Stream It Or Skip It?
The first season of Matlock, Kathy Bates version, got twistier and more complicated as the season went along, with Matty getting closer to the truth in the case she’s building against the firm she works for, Jacobson Moore. But what also became more complicated was the friendship between Matty and her boss, Olympia. Season 2 only makes things more twisted, and the season is about to get even more complicated, with a recent real-life disruption making headlines and forcing a casting change.
MATLOCK SEASON 2: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?
Opening Shot: Picking right up from the Season 1 finale, Madeline Kingston/Matlock (Kathy Bates), confronted with the man who claims to be the father of her grandson Alfie (Aaron Harris), texts her husband Edwin (Sam Anderson) to take Alfie out of the house.
The Gist: The man, who says his name is Joey (Nico Nikotera), dated Matty’s daughter Ellie (Marnee Carpenter) for a couple of years. Both of them were addicts, and Joey says he’s been clean for four years. While Matty tells him that he needs to submit hair follicles for a DNA test before he even gets to see Alfie, Joey tells her things she knows about Ellie that indicates that they did know each other, despite being cloudy on the timelines.
Matty is also dealing with Olympia (Skye P. Marshall) insisting that she can pin the missing Wellbrexa study on Senior (Beau Bridges). Olympia, for her part, is still holding onto the missing study, which she found in the safe deposit box of her ex-husband (and Senior’s son) Julian (Jason Ritter). She even has a safe installed in her house to store the study until she can figure out what to do with it. In the meantime, though, Olympia is going to convince Matty that Senior should be the target, while Matty tries to figure out how to ensnare Julian while getting Olympia and her kids out of the “blast zone” of the repercussions of sending the story to the media.
As always, though, there’s also a case that needs everyone’s attention. Because Julian quit after not becoming partner, Senior hands his son’s plea deal case to Olympia and her team — Matty, Billy (David Del Rio) and Sarah (Leah Lewis). It involves two teenagers who inadvertently set a fire at the theatre where they were putting on a production, and new evidence shows that an accelerant was found, making the misdemeanor charges into felony arson charges. That’s when one of the girls turns on Olympia’s client, and the team has to prove that their client did not purposely set the theater office on fire.
What Shows Will It Remind You Of? Matlock Season 1. Of course, Matty gave herself the fake last name Matlock because she was a fan of Andy Griffith original series.
Our Take: Showrunner Jennie Snyder Urman and her writing staff have created quite the tangled web going into Season 2 of Matlock. At the center of it is Matty and Olympia trying to figure out if they can trust each other again and bring their friendship back to the way it was during “the before times.” As both Matty and Olympia said numerous times towards the end of Season 1, “two things can be true,” meaning that their friendship was real and meaningful to both of them, even though they both had (and have) things to hide from each other.
As the Wellbrexa story gets more complicated, though, it feels like the case-of-the-week gets in the way. We get why they’re there; it’s a way for Matty to show her skills and her desire to be a good lawyer and investigator at her age, and it’s a way for the entire team to interact. Without the case of the week, we don’t get to dive into Billy’s and Sarah’s characters at all, and at least one of them has rounded into a character we want to get to know more about in Season 2.
Speaking of Billy and Sarah, Del Rio’s recent dismissal following Lewis’ accusations of sexual assault won’t impact the show as much as one may think. Sarah is definitely the more interesting character of the two, and it seems that the writers inadvertently gave themselves an out with Billy, who can just quit to spend more time with his pregnant ex, with whom he’s now getting back together. Either Urman is going to bring in a new young associate to join the team or her staff will just shrink the team down, which might tighten the case-of-the-week stories a bit, especially given how the storyline involving Alfie’s father will also squeeze down the time devoted to the weekly cases.
We have faith that Urman and her staff can keep the Wellbrexa story going through the second season, given how complex Urman’s previous series, Jane The Virgin, could get at times. And while we know that Bates can handle everything that’s thrown at her with seeming ease, it’ll be fun to see if Matty starts to slip keeping her countryfied “Matty Matlock” persona intact, especially as she and Olympia get deeper into the weeds with Wellbrexa.
Sex and Skin: None.
Parting Shot: Matty, with Edwin at her side, writes an email to The New York Times about Wellbrexa.
Sleeper Star: Beau Bridges only occasionally shows up as Senior during the course of a season, but he’s so good at playing him as pure molten evil that we want to see more of him making everyone’s lives miserable.
Most Pilot-y Line: We’re not sure if the actor playing arson expert that testified at the trial Olympia and her team were working on was directed to make like he’s the Dude from The Big Lewbowski or that was the actor’s choice. Either way, it was distracting as hell.
Our Call: STREAM IT. While the cases of the week are a necessary evil on a show like Matlock, we wish there was more room to play out the complexities of Matty and Olympia’ trying to get’s relationship and the Wellbrexa case.
Joel Keller (@joelkeller) writes about food, entertainment, parenting and tech, but he doesn’t kid himself: he’s a TV junkie. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Slate, Salon, RollingStone.com, VanityFair.com, Fast Company and elsewhere.
Credit to Nypost AND Peoples
