![](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/1c1dd3c9c568b5d8af4b5c84d20df096c7-matlock-ep2.rsquare.w400.jpg\")
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Matlock<\/a><\/p>\n Another Matlock<\/p>\n \n Season 2<\/p>\n Episode 2\n <\/p>\n \n Editor\u2019s Rating<\/p>\n 4 stars<\/p>\n ****\n <\/p>\n \n It turns out Olympia has learned a thing or two from Matty. I am not a lawyer \u2014 nor do I play one on TV \u2014 but I do have the following legal bona fides: I took a class on landmark media cases while in journalism school. I spent six months after college working as a copy editor at a legal-publishing firm. I\u2019m a huge fan of legal thrillers, in print and onscreen. And I\u2019ve seen a lot of TV commercials for law firms.<\/p>\n I bring this up only to note that my ears perk up whenever some of the more arcane legal terms I\u2019ve encountered in my life pop up in a television show. Terms like \u201ccollateral estoppel.\u201d Such a marvelous collection of syllables. Meaningless gobbledygook to an outsider, yet powerful to those who know how to wield those sounds properly. Terms like that make me understand why so many lawyers love the law. They get to cast words about, like spells.<\/p>\n There are plenty of themes and threads stacked up in this week\u2019s Matlock, but there\u2019s one idea at the center: Madeline Kingston is very good at tossing around the lawyering words. She enjoys doing it. Her employers want her to keep doing it. And perhaps most importantly, on a meta-textual level: The very expensive, ratings-grabbing primetime CBS TV series Matlock needs its Matty to stay in the courtroom, because otherwise \u2026 what even is this show?<\/p>\n And while I renew my core concerns from last week\u2019s recap<\/a> \u2014 that I can\u2019t imagine how Matlock can maintain its current formula for another whole season without straining credulity \u2014 once again I have to admit that, for this week at least, the writers pulled it off. Aside from some minor beefs (mainly having to do with the backstage drama, which I\u2019ll get to in the notes), this was another entertaining and unpredictable Matlock episode, and far more nerve-wracking than most network dramas these days.<\/p>\n Or, as the episode\u2019s title suggests, it\u2019s \u201cAnother Matlock.\u201d What exactly does this title mean? I have two theories. It\u2019s partly a nod to the judge in the episode\u2019s case of the week. The judge is an Andy Griffith fan who gets on Matty\u2019s last nerve testing her Matlock knowledge. Does she like hot dogs? Does she recognize his reference to the season one two-parter \u201cThe Court Martial<\/a>\u201d when he rules against her motion? Does she mind him whistling the Matlock theme? What\u2019s it like to be a Matlock?<\/p>\n But let\u2019s not kid ourselves. The \u201canother\u201d Matlock here is really Olympia, who uses all the tricks Matty herself would use to manipulate a rival.<\/p>\n Olympia\u2019s first gambit involves the week\u2019s big case. As the episode begins, Matty fully expects that she\u2019s about to have her final day at Jacobson-Moore. She and Edwin have sent their research off to the New York Times, and as soon as the paper calls back, Matty\u2019s time at the firm will end. But because Olympia knows what the Kingstons are up to, she fakes an illness, forcing Matty to proceed as lead counsel for the team\u2019s current client. Unless Matty wants to be held in contempt, she\u2019ll have to hang around a little longer.<\/p>\n To make matters worse, Matty\u2019s hopes are quickly dashed that the magic words \u201ccollateral estoppel\u201d will end this case. The client, Dasha (Kayla Carlson), is a former Russian mob moll who turned against her abusive ex-boyfriend Alexei (Brian Gilleece), but didn\u2019t have to appear in court due to the potential danger to her life. Dasha is being sued by Rocco (Justin Paul), one of Alexei\u2019s old colleagues, whom Dasha led into an Alexei-ordered beating. Matty assumes the court will automatically apply the same protections to Dasha in the new case. But no dice. The team will have to prove again that Alexei is such a danger to Dasha that she\u2019s not responsible for anything he made her do, nor is she safely able to testify publicly.<\/p>\n So Matty pulls a couple of psychological tricks on the jury. First, she calls a reluctant witness from Alexei\u2019s mob-controlled neighborhood, but secretly encourages him to refuse to answer her questions \u2014 both so that he won\u2019t get in trouble and so that the jury will see how scared he is. Then she brings Alexei into the courtroom from prison and goads him into erupting violently on the stand. Her point is made. Dasha gets to stay in hiding, and the jury determines she isn\u2019t liable for anything that happened to Rocco \u2014 himself a former mobster, who also allowed Alexei\u2019s gang to get away with terrible deeds.<\/p>\n As always with Matlock, the case parallels what\u2019s going on in Matty and Olympia\u2019s lives. Matty wants Olympia to turn against Julian, who has had multiple opportunities himself over the years to come clean about burying the damning Wellbrexa study. Olympia argues that Julian\u2019s not to blame because he was acting under duress from his father. Matty sees Julian as a Rocco. To Olympia, he\u2019s a Dasha.<\/p>\n Olympia tries to make this point directly to Edwin, whom she correctly recognizes as the Kingston most anxious to bury Julian and end Matty\u2019s charade. When Olympia figures out that Matty opened her safe and swiped the Wellbrexa documents, she tells Matty that those papers are actually fake and that the real study is in a safety-deposit box in Connecticut. Matty makes Olympia take Edwin with her to retrieve them, and during the drive, Olympia reminds Edwin that she and Julian are real people, with children. She also reminds him that Matty gaslit Olympia for a year, making her lose trust in the father of her kids.<\/p>\n As was the case with the season premiere, I briefly \u2014 and incorrectly \u2014 thought I knew where this episode was headed. Olympia would win Edwin over, they\u2019d all agree to hold off on the meeting with the Times, and Matty would commit to the plan to take Senior down with Julian\u2019s help. Easy!<\/p>\n But \u201ceasy\u201d is not what Matlock does \u2014 at least not when it comes to its central premise. It turns out Olympia has another trick up her sleeve: to withhold the documents from Matty in order to bait her into an angry tirade, which Olympia records. The moment where a seething Matty boasts, \u201cI could burn this courthouse to the ground and they\u2019d still be eating butterscotch out of my hand!\u201d pretty much sinks her. We saw in season one how Matty\u2019s anger issues sometimes lead her to make bad decisions<\/a>. Apparently, Olympia also noticed.<\/p>\n And so, after two episodes of season two, we\u2019ve reached a point in the story where Olympia is going to make Matty keep working for her to buy Julian some more time. Again, I think this will be untenable! I think both Olympia and Matty have overplayed their hands, and that \u201cbusiness as usual\u201d won\u2019t cut it anymore \u2014 especially when they both now openly kind of loathe each other. (The look of contempt on Olympia\u2019s face at the end of this episode, while dressed in a stylish robe and drinking a big glass of wine, could crumble a boulder.)<\/p>\n But I also know that, beyond everything else going on, Matty really does want to stay at her job. It\u2019s a strange kind of punishment to force someone to keep doing what she loves.<\/p>\n \u2022 Look, there\u2019s no way around this: This Matlock season is going to feel weird until we reach the point where Billy is written out of the show. Until that happens, I\u2019m not going to have a whole lot to say about the Billy parts of any episode, unless he\u2019s involved with the plot in any significant way. (No such problem this week.) The latest updates on the incident between David Del Rio and Leah Lewis are just awful<\/a>. It makes any Billy and Sarah scenes very tough to watch.<\/p>\n \u2022 It is, however, worth noting the swift conclusion to the Simone (Andrea Londo) subplot this week, as her attempts to blackmail Sarah over Sarah\u2019s non-firm-approved legal work result in Simone being transferred to Omaha.<\/p>\n \u2022 The only major subplot this week involves Alfie, who is angry with his grandparents for refusing to get his biological father the rehab help he needs. Eventually, Edwin decides that Alfie needs to see for himself firsthand how difficult it is to care for an addict, so he gives Joey a check to cover rehab and the name of a clinic that\u2019s waiting for him. I\u2019m still not sure the show needed this storyline, but I am now interested in seeing where it leads.<\/p>\n \u2022 File this away: When the angry Alexei gets hauled out of court, he screams, \u201cI have never forgotten a face!\u201d I have a feeling Matty may have some more trouble with the Russian mob before this season ends.<\/p>\n VULTURE NEWSLETTER<\/p>\n Keep up with all the drama of your favorite shows!<\/p>\n Vox Media, LLC Terms and Privacy Notice<\/p>\n
\n Photo: Sonja Flemming\/CBS\n <\/p>\n