Warning: spoilers for Episode 8 of Matlock Season 1, called “No, Monsters, No,” are in play. If you aren’t caught up on the latest case file, you’ve been warned.
We all knew heading into the tail end of the 2024 TV schedule that Matlock was likely going to end on a cliffhanger to take us into the new year. Visions of Kathy Bates’ intrepid legal eagle unearthing those missing Welbrexa documents danced in my head, and I was expecting those thoughts to pay off in the final act of the fall finale episode.
Well, we certainly did get a suspenseful cliffhanger, but it was one I didn’t see coming - and it’s time to talk this out. Especially because this is the last new Matlock we’re going to get until January 30th, 2025.
Olympia And Julian’s Marital Drama Just Got Very Serious
At the end of this eighth episode of CBS’ record-breaking drama hit, we saw Matty (Kathy Bates), Edwin (Sam Anderson), and Alfie (Sam Anderson) gathered together as a family. Of course, they weren’t just carving a turkey or singing carols. They were listening in on a spy pen planted in the office of Jacobson Moore senior partner Julian (Jason Ritter).
While the overall purpose was to get more information on who withheld the Welbrexa files that indirectly led to the death of Madeline Kingston’s daughter, that’s not what we heard. Instead, we heard Olympia (Skye P. Marshall) posing her recently reconciled husband a very important question:
I need to know who you slept with.
As Matlock’s protagonist looked at the camera in bewilderment, we cut to the credits like business as usual. Only, that’s not what’s going on here, as we’re now going to be without any legal action until almost a month into 2025. So now instead of asking, “What’s in those lost Welbrexa documents?" we’re going to be asking “Who did Julian sleep with?” Brace yourselves readers, as this moral quandary deepens the current rabbit hole that we’ve seen Matty Matlock digging into.
Julian’s Shady Past Puts Him Back On The Welbrexa Suspect List
I was pretty content with keeping Julian in the back of the pack on the Matlock big bad suspect list, especially after he seemed to have made up with Olympia! It looks like a darker side to this seemingly squeaky clean party has been exposed, and the answer to that question might be important to Madeline Kingston’s investigation into Welbrexa.
Especially because, surprise surprise, that email between Julian and his father (Beau Bridges) about handling that missing file Matty’s chasing after points to a forged signature that allowed those docs to be moved. That was exposition delivered in yet another performance that proves Kathy Bates’ awards buzz is well and justified.
Clearly the emotional trauma from this year’s Christmas episode, in which Billy (David Del Rio) unsuccessfully proposed to ex-girlfriend Claudia (Bella Ortiz), wasn't enough. We Matlock viewers needed an extra dose to send us out into the world for the weeks ahead.
With Matlock’s Season 2 renewal firmly on the board, I was wondering how, or if, the Welbrexa mystery would be prolonged into the near future. Once again, my concerns have been answered, as there’s so much Jacobson Moore personal drama to dig out of that we’ll probably see daylight once the next episode airs. Looks like it’s time for me to use my Paramount+ subscription to review all of the previous episodes, in order to see what I may have missed.
Until we meet again, dear readers, I declare court in recess as we wait for the winter premiere on January 30, 2025. So have a very happy holiday, and please accept a very festive version of that OG theme slide whistle to send us out.
