Prodigal Son's portrayal of Edrisa's crush on Bright has become too uncomfortable to watch

TVLine

Keiko Agena's Dr. Edrisa Tanaka has had a longstanding crush on Tom Payne's Malcolm Bright. "But particularly in Season 2, her unrequited feelings for Bright have become even more overt, veering more and more into uneasy territory for both Bright and viewers," says Rebecca Iannucci. She adds: "The increasingly blatant swooning is disappointing on two fronts. For one, even though the crush and seduction attempts are largely played for laughs — a quirky and harmless part of Edrisa’s character — it’s truthfully a bit inappropriate, especially when Bright doesn’t reciprocate the feelings. Imagine if the roles were reversed, and it were a male employee frequently ogling his female crush, or scattering rose petals for her in their workplace, or not-so-casually pointing out where his bed is at home. Agena’s comedic timing can so effortlessly steal a scene that it’s easy to forget her character is crossing a line with a colleague — but she is, and often. And there’s something even more unsettling here: that a woman as intelligent and fascinating as Edrisa is so often reduced to a giggly schoolgirl when her cute coworker walks through the door."