Without a doubt, Matlock managed to pull off one of the greatest twists in TV history when, in the season premiere, the show quickly transformed from what audiences thought was a reboot of the classic legal drama, only to find out that this couldn’t be further from the truth. Warning, spoilers ahead for those who somehow have not already learned the twist.
In the season premiere, we met Madeline “Matty” Matlock, a widowed, inexperienced ex-attorney looking to get a job at the prestigious Jacobson Moore law firm in order to make some money to get herself out of debt. And yes, she’s fully aware that she happens to share the same last name as the TV lawyer from the classic show Matlock. We spend the episode watching Matty use her invisibility as an older woman to her advantage to help land a job at the firm by assisting with a major witness.
As the premiere neared its end, we learned that the Matty we met wasn’t who she claimed to be. Matty happened to be a happily married, wealthy, and incredibly capable and successful lawyer. Her life story wasn’t the only thing she had lied about. Her name was actually Madeline Kingston, and she set out to join the firm not because she was in need of money but because of the actions of someone at the firm who was responsible for not getting dangerous opiates taken off the market soon enough. This led to the death of her daughter, Ellie, and set Matty on the path of seeking revenge by essentially going undercover at Jacobson Moore.
It was an absolutely brilliant twist that no one saw coming, but funny enough, star Kathy Bates wasn’t exactly sold on the twist when she first read it.
"I questioned whether that would be realistic in real life, that somebody could do that," Bates admitted on a recent episode of Entertainment Weekly's The Awardist podcast.
In fact, she was so unsure of the twist’s realism that she sought out a friend who works in the corporate world to see whether Matty’s scheme was actually something that could be pulled off.
"I was really surprised, and I respect his opinion a lot. I was nervous about that. I'd think, at the beginning, would people go along with this? Would they believe this? But I think [creator Jennie Snyder Urman] crafted it so cleverly, with her getting in under discriminatory ageism and wheedling her way in."
Honestly, we understand why Bates sought out her friend’s opinion, as her reaction is, for lack of a better word, a realistic reaction. The twist was brilliant, but we’d be lying if we didn’t spend much of the season questioning how the show could sustain itself knowing Matty was lying to all those around her. We saw things finally come to a head in the season finale, which paved the way for what is going to be an incredible second season.
Now that Olympia knows the truth about Matty, it’ll be interesting to see how much longer Matty keeps up her song and dance around others in the firm. It’s also going to be interesting to see how the duo is going to proceed now that they know about Julian’s role in covering up the evidence that kept the drug on the shelf.
We’ll find out when Matlock returns this fall on CBS.