"Paul Levinson's It's Real Life is a page-turning exploration into that multiverse known as rock and roll. But it is much more than a marvelous adventure narrated by a master storyteller...it is also an exquisite meditation on the very nature of alternate history." -- Jack Dann, The Fiction Writer's Guide to Alternate History

Saturday, October 12, 2019

Prodigal Son 1.2: Dreams or Memories?



Been a busy two weeks - listening to final mixes of my new album - so I'm just getting around to watching and reviewing the second episodes of some of the promising new series that debuted last month.

Prodigal Son is one such series, and its second episode was even better than the first.  The continuing background story deals with a question all of us have encountered: is it a memory of something that really happened, or a dream?  I first dealt with this question years ago, when I received a phone call in the middle of the night, fell back asleep, and wasn't sure the next morning if I had dreamt that call or it was real.  I realized that, as the day went on, my memory got even more clear.  That meant, I thought, that I had really received the call.  And, when I spoke with the person who had called me, I confirmed that  I had.  In contrast, I noticed that my recollection of dreams got more fuzzy as the day went on.   So, I had come up with a way to distinguish between the two: memories stay clear or get clearer, dreams fade away (though you might have a memory of the dream, which stays clear).

Malcolm, of course, doesn't have such a method.  His serial-killer father says Malcolm just dreamed about the girl in the box.  We the audience have seen that the father is lying.  But Malcolm doesn't yet know that.   Why would the father lie about that particular murder?  I'm thinking to protect his wife - Malcolm's mother - who was the one who killed the girl in the box, and maybe did some of the other murders.  We'll have to see about that.

Meanwhile, the crime Malcolm cracks in the second episode is a good one, involving snakes and atropine among other things.  I really like this series, and I'll be back soon with reviews of third and ensuing episodes.

See also: Prodigal Son: A New Serial Killer

 

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