Matlock Season 2 Episode 13’s Important Case Wasn’t As Compelling as Madeline and Edwin’s Beautiful Love Story

Critic’s Rating: 4.5 / 5.0

4.5

Edwin and Madeline’s love story is one of the strongest parts of Matlock.

Matlock Season 2 Episode 13 turned Madeline’s quest for justice into an obstacle to their anniversary celebration, but Edwin’s anger didn’t really put a damper on their love.

It never could have completely ruined everything for these two, but Edwin was right about one thing: their relationship was more important than the case.

Edwin’s Pain Was Understandable Even Though Madeline Had a Point

Since Olympia was going to Milton with Julian, Madeline was the only one who could help Shay, and it was obvious that the one-time jury consultant was being railroaded.

That wasn’t the kind of fight that Madeline could ever resist, and Edwin probably loves her for that, even though her tendency to get lost in work at the expense of her family drives him up the wall.

For Edwin, it wasn’t just about this case or this delayed celebration. It’s all the times he’s felt Madeline was too obsessed with bringing Jacobson Moore down, and every moment with Ellie that she missed because of work when Ellie was a little girl.

Edwin has to wonder whether that contributed to Ellie’s drug addiction and death, what this obsession is teaching Alfie, and whether Madeline is as addicted to work as their daughter was to drugs.

Plus, he’s got to be tired of always coming in second behind Madeline’s latest case.

But that doesn’t mean Madeline was wrong, either. It was obvious that powerful people wanted Shay to be their scapegoat.

Shay was close to getting convicted on flimsy evidence, Jacobson Moore abandoned her, and the Wolf showed his true colors when he tried to pressure Madeline to drop the case.

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I’m still not entirely sure why Jacobson Moore was so hellbent on that during Matlock Season 2 Episode 16.

I know they were worried about the merger, and now the Wolf is implicated in covering up the research on opioids, but it felt like more than protecting their business interests.

Someone wanted Shay locked up or to cover for Pratt.

Obviously, Pratt had the most to lose, but Jacobson Moore’s involvement in helping him with his scheme was suspicious, unless I’m overthinking it. That’s easy for me to do, so it’s certainly possible that Jacobson Moore was only worried about the merger or about Wolf’s involvement in the original crime coming out.

It’s somewhat silly that he gave Madeline the exact phrase that Julian and Olympia found in Priva’s files, though — are we sure that wasn’t planted to throw everyone off the trail?

It just seems that someone as shrewd as the Wolf wouldn’t do something that obvious. As Olympia said, he’s Senior’s henchman, and I wouldn’t put it past Senior to do something to screw with the evidence and confuse everybody.

Madeline Standing Up For Shay Was The Other Heart of Matlock Season 2 Episode 13

Shay has come a long way since she was first introduced as the “human lie detector” during Matlock Season 1.

That aspect of her character has been largely forgotten as she has moved into jury consultation and often butts heads with Madeline over strategy.

Still, she’s not usually the kind of woman who is at all vulnerable, so her arrest was a compelling arc. It was highly likely she’d be vindicated in the end, but that wasn’t the point.

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This time, Shay wasn’t in control of anything. She couldn’t even orchestrate her own release from jail before her arraignment and was lucky to get a visit from Olympia.

And when it came to her hearing, she was even less in control. She could give her input into how things were going with the jury, but as Madeline said, she wasn’t a consultant now, but a client, and that meant she had to follow Madeline’s lead instead of doing things her way.

The moment where Madeline defied the Wolf and continued representing Shay was my favorite of Matlock Season 2 Episode 13.

Madeline had promised Shay she would be her “cavalry.” She doesn’t take such promises lightly, so I knew she wouldn’t give in easily, but I wasn’t sure she could put Shay’s best interest over her continued access to Jacobson Moore so that she could keep trying to expose the cover-up.

It was exciting when she put her foot down about that, although it more or less came to nothing. She won the case, the Wolf gave a cryptic warning that was word-for-word what he said to Priva, and life went on.

Still, I knew Madeline could be counted on to do the right thing, and I was glad I was correct about that, even if it did mess up all of Madeline’s anniversary plans.

If it hadn’t, though, we wouldn’t have gotten those beautiful love letters from Ediwn to Madeline and vice versa, so there’s that.

I could have done without the Hunter/Sarah part of the hour, which continues to add nothing to Matlock Season 2, but at least it wasn’t a big part of the episode, and the twist ending didn’t depend on some convoluted nonsense that nobody could see coming.

That’s my thoughts on it, anyway. What are yours?

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If you enjoyed this article, check out our coverage of Elsbeth, CBS’ other Thursday night show.

Matlock airs on CBS on Thursdays at 9/8c and streams on Paramount+ on Fridays.

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