Matlock Recap: How Did ‘Widow’ Matty Handle That Inevitable Predicament?
Well, it was bound to happen sooner or later — an older gentleman took a shine to the widow Matty Matlock.
In this week’s episode of CBS’ already-renewed Matlock, Olympia took on the case of a widower, Robert, whose wife Sandy died years ago of legionella — and they hold their apartment building’s owner at fault.
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Robert (played by John Billingsley) is an “eccentric” and “anxious” artist, Olympia informs Matty, so she tasks her new hire with doing a bit of figurative handholding as they navigate the ups and downs of his case.
“Ups and downs” it does have, starting with the fact that Jacobson Moore also has the developer that Robert is suing as a deep-pocketed client of Senior’s. But instead of sending Robert elsewhere, Olympia suggests that she and Senior build a legal “firewall” between the two teams repping Robert and the developer.
Things look fine enough for Olympia & Co., until Senior’s team produces evidence that toxins from the resins Robert uses in his artwork may have contributed to his own wife’s respiratory issues and death. This knocks Robert for a loop, but Matty stays at his side, even helping the hoarder rifle through his “storage room” for exculpatory receipts for his resins. Along the way, Matty and Robert discover major water damage, and in turn massive amounts of black mold. When the attending EPA agents state that the developer failed to keep their water pipes up to code and thus is to blame, Robert is not only offered through the mediator a $9 million reward, but the developer agrees to settle claims from other buildings’ residents for a max of $300K each.
Thing is… Matty realizes, too late, that Senior quietly moved to bankrupt his developer client, making the settlement that Robert agreed to literally worthless (though other claimants will be made whole). After Matty and Robert process that bad news, Robert ventures, “Since its been nice spending time with you, I was wondering if you’d like to do it again, maybe at a restaurant.”
Matty — maintaining her “poor widow of a cheating husband with a bratty grandson” persona –delicately replies, “That’s so kind, and if I was ready you’d be the perfect person to have a meal with. But I’m not dating yet.”
Matty starts to apologize further, but Robert charmingly cuts her off, saying with a wink, “I’ve known you for less than a week. You didn’t break my heart.”
Robert’s overture happened to come on the heels of Matty and her (very alive!) husband Edwin locking horns and exchanging words on how her reliance on Alfie as her “man in the chair” is costing their grandson sleep, and making him skip homework. Matty and Edwin make up, though, and she agrees to lean on Alfie less, especially during school hours!
As for Matty’s Mission.… Alfie downloaded the files from Olympia’s laptop and found four heavily redacted documents about Wellbrexa and their opiod lawsuits. Matty sets out to lay eyes on the actual docs, meaning she has to invent an ailing (and then dead) dog to get in Mrs. B’s good graces and gain document room access. What Matty finds, though, is an empty accordion folder within the box she needs. Alfie helps Matty look up the slip that ordered the docs’ removal, and the signature on it is… well, inscrutable. But after seeing the John Hancocks of both Olympian and then Julian, Matty surreptitiously snaps a pic of Senior’s golf score card, and the signature matches! Now she just needs to prove that he took the damning docs….
Elsewhere, Billy chided Sarah for not knowing he has a girlfriend, and has for a very long time! And Elijah told Olympia that he can’t be with her and not be with her, so he’s going to work out of the Dallas office for a spell. And at episode’s end, Julian helped his ex vent her frustration at Senior by having her take a golf club to many of his dad’s favorite trophies/awards.
Want scoop on Matlock, or for any other TV show ? Shoot an email to [email protected], and your question may be answered via Matt’s Inside Line!
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