‘Matlock’ Recap: Where’s the Real Wellbrexa Study?
Spoiler Alert
[Warning: The following contains MAJOR spoilers for Matlock Season 2 Episode 2, “Another Matlock.”]
Matty (Kathy Bates) and Olympia (Skye P. Marshall) are operating in truth now in Matlock. Well, sort of. More truth definitely came out in the second episode of Season 2, but so did more tension. Olympia took the upper hand in their complicated feud by the end of the episode, wresting control out of Matty’s hands after she had been controlling the narrative since Season 1.
Matty and Edwin (Sam Anderson) were excited about getting in contact with a New York Times reporter at the top of the episode. They worked together to steal the Wellbrexa study from Olympia’s safe in her home in the Matlock Season 2 premiere (read our recap here). Matty soaked in every detail of her supposed last day at Jacobson Moore, but after a dance in the courtroom that featured Bates doing impressions of Andy Griffith‘s Ben Matlock from the original Matlock, a mid-episode plot twist changed everything.
Olympia realized that Matty had taken the document and called her out for it. Matty didn’t hesitate for a second to admit the truth when Olympia cornered her. Matty offered to bring Olympia with her to her meeting with the Times to go on the record and try to protect her family.
While Olympia confirmed that her ex-husband, Julian (Jason Ritter), hid the study in a safety deposit box for all those years, she soon revealed that the study in her safe was a decoy to keep Julian from trying to destroy the damning evidence. Olympia is desperate to pin the scandal on Julian’s father, Senior (Beau Bridges), who ordered his son to hide the study to protect their big-money pharmaceutical client.
“I care about justice, too, so let’s work together,” Olympia urged. Matty wasn’t buying the “durress” argument her friend was posing. Julian could have refused to follow his father’s order, an act that could have saved countless lives, including Matty’s daughter.
Matty and Olympia fought back and forth for the entire episode, trying to convince the other to see their side of things. Olympia kept getting the upper hand on Matty whenever they squared off, showing how equally quick-witted she is in comparison to Matty (she’s clearly the other Matlock the episode title references). She made Matty miss her meeting with the Times, and she took Edwin on a road trip to get the supposed real Wellbrexa study, which she said she had left in a different safety deposit box in Connecticut. On this trip, Edwin said that Matty “saw through [Olympia’s] lies,” but neither of them really did.
Olympia took Edwin’s phone and left him stranded on their road trip (he got back just fine). She handed Matty a fake study with blank pages, saying that Matty doesn’t have the leverage she thinks she has. Matty pushed back, but Olympia revealed the list of crimes Matty and Edwin committed in their secret investigation at the law firm. All of this was to trigger Matty, just like they had with a criminal in a court case earlier in the episode. Olympia pulled a Matty by recording this conversation in secret.
This damning audio file is what Olympia emailed Matty when she was supposed to be emailing the Wellbrexa document. And now, Olympia has control of the chessboard, and viewers still don’t know if the real Wellbrexa study is in Connecticut like Olympia claimed — or if it’s even real, for that matter. Matty will have to find this key evidence if she has any hopes of getting a proper investigation into this scandal. That, or find a new way to prove Jacobson Moore’s guilt.
Elsewhere in the episode, Matty and Edwin agreed to help Alfie’s (Aaron D. Harris) father, Joey (Niko Nicotera), with his sobriety by paying for his place at a rehab center, but it’s up to him to decide if he accepts the help.
Matlock, Thursdays, 9/8c, CBS
Conversation18 Comments
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I hope the writers have an end date for this whole Wellbrexa mess. It's getting tiresome and is dragging the show down.
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Did not like this episode and how it is leading the two main characters down a path of negativity towards one another.
If this is just going to be a weekly jostle as to which woman gets the upper hand, then the show will become less watchable.
Just like the Julien / Billy scenes. That storyline was bad. Too immature.
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@DanW, I agree with you about the storyline, especially on the immaturity aspect, not just J & B, but, well, EVERYone, considering the show revolves around so many high-powered, senior, corporate professionals!🤭 I admit I've got some catching up to do and may not be aware of all the developing changes in the cast dynamics, but I am VERY sadly intrigued by what's going on off-camera, in the quick firing of David del Rio after Leah Lewis' sexual assault accusation. 😱😨 I'm going to be very interested in how that is going to pan out, VERY interested...🤨 👀
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I really love Bates and I think she doing terrific job as Matlock, love how she quotes “ innocent old lady” 😉
But I can’t agree more how this episode was full of shot and upper cut, very unrealistic, taking Edwin on the trip to just dump him there, so she can record?? I’m not sure how Matty and Olympia have a chance to bring back friendship. Or maybe there is an act? But for whom?
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Matty wants to protect Olympia and her children from being implicated and told Edwin she was going to work on a master plan. I don't know if Matty is continuing to manipulate things behind the scenes to make this happen by pushing Olympia, or if Olympia and Matty are teamed up on a ruse of being against each other.
Edwin warned Matty that if she went to the press, her friendship with Olympia is over. Matty knows what she is doing. I think she's forcing Olympia to take control of the narrative by making herself the enemy now in hopes of greater gain later.
To take down a man like senior requires that he does not see her coming, and somehow she's going to find a way for him to hang himself with his own rope while ensuring Olympia get the credit for being the hero that made it happen.
Believe you me, the writers are taking us viewers for a wild end to the Wellbrexa case, but not without a few Red Herons along the way.
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It’s a chess game between the two of them—I’m sorry to see their friendship/ trust decline.
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I want the Olympia / Matty friendship back. How is that going to happen now?
I just hope this is all some secret mastermind plan between Matty and Olympia setup so Olympia can take control of the narrative without being implicated or suspected by senior.
In the last episode, Olympia asked Matty if she liked theater. Granted, this was about the case of the week, but maybe there was a hint that a bigger performance was about to ensue. To take someone like senior down, a man above the law, they need to be enemies.
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I still want so badly to think that Matty is purposely being the enemy to force Olympia to take control of the narrative.
Something fishy is going on? They are being way too mean to each other. So, out of character for both of them. Olympia is trying to implicate Matty in illegal activity, when Olympia is doing it herself?
I also get the impression that Matty is manipulating Edwin with kindness to keep him off her back. She does love him, but she also wants to do things her way.
I don't like the direction this show is going tearing these two beautiful women apart. Unless this is a huge ruse, I don't see how they can ever recover from this, especially after threatening each others' children. That was a low blow!
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Did Olympia put a fake document in the safe, is the real document in a safety deposit box or does Maddy have the one and only true document?
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Matty / Edwin have the original files and Allie hid them, the lady in the file room got all the information they needed because she also has something to do with what was hidden in e files(??????),matty is taking her time gets everything she needs and the entire who what Where, before she Slowly walk in to the court and takes everyone involved down, her little smirk MATLOCK STYLE it’s a GOTCHA!!!!
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Has Matty or Edwin read the study from Olympias safe?
Not a fan of this back and forth for power. It was interesting seeing Olympia sitting like a "queen" on the last frame.
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If anyone can create a fake AI study, as Olympia did, is there anything to prove that the real study is the real study?
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Maybe Olympia put the file back in the firm's "Discovery" room. It would not implicate Senior - but it would protect her family.
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They jumped the shark with Madeline’s audio tape saying they’ll believe an old lady. She’s too careful to blunder like that, this so out of character.
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The "other Matlock" was a tongue in cheek reference to the court scene where the judge says he liked the old Matlock show.
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At first I didn’t like this episode - as another commenter mentioned, Matty and Olympia making threats involving the children was far too mean-spirited. However, I remember watching an interview with one of the producers who said she came up with the idea because she knew people who had been affected by the opioid epidemic and she wanted to explore what kind of people were behind fuelling it. Having Olympia become ruthless makes a certain degree of sense in that light. Pivoting from the emotional/personal aspect to the bigger picture may be a way of driving home the point that people can get pulled into self-justification and telling themselves their actions won’t make a difference, why poke the bear when it won’t change anything, and so on in that vein.
I’m a little disappointed in the tone that has been set but I am willing to stay with it. Perhaps there is a bigger more meaningful storyline coming as thought-provoking content on how easy it is to become corrupt while telling yourself it’s to protect loved ones. I’m hoping we see ADA Park get involved and Bitsy come back to help with Alfie, though.I would guess that Mrs. Bevin will eventually have to come forward, too.
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Who played the judge on this weeks, Matlock
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Richard Portnow
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