Prodigal Son 2x07 Thoughts
Mar. 21st, 2021 11:43 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
iariaFace Value
+ I loved the reveal that Ainsley set up her second 'murder' in order to mess with and punish Malcolm. That was so cold. I love it. I absolutely see her side in this and think all the points she made were true enough. She knew something was very wrong and Malcolm kept (unintentionally) messing with her head by trying to convince her that it wasn't. Gaslighting is actually pretty fair word to use because regardless of his intentions he was purposefully messing with her sense of reality. And it is absolutely something Martin did and would do.
This big issue here is that we don't see Ainsley's POV of all this so it's hard to sympathise with her more than Malcolm. His guilt and worry has been eating him up. We know how it's been affecting him. Meanwhile, we haven't seen her struggling (or not) with coming out of her blackout to see the body or the cover-up, we haven't seen her struggling with returning memories, or dealing with Malcolm saying one thing while her mind is increasingly telling her something else. We only get glimpses on-screen.
And on-screen Ainsley's attitude during their whole confrontation was very yikes in many ways. It really does come off as if Ainsley is a psychopath. Frankly this has been a suspicion for awhile, all the way back during that situation with her boyfriend in season one.
It really felt to me that she was more upset by the idea that Malcolm underestimated her and that he was trying to control her than she was that she'd killed a man or that he gaslit her or that he kept this big secret. She showed very little empathy towards Malcolm and how freaked out he was. She showed no remorse about killing Endicott. She was so glib about her 'prank' and about the cover up of Endicott's murder cover up.
It's an interesting direction to go in if she really is like her dad. Not sure where the show is going with it though. I hope wherever they go Ainsley gets more focus and we get a chance to see things from her point of view a little.
+ Simon Hoxley seems like he could be a fun addition. Alan Cumming is hamming it up so hard. I really hope we get a scene between him and Martin.
+ I'm not sure how Malcolm got Endicott over to Estonia but I feel like there had to have been a better way to deal with the body.
+ Okay, Edrisa dressing up in a new dress and heeled boots for her 'date'/meeting with Malcolm actually embarrassed me a little. It doesn't usually because it usually doesn't bother Malcolm. He finds her crush/flirting cute/amusing and they geek out on creepy things no one else finds interesting and it's all great. Like their earlier scene in the episode - all good. But with this one - as Malcolm stared at her as she was trying to explain away the dress he seemed uncomfortable. Maybe it was simply down to the Ainsley situation and the favour he was about to ask her but for the first time her flirty crush didn't work for me.
+ I loved Dani's reaction to Malcolm casually saying "even when they are as beautiful as you". Her smile was great and I loved that he totally missed any import in what he said.
+ I loved the reveal that Ainsley set up her second 'murder' in order to mess with and punish Malcolm. That was so cold. I love it. I absolutely see her side in this and think all the points she made were true enough. She knew something was very wrong and Malcolm kept (unintentionally) messing with her head by trying to convince her that it wasn't. Gaslighting is actually pretty fair word to use because regardless of his intentions he was purposefully messing with her sense of reality. And it is absolutely something Martin did and would do.
This big issue here is that we don't see Ainsley's POV of all this so it's hard to sympathise with her more than Malcolm. His guilt and worry has been eating him up. We know how it's been affecting him. Meanwhile, we haven't seen her struggling (or not) with coming out of her blackout to see the body or the cover-up, we haven't seen her struggling with returning memories, or dealing with Malcolm saying one thing while her mind is increasingly telling her something else. We only get glimpses on-screen.
And on-screen Ainsley's attitude during their whole confrontation was very yikes in many ways. It really does come off as if Ainsley is a psychopath. Frankly this has been a suspicion for awhile, all the way back during that situation with her boyfriend in season one.
It really felt to me that she was more upset by the idea that Malcolm underestimated her and that he was trying to control her than she was that she'd killed a man or that he gaslit her or that he kept this big secret. She showed very little empathy towards Malcolm and how freaked out he was. She showed no remorse about killing Endicott. She was so glib about her 'prank' and about the cover up of Endicott's murder cover up.
It's an interesting direction to go in if she really is like her dad. Not sure where the show is going with it though. I hope wherever they go Ainsley gets more focus and we get a chance to see things from her point of view a little.
+ Simon Hoxley seems like he could be a fun addition. Alan Cumming is hamming it up so hard. I really hope we get a scene between him and Martin.
+ I'm not sure how Malcolm got Endicott over to Estonia but I feel like there had to have been a better way to deal with the body.
+ Okay, Edrisa dressing up in a new dress and heeled boots for her 'date'/meeting with Malcolm actually embarrassed me a little. It doesn't usually because it usually doesn't bother Malcolm. He finds her crush/flirting cute/amusing and they geek out on creepy things no one else finds interesting and it's all great. Like their earlier scene in the episode - all good. But with this one - as Malcolm stared at her as she was trying to explain away the dress he seemed uncomfortable. Maybe it was simply down to the Ainsley situation and the favour he was about to ask her but for the first time her flirty crush didn't work for me.
+ I loved Dani's reaction to Malcolm casually saying "even when they are as beautiful as you". Her smile was great and I loved that he totally missed any import in what he said.
