Jealous Laura McCord suspects that her husband David has been unfaithful to him. One night, she follows him. David's lover Wanda Sutton lives in the penthouse of an upscale apartment building, complete with a security guard at the front desk in the lobby. Laura is so jealous that, upon her arrival, she pulls a gun on the security guard and threatens to shoot him if he doesn't allow her access to the building. So the security guard lets Laura take the elevator to the penthouse and promptly calls the police. Wanda Sutton is the one person to witness the unpleasant scene between Dave and Laura, and she agrees to testify against Laura in court. But when David is indeed shot to death and Wanda disappears, Laura claims innocence. Ben and Julie soon embark on an eventful trip out of the county. It is fraught with bad luck as things go wrong. A red paint stain on a sports jacket provides a vital clue in unmasking the real killer. Judge Irene Sawyer presides.
2 Reviews
Even more unrealistic than usual
feindlicheubernahme17 November 2023
Warning: Spoilers
To start at the end, the evidence which gets Matlock's client acquitted is the red paint on the bank director's old suit. But they make a point of saying that the building has been being painted for three years. No attempt is made to explain why anyone should assume that the man got paint on his suit jacket on the day of the murder, and not at any other time.
I groan whenever Julie March shows up. The character is beyond ridiculous. She's supposed to be a brilliant assistant DA but seems more concerned with cosying up to Matlock than trying to win any cases. She seems happy to constantly lose to him, as long they can go to lunch together afterwards. I normally fast forward through the scenes of their "flirting," or whatever it is they're supposed to be doing, which are just tedious and embarrassing. It's no reflection on Julie Sommars, who's a talented actress. In fact, I'm going through the original Magnum series concurrently with Matlock and I saw her just a few days ago in a Magnum season 2 episode, in which she was great. But in Matlock, like Linda Purl before her, even her talent can't make a terribly written character interesting or relatable.
Lastly, how about this for stupidity? Wanda dumped her fiancé, Dan, and ran away to Atlanta with a drug baron she'd met at a party just the night before. Once in Atlanta, she dumped the drug baron for (or cheated on him with) a rich old sugar daddy. And at the end of the episode, it's revealed that Dan has gone ahead and married her. Just like that. Solid life choice right there, Dan. She's a keeper.
I can't stress enough how much I know and accept that Matlock is no true-to-life, serious legal drama. But being light-hearted entertainment can't excuse everything. A smidgeon of realism would really make it a better series. And a portrayal of women as being more than possible love interests, adulteresses or sl*ts would help greatly. Michelle Thomas seems to be the only female character who isn't exclusively defined by her sexuality, which is a big step-up from Charlene, who was only there to date suspects, but it's still not good enough for a series which by now has reached 1988.
Edit (18 November): Oh dear, I think I've jinxed it. I've just watched the following episode, "The DJ," where Michelle convinces Matlock to defend her new boyfriend, an absolutely despicable waste of space. Even though she freely admits he's not a nice person, she apparently just can't resist him. How very Charlene of her.
I groan whenever Julie March shows up. The character is beyond ridiculous. She's supposed to be a brilliant assistant DA but seems more concerned with cosying up to Matlock than trying to win any cases. She seems happy to constantly lose to him, as long they can go to lunch together afterwards. I normally fast forward through the scenes of their "flirting," or whatever it is they're supposed to be doing, which are just tedious and embarrassing. It's no reflection on Julie Sommars, who's a talented actress. In fact, I'm going through the original Magnum series concurrently with Matlock and I saw her just a few days ago in a Magnum season 2 episode, in which she was great. But in Matlock, like Linda Purl before her, even her talent can't make a terribly written character interesting or relatable.
Lastly, how about this for stupidity? Wanda dumped her fiancé, Dan, and ran away to Atlanta with a drug baron she'd met at a party just the night before. Once in Atlanta, she dumped the drug baron for (or cheated on him with) a rich old sugar daddy. And at the end of the episode, it's revealed that Dan has gone ahead and married her. Just like that. Solid life choice right there, Dan. She's a keeper.
I can't stress enough how much I know and accept that Matlock is no true-to-life, serious legal drama. But being light-hearted entertainment can't excuse everything. A smidgeon of realism would really make it a better series. And a portrayal of women as being more than possible love interests, adulteresses or sl*ts would help greatly. Michelle Thomas seems to be the only female character who isn't exclusively defined by her sexuality, which is a big step-up from Charlene, who was only there to date suspects, but it's still not good enough for a series which by now has reached 1988.
Edit (18 November): Oh dear, I think I've jinxed it. I've just watched the following episode, "The DJ," where Michelle convinces Matlock to defend her new boyfriend, an absolutely despicable waste of space. Even though she freely admits he's not a nice person, she apparently just can't resist him. How very Charlene of her.
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