Editor’s Note: The following contains spoilers for Madlock Season 1.The end of Season 1sets up the groundwork forMatlockSeason 2 with one big mystery getting an answer. Staying undetected for the most part, Matty (Kathy Bates) investigated Jacobson Moore and who was responsible for hiding incriminating Wellbrexa documents that could have taken opioids off the market, stopping the drug epidemic that killed her daughter and so many others. The finale gave her a culprit in Julian (Jason Ritter), placing a new hurdle in the friendship between his ex-wifeOlympia (Skye P. Marshall)and Matty.The two women have very personal stakes in exposing the truth at their law firm, and Julian will undoubtedly play a larger role.
What is never quite revealed is the extent of the threat posed by one particular character to Matty.Julian’s father, Senior (Beau Bridges), is a man of power at the very top of Jacobson Moore, but his brief appearances throughout Season 1 keep him one of the show’s unanswered questions.Matlockcould have him be a major foein Season 2.Both Matty and Olympia have reasons to team up against him, and he won’t back down if he learns what they are up to, not with his son at risk of being implicated in a big scandal and having the law firm infiltrated under his watch.
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Matty meets all the important playersat Jacobson Moore on her first day. Julian and Olympia are in clear view, but much like how Season 1 will go on to treat Senior, he stays in the background, only making his presence known when he wants Matty to know he’s there. Senior is the managing partner at the law firm with a great level of authority, and he knows it. Of the three, Julian and Olympia get more character development, but their very different relationships with Senior give a sense of who he is. Scenes with daughter-in-law Olympiahave Senior show his caring side with a touch of admiration, a far cry from the fraught scenes he gets with his son Julian.
The marriage between Olympia and Julianis on the verge of finalizing a divorce when the show starts. It’s a rocky journey for them where they regain their love for each other, turn on each other, and then realize they need to end things on good terms for their children. While Matty gets thrown in the middle of their problems,she tries to figure out how to manipulate them to aid in her agenda, but Senior doesn’t play favorites. It means little to him that one of the firm’s top attorneys is his son. He treats Olympia like a beloved in-law, possibly a surrogate daughter, and respects her when she stands her ground to prove Jacobson Moore can take on undesirable pro bono cases with good results. The opposite dynamic is found in the father-son, with Senior reacting to Julian with condescension, believing his son got his legal position without much trouble due to his family ties. Not even when Matty,who tends to disarm those around her, can get a good handle on Senior in her scenes with him.
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A memorable scene comes out of nowherein Episode 13 when Senior invites Matty to get high with him, and they lay back in chairs as their edibles chill them out. Kathy Bates is as good as ever as a discussion of guilt lets emotions rise to the surface until Bridges breaks the tension with a joke. From this exchange,Matlockputs in revealing details about Senior, hinting at his ominous nature that is below the surface of his jokey personality. Matty learns he had a younger brother who died in a car wreck the day after they had a fight, a regret Senior harbors. He mentions to Matty how he took the ancient proverb, “Dig two graves,” not as a warning but as a means of retribution: “Car manufacturer’s in one, tire company’s in the other.” Theperformance by Beau Bridgesin this scene, and his other appearances, depicts a ruthless man without turning him into a cartoon villain.
Senior laughs at a cruel joke about two young women who suffer a big lossafter Matty wins a Wellbrexa case, then hands her a gift with the parting words, “I’ll be sure to keep you in mind next time I need someone who doesn’t lose.” The Season 1 finale delivers a confetti celebration as Olympia is promoted to partner, then learns how Senior admires how she can “break a few rules." The subtext to these scenes is the viewers know, along with Matty, thatthere is corruption at the top of Jacobson Moore.Getting high at the office is a way to pass the time for the same man who looked the other way in stopping the opioid epidemic. And with the big revelations in the finale, two storylines that come out of it will surely bring the drama next season.
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Olympia beat out Julian for the partner position, but the scene that was a long time coming is when Julian vents his frustration to his father. Although the two part ways, it won’t be for long. After Matty tells Olympia that Julian must have beenthe one who removed the documents for the Wellbrexa cover-up, Olympia learns it is a fact, making their reconciliation from the previous episodes complicate Olympia’s choice of what she will do next. Season 2 will have to see how this will affect Julian’s estranged relationship with Senior, especially since he confirms he hid the documents as an act of loyalty to a father who couldn’t care less about him.
By having Bridges in the role, the show needs to do more with him. He knows how to bring quiet intimidation, yet for the most part,Matlockhasn’t done much else. Other than making “human lie detector” Shae (Yael Grobglas) an adversary for Matty in a short-lived arc,the show hasn’t given a villain for Mattyto really clash with and Julian’s culpability might be what it takes for Senior to show how ruthless he can be that has only been alluded too. There might be no one more threatened by Jacobson Moore’s corruption being exposed than the man in charge of it all.
Matlockis available to stream on Paramount+ in the U.S.
