Perry Mason: Chapter 9

March 8, 2023 9:03 AM - Season 2, Episode 1

As Perry grapples with a new career, Della keeps the firm afloat. Paul accepts a questionable job. Holcomb partners with a powerful ally.
posted by nathan_teske (6 comments total)

A very slow burn in this episode, setting up the pieces for the rest of the series.

• Perry Mason, regretful corporate lawyer
• Emily Dodson, dead after everything that happened last season.
• Paul Drake, scraping by without much PI work after quitting the police force.
• Sean Astin, playing against type as Sunny Gryce, the petty grocery magnate not afraid to go to (legal) war against his naïve competition.
• Della Street, pondering infidelity.
• Ham Burger, DA who has no illusions about how and why the (legal) sausage gets made.
• Brooks MacGuffin McCutcheon, son of Lydell, sure to cause even more problems in death than he did in his brief life.

posted by cardboard at 10:59 AM on March 9, 2023

I don't think I've ever seen Sean Astin play an asshole before; it's kind of interesting.

Season seems to be setting up for exploring what justice really is, as opposed to what the system allows, though maybe that's just the first episode helping to set things up regarding Perry's disillusionment with life, though I think that's a permanent thing for him.

So much about this show feels different from everything else on TV right now - the time period of the setting, the pacing, the lighting, etc.
posted by nubs at 1:20 PM on March 9, 2023

I'm in! Because Matthew Rhys, Julia Rylance, and Chris Chalk, . The 1st season was OK but I'm hoping for something even better this time.
posted by kingless at 5:29 PM on March 9, 2023

I'm in for depressed, disheveled Matthew Rhys on a motorbike and seeing what they do with the Della (Rylance), Hazel (Ephraim) and St Pierre (Tullock) love triangle. Gloves is a pip but Jen Tullock as Anita St Pierre owned both of her scenes in the first episode.
posted by nathan_teske at 10:53 AM on March 10, 2023 [1 favorite]

What year are we in now? I assumed we were in late '33 or '34 because everyone's drinking more or less openly, but then I think there was a line about alcohol still being illegal (when Mason returned to his old home / bar). It also feels like a decent amount of time has passed since Emily Dodson's death, but I can't quite narrow it down.
posted by thecaddy at 9:10 AM on March 14, 2023

Emily Dodgson’s post cards mentioned two years passing.
I’m not sure what the line was in Perry’s house—
Maybe it was past tense?
posted by calgirl at 8:57 PM on March 14, 2023