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[Warning: The following contains MAJOR spoilers for Matlock Season 2 Episode 3, “Tomorrow Is Still Tomorrow.”]

Justina Machado made a memorable debut in Matlock Season 2 Episode 3, an episode that should put fan concerns about Matty (Kathy Bates) and Olympia’s (Skye P. Marshall) bitter feud in the first two episodes to bed. Senior (Beau Bridges) battened down the hatches at Jacobson Moore after a reporter contacted the firm about the Wellbrexa case, leading to one honorable person stepping up to take responsibility as the whistleblower. Elsewhere, Eva sensed a shared enemy between her and Olympia. With that, there’s a new board member at Jacobson Moore who may be able to help take Senior down.

“Tomorrow Is Still Tomorrow” began with the firm’s board members gathering in New York for an emergency meeting after a reporter contacted the office about the Wellbrexa case. Matty missed her meeting with the New York Times reporter because of Olympia’s trickery in Episode 2, which made the journalist contact the law firm. The company’s security started interviewing staff to try and find out who leaked information about that high-profile opioids case from years ago. Only Matty, Olympia, Julian (Jason Ritter), and Senior know what really happened with the Wellbrexa study, but Emmalyn Belvin (Patricia Belcher) knew that something was awry with that case. Season 1 revealed that she was the Redditor. Her actions led to Matty and Edwin (Sam Anderson) beginning their secret mission in the first place.

Mrs. Belvin was one of the employees interviewed by security. She still has no idea that Matty was the one who blackmailed her last season, and that Matty has been getting close to her for her investigation (she does really like the woman as well, just like with Olympia). Olympia made a big snafu in her security interview when saying that when times get tough at work, she doesn’t go to The New York Times, she puts her head down and works harder. The issue is, no one ever said that it was a Times reporter who reached out. This was an immediate red flag, leading to another interview for Olympia.

Robert Voets / CBS

Matty and Olympia needed a plan to protect her, and they thought Emmalyn was a good way out. They didn’t like the idea of pinning the leak on her, but it was the only viable option. But Emmalyn took it upon herself to take responsibility for the leak after Matty said that if a reporter is looking into Wellbrexa, then that means someone out there is trying to get justice for the families affected by the opioid crisis that the Wellbrexa case helped usher in. Emmalyn lost her job, but maintained her integrity, and Matty planned an exit party for her at a nearby bar. It wasn’t the retirement party she deserved after decades of working at the firm, but it was touching nonetheless. Matty and Edwin also gave her $500,000 in cash anonymously to pay for her every need while she figures out her next steps.

Eva was part of the board meeting and noticed that Olympia may have a similar dislike of Senior. Eva is Senior’s fourth ex-wife, and she keeps a celebratory widget on her phone that tracks the years and days that she has been divorced from the man. Clearly, they’re not amicable exes.

Eva approached Olympia about wanting to stage a “coup” against Senior. She doesn’t know that her desires align perfectly with Olympia’s, but for now, the fact that someone else on the Jacobson Moore board wants Senior gone makes Eva a powerful ally for Matty and Olympia’s cause.

This week’s reveal of Matty’s tricks showed her using Mrs. Belvin’s security credentials to get the Wellbrexa expense reports from the archives. This information details where Senior and one of his former lovers went to Australia during the heat of the Wellbrexa case. Before that reveal, Matty and Olympia met for a drink and reconciled their disagreement over Julian.

Olympia apologized for tricking her, and they struck a deal that will keep Julian out of the legal line of fire and focus on the bigger villain, Senior, instead. Olympia happily agreed not to “hijack” the investigation and to make Julian apologize to Matty’s family for his cowardly capitulation to his father’s orders all those years ago.

“I want Julian to face what his decision cost our family,” Matty said. From this point forward, Matty and Olympia are a united front once again.

Matlock, Thursdays, 9/8c, CBS

A high-stakes game of chess transpired between friends-turned-unwilling foes Matty (Kathy Bates) and Olympia (Skye P. Marshall) in Matlock Season 2 Episode 2, and fans are concerned about where the season is headed because of it. Some are complaining that there were “immature” scenes in the episode, and others are wondering if there’s a bigger scheme at play here that would explain what they view as confusing choices for the characters of Matty and Olympia.

The episode, titled “Another Matlock,” showed Matty and Olympia constantly trying to one-up each other as they tried to get the Wellbrexa study into their possession, or in Olympia’s case, keep it hidden. Matty found the study in Olympia’s safe at her brownstone, took it, and replaced it with a document of equal size but blank pages. When Olympia discovered what Matty did, she told her that the study was a fake generated by AI. The real Wellbrexa study, according to Olympia, was in a safety deposit box in Connecticut, kept there so that Julian (Jason Ritter) wouldn’t be able to find it and destroy the evidence, should he give in to his fearful impulses and commit another criminal offense.

Olympia took a page from Matty’s book when she secretly recorded a tense conversation between them. Olympia triggered Matty’s anger when she threatened to get her and Edwin (Sam Anderson) imprisoned for bank fraud and other crimes, which would leave their grandson, Alfie (Aaron D. Harris), without guardians. Matty practically growled that she’s “untouchable,” and this audio is now Olympia’s leverage over the Kingston family in this Wellbrexa debacle.

Matty had offered to let Olympia attend her meeting with The New York Times in an act of goodwill to signal that she cared about her fate and the fate of her children, but Olympia doesn’t want her ex-husband implicated in this at all; she wants Julian’s father, Senior (Beau Bridges), to take the fall since it was him who ordered Julian to hide the study. As Matty pointed out, Julian didn’t have to follow that order, but he did.

The comments section of our Matlock Season 2 Episode 2 recap showed a dislike for the episode, particularly the Matty and Olympia feud and the scenes between Julian and Billy (David Del Rio), in which Julian snapped over the idea of sharing an apartment building with him.

“Did not like this episode and how it is leading the two main characters down a path of negativity towards one another,” one comment reads. “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.”

One fan feels that Matty and Olympia’s plot in this episode didn’t make sense, arguing that Matty and Olympia love each other too much to be fighting like this, leading them to wonder if the women are laying out an elaborate scheme to take down Senior and Wellbrexa while protecting Olympia’s family.

Sonja Flemming / CBS

“I want the Olympia/Matty friendship back. How is that going to happen now?” the comment says. “I just hope this is all some secret mastermind plan between Matty and Olympia set up 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.”

Olympia taking Edwin on a road trip to the Connecticut safety deposit box, only to leave him stranded in a move against her friend, stood out to another fan.

“I really love Bates and I think she [is] doing [a] terrific job as Matlock, love how she quotes ‘innocent old lady.’ But I can’t agree more how this episode was full of [shots] and upper [cuts], very unrealistic, taking Edwin on the trip to just dump him there, so she can record?” they said. “I’m not sure how Matty and Olympia have a chance to bring back friendship. Or maybe there is an act? But for whom?”

A similar discussion is happening over on Reddit.

“I’m not sure I enjoy the direction the show is taking,” a thread said. “Writing, acting, and direction are all great. Perhaps too good. The whole episode gave me anxiety.”

“I think for me it’s because up until this episode Matty always had the upper hand, and for now it seems the tables have turned,” one reply read. “That in [and] of itself created anxiety for me because I am rooting for her and Edwin. We tend to want the happily ever after, neat and tidy. Things just got real messy.”

One fan said in response, “It is, but I just don’t like the way Olympia is trying to cover for Julian. Yeah, Senior was the [kingpin] but doing what she is doing to protect somebody who did do wrong… I just don’t know. I don’t want to hate Olympia, but right now I do, and it hurts.”

The AI study development stood out to one viewer. They said, “Just a casual observation, as a guy who was working on his laptop while his wife watched this episode: it seemed like every single person on the show was hiding something from someone else, who was hiding something from someone else, who thought someone was on their side but who secretly isn’t because, you know, they’re hiding something…it never ended.”

Matty

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‘Matlock’ Fans ‘Unsettled’ by Season 2 Plot — Does Matty Have Another Secret Plan?