Tricks of the Trade - Part One

As the first half of a two-part finale, Ep 18 should have carried urgency, but instead it feels padded with filler and flashback.

The case itself is promising, yet it often gets sidelined by drawn-out exchanges and repetitive beats that sap the tension rather than build it.

The ensemble does its best to elevate the material - Kathy Bates remains the steady anchor, and Skye P. Marshall injects energy whenever Olympia is in play - but the writing here doesn't give them enough to work with.

Too much of the episode plays like setup rather than drama, leaving the momentum stalling just when it should be surging.

Overall, Tricks of the Trade: Part 1 feels like a missed opportunity. Hopefully, Part 2 can stick the landing.

I looooove Kathy Bates, the reason Instarted to watch this.

Sadly though her back up's are the most annoying idiots!

Olympia pisses me off in so many many ways she's over the top and spiteful These are lawyers, who clearly are not uneducated people but shows that they may be book smart but social spastics That Sarah is the most immature annoying horrid person, I don't know what the actual actress is like I've never seen her before but her facial expressions are that of a 5yo in trouble Billy is a weak immature little man too so I really don't know how this show thinks that it's all "normal". I know it's not a courtroom drama but it's pretty bad.

The only one who holds this together is Kathy.

In the penultimate episode of Season One, Matlock and Olympia form an uneasy and anything but happy alliance to finally get at the truth: was Julian responsible for stealing the document that would have helped shutdown the deadly drug that ultimately killed Matlock's daughter.

As these two powerful women go into action, Sarah, with Billy in tow, is in big trouble for getting a new client without seeking Olympia's permission, and he's promptly charged with the death of his partner.

While they try to prepare a defense, Olympia has been named new partner of the firm by boss Beau Bridges, denying his own son Julian the coveted position. There's plenty of tension between all these cast members, just as we head into the home stretch in finally resolving the details of the central whodunit.

There's a terrific moment here when the camera captures Kathy Bates' incomparable facial reaction as her husband recites all the boring activities he's planned for them once she has retired from her legal career. But never fear: in the coming finale there will be a legal future for Matlock and some major new plot arcs, since the hit series is renewed for a Season Two.