Perry Mason: Chapter Thirteen

April 4, 2023 7:10 AM - Season 2, Episode 5

Facing life in prison, Rafael recounts a deadly incident caused by the McCutcheons. Paul searches for a possible accomplice.
posted by nathan_teske (3 comments total)

Just quick thoughts:

• $2,000 in 1933 is about the same as $46,250 today.
• The clearing of the Gallardo's neighborhood for McCutcheon Stadium is clearly The Battle of Chavez Ravine moved back a couple decades.
• Gloves is right, Della is a fucking coward. The local press has it out for the defense team and they'd jump at a salacious story like Della getting busted at a lesbian speakeasy. It would also quash her dreams of becoming a practicing attorney — it's unlikely she'd be admitted to the bar if her secret got out.
• The lighting in this show continues to amaze.

posted by nathan_teske at 7:50 AM on April 4, 2023 [2 favorites]

I'm wondering if they're going to get very far into the scheme. It seems to spider in more directions. Somebody really didn't want anybody looking into the affairs of Brooks and Goldstein. Some fancy guy with a blue Lincoln? Have we seen anyone like this yet? Councilman maybe?

Pete doesn't seem like he'd clean up well, or drive a Lincoln. Does he have junky wife? He does seem to do the bidding of some powerful interests. Putting the heat on Perkins doesn't seem like a coincidence, and now he's going to dig into team Mason?

No sign of Holcombe this ep, but surely he's still sniffing around. Could he be the mystery fancy guy? His wife didn't come across as an addict, but he sure seemed desperate to take her away from the big bad city.

Good on Mason finally showing some chops. But someone's keeping a good eye on the team, and Della's seriously compromised. Della's also sabotaging her own personal life with no help at all. Hamburger's spooked. Smoking man sees all.

Working for Mason is gonna destroy Paul.
posted by 2N2222 at 9:22 PM on April 4, 2023

Bullet points may be the best way to discuss this series, it being so impressionistic in the way it tells the story:

• Rafael's neck burns are finally explained, in a more tragic and unjust way than expected.
• McCutcheon Stadium looks a lot like the LA Memorial Coliseum, home of the USC fighting Trojans and two Olympic Games.
• Mason's dalliance with a woman outside the bonds of matrimony is either another point of exploitation for the Smoking Guy, or a point of contrast with what will happen with Della.
• Maybe the Cabal are using Ham Burger's personal life for leverage to wrap up the case.
• Perkins may be helping the black community, but he is for sure a ruthless gangster as well, making Ham Burger's pursuit of him somewhat less problematic, if still indifferent to the fallout on the black community.
• ADA Milligan is underestimating Perry Mason.
• Talk radio was always in the hands of the moneyed interests.
• Was that Strickland at the end of the episode in Mason's apartment?

posted by cardboard at 9:33 AM on April 5, 2023 [1 favorite]