S02.E01: Chapter Nine

[Door County Cherry]

As Perry grapples with a new career, Delta keeps the firm afloat; Paul accepts a questionable job;

Quote

Holcomb partners with a powerful ally. 

 

[realityplease]

I liked this episode - and glad to see the return of many of the first season's characters.  Moves along quickly, has some humor, an interesting new main story-line, with some cutaway for minor brief subplots.  I'm a sucker for the courtroom scenes and for the actor who portrays Perry Mason.  Loved him in "The Americans" & love him here in all his rumpled glory.  So far, so good - I'm sticking with this one. 

[Door County Cherry]

I liked the premiere too.  I'm hoping for a more engaging mystery but I also liked that it didn't seem as dour.  

I am still in love with the title card.  And the music.  

It was funny to see Tommy Dewey as a rich heir from the 30s.  He played a similar character in an episode of Cold Case. 

[thuganomics85]

It's been a while, so I'm glad the show is back!  As always, I am thankfully for the extra long "Previously" recap whenever a show has been on hiatus for a bit.

Interesting to see that Perry (and Della) have had to resort to civil cases to meet ends meet, and while they are good at it, it is clearly an unfulfilling way at practicing law for them.  At best, they are handling cases with kind of obnoxious clients making mountains out of molehills.  At worst, you get someone like Sunny/Sean Astin who is using the law to basically squash any form of competition and go all out at destroying whose he deemed "betrayed" him.  Now, obviously, there are times when civil cases can be a good thing, but it seems clear that the ones they are getting are making them jaded.  Looking forward to seeing Perry break away from it and get himself a nice criminal case soon!

The other downside is that it has kind of left Drake out to dry since he isn't needed for those type of cases and that's clearly (understandably) getting to him.  At least Perry was able to find him a temp job with Berger (I think), but I don't see that being a long term solution for him.

Della's still with Hazel, but is clearly interested in this new character played by Katherine Waterston.

Notice that Shea Whigham is only a guest actor this season, so I guess Pete won't be in all of the episodes.

No one can quite smirk like Justin Kirk can!

I say this with all the respect in the world that the actor playing the victim is a perfect fit for a rich, arrogant, philandering douchebag in the early 1900s, who has made enough enemies to make one wonder who among them is the killer.  I know his affair partner is an obvious suspect, but I wonder about his disapproving father (Paul Raci!) as well.  Plus, Detective Holecomb was involved in his scheme and we know what he's capable of...

Glad to see Lupe again as well.   

Glad the show is back.  Continue to love the setting and almost noir-like feel and looking forward to seeing more of Matthew Rhys and company doing what they do best!

[aghst]

Didn't realize Brooks was a temporary role.  But his plan to bring a baseball team to LA was a pipe dream, as this season is still set in the early 1930s, before WWII and about 20 years before the Dodgers moved to LA.

They didn't say if people died from the fire on that boat.  If they had to rush off the boat were there enough life boats?  Probably would be a big deal if there were victims and these are affluent people.

But Brooks' family money is in oil so why was he burning a casino ship?

 

So the big trial win didn't necessarily get them more clients in criminal law and they had to take on civil cases.  Still had to have a little dramatic moment in the courtroom, the covertly-taken photo of the stolen handbook.

Perry's client is a prick but now gets another store, destroys a man's livelihood and he is the breadwinner.  From the previews it appears they're not done with Sunny.

Not sure Perry having a conscience about this case is too convincing.  Wasn't he a hired private detective who took photos for clients who want to win in court in similar soul-destroying cases?

Paul's pretty crafty with the surveillance job he's doing.  But if he has to be at that hotel repeatedly, he might be remembered for taking pictures of his wife and child.  Not too low profile, this tactic.

Season 1 dealt with race issues, with Lupe and Paul.  Looks like this season won't be different, with Perry's clients probably being framed because they're Hispanic.  Not sure how Perry and Della are gong to be paid.

It's a big headline-grabbing case, but will Perry have to go up against Ham instead of having him as an ally as in season 1?  Maybe these high-profile cases lead to more steady clients, including many who can pay.

The original series ran 9 seasons.  Doubtful this one will go that long, maybe about half the number of seasons.  Did he always represent the underdogs and working people as opposed to the rich in the original series?  There's definitely a social justice lens to this HBO show, wondering if the original was similar.

[Door County Cherry]

28 minutes ago, thuganomics85 said:

Interesting to see that Perry (and Della) have had to resort to civil cases to meet ends meet, and while they are good at it, it is clearly an unfulfilling way at practicing law for them.

Della mentioned that it was an active choice for them to do civil law over criminal law.  It's pretty clear that Perry is haunted by his first criminal case.

[paigow]

5 hours ago, aghst said:

But Brooks' family money is in oil so why was he burning a casino ship?

It was competing with his own ship.

[shapeshifter]

I was concerned that this show would be too dark for my current levels of tolerance, but it walked that fine line perfectly.
 

6 hours ago, aghst said:

Paul's pretty crafty with the surveillance job he's doing.  But if he has to be at that hotel repeatedly, he might be remembered for taking pictures of his wife and child.  Not too low profile, this tactic.

I was concerned that things will not end well for the Drake family.
We see Paul and Clara are a loving couple, which is kind of rare, right?
But then he shows her the portrait photo of her and the baby, in which she looks very sad.
It's difficult to take pictures of more than one person and have them all have pleasing expressions at the same time——and even more so with babies. And when he was taking the pictures, the baby had the back of her head to the camera (which worried me that it would look suspicious to anyone noticing), but the one shot he printed is, of course, with the baby looking at the camera and smiling. So IRL, it's not surprising that Clara might not have been smiling in that one instance.
But this is a show (like most) where every frame we see has significance, especially when they show us a photograph. 
Plus, the baseball story in this episode was a look into the future. Was the photo of sad Clara with her child a forecast too?

 

Don't know if this matters, but I noticed in the opening credits Robert Downey Jr.'s name as an Executive Producer. So is his wife, Susan Downey.  

[AnimeMania]

It would make perfect sense if it was Lupe that told the Hispanic family that they had to get Perry Mason as their lawyer and don't stop bothering him until he agreed.

Seems like there are plenty of people who would want to commit the murder, but I don't think we have met them yet. If we have met them, 

Spoiler

It was his father's assistant.

Tommy Dewey as Brooks McCutcheon, philanthropist
Paul Raci as Lydell McCutcheon
Peter Mendoza as Mateo Gallardo
Fabrizio Guido as Rafael Gallardo  
Mark O’Brien as Assistant District Attorney Thomas Milligan 
Eric Lange as Gene Holcomb
Katherine Waterston as Ginny Aimes, school teacher 
Hope Davis as Camilla Nygaard
Sean Astin as Sunny Gryce, grocery store owner
Jen Tullock as Anita St. Pierre, Hollywood screenwriter 
Shea Whigham as Pete Strickland 
Chris Chalk as Paul Drake

[sistermagpie]

Really enjoyed the premiere too. Sean Astin is really well cast as this Sunny asshole fellow. 

9 hours ago, aghst said:

Not sure Perry having a conscience about this case is too convincing.  Wasn't he a hired private detective who took photos for clients who want to win in court in similar soul-destroying cases?

 

Good point, but I can see it as a logical character development. When he was being a PI it seems like he was just wallowing in the seediness of everything and seeing himself as part of the muck. He still has the same self-loathing (punching pictures, etc.), but what his new job's awakened in him is the good stuff underneath, the idealism and wanting justice. So where he used to cynically embrace it all, now he's more conflicted. 

2 hours ago, shapeshifter said:

Don't know if this matters, but I noticed in the opening credits Robert Downey Jr.'s name as an Executive Producer. So is his wife, Susan Downey.  

Wasn't he always? He was originally going to even play Perry, I thought.

9 hours ago, aghst said:

The original series ran 9 seasons.  Doubtful this one will go that long, maybe about half the number of seasons.  Did he always represent the underdogs and working people as opposed to the rich in the original series?  There's definitely a social justice lens to this HBO show, wondering if the original was similar.

I didn't watch it, but I think that he was always defending people unfairly accused to a lot of them would be working class and underdogs (if not diverse and pointing to societal injustice like here). That's one of the big contrasts to today when Dick Wolf etc. decided the prosecuters should be the heroes and the defense attorneys were scumbags helping other scumbags get away with it.

So far it looks like this season's mystery will be better and a better fit for the show - and presumably Perry's going to be even more in for actual justice instead of just halfway like the poor woman from last season.

[Jodithgrace]

Damn…Lupe really got in on the ground floor in Cabo. Her grandchildren must be millionaires! 

[paigow]

1 hour ago, Jodithgrace said:

Damn…Lupe really got in on the ground floor in Cabo. Her grandchildren must be millionaires! 

They sold out to Sammy Hagar 

[sugarbaker design]

On 3/7/2023 at 1:18 AM, aghst said:

The original series ran 9 seasons.  Doubtful this one will go that long, maybe about half the number of seasons.  Did he always represent the underdogs and working people as opposed to the rich in the original series?  There's definitely a social justice lens to this HBO show, wondering if the original was similar.

The original with Raymond Burr?  It did run for 9 seasons, but there were approx 30 episodes a season.  It was almost always a hour-long whodunnit, except for the occasional two-parter, that resulted in a dramatic murder trial.  There was hardly a a social justice slant.  I was unemployed for the better part of 2018, I would start my day with an episode of Perry Mason on MeTV.

[Moxie Cat]

I thought the premiere was great. I even managed to rope my parents into watching it - they were big fans of the OG Perry Mason and loved the Burr TV-moves. But they checked out of S1 of this show because they thought it was too gruesome. So I'm glad there was so little violence in this one - we didn't even see Brooks actually get shot.

Fans of the Goldbergs might recognize the courtroom defendant as Matt Bush, who has played one of Barry's buddies for the past 10 years. Definitely a "hey, it's that guy!" moment!

IIRC, wasn't Ham Burger (heh) Perry's primary adversary in the original show/books? Justin Kirk is well cast and I love that they seem to be frenemies (and Ham and Della actual friends). The scene with the three of them crackled with energy.

[sugarbaker design]

55 minutes ago, Moxie Cat said:

IIRC, wasn't Ham Burger (heh) Perry's primary adversary in the original show/books?

Yes, except for a few rare occasions, Perry always beat Burger.

 

56 minutes ago, Moxie Cat said:

The scene with the three of them crackled with energy.

Totally agree, the chemistry was palpable.

[tennisgurl]

I'm glad that they added that long recap at the start, its been so long that I had forgotten a lot of what happened last season. Its good to have this show back, in all its sun drenched glory, I liked the way the show started. Less grim than last season, Perry is in a better place mentally (even if he's still haunted by the events of season one) and the victim is some philandering corrupt asshole instead of a child, so we get a lot more jokes and a somewhat more cheerful tone, even if it looks like shit is going to get real very quickly. This is the kind of guy who you know made a lot of enemies, my first guess is the disapproving dad with the cheated on wife as a distant season, but I am sure there will be many twists and turns before we find our killer or killers. 

Both due to them needing money and due to Perry being troubled from his last, heartbreaking, case, Perry and company are just taking civil cases, which is an interesting way to start things off. I am guessing that Sean Astin's character isn't gone yet, I dont think they would hire Sean Astin for such a small part. I loved Perry's face as Sunny compared crushing his former employees store to take it over to his experiences in the war, like he just cannot believe that he's stuck on the side of this petty asshole. Unfortunately this has left Paul without a lot to do, although it seems like that's going to be changing very soon.

Its nice to see Lupe, if she ends up getting in on the ground floor in the Cabo tourism industry, she could end up the wealthiest person in the whole series. 

Loved the scene between Burger, Della, and Perry, the three of them have a great vibe between them. 

I am really enjoying the 30s music and costuming, the production and costuming is still all on point. 

[Xantar]

I never watched the original Perry Mason. I also have very little patience for people who criticize a remake or an adaptation because they changed things. When I watch a movie adaptation of a book, I don’t care if they change a lot of details or even just completely toss out the original stuff wholesale. Complaining about that stuff is a good way to instantly make me roll my eyes at you. It’s a different medium for a different time and needs to stand on its own.

What I’m saying is I am the last person to care about whether something from the original show survives into this show. And yet…

The original theme song is pretty catchy. They really couldn’t work it in anywhere?

[paigow]

6 minutes ago, Xantar said:

The original theme song is pretty catchy. They really couldn’t work it in anywhere?

Maybe the rights are not being made available...

[paigow]

On 3/8/2023 at 9:17 AM, sugarbaker design said:

The original with Raymond Burr?   There was hardly a a social justice slant. 

Yeah.. The episodes were never titled: The Case of the Pro Bono Defendant

Perry had a lot of overhead - i.e. Della & Paul never looked hard up for cash, fancy suits - so his clients were usually the One Percenters of that era... 

[buckboard]

19 minutes ago, paigow said:

Yeah.. The episodes were never titled: The Case of the Pro Bono Defendant

Perry had a lot of overhead - i.e. Della & Paul never looked hard up for cash, fancy suits - so his clients were usually the One Percenters of that era... 

Actually, the original Perry took on pro bono cases and low paying clients all the time.  He could afford it because of all the wealthy clients he had, but he would take on kids and old ladies and other poor clients for the coins they had in their wallets or a painting by the client.  It was an odd mash of corporate and criminal defense law.

New Perry had to turn to civil cases because he didn't have the wealthy corporate clients to keep his practice going.  

[BlazingBloomers]

On 3/8/2023 at 2:27 PM, tennisgurl said:

 I am guessing that Sean Astin's character isn't gone yet, I dont think they would hire Sean Astin for such a small part. I loved Perry's face as Sunny compared crushing his former employees store to take it over to his experiences in the war, like he just cannot believe that he's stuck on the side of this petty asshole.

I agree that we’ll probably see Sunny again.  I think it’s interesting that he owns grocery stores. Isn’t that what Emily’s husband did in season 1?

[paigow]

Quote

I agree that we’ll probably see Sunny again.  I think it’s interesting that he owns grocery stores.

This iteration of Perry Mason will be a fore-runner of The Lincoln Lawyer - except Perry will have his office in the market and be known as The Meat Locker Lawyer

Edited March 13, 2023 by paigow

[Chicago Redshirt]

On 3/7/2023 at 12:18 AM, aghst said:

Didn't realize Brooks was a temporary role.  But his plan to bring a baseball team to LA was a pipe dream, as this season is still set in the early 1930s, before WWII and about 20 years before the Dodgers moved to LA.

They didn't say if people died from the fire on that boat.  If they had to rush off the boat were there enough life boats?  Probably would be a big deal if there were victims and these are affluent people.

But Brooks' family money is in oil so why was he burning a casino ship?

 

So the big trial win didn't necessarily get them more clients in criminal law and they had to take on civil cases.  Still had to have a little dramatic moment in the courtroom, the covertly-taken photo of the stolen handbook.

Perry's client is a prick but now gets another store, destroys a man's livelihood and he is the breadwinner.  From the previews it appears they're not done with Sunny.

Not sure Perry having a conscience about this case is too convincing.  Wasn't he a hired private detective who took photos for clients who want to win in court in similar soul-destroying cases?

Paul's pretty crafty with the surveillance job he's doing.  But if he has to be at that hotel repeatedly, he might be remembered for taking pictures of his wife and child.  Not too low profile, this tactic.

Season 1 dealt with race issues, with Lupe and Paul.  Looks like this season won't be different, with Perry's clients probably being framed because they're Hispanic.  Not sure how Perry and Della are gong to be paid.

It's a big headline-grabbing case, but will Perry have to go up against Ham instead of having him as an ally as in season 1?  Maybe these high-profile cases lead to more steady clients, including many who can pay.

The original series ran 9 seasons.  Doubtful this one will go that long, maybe about half the number of seasons.  Did he always represent the underdogs and working people as opposed to the rich in the original series?  There's definitely a social justice lens to this HBO show, wondering if the original was similar.

It seemed to me more like Perry made a conscious decision to walk away from criminal defense because he was haunted by his client's desperation and suicide and unwilling to parlay his "win" into more clients.

At a guess, Perry's private eye work rarely made him screw over people who were fundamentally decent if misguided. For my money anyway, it is kind of BS that the upstart grocer had to pay for such things as this item can be found in aisle 3, the notion that saying "All under one roof" versus "everything under one roof" (or whatever) and the like. I think Perry as PI more tried to get at people who were having affairs or engaging in scandalous behavior, not a sucker who was just trying to make ends meet. And the price Perry extracted was probably more fair than "You get to give up your entire business during a depression." Also, it's probably different gathering ammo for EB or someone else to use versus actually firing the gun yourself and looking the person in the eye when you're doing it. 

I suspect that Lupe will have a connection with the poor saps who are going to get framed for the murder and/or will facilitate Perry's getting paid. Either with land in Cabo San Lucas or a between-the-sheets reunion.

In the original series, I would say the majority of Perry's clients were pretty well to do. A typical plot would be the owner or an executive of a company had motive/means/opportunity to kill his partner/boss/rival who was a total scumbag or a nice guy/girl had motive/means/opportunity to kill their spouse or relative....but as it turns out someone else actually committed the murder. I probably watched every episode of the original series during the pandemic (although some of them I probably slept through too) and I think you wouldn't need both hands to count the number of times where the victim or the suspect was a person of color, and you might have to take off your shoes to count the times when the suspect began and ended as someone who was working class or could be considered an underdog. 

 

On 3/8/2023 at 11:02 PM, Xantar said:

The original theme song is pretty catchy. They really couldn’t work it in anywhere?

I think that they used  it in last season's finale. 

But they seem to want to use different music, in part because they do want to differentiate themselves from the 50s and 60s Perry Mason and in part because they have Terrence Blanchard around, would be my guess. 

[shapeshifter]

Could/would Perry drop his grocery client plaintiff and choose to represent the defense grocer?

[paigow]

3 hours ago, shapeshifter said:

Could/would Perry drop his grocery client plaintiff and choose to represent the defense grocer?

The case is over... Perry would need to find grounds for a counter-suit, then feed that to opposing counsel secretly, not obviously switch sides...  

[Chicago Redshirt]

4 hours ago, shapeshifter said:

Could/would Perry drop his grocery client plaintiff and choose to represent the defense grocer?

The civil case is over and I don't think there is any meaningful way to flip to the defense of the ex-employee grocer in it. There would also be an ethical bar that would prevent a lawyer from representing one party and then flipping and representing the adverse party in the same lawsuit, but the Perry Mason we saw from S1 would not let silly things like ethics get in the way.

My unspoiled prediction is that things will not be looking so sunny for Sunny within the next couple of episodes (one does not hire Sean Astin for a one-and-done role), and that after someone murders him, Ex-Employee will be the natural suspect. So Perry will end up defending him in a subplot that is more like classic Perry Mason and he will be able to work through his guilt at ruining his livelihood and his guilt at having Emily Dodson commit suicide by "saving" Ex-Employee's livelihood/life (I'm operating under the assumption that he will be suicidal at some point).  

 

[Blakeston]

Were we given the circumstances of Emily's death? (I saw that there was something like a death certificate, but my screen wasn't big enough to make it out.)

When Perry dreamt about her spitting up water, I had to wonder if she had died on the boat that was set on fire.

[Door County Cherry]

10 hours ago, Chicago Redshirt said:

I think that they used  it in last season's finale.

Good.  Someone else remembers this.  I think it was just a quick trill but yeah, I am pretty sure I heard a hint of it.

[Chicago Redshirt]

3 hours ago, Blakeston said:

Were we given the circumstances of Emily's death? (I saw that there was something like a death certificate, but my screen wasn't big enough to make it out.)

When Perry dreamt about her spitting up water, I had to wonder if she had died on the boat that was set on fire.

I can see where you got that, but I think the repeated notes showing she was depressed and that she wanted to be with dead Charlie indicated that she committed suicide by drowning (at least to me). 

[sistermagpie]

13 hours ago, Chicago Redshirt said:

But they seem to want to use different music, in part because they do want to differentiate themselves from the 50s and 60s Perry Mason and in part because they have Terrence Blanchard around, would be my guess. 

If they wanted to do that they ought to not have people turn on the radio and have it play late 40s/early 50s songs with sound qualities that sound nothing like the 30s!!! Same goes for those lone saxophones.

Sorry, that was a big pet peeve of mine in the first season. Why why why would you set something in the 30s and use such anachronistic music? 

[shapeshifter]

5 hours ago, Blakeston said:

Were we given the circumstances of Emily's death? (I saw that there was something like a death certificate, but my screen wasn't big enough to make it out.)

When Perry dreamt about her spitting up water, I had to wonder if she had died on the boat that was set on fire.

2 hours ago, Chicago Redshirt said:

I can see where you got that, but I think the repeated notes showing she was depressed and that she wanted to be with dead Charlie indicated that she committed suicide by drowning (at least to me). 

I didn't consider Emily's drowning death to be related to the fire on the speak easy boat,
but I suppose it could turn out that Emily boarded such a boat to drown herself.

 

 

[Broderbits]

11 hours ago, Door County Cherry said:

Good.  Someone else remembers this.  I think it was just a quick trill but yeah, I am pretty sure I heard a hint of it.

Yes, they definitely used it over the finale credits. The current music sounds like it was lifted from Chinatown, which I guess is appropriate, but I'm finding it distracting.