Warning: spoilers are ahead for Episode 6 of Matlock Season 1, available streaming now with a Paramount+ subscription, called “Sixteen Steps.”
Matlock hasn’t held back from taking time away from the procedural legal cases to emotionally hit hard with Matty’s story in the 2024 TV schedule, and that was certainly the case in “Sixteen Steps.” She reached the point of very nearly quitting her quest for justice after a health scare, only to get the last-minute break she needed. Kathy Bates’ performance wasn’t the only tear-jerking one in this episode, though, as credit has to go to one of the guest stars in particular. Episode director and executive producer Kat Coiro spoke with CinemaBlend about “Sixteen Steps” and its most standout twists.
The stresses of the case of the week with two moms getting a second chance at justice for their infant son who died combined with her secret mission took a toll on Matty in “Sixteen Steps,” when she had a panic attack that she fully believed was a heart attack until she was cleared. It was enough that Edwin wanted her to quit her subterfuge at trying to get into Pharma at Jacobson Moore and focus on raising Alfie as a tribute to their daughter.
Having made no progress, she agreed to quit… only to get the news from Olympia and Julian the next morning that she was being moved to Pharma, as she’s wanted all along. Instead of giving up, she now has a shot at Welbrexa, and she told the two attorneys:
I wanted my shot. This must be a sign. I’m right where the universe wants me to be.
Given that it was a pretty safe bet that the leading lady of Matlock probably wasn’t going to be quitting on the central premise of the show, fans didn’t have to worry too much that Matty would really be giving up. But was she truly planning on giving up the chase as Edwin requested, when she’d put so much work in already? I asked director Kat Coiro just that, and she responded:
That's a great question. Kathy and I and Jennie [Syder Urman, showrunner] talked a lot about that, and we did feel like she felt like she wasn't moving anywhere. It's six episodes in, and she hasn't gotten anywhere near Pharma, and she's doing all of these cases that have nothing to do with Pharma and that are really emotionally exhausting, too. That's one thing we talked about a lot in the pilot, is she thought she was going to go in and A leads to B, B leads to C.
It’s hard to blame Matty not only for having a panic attack, but also feeling like she wasn’t moving anywhere during “Sixteen Steps.” The case was emotional for all the mothers of the show, and surely for plenty of viewers as well. Kat Coiro elaborated:
I do think she was ready to leave. The idea of thinking that she had a heart attack, and what happens to Alfie if she gets really sick? And with Edwin, Sam Anderson from the pilot has just made all of our hearts melt, because he is such a lovely and warm and kind man, and that is how he portrays Edwin. For her, the idea of ruining Edwin and Alfie's life and feeling like it's hopeless and she's not getting anywhere, I do think she was ready to leave, and then it's dropped in her lap exactly where she wants to be.
Matty was already been feeling guilty whenever Alfie neglected his homework to help on the case; a health scare understandably had her ready to focus on the family who still needed her rather than her quest to get justice for Ellie. The director, who also praised Always Sunny in Philadelphia’s Kaitlin Olson with a comparison to Kathy Bates, elaborated on why this episode’s case in particular was hard on the main character:
Every episode is a new tangent of getting involved in people's lives. In this case, in particular, she gets involved in the lives of women who have lost a child, and it brings up so much for her. That's one thing she didn't count on when she decided to do that. I think she thought it would be difficult and challenging, but not necessarily emotionally exhausting in the way that it is in this episode.
The case of the week centered on two mothers who had hired Jacobson Moore years earlier when their infant son had died due to contaminated baby formula. Olympia and Julian hadn’t been able to get a victory for them at the time, but they got a second chance in “Sixteen Steps.” Heartbreakingly, Olympia needed to push one of the moms, Vanessa, to her emotional breaking point to win the sympathy of the jury.
In fact, I had to pay the director the compliment of saying that “Sixteen Steps” had me crying in sympathy for the mourning mother, after the whole episode had been building to her testimony. Throw in how the case was affecting Matty and Olympia as well, and of course I teared up! Kat Coiro praised the guest actress who played Vanessa in the testimony scene, saying:
She cried all day long, and she was one of those brilliant actresses who cried even when the cameras weren't on her, just so she could give her scene partners the same feeling as when we had the cameras on her. She really nailed it.
Apparently, even when the camera was focused on Skye P. Marshall’s coverage or any of the other actors present in the scene, the guest was still giving her all and crying for them. I noted that her approach sounded exhausting, and Coiro commented by saying “I love the actress” before elaborating:
We had, if I remember, quite a few callbacks to make sure that we could achieve the depth that was on the page, especially our mom who breaks down in the courtroom. We played with it so many different ways on the day, and that's one of the keys in directing this show: having a very clear vision, because the vision is on the page. And Jennie and Sara Rose Feinberg, who wrote this script, they have a very strong vision, but also you have to make sure that you have options. When I was directing that scene in the courtroom, we played with so many different options of when she cracks and how hard her exterior shell is.
While the mother’s breakdown in the courtroom did work for the two women – who were expecting a baby – to win the case and millions of dollars in damages, nobody was jumping for joy after what the trial took out of them. Coiro addressed how the scene played from Matty and Olympia’s points of view:
To me, what's really heartbreaking about her is seeing her broken and then seeing her put on this armor, and then Matty – understanding what it's like to lose a child – knows that that armor is permeable, and that if Olympia can just get under there, she will be able to show the jury how sympathetic this woman is. But in doing so, it is an emotional manipulation, and there is something about it that feels so awful to Olympia, and so that was really one of the main things in the courtroom. We did it many different ways. Full hard exterior, full broken person. And there was something cathartic about the way it all came together in the edit.
It’s safe to say that Kat Coiro knew what really works on Matlock when she approached directing “Sixteen Steps,” as she had directed three of the previous five episodes. This installment packed in so many plot twists and emotional hits that it felt more like a finale that a mid-Season 1 episode, and the stakes are even higher as the series continues.
If you want to revisit “Sixteen Steps” – armed with a box of tissues, if you’re anything like me – after its CBS broadcast, you can find it streaming on Paramount+. New episodes will continue airing on CBS Thursdays at 9 p.m. ET, ahead of Elsbeth. The pairing of Elsbeth and Matlock is “perfect,” according to one star, and both shows are certainly going strong this fall ahead of the 2025 TV schedule kicking off in the new year. Matlock has already been renewed for Season 2.
