When CBS unveiled plans to reboot the iconic detective drama Matlock with Oscar-winner Kathy Bates stepping into the titular role, many worried it would be another woke hatchet job, gender-swapping Andy Griffith’s beloved character with a woman. Thankfully, however, the show actually pays homage to Griffith with a clever twist: Bates’ character, Madeline Kingston, adopts the alias Madeline “Matty” Matlock to go undercover at a swanky law firm.
Her mission? To expose their cover-up for a pharma giant linked to her daughter’s opioid overdose death. It’s a nod to the original that actually works.
Thus, it’s been pleasant to watch each episode since they’ve been free of typical leftist propaganda. That is until this week’s episode, “The Johnson Case,” which was a slap in the face to Griffith and every other white male that has ever existed.
Matty has been working at the firm as an assistant to Olympia Lawrence (Skye P. Marshall), who is a junior partner. Olympia’s “law school bestie,” Amina (Azie Tesfai) shows up and asks her to take on the case of an immigrant woman, Isabel Sanchez (Blanca Araceli), who wants to undo the conviction of a man she helped find guilty of murder 21 years ago.
Sanchez claims the jury foreman, a white man, bullied her into voting against her conscience as she was the only juror who believed the defendant was innocent:
Amina: Eugene Molina was a doorman charged with murdering one of the building’s tenants, Linda Gallo.
Matty: And this was 21 years ago?
Amina: Prosecution argued Linda lodged a complaint, Gene snapped, used his doorman key to get in and stabbed her to death in the nine-minute window he left his desk to pick up dinner for another tenant.
Billy: Must have been some complaint.
Amina: It wasn’t. That’s the thing. She complained about all the doormen. It didn’t make sense.
Olympia: Any eyewitnesses?
Amina: An unreliable one. Teenager. Said the man was six feet. Gene’s only five-six. She picked him out of a lineup, but the NYPD was still doing single blinds back then.
Olympia: DNA?
Amina: None of it matched Gene. And the police tested everything. The carpet, magazines, the socks under the couch, the spoon on the floor near the body.
Isabel: Plus, the caviar thing.
Olympia: What’s that?
Isabel: Well, during the original trial, they show us all these pictures of the crime scene, and there was this trail of caviar from the kitchen to the living room. But the rest of the apartment- spotless. And Linda was one of those ladies with a housekeeper who came every single day.
Olympia: She could’ve made the mess herself before she died.
Isabel: Autopsy said Linda hadn’t eaten in hours. She still had her jacket on. She just got home. It doesn’t make sense. Gene was so mad, he went to pick up a tenant’s dinner, ran upstairs, murdered Linda, had some caviar in nine minutes?
Sarah: That does sound pretty insane.
Olympia: So, what happened in deliberation?
Isabel: Everyone else thought he did it. I brought up the caviar over and over, but nothing.
Matty: But you must have voted guilty. Or else it would’ve been a hung jury.
Isabel: Not at first. I said no. I tried to talk, but Dale, the foreman, he told me I was wasting everyone’s time. He said I was just dragging this out so I can get a free lunch from the government.
Billy: Geez.
Isabel: And he kept on screaming at me. And everyone else agreed with him. He took away my chair, so I had to stand, and I just…I caved. And Gene was found guilty. And I have regretted it every day since.
Matty: Then why did you wait so long to come forward? Sorry. I’m just trying to understand.
Isabel: I just thought eventually it would right itself, that one of his appeals would work.
As most people would, Matty initially has a strongly negative opinion of Sanchez, believing she should have spoken up sooner rather than allowing an innocent man to be imprisoned for 21 years. But when Sanchez explains it in woke terms and blames it on white patriarchy, Matty suddenly sympathizes:
Matty: Olympia will be here any minute.
Isabel: I know what you think. That I waited too long. But you don’t know what it was like in that room. Over and over, I tried to talk, but the foreman Mr. Foster kept shutting me down.
Matty: That’s terrible. But if you knew you were right…
Isabel: I didn’t. I thought I was right, but I was the only one, and I was also taught to respect authority. Men specifically. When I came to this country, it became white men. They were always in charge. Could get you in trouble if you did anything wrong. Like, imagine that girl going up against the top guy here. That’s how it felt.
Matty: I understand. I’m sorry I didn’t before.
There are plenty of high-powered, female CEOs that young, male interns would be afraid to go up against. But that fact is irrelevant in Hollywood’s woke narrative. Everything must be blamed on the patriarchy. Bonus points if they’re white.
Matty’s sudden pivot from “Why’d you wait so long?” to “Oh, poor you! Evil white men!” is peak Hollywood hypocrisy. Matlock had a good start, but now it’s just another casualty of the patriarchy blame game. Griffith’s legacy deserves better than this pandering mess.
