The new CBS legal drama television seriesMatlockstarsKathy Batesas Madeline Matlock, a 75-year-old woman who claims to be a bumbling, widowed former lawyer to land a job at a high-powered corporate law firm, Jacobson & Moss, where Madeline’s harmless-old-lady persona quickly endears Madeline to her new colleagues, including the firm’s three senior partners, who are completely oblivious to the fact that Madeline intends to destroy them.
The pilot episode ofMatlock, which is a gender-flipping reboot of the originalMatlocktelevision series starring Andy Griffith as criminal defense lawyer Ben Matlock, unfolds as a fairly standard and occasionally boringtelevision legal drama, up until the pilot’s closing scenes, when virtually everything that Madeline has represented about herself is revealed to be a lie.
Instead of being a debt-ridden widow who last practiced law in 1991 and whose deceased husband’s gambling addiction depleted her retirement savings, the pilot episode, which attracted thelargest series premiere audience for CBSin more than five years, reveals that Madeline is actually Madeline Kingston, a wealthy woman who last practiced law 10 years ago and whose husband is alive.
Madeline infiltrated Jacobson & Moss in order to gain revenge against the firm, especially the firm’s three senior partners, whom Madeline blames for withholding documents that could have lessenedthe opioid epidemic, which took the life of Madeline’s daughter.Madeline’s mission is to find out which of the three partners, whose photos appear on a “murder board” inside Madeline’s huge mansion, was directly responsible for withholding the documents and then making them pay.
Madeline Matlock: Master Manipulator
In the opening scenes of theMatlockreboot pilot episode, which presently has a100% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, Madeline Matlock utilizes her unassuming grandma facade to bypass the security checkpoint of her targeted law firm, Jacobson & Moss. There she lands a job by sharing information about how much a rival lawyer is willing to offer in the settlement of a case, after overhearing the lawyer discuss this in a coffee shop, thus securing an additional $4 million for the firm.
While Madeline jokes that she merely shares a last name with fictional lawyer Ben Matlock from the originalMatlocktelevision series,the originalMatlockseries serves as the inspiration for Madeline’s fictional identity.Madeline claims to befrom the Deep South, like Atlanta native Ben Matlock, which is one of her many lies. Like her fictional role model, Madeline displays folksy charm while presenting herself as an inexperienced and over-matched lawyer for the purpose of making people underestimate her.
In the pilot episode,Madeline says that when women reach a certain age, they achieve a level of invisibility, which becomes her superpower.The real Madeline is brilliantly disguised by Madeline Matlock, the beguiling and seemingly harmless confidante and mother hen figure who, much like a mentalist, is able to subtly bend others to her will while also seemingly reading their minds.
Madeline demonstrates this in the pilot episode’s big case, which seems doomed, until she convinces a reluctant witness to testify, thus rescuing victory from defeat, much like Ben Matlock does in virtually every episode of the originalMatlockseries, which was Madeline’s deceased daughter’s favorite show. Up until the pilot’s closing scenes, Madeline has accumulated so much trust from her colleagues, as well as the audience, that the pilot’s final twist, in addition to being merely shocking, feels genuinely disturbing and frightening.
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Matlock Is a Psychological Thriller Disguised as a Legal Drama
One of the most interesting aspects of the ending of theMatlockreboot pilot episode is to process the astonishing depth of Madeline’s deception. The only truth Madeline Matlock reveals is that she, much like Madeline Kingston, had a daughter who died ofa drug overdose. However, beyond Madeline’s daughter and occupation,virtually every aspect of Madeline’s biography is a lie.
By alerting the audience to Madeline’s deception while keeping the show’s other characters oblivious to Madeline’s plot,the pilot laid the foundation for the audience to identify with Madeline as a diabolically clever protagonistfor the purpose of becoming emotionally invested in Madeline’s quest to undermine the trust of her colleagues in her pursuit of revenge for the drug-related death of her daughter.
Madeline’s split identity between corporate spy and kindly-seeming grandma type sets the stage for an exciting cat-and-mouse dynamic between Madeline and her law firm colleagues throughout the show’s first season, which will also serve as an effective showcase forKathy Bates’ impressive acting range, as Bates’ stunning performance in the pilot episode is poised to continue to develop into one of the most interesting characterizations on network television.
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Madeline Wants to Burn it All Down
The shocking transformation of Madeline Matlock into Madeline Kingston at the end of theMatlockreboot pilot episode has generated many exciting possibilities for the rest of the season. This is particularly true in terms of Madeline’s fascinating psychological profile and the question of what Madeline will do after determining which of the law firm’s three senior partners —either Olympia or Olympia’s soon-to-be ex-husband, Julian, or Julian’s father—is most responsible for Madeline’s daughter’s death.
While Madeline ostensibly wants the guilty party to face criminal prosecution in addition to a crippling financial penalty,the deranged nature of Madeline’s masquerade, in terms of Madeline’s twisted attachment to theoriginalMatlocktelevision series, suggests that Madeline may be planning an even more severe form of punishment,assuming that Madeline finds proof of guilt before Madeline’s colleagues find out who she really is.
Moreover, while Madeline seemsconsumed by revengeand fully committed to her master plan in the pilot episode, it seems entirely possible that Madeline’s disarmingly personable nature could become a weakness throughout the first season if Madeline finds herself becoming emotionally attached to her colleagues, especially young women who remind Madeline of her daughter.
