CHRISTOPHER STEVENS reviews Matlock on Sky Witness: Kathy Bates’s seemingly scatty lawyer will delight fans of Murder, She Wrote
Matlock (Sky Witness)
Matlock, a long- defunct 1980s U.S. courtroom serial starring Andy Griffith, doesn’t mean much to Brits. Though it drew audiences of more than 25 million in the States, the show was barely aired in the UK.
We watched Perry Mason, L.A. Law, The Good Wife and of course Suits — who could forget Suits, starring one Meghan Markle? — but Matlock passed us by.
Yet it ran for nearly 200 episodes, and guest stars included country singer Randy Travis, Dick Van Dyke, the A-Team’s George Peppard and Dynasty’s Terri Garber.
More significant, the show helped to perfect the format used by a host of hit American series, from The X Files to House, where the episodes each tell a complete story, while combining into a longer narrative.
The remake with Kathy Bates and Beau Bridges retains that format, while discarding just about everything else from the original — not that Brits will care about that, since we don’t remember it.
Bates plays Madeline ‘Matty’ Matlock as a scatty, garrulous widow of 75, returning to legal practice to stave off poverty. She talks her way into the glamorous offices of a New York law firm and reveals insider knowledge that nets the hotshots an instant $4 million bonus.
As a reward, she’s offered a two-week internship, with free lunches, to prove her worth to the company — and immediately helps her new boss, Olympia (Skye P. Marshall), to overturn a murder conviction.
Bates plays Madeline ‘Matty’ Matlock as a scatty, garrulous widow of 75, returning to legal practice to stave off poverty, writes Christopher Stevens
Her double nature gives the reboot a unique appeal. We can enjoy Matty’s folksy persona, as she interviews suspects and teases out information by sharing confidences while handing round sweets or muffins, writes Christopher Stevens
But Matty isn’t what she seems. Her real name is not Matlock, she’s far from broke, her adoring husband is very much alive and, far from wanting to win Olympia’s approval, she suspects all the partners of malpractice that cost her daughter’s life.
The first episode last week ended with Bates standing in front of a crime evidence board and studying the lawyers’ faces as she pledged, ‘I’m going to put them in jail.’
Her double nature gives the reboot a unique appeal. We can enjoy Matty’s folksy persona, as she interviews suspects and teases out information by sharing confidences while handing round sweets or muffins.
But we can also share her secret mistrust of all the other characters. And there’s a thrill of jeopardy every time Matty seems about to be exposed as a fake.
The emphasis on America’s racial divisions makes sometimes uncomfortable viewing. Both courtroom stories so far have featured black men accused of murders they didn’t commit, victims of a justice system that is both racist and lazy.
And the casual way characters refer to any dark-haired, brown-eyed male as ‘Latino’ makes my skin crawl.
But fans of Angela Lansbury in Murder, She Wrote (a U.S. crime show Brits definitely did watch) will relish what Bates is doing.
‘There’s this funny thing that happens when women age,’ she declares. ‘We become damn near invisible.’ She’s certainly worth seeing in this.
