Matlock’s Turning the Tables on the Cat

Here is the rewritten content:

Matty (Kathy Bates) finally gets her day in court in Episode 3 of Matlock, "A Guy Named Greg," but it was actually the thing she is avoiding. After scoring the passcode to Olympia’s (Skye P. Marshall) phone at the end of Episode 2, the next objective for Matty and Alfie (Aaron D. Harris) is to break into her laptop and find her connection to the case Matty believes could have saved her daughter’s life. Matty thinks she’ll have an easy time getting what Alfie needs during the team’s latest trial, representing a woman named Alex (Danielle Larracuente) who is suing her job for wrongful termination after her boss, Jeremy (Chad Coe), sexually assaulted her at a party.

During jury selection, Matty used her fumbling grandma routine to get the judge to ban cell phones in the courtroom after hers rang out loud, and she struggled to turn it off. She thought that being the one causing the commotion would score her a gig babysitting the team’s phones and personal belongings, giving her unsupervised access to Olympia’s phone and computer. It would have worked too, if Matty’s fumble hadn’t endeared her to a tough jury that Olympia needed to win over to win the case, and that was just the start of Matty’s bad luck in the episode.

Yael Grobglas makes her first appearance in Matlock as Shae Banfield, a jury expert brought in to help Olympia tackle this tough case. Olympia calls her "The Meerkat" because Shae is a human lie detector with expertise in jury selection and manipulation. Having her around the office amps up Matty’s blood pressure because now there’s someone who can obviously sniff out her lies, especially when Matty is about to pull off the riskiest move of her plan yet.

As much as Matty wants to avoid Shae, it instantly becomes clear to The Meerkat that Matty has an in with the jury that Olympia never will. And Grobglas reminds everyone that she will absolutely steal a scene if you give her an inch of room. Her constant suspicion of Matty is pitch-perfect. Everyone has fallen for Matty’s antics so easily up until this point, and it was absolutely delightful to have someone in the office to make her sweat. Shae is onto Matty, but she also pushes… what it unearths in the process. Will Matty actually be able to stick to the promise she made her daughter or is this going to get too complicated for her actually to hold someone accountable?

Matlock continues on Thursdays at 9 PM ET on CBS. Episodes are available to stream the next day on Paramount+.

Pros

• Yael Grobglas is an absolute scene-stealer as Shae Banfield.
• Matty’s mission is getting messy, and thus more interesting.
• It was great to see Matty actually in a courtroom lawyering instead of just investigating.

Cons

• It’s getting harder to tell when Matty is purposefully being clumsy and when she’s actually making a mistake.
• It’s time we got to know Matty’s daughter better.

Conclusion

Matty’s latest move may have backfired, but it’s clear that The Meerkat is shaking things up in the office. Will Matty’s plans continue to unravel, or can she find a way to use Shae’s expertise to her advantage?

FAQs

• What is the plot of Matlock Episode 3?
• Who is Yael Grobglas playing in Matlock?
• Is Matlock available to stream?
• What is the release date of Matlock Season 1?
• Who is in the cast of Matlock?