. Whitly's methods of killing, and now finds himself drawn back into constant contact with his father as he must both use Dr. Whitly's insights to help the police solve particularly horrible crimes and battle his own inner demons.

The second season will air in 2021.

* ClearMyName: Malcolm has to do this in "Like Father..." after [[spoiler: Eve's killer is murdered in his hospital bed and his DNA is planted on the body]].

* EngineeredHeroics: In "Q&A", [[spoiler: another inmate at Martin's asylum stabs a guard and Ainsley's boyfriend/cameraman, causing a lockdown while both Ainsley and Malcolm are visiting Martin. Martin uses his surgical skills to save Jin, which impresses Ainsley, but as Malcolm figures out by the episode's end, Martin goaded the inmate into doing it in the first place during one of their group sessions.]]

* {{Profiling}}: JT is a victim of this from White police officers in the Season 2 premiere, who assume he's involved with the crime with no evidence at all, just because he's Black. After they draw their guns on him (and one calls him "boy" to boot) he's in great danger before Dani arrives, rescuing him by revealing that JT's a detective. He's outraged about it afterward, but afraid they'll claim he assaulted them in defense. Gil assures him he'll back up what he says though.

* {{Profiling}}: TJ is a victim of this from White police officers in the Season 2 premiere, who assume he's involved with the crime with no evidence at all, just because he's Black. After they draw their guns on him (and one calls him "boy" to boot) he's in great danger before Dani arrives, rescuing him by revealing that TJ's a detective. He's outraged about it afterward, but afraid they'll claim he assaulted them in defense. Gil assures him he'll back up what he says though.

It's not the same as the [[Fanfic/ProdigalSon fanfic based on]] ''WesternAnimation/HowToTrainYourDragon''.

* DrivingQuestion: For Malcolm, it's what happened during the period of his childhood that he can't remember, [[spoiler: specifically the time between when he found an abducted girl in his father's kill room and when he made the call to the police turning him in. And as an addendum to this, he wants to know what happened to the girl, as the police never found her]].

* FirstEpisodeSpoiler: A young Malcolm was the one who called the police on his father.

* DroppedABridgeOnHim: In between "Scheherazade" and "The Professionals", [[spoiler: Eve is killed offscreen by an assassin sent by Eddicot]].

* NeverSuicide: [[spoiler: Eve is drowned by Eddicot's assassin, who then tosses her off a bridge to make it look like she killed herself.]]

* TearJerker: [[spoiler:Eve]]'s death. Not only was she the first person Malcolm romantically loved. Not only did she just reunite with her sister. Not only did Sophie not actually have evidence against him. But she may not have even planned to take down Endicott, seeing as she just wanted a reunion with her sister.

** In "Like Father...", Jessica rams her car into the one that [[spoiler: one of Endicott's {{Mooks}} is using to dispose of the NotQuiteDead Gil]] in order to save him.

* CarFu: In "The Job", Vijay saves Malcolm by running over the killer of the week with his car. He had earlier shared a story with Malcolm about how his drug runner father once ran over someone the same way, which Malcolm discreetly references to tell Vijay what to do.

* LuxuryPrisonSuite: Martin's cell is spacious and well-furbished, thanks to some rich clients (primarily Saudis, apparently) who don't mind employing the services of a doctor who happens to be a psychopathic serial killer. [[spoiler: This turns out to be a lie -- the cell was actually paid for by Nicholas Eddicot, in order to buy Martin's silence over his knowledge of Eddicot's crimes.]]

** "Scheherazade": [[spoiler: Malcolm and Eve confront Martin, with an unexpected twist: Her sister Sophie, before Martin killed her, managed to reveal some DarkSecret about a powerful figure. Martin then '''spared her''' as she proved to be more useful alive... oh, and the figure in question is Nicholas Eddicot, Jessica's new LoveInterest whom Sophie claimed to be even ''worse'' than [[SerialKiller Martin]].]]

** Martin's final flashback in "Scheherazade" contains a single line that seriously changes things: [[spoiler: the name of the powerful figure Sophie claimed was worse than Martin -- Nicholas Eddicot]].

* DreamSequence: Martin spends most of "Death's Door" in a coma, after [[spoiler: having Malcolm stab him]] in the previous episode, with his mind conjuring up vivid hallucinations as a result. It starts as him reliving his memory of the day he killed "the girl in the box", only for it to suddenly shift to her stabbing him and swearing to kill his family as revenge for what he did to her. [[spoiler: He even realizes he can take lucid control of the vision, and turns the tables on her just before he wakes up.]]

* EngineeredHeroics: In “Q&A”, [[spoiler: another inmate at Martin's asylum stabs a guard and Ainsley's boyfriend/cameraman, causing a lockdown while both Ainsley and Malcolm are visiting Martin. Martin uses his surgical skills to save Jin, which impresses Ainsley, but as Malcolm figures out by the episode's end, Martin goaded the inmate into doing it in the first place during one of their group sessions.]]

* LuxuryPrisonSuite: Martin's cell is spacious and well-furbished, thanks to some rich clients (primarily Saudis, apparently) who don't mind employing the services of a doctor who happens to be a psychopathic serial killer.

* ParentalTitleCharacterization: Malcolm pointedly calls his estranged dad "Dr. Whitly" to maintain a sense of distance from him. He also doesn't have a very close relationship with his mom, whom he calls "Mother".

** The end of "Q&A" when Malcolm receives a call from [[spoiler: the junkyard serial killer who knows Dr. Whitley. He says "it was one hell of a camping trip", showing that he is connected to the mysterious trip Malcolm cannot remember]].