Warning: SPOILERS for Perry Mason Season 2, Episode 4, a.okay.a. “Chapter Twelve,” are forward!
After we left off with Gayle Rankin’s Emily Dodson on the finish of Perry Mason Season 1, the Charlie Dodson case had been declared a mistrial, permitting her to return to on a regular basis life. And whereas the boy that Lili Taylor’s Birdy McKeegan claimed was a resurrected Charlie was clearly something however, Emily nonetheless determined to just accept the newborn as her personal and joined Birdy’s touring church. Sadly although, it was revealed within the Season 2 premiere that Emily had later died by suicide, and showrunner Michael Begler defined to CinemaBlend how “impostor syndrome” factored into the choice to kill her off.
In “Chapter 9,” viewers discovered that Emily Dodson had drowned herself due not with the ability to overcome the lack of Charlie, and Perry was haunted by her as a result of she’d contacted him for assist, however he didn’t reply. Then in “Chapter Twelve,” the present flashed again to the second when Emily determined to sink herself right into a lake as a result of the grief was an excessive amount of. After I spoke with Michael Begler forward of the latest Perry Mason episode, I requested why he took what was mainly a impartial ending for Emily in Season 1 and thrust her down a an much more tragic path. He shared that it boiled right down to eager to given the title character a battle over his still-relatively new standing as an lawyer, saying:
We had been actually enamored by the concept of this impostor syndrome for Perry. As a result of on the finish of Season 1, it truly is just like the Tremendous Mates second, the place it’s like, ‘Right here’s Paul, Della and Perry within the workplace collectively, right here we go!’ However that mud goes to settle. It’s not going to be that straightforward, and really, I feel, the concept of him simply instantly saying, ‘Effectively, now I’m a lawyer.’ Particularly after every part that’s been arrange for this man, this man lives with these kind of hauntings, so we thought, ‘What would actually propel that in him, that sense of impostor syndrome?’ And we thought, ‘Effectively, what if Emily didn’t survive? What if she was nonetheless troubled by every part that occurred to her?’ In order that additionally for Perry… it’s this concept that placing somebody’s life in his palms and may he try this once more was actually essential. So understanding that this was Emily’s finish and now taking up these two youngsters, two males, actually, however they seem like youngsters, within the Gallardos… is he up for that and to wrestle with that? So we thought that that actually punctuated it.
Whereas “Chapter Twelve” primarily handled the twists involving the Gallardo Brothers case, Emily Dodson’s dying was arguably probably the most haunting scene within the episode. However as Michael Begler and Jack Amiel noticed it, her dying was the required push Perry Mason wanted to not solely present viewers that the lawyer life received’t be straightforward for him, but in addition to arrange him to place the lives of others in his palms once more. Sadly, he’s now ready the place he has to defend shoppers who’re positively responsible, as a result of within the midst of Chris Chalk’s Paul Drake coping with issues in his private life, he found the gun that Rafael and Mateo Gallardo used to kill Brooks McCutcheon.
Michael Begler and Jack Amiel got here onto Perry Mason Season 2 in April 2021, 9 months after HBO determined to resume the Robert Downey-produced present. Whereas Downey was initially purported to play Perry, Matthew Rhys of The Individuals fame ended up taking part in this model of the character as a substitute. He and Chris Chalk are joined in the primary solid this season by Juliet Rylance as Della Road, Justin Kirk as Hamilton Burger, Diarra Kilpatrick as Clara Drake, Eric Lange as Gene Holcomb and Katherine Waterston.
New episodes of Perry Mason air Mondays at 9 pm ET on HBO. You need to use your HBO Max subscription to atone for episodes when you’ve fallen behind, or try our 2023 TV schedule to study what else is at present on the air/streaming.
