Perry Mason: Chapter 1
June 21, 2020 8:01 PM - Season 1, Episode 1 - Subscribe
Perry Mason and Pete Strickland are hired by an attorney to solve a perplexing case: the brutal kidnapping of a one-year-old whose parents were targeted for a $100,000 ransom. (HBO, prequel-reboot)
Den of Geek - Matthew Rhys goes for the sleaze in the origin story reboot of Perry Mason.
IndieWire Review: HBO’s Swank Noir Is One of the Most Beautiful Series Ever Made - Matthew Rhys dons the storied lawyer's fedora for a striking origin story that's still attuned to modern sensibilities.
Variety review: "Too much of this show, a punishing eight installments, feels like yet another iteration of what we’ve seen already, elsewhere and often superior. Rhys, so gifted at allowing sentiment and vulnerability to shine through on “The Americans,” here feels inhibited by the tautness of the social constraints around Mason, which are drawn painstakingly but not especially interestingly. The show combines a setting we’ve seen before (“Penny Dreadful: City of Angels,” currently airing, takes place in the same milieu, down to the McPherson-aping subplot). Its angle of approach is ganked from two decades’ worth of prestige TV, with a stern and broken man using work as a way of beating down demons. The show is beautiful to look at (when it’s not purposefully ugly) and features great work by Rhys, Chalk, Maslany and Taylor, Rankin, Lithgow, and Juliet Rylance (as do-it-all legal assistant Della Street), and yet gives us little reason to look more deeply. Why revive a title like this only to do with it what’s been done, over the now-tapped-out prestige-TV antihero era, so many times before?"
TV Line recap
Den of Geek - Matthew Rhys goes for the sleaze in the origin story reboot of Perry Mason.
IndieWire Review: HBO’s Swank Noir Is One of the Most Beautiful Series Ever Made - Matthew Rhys dons the storied lawyer's fedora for a striking origin story that's still attuned to modern sensibilities.
Variety review: "Too much of this show, a punishing eight installments, feels like yet another iteration of what we’ve seen already, elsewhere and often superior. Rhys, so gifted at allowing sentiment and vulnerability to shine through on “The Americans,” here feels inhibited by the tautness of the social constraints around Mason, which are drawn painstakingly but not especially interestingly. The show combines a setting we’ve seen before (“Penny Dreadful: City of Angels,” currently airing, takes place in the same milieu, down to the McPherson-aping subplot). Its angle of approach is ganked from two decades’ worth of prestige TV, with a stern and broken man using work as a way of beating down demons. The show is beautiful to look at (when it’s not purposefully ugly) and features great work by Rhys, Chalk, Maslany and Taylor, Rankin, Lithgow, and Juliet Rylance (as do-it-all legal assistant Della Street), and yet gives us little reason to look more deeply. Why revive a title like this only to do with it what’s been done, over the now-tapped-out prestige-TV antihero era, so many times before?"
TV Line recap
I'm here for the cast and the production seems solid, but the Variety review seemed pretty right on to me. I like this kind of show but I'm not sure why this has to be Perry Mason instead of Joe Detective. Maybe the last two episodes will just be Matthew Rhys cramming for the bar exam?
posted by whir at 9:23 PM on June 21, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by whir at 9:23 PM on June 21, 2020 [1 favorite]
I like this kind of show but I'm not sure why this has to be Perry Mason instead of Joe Detective.
Well, would we all be talking about it if it wasn't?
I haven't seen this yet but I'm really excited about it. The original is one of my dad's favorite shows and we watch it a lot when I'm home for Christmas, so I'm looking forward to discussing this new one with him. Plus I used to work in legal aid, and it has long bothered me that even with all the crime shows there have ever been, almost none of them have been told from the perspective of the defense attorney - except Perry Mason. Plus plus, I loved The Americans.
If this show accomplishes nothing more than introducing a new generation to the character of Perry Mason and giving Matthew Rhys a paycheck, I'm satisfied.
posted by showbiz_liz at 6:57 AM on June 22, 2020 [1 favorite]
Well, would we all be talking about it if it wasn't?
I haven't seen this yet but I'm really excited about it. The original is one of my dad's favorite shows and we watch it a lot when I'm home for Christmas, so I'm looking forward to discussing this new one with him. Plus I used to work in legal aid, and it has long bothered me that even with all the crime shows there have ever been, almost none of them have been told from the perspective of the defense attorney - except Perry Mason. Plus plus, I loved The Americans.
If this show accomplishes nothing more than introducing a new generation to the character of Perry Mason and giving Matthew Rhys a paycheck, I'm satisfied.
posted by showbiz_liz at 6:57 AM on June 22, 2020 [1 favorite]
Well, would we all be talking about it if it wasn't?
I think this is the problem, though. "Perry Mason" is just mainly being used to brand the new show, so that people's pre-existing fondness for the old show brings them in. But it doesn't require the new show to actually include the things people enjoyed about the old show. Just calling your Gritty Sad Man Protagonist "Perry Mason" doesn't mean he's going to have any of the Perry-Masonness of the original.
But they want people to talk about their new show and their new "stern and broken man using work as a way of beating down demons" (sigh), so, rubber-stamp the old IP on there, save two-thirds of the marketing budget.
posted by theatro at 8:53 AM on June 22, 2020 [3 favorites]
I think this is the problem, though. "Perry Mason" is just mainly being used to brand the new show, so that people's pre-existing fondness for the old show brings them in. But it doesn't require the new show to actually include the things people enjoyed about the old show. Just calling your Gritty Sad Man Protagonist "Perry Mason" doesn't mean he's going to have any of the Perry-Masonness of the original.
But they want people to talk about their new show and their new "stern and broken man using work as a way of beating down demons" (sigh), so, rubber-stamp the old IP on there, save two-thirds of the marketing budget.
posted by theatro at 8:53 AM on June 22, 2020 [3 favorites]
Plus:
Plus I used to work in legal aid, and it has long bothered me that even with all the crime shows there have ever been, almost none of them have been told from the perspective of the defense attorney - except Perry Mason.
The "Perry Mason" character in this new show is a private detective. NPR refers to him as a "seamy, slovenly private eye". Frankly, those are a dime a dozen on TV and in the movies.
posted by theatro at 9:21 AM on June 22, 2020 [6 favorites]
Plus I used to work in legal aid, and it has long bothered me that even with all the crime shows there have ever been, almost none of them have been told from the perspective of the defense attorney - except Perry Mason.
The "Perry Mason" character in this new show is a private detective. NPR refers to him as a "seamy, slovenly private eye". Frankly, those are a dime a dozen on TV and in the movies.
posted by theatro at 9:21 AM on June 22, 2020 [6 favorites]
I'm here for the cast and the production seems solid, but the Variety review seemed pretty right on to me.
Seconding this. I'm riding this train to the end if only because I would watch Matthew Rhys and Tatiana Maslany read a telephone book but the story has the vibe of something I've seen several times before. That being said, a few scenes of Matthew Rhys picking locks, sneaking photos and doing front-and-follow is exactly what I need in my life right now.
Visually, this was amazing. All the sets and wardrobe looked so lived-in; the wear and tear on the Mason farm, and Perry's grimy clothes in particular. Even without the closeups of the dirt caked round his fingernails I still don't think I'd want to get within a metre of this guy. (Relatedly, the shots of the morgue attendants washing down autopsy tables with bare hands made me a little queasy.)
The scenes of Perry and Walter Taffet rifling the morgue inhabitants' wardrobes for a suitable tie, and Perry wedged behind the single bed after Lupe's energetic finish were nice bits of expectation subversion.
“I think it was pumpkin pie.” (She’s going to get a yeast infection.)
Ugh. So much this.
Do my eyes deceive me, or was Skinny Pete one of the guys who got shot?
posted by myotahapea at 10:00 AM on June 22, 2020
Seconding this. I'm riding this train to the end if only because I would watch Matthew Rhys and Tatiana Maslany read a telephone book but the story has the vibe of something I've seen several times before. That being said, a few scenes of Matthew Rhys picking locks, sneaking photos and doing front-and-follow is exactly what I need in my life right now.
Visually, this was amazing. All the sets and wardrobe looked so lived-in; the wear and tear on the Mason farm, and Perry's grimy clothes in particular. Even without the closeups of the dirt caked round his fingernails I still don't think I'd want to get within a metre of this guy. (Relatedly, the shots of the morgue attendants washing down autopsy tables with bare hands made me a little queasy.)
The scenes of Perry and Walter Taffet rifling the morgue inhabitants' wardrobes for a suitable tie, and Perry wedged behind the single bed after Lupe's energetic finish were nice bits of expectation subversion.
“I think it was pumpkin pie.” (She’s going to get a yeast infection.)
Ugh. So much this.
Do my eyes deceive me, or was Skinny Pete one of the guys who got shot?
posted by myotahapea at 10:00 AM on June 22, 2020
No Ham Burger?
posted by Sphinx at 1:37 PM on June 23, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by Sphinx at 1:37 PM on June 23, 2020 [1 favorite]
I think James Cole splintered in just in time to get double crossed.
posted by snofoam at 8:15 PM on June 23, 2020
posted by snofoam at 8:15 PM on June 23, 2020
I would love to see Matthew Rhys not have to pretend to be American for once.
I find that the camera “Perry Mason” uses is a Kodak Vollenda 48.
posted by chrchr at 10:08 PM on June 23, 2020 [1 favorite]
I find that the camera “Perry Mason” uses is a Kodak Vollenda 48.
posted by chrchr at 10:08 PM on June 23, 2020 [1 favorite]
It drives my crazy that they never show him advancing the film on his camera.
posted by Quonab at 12:19 PM on June 25, 2020 [4 favorites]
posted by Quonab at 12:19 PM on June 25, 2020 [4 favorites]
This is... exactly my jam.I did look away during the part where he took pics of the kid, but that was it.
I think this is very well-timed. Love stories about solving crimes but tired of copaganda? Hopelessly attracted to world-weary dudes still trying to be heroes? This is for you.
(So far. It could disappoint later).
posted by emjaybee at 6:10 PM on June 25, 2020 [2 favorites]
I think this is very well-timed. Love stories about solving crimes but tired of copaganda? Hopelessly attracted to world-weary dudes still trying to be heroes? This is for you.
(So far. It could disappoint later).
posted by emjaybee at 6:10 PM on June 25, 2020 [2 favorites]
It drives my crazy that they never show him advancing the film on his camera.
Actually, I think they did show precisely that in the fat guy's pumpkin pie scene.
posted by Paul Slade at 1:45 PM on June 27, 2020
Actually, I think they did show precisely that in the fat guy's pumpkin pie scene.
posted by Paul Slade at 1:45 PM on June 27, 2020
After watching, it feels like maybe this series is meant to be the story of how he decides to become a defense lawyer. Particularly in the scene where he was giving expert testimony and got so frustrated with everyone's incompetence.
I have a weirdly specific soft spot for interwar period detective shit so I was happy enough with this, but my roommates were meh on it. In particular one said "if you're gonna show the close-up of that baby you gotta earn it and they didnt."
posted by showbiz_liz at 10:10 PM on June 30, 2020 [1 favorite]
I have a weirdly specific soft spot for interwar period detective shit so I was happy enough with this, but my roommates were meh on it. In particular one said "if you're gonna show the close-up of that baby you gotta earn it and they didnt."
posted by showbiz_liz at 10:10 PM on June 30, 2020 [1 favorite]
Finally watched Chapter One and yeah, it's been done before but damn, gorgeous shooting and Matthew Rhys is perfect for the part. I'm in.
posted by Ber at 8:46 PM on July 1, 2020
posted by Ber at 8:46 PM on July 1, 2020
There's no episode 2 page thread yet so I'll say it here: episode 2 was a lot better than episode 1. I guess Mason's current miserable state of life had been established enough so they didn't beat it into the ground again (although we did get a bunch of unnecessary war flashbacks), and the plot and detection are getting genuinely interesting.
posted by dfan at 7:03 PM on July 2, 2020 [2 favorites]
posted by dfan at 7:03 PM on July 2, 2020 [2 favorites]
I’ve never read the books, nor seen the original show, and I maybe saw one ep of old age Perry Mason like 3 decades ago when I was ten, so I have nothing to compare this too. I didn’t even know Perry Mason was a lawyer in the other stuff.
That said, I love this. I’m up to the beginning of episode 3, and I just love it. The way things look, the bizarro world Los Angeles it takes place in (I used to walk by the real life inspiration for Sister Alice’s temple just about every day in Echo Park), everything.
posted by sideshow at 10:30 PM on July 13, 2020
That said, I love this. I’m up to the beginning of episode 3, and I just love it. The way things look, the bizarro world Los Angeles it takes place in (I used to walk by the real life inspiration for Sister Alice’s temple just about every day in Echo Park), everything.
posted by sideshow at 10:30 PM on July 13, 2020
I'll be honest I was surprised how he got played for those negatives, I really wasn't expecting it to go down like that.
posted by Carillon at 9:38 PM on July 15, 2020 [2 favorites]
posted by Carillon at 9:38 PM on July 15, 2020 [2 favorites]
Incredible production design, outstanding cast, great acting, been there; done that story.
posted by kirkaracha at 10:07 PM on August 1, 2020
posted by kirkaracha at 10:07 PM on August 1, 2020
Watching this. I'm on Episode 5.
I was on board for the first episode, and I will watch to the end, but I spend a lot of time hating how they are stretching things out and making an 8-episode of season out of what feels like 3 or 4 episodes of material. Just awful.
I'll be honest I was surprised how he got played for those negatives
Yeah they shouldn't be trading the skill of the protag so cheaply in this kind of show. For my personal tastes at least, a major draw of the whole genre is that the protag should be canny and not a chump (in criminal/professional matters at least....)
posted by fleacircus at 3:48 PM on March 25, 2023
I was on board for the first episode, and I will watch to the end, but I spend a lot of time hating how they are stretching things out and making an 8-episode of season out of what feels like 3 or 4 episodes of material. Just awful.
I'll be honest I was surprised how he got played for those negatives
Yeah they shouldn't be trading the skill of the protag so cheaply in this kind of show. For my personal tastes at least, a major draw of the whole genre is that the protag should be canny and not a chump (in criminal/professional matters at least....)
posted by fleacircus at 3:48 PM on March 25, 2023
I should say that even though I hate how they are ginning up drama with the ministry, it is nice to see Tatiana Maslany, she's killing it and looks like she's having a blast. Somehow I don't think I've seen her in anything since Orphan Black.
posted by fleacircus at 4:36 PM on March 25, 2023
posted by fleacircus at 4:36 PM on March 25, 2023
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I watched this out of my 'watch all the pilots' reflex, but, I don't think it's for me, too much the Gritty Reboot TM. While I am curious to know the solution to the whodunnit, I don't know that I'm curious enough to watch the whole season.
posted by oh yeah! at 8:08 PM on June 21, 2020 [1 favorite]