Matlock Season 2 Episode 7 Review: Olympia’s Past Collides With the Case of the Week

Matlock is FINALLY back this week and I couldn’t be more excited to see this show returning to our screens this week. This week’s episode was pretty solid and felt like it flew by.

This episode felt like a builder in Olympia’s character and backstory progression, and we see Matty’s issues in her personal life coming to a head this week. Even though Olympia is one of the major players in this show, I still feel like there is always more to learn about a character’s past outside of the basics to deepen them beyond what we have seen since the beginning of the series. Granted, I feel this way about almost everyone on canvas, but I think that this is purposeful on the writer’s behalf, which has been highlighted throughout this show and especially during this week’s episode. We see our case of the week following a familiar face to Olympia; as the story progresses, we learn that the client that Olympia is representing is her mother’s partner. Through this, we get to learn even more about Olympia’s relationship with her mother, some more details about her father, and her mom’s new husband.

Skye P. Marshall kills it every week, but when we see her outside of the courtroom or bouncing off Kathy Bates or Jason Ritter, it’s always a treat. Her range in this episode is absolutely amazing, we see her go through some struggles with keeping her personal emotions at bay during this case, helping her mother and learning to overcome some boundaries that were crossed, and having to be upfront with all of the people in her life. Thinking back to the Olympia that we met in the Pilot episode, it feels like the character has not only come full circle, but blossomed into someone new without losing the foundation of who the character was to begin with. 

Parallelling Olympia’s growth and progression, we have Matty dealing with Alfie’s father, Joey being released from rehab and falling into old patterns of untrust and control issues. I won’t lie, I was on the fence about Joey returning into the fold and whether he would be committed to his sobriety and growing his relationship with Alfie; but, I also had hopes that things would go well. He does end up cancelling his dinner with Matty, Edwin, and Alfie due to feeling unwell, but we find out he was nervous and uneasy about meeting all of the standards the Edwin and Matty have set for him. He opens up to Matty and says some pretty hurtful things that Ellie said while she was still living, which really affects Matty and I think that part of this has to obviously do with the pain of Ellie no longer being there, but also the fact that at one point in her life, she did believe that about her mother.

Throughout the episode, we see Matty working through this and how it’s affecting her, but ultimately, Joey and her are able to work through it and start building their relationship further. I am curious to see how this is going to continue to evolve throughout this season and onward. I want to see Joey continue on his path of recovery and continue to become more present within Alfie’s life. But with Matlock, there is almost always a twist and even if I can predict it some of the time, I still find myself surprised and cannot guess where things are going.

Our other major storyline that we wind up on is Eva’s coup that has been staged to have Senior overthrown from Jacobson-Moore. Of course, in typical Matlock fashion, things can never be that simple. During the meeting, Eva brings up the plan to overthrow Senior and he brings up a new client that he is going to be bringing on to intimidate and threaten everyone into supporting him. If he leaves, then so does the client, and things will continue to be as they have been thus far. I hate that his reign will continue (at least for now) but I am hopeful that somehow they will find a way to take him down and regain access and control to the firm. But part of me is intrigued to see if something will happen to him or what it will take for his world to come crashing down. With how Julian has been advancing in the plot over the last few weeks and his role in helping Olympia and Matty this week, it would be so fun to see what would happen if Julian was the one to take Senior down. 

Overall, another really good episode in the books! I think that this one focused more on the strength of the characters and how the past and present have come together to affect their lives in different ways. And next week is unfortunately our last episode until after the new year; I am going to miss my weekly watches and rambling on here. I would give this episode a 4/5 star rating and i can’t wait to see what is going to happen in the Fall Finale next week. 

What did you think?

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