Did a Matlock Mistake Cast Suspicion on ‘Matlock’ in Episode 2?
Madeline “Matlock” was back on the case this Thursday, as CBS’ freshman drama served up Episode 2 after a nearly month-long break.
“Rome, in a Day” opened with a literal nightmare scenario for Matty, who arrived at Jacobson Moore bearing homemade muffins, only to get called on the carpet by Olympia, Julian and Senior, about getting the classic Matlock TV series’ end date wrong. (Its original NBC run ended in 1992, but ABC picked it up for another three seasons.) After a comical flash of Matty in a seersucker suit à la Andy Griffith’s OG Matlock, Matty woke up in bed alongside husband Edwin. Post morteming the night terror, they agreed she needs to slow down a bit when masquerading, and keep her facts straight.
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Grandson Alfie reminds Matty of her current goal, to acquire the passcode for Jacobson Moore’s computer system, so they can hunt down damning files about their shady pharma client. After mediating an elevator clash between Olympia and Julian (over him giving their daughter too much ice cream on his watch), Matty nearly slips up again, when asking facilities manager “Mrs. B” how to access old case files.
Matty arrives at the office she will be sharing with Billy and Sarah, the latter of whom loudly laments the fact that they will now be known as “You Three” to Olympia with the new-but-old hire on board. When Olympia finds herself (monetarily) compelled to help her class action suit client’s sister with a murder rap that her 18-year-old, developmentally delayed son is facing, she tasks You Three with poking holes in a witness’ statement. Olympia meanwhile uses some college football acumen from colleague/secret beau Elijah to cajole a continuance from the Michigan-loving judge. (We also learn that Olympia and Elijah are planning a romantic getaway once her divorce from Julian is finalized, though a warm moment between the separated wife and husband, that Elijah later spies, certainly casts doubt on that happening.)
Matty and Sarah pay a visit to the senior man who saw their client’s son standing over the dead girl’s body, from his apartment window, with Billy down on the street to test the man’s eyesight. When that hunch comes up empty, Matty presses the witness about the timing, and the fact that he was watching 60 Minutes, live (oh, the horror!), at the time leads them to realize that the victim’s scream happened much sooner than bodega owner Jimmy said. While Olympia, Billy and Sarah go to ask Jimmy for his security cam footage, Matty spies some schoolgirls talking about their friend’s murder. This leads to a ruse in which Matty befriends one girl (by staging the stomping of her spectacles) and in turn secures hot goss about “Creepy Jimmy” the bodega owner.
Because Olympia denied Matty’s request to be involved in the bodega visit, Matty questions her boss about not trusting her yet. Olympia calls the new hire out on her gob-smacking “privilege,” saying, “Trust you? I just met you a week ago!”
The bodega video puts Michael the defendant in the store at a damning time, and reaching for the type of condoms found at the crime scene, but a conversation with Alfie (about a fake news story he planted on the Internet, about Matty’s “subway mugging”) gives Matty the idea that all is not as it seems. Olympia sends Matty to follow through on her hunch, explaining that that is why she kept her away from the bodega earlier, so they had her “harmless old women” act to fall back on. Matty has the clerk snap a pic of her 5-foot-1 self reaching for the same condoms Michael seemingly did, and that photo ends up proving in court that the footage was doctored, and Michael was never there. Jimmy’s MIT-bound son Charlie confirms on the stand that he himself did the doctoring, after accidentally killing the girl.
Back at the office that night, Matty while on her way out calls out Olympia for “manipulating” her, and not looping her in on the grand bodega plan. Matty leaves, and on the way down in the elevator has a convo with Senior about the Matlock airdates mix-up! She explains, “I don’t count the ABC years,” but is Senior now onto something…?
Billy and Sarah nudge Olympia to apologize to Matty — by bringing to the widow’s modest Queens apartment the Eataly take-out dinner she accidentally left at the office. We then get a Silence of the Lambs fake-out, thinking that Matty is arriving at her grand manse via limousine at the same time that Olympia is knocking on the apartment door. But Matty in fact opens the apartment door, with Alfie playing the role of pissy grandson. (The limo, meanwhile, was delivering Edwin his favorite pizza, from his doting missus.)
After Olympia leaves, Matty and Alfie high-five, then check to see if a camera hidden in the hallway smoke detector picked up Olympia using her passcode to unlock her phone. And it did!
What did you think of Matlock Episode 2?
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