Matlock Season-Premiere Recap: Continuance

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Can Matlock surprise us again?

Last year, Jennie Snyder Urman’s revival of *Matlock* surprised everyone with its first episode. People expected a typical, gentle legal drama on CBS, featuring Oscar winner Kathy Bates as a charming older lawyer in the style of Andy Griffith. Instead, the show took a shocking turn. The seemingly sweet lawyer is actually a wealthy and determined woman who’s secretly investigating a prestigious New York law firm, Jacobson Moore. She’s determined to prove they were responsible for the opioid crisis that led to the death of her daughter, Ellie.

Season one was full of surprises right up to the final episode. Madeline Kingston spent most of the season pretending to be “Matty” Matlock, a seemingly simple, struggling widow, but her boss, Olympia Lawrence, eventually discovered the truth and reluctantly helped her. Matty revealed that she and her husband, Edwin, were planning to expose Jacobson Moore and its pharmaceutical client, Wellbrexa, to the New York Times with the evidence they’d collected. Olympia asked Matty to hold off until she could check bank boxes she shared with her soon-to-be-ex-husband, Julian, suspecting he might be involved in a cover-up. The season ended with a major cliffhanger: Olympia found incriminating documents, and Julian then asked her to destroy them.

Last season, *Matlock* tried to juggle a lot of different storylines, which felt overwhelming. Each episode not only featured a new case for Olympia’s team, but also several ongoing plots, all squeezed into a roughly 44-minute timeframe. This meant that the stories of Olympia’s colleagues, Sarah Franklin and Billy Martinez, often felt rushed or didn’t get the attention they deserved. It made me question whether the show could keep up that pace.

You know, I really loved the season two premiere of *Matlock*, but I’m already wondering how long they can keep up this formula. It feels like every episode is half about this sneaky character almost getting caught stealing stuff, and half about them somehow brilliantly winning the case. It’s interesting that the first new episode in ages is called “The Before Times” – it’s like everyone’s just wishing things could go back to how they were, when their secrets were still safe. Right now, it feels like season two is really trying to recapture the magic of season one.

Despite everything, it’s great to see the show’s classic charm still works. This week’s mystery is delightfully quirky and surprisingly meaningful. Having Olympia help Matty investigate Jacobson Moore feels fresh and exciting. And just when you think you’ve figured things out, Urman throws in a clever twist, just like in the original *Matlock*.

Surprise!

Here’s the situation: Our clients, Maya Richards and Georgia Brant, were high school drama classmates who hosted a party after hours at their theater. Unfortunately, the theater caught fire. When investigators found evidence of an accelerant, Georgia accused Maya of intentionally starting the fire because she was upset about not getting a bigger role in the school play.

The conflict between Maya and Georgia is getting worse, with both admitting they hosted the party for selfish reasons. Georgia needed money to support a drug habit, and Maya was trying to gather enough cryptocurrency to pay someone who had tricked her into sending compromising photos. Despite their issues, neither of them actually caused the fire. It turned out the fire spread quickly because of dangerous chemicals in the beer pong balls. It was unwise of them to turn on each other, considering all the damaging information they both possess. Matty and Olympia should keep this in mind, as Olympia often warns that Matty’s investigation into Jacobson Moore and Wellbrexa could have far-reaching consequences, affecting many people.

The tense relationship between Matty and Olympia is central to this episode. The big question from last season’s finale – whether Olympia destroyed Julian’s secret documents – is quickly resolved: she didn’t destroy them, but she doesn’t tell Matty she still has them. Instead, she hides the papers in a new safe in her home and then suggests they team up to investigate Howard Markston (Beau Bridges). His trip to Australia around the time his son stole the documents seems particularly suspicious.

I really thought the mystery surrounding those documents was the biggest hook at the end of last season, but honestly, the arrival of Joey Danza (Niko Nicotera) was a total game-changer. He shows up claiming to be Ellie’s ex and Alfie’s dad, and right away, Matty’s focused on getting a DNA test done – professional as always. But she *knows* he’s telling the truth. There’s this incredibly powerful scene where she reveals how Joey knows about a really painful thing she did to Ellie – she accidentally ruined Ellie’s good memories of being a champion swimmer by letting slip to friends that her injury led to an opioid addiction. It’s heartbreaking, and it really sets the stage for everything to come.

Matty desperately wants to talk to Olympia about everything, and Olympia is happy to take advantage of that. Edwin, however, is tired of hearing about how nice Olympia was when Matty previously confided in her about Ellie and Joey. He wants to put the whole situation with the Jacobson Moore family behind them for good, especially since Olympia is secretly advising Julian on how to avoid legal trouble. It’s concerning, though, that Olympia hasn’t mentioned Matty to Julian yet.

The dynamic between Matty and Olympia has become much more interesting now that they’re both keeping secrets from each other. They’re both too smart to fully trust each other, but also too clever to *act* like they do. For example, Olympia admits she wouldn’t say they could be friends again because Matty would know she was being dishonest. It’s also amusing to watch Matty playfully dismiss Olympia’s clumsy attempts at spying, like when Olympia awkwardly searches through Senior’s contacts while Matty keeps watch. Matty even sighs and comments, “I always handled my missions alone.”

While keeping watch, Matty remembers who she really needs to focus on. She deliberately confronts Senior about his treatment of Julian, hoping to delay him. He responds with a harsh threat: he’ll fire her and ruin her future career if she speaks to him like that again. He claims he’s untouchable under New York law, then sarcastically pretends he’s joking, before immediately reverting to his threat, adding he’d say that to a jury.

It’s understandable that Matty might be tempted to put aside the New York Times packet and concentrate on Senior, and it’s likely this feeling will persist. However…

I was completely surprised by this episode’s twist! I’d either forgotten the first season was full of surprises, or I thought all the twists were over. Either way, I was stunned and really enjoyed the classic “look again” reveal at the end. It turned out Matty wasn’t behind Olympia at all regarding those important documents. Matty actually figured out the key to Olympia’s new safe, managed to find out where it was hidden, stole the key, and replaced the real documents with fakes.

Okay, so it turns out Joey *is* the father, confirmed by a DNA test. But here’s the kicker – the test also showed he’s not being truthful about his sobriety. Honestly, Madeline Kingston is a force! She’s clearly back to her old tricks, expertly manipulating things and seemingly on a mission to expose anyone struggling with addiction. I didn’t see that twist coming, but I’m kind of loving it!

The Fine Print

Just days before the new season begins, David Del Rio has been let go from the show following accusations of sexual assault by a fellow cast member whose identity hasn’t been revealed. While it’s unknown how much of the season was already filmed, this situation will definitely change the direction of any storylines involving the character Billy.

Now that Olympia knows “Matty Matlock” is a false identity, it creates an interesting dynamic whenever the whole team is together and Matty is acting humble and talking about things like Cindy Shapiro. Olympia understands he’s pretending, but also that he needs to maintain the charade, at least for the time being, to keep everyone else in the dark. I wasn’t very good at guessing what would happen on *Matlock* last season, but I believe it’s only a matter of time before more people at Jacobson Moore discover Matty’s secret. The question is whether he’ll tell them himself, or if they’ll figure it out, and how they’ll react once they do.

Olympia is right to question the science behind arson investigations – it’s often unreliable. A great article on this topic was written by David Gann for *The New Yorker* (it was also made into a mediocre movie). And while some suggest AI can improve accuracy by spotting things humans miss, I don’t believe that makes the evidence any more trustworthy.

Edwin’s understanding of theater comes in handy during the high school drama club mystery, and it also creates a funny, recurring joke. Matty playfully tells Olympia that she once saw a modern version of *As You Like It* that was so bad it could have been taken to court. Later, when she asks Edwin to review a stage manager’s notes, he happily agrees, excitedly mentioning that he once played Jacques in *As You Like It*.

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2025-10-13 04:58