matlock s1 chat
☆☆☆ spoilers ahead + these are obviously just my random thoughts ☆☆☆
Honestly, I came into this show genuinely because I thought it was going to be a remake of one of my favorite series growing up. When I was a child, we would watch shows like Three’s Company and Matlock when my father would get ready for work. Once Matlock came on, we knew that he would be on his way to work while my mother, younger brother, and I would stick around to see how the rest of the episode fared.
There’s a certain nostalgia that comes with those memories and the series. It’s got to be one of ones we’ve binged through the most over the years, much like Three’s Company. They came to mean a lot even more once my father was gone, and these shows carried those exact early memories that had become so ingrained with their theme songs.
So that’s why when the new Matlock series was announced, I was genuinely excited for it. I was even happy when I saw that it was Kathy Bates who was going to take on the lead role, as Andy Griffith and the classic cast are one of a kind.
What blew me away was the premise of the series right from the first episode. I think a lot of people were just as hooked because it was taking your nostalgia for the old series and deliberately twisting it in front of your face. Instead of being horrified, most people didn’t want to look away. And the more they stuck around, the more they fell in love with this series. It’s even been hailed as one of the few recent shows to revive the cable TV ecosystem, which has been struggling a lot since streaming services have become a thing.
I do admittedly watch Matlock on Paramount+ since I don’t have cable anymore. Maybe it’s kind of silly, but I wish cable was still a thing sometimes. Then on nights like these when the finale was on, the commercials are unbearable. I was even instantly reminded of why I pay for YouTube Premium to cut ads out since I despise horror film jumpscare and medical ones the most.
The easiest thing to adore about the new Matlock series is the cast. Quite easily, the chemistry between Matlock and Olympia’s characters are what you want to stick around there for. They’re an unlikely duo, both so alike yet so different, and both coming from positions where they might’ve often been overlooked. When they work together, they get to shine and show why it’s been a crime to have overlooked them for so long.
For most of the entire season, however, you’re constantly being reminded that Matlock isn’t there to make friends, and that she’s willing to lose some if it means having to stick to the plan of exposing who concealed a study that could’ve helped to deescalate some of the opioid abuse during the late 2000’s/2010’s.
I kind of feel lucky that I was able to watch Dopesick back in 2021, which starred Michael Keaton and covered some of the experiences of opioid addicts while trying to expose a pharmaceutical company’s misleading advertisements aimed at them. It was such a good series then and feels almost like a worthy prologue of sorts to help set the stage for why Matlock is so heated. She lost her daughter to opioid abuse and finds it even more grating that the law firm had the means to be able to financially recover even if they’d taken the right steps to remove the specific product off the market.
I’ve noticed some people take issue with the series making it sound like Matlock is way in over her head if she thinks that exposing a study is enough to take down all of big pharma, but that’s not really what she’s doing at all? I mean, if she could do it she would, but I’m pretty sure what she wants is to take down the specific brand that her daughter had been prescribed, and at the very least had started a chain of events that could’ve forced other companies to be even more careful about the way they were labeling their products. If one company would’ve seen some consequences, then there’s a chance that more of them would’ve taken more precautions, thereby reducing the number of victims that the opioid crisis wound up claiming.
I think Matlock’s motives here work, and the season finale justifies that her hunch was right. While she has yet to know that it’s Julian who definitely hid the documents, she had been able to come to the same conclusion an episode before just by knowing that Senior would’ve relegated his son to do his dirty work. Honestly, I’d like to see where this story goes. I’m down to speculate that Olympia might either destroy the documents to protect Julian or at least hide them long enough until she thinks she can build a case against Senior to implicate him as the big bad. This would turn the tables around her and Matlock, who really wants to trust Olympia not out of the friendship she wants to rekindle, but to prove that she isn’t heartless. That’s why she gives Olympia the chance to go to the bank alone. This scenario would have Olympia sneaking in the background, all while Matlock thinks that she knows her friend well enough to trust her implicitly as a way to even the playing field.
I could also alternatively see a scenario where Julian joins her and Matlock’s case, but given how Julian can try all he wants but is still weak towards his father, he might make things much more difficult for them to be able to stealth their way through this.
There could also very well be more that could muddy up Julian’s whole confession as well. I do particularly like the idea that he arrived at the bank presumably to either destroy the Wellbrexa documents himself now that he was going to be free from his father, or that he was going to take them to use them to leverage against Senior to either get his position back or to set the office on fire. If it’s the latter, then it’d be interesting since he knows that Olympia would be there, and it’s not lost on the audience that Senior himself said that since she’s now made partner, she has a stake in the firm.
In all honesty, I may not be the best person to critique the law and courtroom scenes in this show. I sort of got the gist when I realized that Kat Coiro from She-Hulk was the director that this series might not necessarily have the immaculate research that maybe some people really desire from a show like this, but there’s also the other side of me that questions why such shows need the accuracy when there’s still an entertainment component to all this. Some of the writing feels predictable at times, but then completely brilliant in others. You can tell when the writer’s room was trying their best to plot everything to fit together into one episode where the court drama aspect needs to be somewhat fleshed out for Matlock and Olympia’s scenes to steal the show.
As for the finale, I think there was a lot packed in the end that might feel too neatly bowed together for a show that is guaranteed to have a second season. Alfie’s dad appearing feels expected since there were a lot of scenes in the finale dedicated to Matlock and Edwin arguing over her wanting to remain at the firm, while Edwin warns her that he thought it was only a temporary plan to stay with them until she got her revenge, and that she would soon move on so they could keep raising Alfie together.
I do think there’s an interesting parallel and exploration of Matlock’s character in this scenario. She points out that she had retreated from criminal law because of a man, then left her job to raise her daughter while her husband got to work and retire. And now when she has the chance to be able to continue the firm and finish her career, she is still put in the position of having to leave it once again to continue raising Alfie. The nice thing about shows like these, which you can tell are written thinking of the nuanced women in mind, is that it never shames men or women for choosing to be homemakers, mothers, or careerwomen. It allows women to be women, even if they’re messy or doing their hardest to make sure they get their dreams going.
Even though Sarah isn’t my favorite character, I respect the character’s hustle. A lot of women know the feeling of being raised to succeed and the pressure of continuing to retain that status even when you’re placed in a competitive field against people who might just want to keep you in the same place forever because it’s more convenient for them. Both she and Billy are at the mercy of others yet prove that a lot of their talent comes from believing in themselves and also pushing to make the most of the opportunities they get, because they’re great at what they do.
The same goes for Matlock and Olympia. Both have a nurturing side as mothers, wives, women, but they also have a cutthroat side to them because of how they’ve been overlooked. Only now, they’re learning how to use that to their advantage to be able to get the things and answers they want.
I think the show has set enough of this relationship up to continue to keep it fresh since their power play can only continue for so long until they decide to redefine what a trusting friendship and partnership will look like if Matlock gets to stay in the firm, or they go off and start a new one.
