Warning: spoilers for Matlock’s Season 1 Finale, “Tricks of the Trade,” are in play.
We’re coming up on the first break in the 2025 TV schedule, as network TV finales will be laying down questions and consequences that’ll, hopefully, be reckoned with in the fall. One of the earliest examples of that practice at work was Matlock’s season finale of cliffhangers, as last week’s two-hour closer for Season 1 popped a lot of questions. For actor Jason Ritter, that event came with a huge revelation, and his response to that massive turn was one the show’s fans could definitely relate to.
Jason Ritter's Matlock Reaction To THAT Matlock Spoiler Is Priceless
A clip from Entertainment Tonight’s TikTok showed the series co-star being asked a pointed question about this revelation, so if you’re not quite caught up, this is your last chance to avoid spoilers. And this is a pretty big one, as in the final moments of “Tricks of the Trade’s” second half, we learned that Rittetr's Julian Markston was indeed the culprit behind disappearing the Welbrexa study Matty Matlock (Kathy Bates) was looking for.
If you thought learning this fact was hard enough for the audience, take a look at what Jason Ritter had to say about when he learned the truth, and his one-word reaction:
About halfway through the season, Jennie [Snyder Urman] pulled me aside, and just gave me a little heads up. And I was like, 'NOOOO!' I also couldn't tell any of the other cast, like it was just my secret.
Who would have thought that Julian’s shocking Matlock affair would have seemed like the lesser crime committed in this 18-episode run? As a fan of the series I tried to give Jason Ritter’s character the benefit of the doubt, as my final Matlock finale prediction went hard on singling out Shae “The Meerkat” Banfield (Yael Grobglas) as the guilty party. I’ll admit that part of making that decision was me trying to be ahead of the curve, with the other half resting on Ritter’s likability.
In other words: I fell right into showrunner Jennie Snyder Urman’s trap, and I have to applaud her and the Matlock writer’s room for making it a fun deception. Those feelings also leave me eager to revisit Season 1 through my Paramount+ subscription, as well as find out what’s going to happen in Season 2. As it turns out, that's also exactly where Jason Ritter is at the moment.
Jason Ritter Doesn’t Seem To Be In On Matlock’s Season 2 Game Plan Just Yet
The pressure to keep this Matlock secret must have been a killer when it came to Mr. Ritter’s typically liberal spoiler policy, which must have been a relief to his wife/Yellowjackets star Melanie Lynsky. Keeping mum for not only the back half of the CBS hit drama’s production, but also throughout the promotional cycle, must have been pretty stressful.
Of course, the man can’t exactly spoil what he doesn’t know, and it sounds like despite Ms. Urman sharing thoughts about the future in other interviews, Jason Ritter isn’t privy to that knowledge just yet. At least that’s what it sounds like, based on these continued remarks from one of the stars on deck for the upcoming series Lanterns:
I cannot wait to see what they come up with for next season, and how they navigate, and even what they do! I have no idea!
It looks like we’re all back to square one, without any clue how life at Jacobson Moore is going to progress. That’s especially important, because not only does Ms. Matlock not know the truth just yet, we still don’t know how Julian’s ex-wife/Matty’s estranged friend Olympia Lawrence (Skye P. Marshall) is going to move forward with this knowledge.
Of course, there’s a chance that Jason Ritter is bluffing, and I don’t know about you but I’m not ready to let him fool me twice. If you’re looking to catch up with Matlock Season 1, or want to rewatch each thrilling twist to pick up clues hidden in plain sight, all 18 episodes are now streaming on Paramount+.
