Matlock Just Introduced A Dangerous New Alliance, And I Don’t Think We’ve Seen The Last Of It

Warning: SPOILERS for Matlock Season 1, Episode 11 - “A Traitor in Thine Own House” are in play. If you’re not current with the series, you’ve been warned.

For us viewers, the 2025 TV schedule is an exciting time full of suspense and twists, with some lighthearted comedy mixed in, if you please. That’s the sort of tone that Kathy Bates’ award winning reboot of Matlock embraces, and as of late, things have been getting pretty serious. Last week’s heartbreaking twist for Sarah Yang is at the heart of it, as she’s made a new friend that could spell serious trouble for Madeline Kingston’s double life.

Shae Banfield And Sarah Yang New Alliance Against Matty Is On Pause

What happens when you pair a recently spurned upstart with a human lie detector? Well, if there’s mutual distrust of a colleague involved, it looks something like Shae Banfield’s (Yael Grobglas) team up with Sarah Yang (Leah Lewis). Both have their suspicions of the woman known as Matty Matlock (Kathy Bates), and it’s led them to investigate the scant leads into her mysterious legal past.

Matlock’s latest episode puts these two cunning women together to sniff out what they can about their mutual concerns. And in an ambitious move, we see Shae go down to Savannah, Georgia to investigate a seemingly surefire lead that’ll highlight Matty's shifting job duties as the least of her worries.

Except that it doesn’t, because the twist of the week is that Madeline dropped those breadcrumbs herself. Aided by her husband Edwin (Sam Anderson) playing the role of an "old colleague," Matty finds herself sitting pretty in the moment.

So what do Shae’s efforts yield, except even more fallout from Matlock's emotional Christmas episode? A report to HR, and the attention of Howard “Senior” Markston (Beau Bridges), who stops by at the end of the episode to chat with Matty. Burnt for the moment, Shae tells Sarah to lay off Matty, which sends this member of Team You Three running to the mentorship of Olympia (Skye P. Marshall).

While this week’s case file may want us to believe that these two won’t continue to try and unearth Madeline’s true identity, I don’t think that’s true by a long shot. In fact, Shae Banfield is about to become even more important to Matlock’s web of intrigue thanks to some new details that were brought to light.

The Welbrexa Mystery Continues To Center Around Shae Banfield

As you may remember in my latest Matlock theory about who’s responsible for the disappearance of those crucial Welbrexa files, Shae Banfield has crept closer to the top of the list. While Madeline Kingston still has aspiring partner/nepo baby Julian Markston (Jason Ritter) as the prime suspect, the importance of Shae to this case has slowly been reinforced.

Tonight’s revelation made that ever clearer, as we learned that Ms. Banfield worked for Marketing at Welbrexa, before crossing over to Jacobson Moore as an in-house jury consultant. Which means those vanishing docs may have been marketing materials.

Making matters worse, Julian’s avoidance of any sort of forensic accounting in his divorce from Olympia (Skye P. Marshall) seems to hint that their brownstone may have been bought with shady money. So Senior’s son may not be totally off the hook just yet.

I only express that caveat of caution because after that cryptic chat with Howard Markston (Beau Bridges) at the end of “A Traitor in Thine Own House.” As Matty’s question about whether or not Shae has any sort of dirt on him struck a nerve, perhaps The Meerkat knows who that mysterious woman from the photo in Sydney is.

No matter how you slice it, Shae Banfield looks like bad news. Madeline Kingston will have to be even more careful around even more of her co-workers at Jacobson Moore now, and I think Sarah is still waiting for the right moment to strike. Paramount+ subscription holders, feel free to disagree with me if you've seen some evidence I failed to pick up during discovery.

For now, that’s the end of our weekly trip into the legal dramedy of Matlock. We’ll reconvene next Thursday after 9 PM ET, as that's when the episode entitled “This is That Moment” will air on CBS. Until then, this week’s session is adjourned, as I need to put together my own conspiracy board, code named “Shae Watch.”