Prodigal Son Season 2 Episode 7 Recap: “Face Value”

By
Rebecca Murray
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Prodigal Son Season 2 Episode 7
Catherine Zeta-Jones and Michael Sheen in ‘Prodigal Son’ season 2 episode 7 (Photo by Phil Caruso © 2021 Fox Media LLC)

Fox’s Prodigal Son season two episode seven introduces Oscar winner Catherine Zeta-Jones (Chicago) as Dr. Vivian Capshaw but it’s a lecture delivered by Malcolm Bright (Tom Payne) at Quantico that kicks off “Face Value.” Malcolm explains that over the course of an average lifespan we each cross paths with 41 murderers. (Seriously? Is that a real stat?)

He tells his audience some murderers are addicted to the thrill of the kill as we witness a flashback to Ainsley (Halston Sage) standing before Malcolm in a blood-soaked shirt confessing she blacked out again and has no idea what happened. Malcolm suggests she try and focus as he prepares to help his sister get cleaned up. She’s in a panic, blaming her brother for not immediately telling her she killed Nicholas. Malcolm admits he screwed up.

Martin (Michael Sheen) rings up his son, super excited to announce he’s been given a job. They’re allowing him to work in the infirmary. Malcolm’s not nearly as enthusiastic about the news and quickly hangs up when Ainsley enters his living room. She confesses she feels like she’s been hit by a train.

Malcolm catches a new case and Ainsley can’t believe she has to ask if she could be the killer.

As she joins Malcolm at an upscale condo complex, Dani (Aurora Perrineau) explains their victim is the head of plastic surgery at St. Anthony’s. Malcolm asks if there’s only one victim and then requests Dr. Edrisa Tanaka’s (Keiko Agena) help on something. JT (Frank Harts) is incredulous when she immediately agrees without even knowing what or when.

Malcolm gets his first look at the victim as Edrisa explains the dead doctor was Botoxed to death. Edrisa thinks she was conscious the entire time up until her death, and Malcolm realizes this was torture. Since she’s a beloved, award-winning doctor, the killer must be from her past. Malcolm believes she was disfigured to show she’s a monster.

Meanwhile, Jessica (Bellamy Young) is paid a surprise visit by her younger sister, Birdie (Rachel York). Jessica’s obviously suspicious of why Birdie’s shown up, and Birdie doesn’t immediately reveal what she’s after.

Over at Claremont, Martin has his first face-to-face meeting with Dr. Vivian Capshaw. She lays down the law, informing him he’s the janitor and she has a firm “one-strike” policy. Vivian warns Martin not to annoy her and assigns him the job of cleaning all the bedpans.

Malcolm and Gil (Lou Diamond Phillips) discuss murderers who mutilate and torture. Malcolm theorizes the doctor’s killer feels deformed. Their chat’s interrupted by Jessica in a tizzy because her sister has shown up unexpectedly. She doesn’t think now’s the best time for Birdie to be poking around in their lives.

Malcolm’s attention is pulled in dueling directions by Dani delivering details on the toxicology report while Ainsley is on the line freaking out over sirens and helicopters. He attempts to get Ainsley to calm down but she refuses to stay put. She heads out, despite Malcolm warning her to remain in the loft.

Dani advises Malcolm to be there for his sister, but not to let her drag him down.

Prodigal Son Season 2 Episode 7
Aurora Perrineau and Tom Payne in the “Face Value” episode of ‘Prodigal Son’ (Photo by Phil Caruso © 2021 Fox Media LLC)

They head over to the doctor’s office and he slips in that Dani is beautiful while discussing how plastic surgeons make money on insecurity. Dani has a sweet smile and Malcolm wonders what’s up; he doesn’t realize what he said.

They speak to two of the victim’s old partners prior to her time at the hospital. Dr. Flynt Donahue (Ward Horton) and Dr. Fred Chabra (Manu Narayan) are more into money than Nicole was.

Dani asks if any of their inventory’s gone missing and learns Summer takes stock every morning. Summer agrees to send over the practice’s records.

Malcolm believes Dr. Chabra’s the key to learning more details on Nicole and that having JT and Gil do the questioning will work best because of his personality. Chabra confesses he suspects Francine Depaugh, a former patient, may have killed Nicole. Francine Depaugh was addicted to plastic surgery and they had to cut her off. She’d be out for revenge. Plus, she hasn’t been seen in six months.

Later that evening, Edrisa puts on a sexy dress and boots for her meeting with Malcolm. She promises to help in any way possible as he asks for DNA analysis on a sample. Malcolm requests she keep this between them and she promises she will.

Edrisa quietly says, “That went well,” as Malcolm leaves within a minute of showing up.

Malcolm and Dani head over to Francine’s place and are met by a German doctor who closes the door in their faces. Dani kicks open the door and they discover a woman about to undergo a procedure. She’s not Francine, however, their possible suspect is standing nearby observing the operation.

Francine (Kristine Nielsen) raises her veil and reveals her surgically altered face. She claims the plastic surgeons were horrible to her but she dropped the lawsuit when Donahue and Chabra promised to supply her with the chemicals she wanted if she kept silent about Lana.

Once again to the station we go and it’s revealed Lana dropped out of med school – even though she was the head of the class – after fellow student Donahue left her disfigured. It’s believed she left the country and hasn’t returned.

Francine’s alibi is solid so their attention turns to Donahue.

Dr. Capshaw barely treats an inmate with a headache and when she leaves the room, Martin diagnoses Quentin with a spontaneous subdural hematoma as the inmate falls to the ground, seizing. Vivian rushes in and although she’s reluctant to involve Martin in patient care, she does so because of the emergency circumstances.

Vivian’s been provided with the bare necessities, but she doesn’t have neurosurgical tools. Martin thinks he can improvise with power tools since Quentin will be dead by the time the ambulance arrives if they don’t act now. Vivian, again reluctantly, follows Martin’s suggestion but performs the makeshift surgery herself. She’s stunned to discover Martin’s suggestion works and Quentin will recover.

Malcolm arrives for a family dinner and is surprised to find Ainsley already seated at the table. He’s been attempting to reach her all day but she blows off his concern. Birdie peppers him with questions and wonders why he’s leaning into working with the police to find killers.

Malcolm takes Ainsley to pick out a wine while Birdie works to assure Jessica she’s there to be a sounding board for her sister. Malcolm warns his sister he can only help her if she stays in contact.

Gil calls to inform Malcolm that Donahue’s missing.

Malcolm meets Dani at Chabra and Donahue’s office where they discover Donahue apparently attempted to kill Chabra. He’s on the verge of dying due to the solution is shutting down his system. Malcolm realizes they need a stimulant – something like cocaine. He also realizes the cheetah on Donahue’s desk contains the doctor’s secret stash. Working quickly, Malcolm concocts an antidote and injects it right into Chabra’s heart. Nothing happens…and then finally Chabra jerks awake and gasps for breath.

The following day it’s Jessica’s turn to surprise her sister. Jessica shocks Birdie by appearing at her table in a restaurant and revealing she’s aware Birdie was supposed to meet someone about selling a tell-all book on Mrs. Martin Whitly. Birdie confesses she’s broke and their mom cut her off, claiming to be the only billionaire to lose money during the pandemic. She also reveals the publisher will move forward with or without her assistance.

Jessica decides she’s going to offer the publisher her memoir, admitting they’ve been asking for it for years. Jessica offers her sis the advance to help her out financially.

Back at the station, Gil believes Donahue’s skipped town but Malcolm thinks he’s going to get a new face before he leaves.

Dani and Malcolm return to Francine’s place believing it’s where Donahue would have gone to have the work done. They discover one of the surgeons is knocked out and Francine’s been attacked. Francine says a new nurse did it and describes Summer.

A scream comes from upstairs and Dani and Malcolm rush to find Summer about to inject Donahue again. Dani warns her to put the needle down but Summer refuses. Malcolm asks why she’s doing it and she replies that he wouldn’t understand. It’s then that Malcolm puts the pieces together and figures out Summer is actually Lana.

“He told me after he fixed my bone structure, I’d be unstoppable,” says Lana. “I lost my friends, my identity, everything.”

Lana explains Donahue nicked her fifth cranial nerve and she’s in constant pain. It feels like acid under her skin and is driving her insane. She admits the murders are about inflicting suffering and pain. Malcolm suggests if she wants to get even, she should allow Donahue to live now that she’s disfigured his face. It would be the perfect revenge against a man who values looks above all else.

Malcolm’s suggestion works and Lana allows Dani to place her under arrest without putting up a fight.

Malcolm quietly says, “The best revenge is letting him live like this…”

Martin’s cleaning bedpans when Vivian arrives to inform him Quentin will live. Martin compliments her work with a drill and she slips something into his hand as she leaves the room. It’s the butterscotch he asked for earlier that she refused to let him have.

Martin chuckles as he considers what it means.

Malcolm confronts Ainsley about the blood which, it turns out, belonged to a pig. It was just a big prank but he’s not in the mood for his sister’s sick humor. Ainsley reminds him he put her through hell for months and Malcolm responds, “I have given up everything for you! I don’t even know who I am anymore because of what I have done to protect you!”

Ainsley wonders if he was trying to protect her or if he was actually attempting to control her. She thinks he was doing to her what their father did to him. Malcolm realizes that’s true and is sorry, but the pig thing was over the top. Ainsley admits she did it so that he would never mess with her head again.

Ainsley tells her bro to lighten up since they got away with Nicholas’ murder. Malcolm’s not sure they did but Ainsley declares, “We’re Whitlys. No one does this murder stuff better than us.”

The episode ends with Simon Hoxley (Alan Cumming) from the Europolice Federation showing up at a crime scene. He’s there to investigate the severed head of Nicholas Endicott that was just pulled up in a fisherman’s net. Simon confirms his suspicion that Nicholas was killed elsewhere and announces he’s heading to New York City.

It appears Ainsley shouldn’t have started celebrating getting away with murder quite yet.




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