‘Matlock’ Fans Sense ‘Huge Fallout’ With Julian After Convoluted Episode

Matlock delivered a convoluted episode in Season 2 Episode 5, one defined by Matty (Kathy Bates) and Olympia (Skye P. Marshall) gaslighting Julian (Jason Ritter), who was on the right scent about Matty’s sneaky work behind the scenes. Every time Julian got close to proving that Matty could be the one who leaked the Wellbrexa information to a reporter, Olympia distracted Julian long enough for Matty to use her paid hacker, “Carl,” to plant fake evidence on her phone and on Mrs. Belvin’s old work computer, as well as erase Matty from damning security footage.

Fans on Reddit are puzzled about how this turmoil with Julian will end. If he finds out that his ex-wife and the mother of his children was gaslighting him, that’s a hard betrayal to shake. But he committed the original sin by burying the Wellbrexa study — an item that his father, Senior (Beau Bridges), either pretended not to know about in this episode or is truly ignorant of (we’d bet on the former).

“Julian seems to still love Olympia. She could get him to come to her side,” one fan said on the Matlock Reddit discussion board for this episode. “They can all work together to take down Senior. Senior needs [to be] taken down.”

“The thing is, this week’s gaslighting will make any reveal to Julian that much harder,” one fan replied. “Because Olympia (and Matty) really rattled his confidence at a time [when] he is fragile. And finding out he was right all along, and they made him feel crazy and inept, the way his dad makes him feel… it will be a huge fallout. But yes, I do believe Julian will eventually come to their side.”

Julian testifying against his father in a possible Wellbrexa trial would have the potential to save Olympia and Julian’s family and hold the root of the evil, Senior, accountable. But fans wonder if Julian could betray his own dad, despite his many misgivings, similarly to how Olympia struggles to let Julian take the full fall for the Wellbrexa scandal.

Michael Yarish / CBS

“I agree with the part about Julian being upset with all the gaslighting. However, I do not believe Julian will take down his dad for the same reason Olympia won’t take down Julian,” a fan said on the thread. “Senior and Julian are family. Also, Julian is so privileged, and I don’t think that he really cares about the people who were hurt by opioids because he is so far removed from them. I see Julian as a spoiled boy who will not take responsibility, just like every other big exec in the world. They just don’t care about us.”

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On the other hand, Senior denying any knowledge of the Wellbrexa study in this episode could be Julian’s last straw.

“I don’t know, the way his father said to his face, ‘What document?’ in last night’s episode? Making it clear that if anything comes out, Julian is going to be the one taking the fall by himself? I think he’s more likely to protect his kids than to protect his father after something like that, and taking down his father might be the only way to protect the kids,” a reply said. “I do agree that he’s too far removed from those hurt by opioids to see what he did, but I think he has the capacity to change. If he ever discovers the truth about Matty, the first thing she’s going to do is put a human face to what he did. Plus, he did work in the public defender’s office for a time, that is thankless work. But I’m an optimist; I’ve been wrong before.”

Matlock is getting quite complicated. Matty and Olympia bury themselves under more and more lies by the minute, and Olympia isn’t seeing a way out for their friendship. Viewers are still left to wonder if there’s a bigger scheme in place that will later be revealed, but we sense that Matty is really telling the truth — when she isn’t lying to keep up appearances, of course.

Matlock, Thursdays, 9/8c, CBS