The Johnson Case

Ep 16 sharply pivots the season into higher-stakes territory. Olympia leads a complex murder case that's as much about uncovering hard truths as it is about legal strategy. The courtroom exchanges are taut, and the emotional reverberations cut deeper than usual.

Kathy Bates continues her quietly commanding presence as Matty, but the real power play comes from Skye P. Marshall's Olympia stepping into a more investigative - and cunning - role. The episode builds tension not just through legal means but also via shifting loyalties within the firm.

If you've ever wondered how personal convictions collide with professional codes, this is the episode where lines begin to blur, and trust gets tested. It's a smart, compelling hour that sets us up for a fiery final push to the season's end.

Deft screenwriting saves the best for last in this segment of "Matlock", providing a major development in the series in the final scene (I won't spoil it).

The legal team's new case is one of unjust imprisonment, done as a favor by Olympia for a lawyer (public defender) friend and colleague Amina (Azie Tesfai). A doorman has spent over two decades in prison for a crime he did not commit, with a juror coming forward to claim she was pressured by the foreman into going along with a guilty verdict against the doorman way back then -the team needs to prove his innocence.

This case is handled well by Olympia and Matlock, but the real action is in Mattie's manipulating her co-worker Emily (the delightful Patricia Belcher) into revealing the timeline in which the documents concerning the firm's protection of the criminal drug company (responsible for the death of Mattie's daughter). This leads in rapid succession to not one but two bombshell plot twists regarding Mattie and Olympia, whose relationship together has become the central theme of the show.

Fine ensemble acting, and a bang-up climax.