The deficiencies written into Ben Matlock's character during the last few years of this otherwise great series are literally stupid beyond words. The writers, normally clever and agile in producing exciting and meaningful scripts, generated a character in their writing of Ben Matlock who was little beyond a demented, robotic senior citizen incapable of anything except for brilliant legal thinking.
And that, brilliant legal thinking, is what he morphs into every time he's working on a case, both in and out of a courtroom. He becomes an unstoppable investigator and a Perry Mason-like courtroom wizard who defeats every effort of the bad guys to thwart justice.
But in every other area of life, Matlock is a silly, neurotic, miserly old jackass who is so inhibited and emotionally constipated that he can't even tell his only child, his grown daughter, that he loves her. He spends all his free time playing gin with his daughter or playing horseshoes with his hateful cousin Billy, and fighting ferociously when he thinks either one of them is cheating him, which is constantly. His behavior parallels the behavior of a 6-year-old fighting over whose turn it is to bat in a game of wiffle-ball--immature and constantly screeching "No fair!" Except he's not 6 years old. He's a 60-something supposedly grown man.
It doesn't get any better when Matlock deals with women. He is completely incapable of expressing his feelings for a woman, especially the assistant DA Julie Sommars, who throws herself at him and does everything except ask him to marry her. And even then, he is unable to say the word "love."
This character portrait, of a stunted, under-developed psyche that stopped somewhere around age 12, is a foolish and stupid way to portray a man who is as successful in his career and profession as Matlock is. It's not entertaining in the least, and it's off-putting to the max. And such a shame to ruin this great series by portraying the character this way. The series didn't start this way. Somewhere after the first year or 2, someone got control of the production and steered the show in a different direction. It's too bad. They ruined it.
