"Prodigal" follows the aftermath of the previous episode, after Nightwing and Red Hood's battle, Rachel and Gar try to save their friend. Meanwhile, Jason questions his allegiance. With Barbara behind bars, Donna leads her own resistance operation, and Conner helps Blackfire recover her ship. Episode 3.12 moves the plot forward immensely, each Titan member have something interesting to do and it moves the plot forward whilst also giving them valuable character development. There's a lot of things happening in this episode, good things at that. Jamie Gorenberg and Bryan Edward Hill penned the script for this episode and it's an improvement over the previous episodes, not as much bad writing or plot holes. The characters feel more like themselves. There's also plenty of great character interactions and acting in the episode, Teagan Croft as Rachel Roth and Ryan Potter as Gar Logan being some of my favorites as they got great chemistry and their characters having been through a lot in the events of season 1 and 2.
Regarding the pacing, it was great and was nicely edited with good transitions.
Carol Banker returns to direct another episode after having directed the season's two first episodes and episode 11, a much better script means a better episode and her direction is overall fantastic. There were also some truly amazing cinematography and imagery. The whole episode looked fantastic as the show usually does. Production and art design were great, the musical score and sound design needs praise. Visual effects were mostly alright, much better here than the previous episode.
"Prodigal" was overall a great episode, though it being similar to the season 1 finale, it works much better here as every character arc and story arc builds up for the finale whilst Grayson's dream sequence takes place. Each Titan member get their time to shine and I liked the writing. Gar Logan have had a good character arc throughout most of the season and it have been building slowly towards the events of this episode. Another character that was kind of tossed aside was Superboy, for season 3 it's been clear to me at least that he have been scared to be more like Lex Luthor than Clark Kent, his character arc have been the most human of them all and I have liked it a lot but I won't lie it's too small for a character like him. Like Beast Boy's arc, Superboy's comes full circle in the penultimate episode. I really like this version of Tim Drake, I'm behind Jay Lycurgo's version of the character 100% as it's different in the right way, making him in my opinion more relatable. His portrayal is on point and he has a place on the show. Best performances of this episode goes to Brenton Thwaites, Vincent Kartheiser and Ryan Potter. Episode 3.12 didn't have any memorable performances as the goal of "Prodigal" was to drive the plot forward and building up to the season finale which I can't wait for. Again, this was overall a great episode with things every fan will enjoy, even some Easter eggs.