Plot: Months after the Dodson case has come to an end, the scion of a powerful oil family is brutally murdered. When the DA goes to the city’s Hoovervilles to pinpoint the most obvious of suspects, Perry, Della, and Paul find themselves at the center of a case that will uncover far reaching conspiracies and force them to reckon with what it truly means to be guilty.
Review: When Perry Mason debuted in 2020, it was as a limited series. The stellar whodunit introduced a new generation to a grittier take on Erle Stanley Gardner’s iconic literary creation previously associated with Raymond Burr’s performance. Matthew Rhys brought a different edge to Mason alongside Juliet Rylance and Chris Chalk as Della Street and Paul Drake. Thanks to critical acclaim, HBO decided to turn Perry Mason into an ongoing series. Three years later, the sophomore run is here with a new case, new characters, and new showrunners, all of whom deliver another enthralling mystery as intricate as the first. Perry Mason‘s second season proves that this series can sustain an ongoing story while developing these characters far beyond what the prior iterations were able to deliver. A captivating mystery featuring twists and red herrings is central to this season but is secondary to the growth of the three main characters.
Set six months after the first season, Perry Mason (Matthew Rhys – who recently had a cool cameo in Cocaine Bear) is now a full-fledged attorney taking cases alongside his partner Della Street (Juliet Rylance). After the emotional trauma of the Dodson case, Perry has shifted the practice away from criminal law. When Los Angeles scion Brooks McCutcheon (Tommy Dewey) is murdered and the crime pinned on two Mexican men, their family begs Perry to take the case. Perry and Della see elements in the case against Mateo (Peter Mendoza) and Rafael Gallardo (Fabrizio Guido) that do not add up and mount a defense. The duo also enlist investigator Paul Drake (Chris Chalk) to help exonerate their client while uncovering a complex web of victims and guilty parties far beyond a simple murder. Compared to the first season, where E.B. Jonathan (John Lithgow) was the lead attorney while Perry and Della did the investigating, the focus this season showcases the legal skills of both Mason and Street while still delving into what makes them intriguing characters.
Matthew Rhys continues to portray Perry Mason as a gruff and antagonistic attorney but one with true morals at play. He does not always make the right decision, but he does so for the right reasons. This season, most of Rhys’s time is spent as an investigator or contending with Assistant District Attorney Thomas Milligan (Mark O’Brien), cop Gene Holcomb (Eric Lange), or his son, who now lives in L.A. His son gives Perry his introduction to Ginny Aimes (Katherine Waterston), a school teacher and romantic interest. Waterston is excellent in a smaller role but vital to Perry’s development. Waterston is one of many new key characters, including Hope Davis as Camilla Nygaard, Sean Astin as Sunny Gryce, and Paul Raci as Lydell McCutcheon. These characters come into direct conflict with Perry and offer Rhys some solid moments of acting that rival his exceptional turn in The Americans.
If the first season of Perry Mason was something of an origin story for the iconic lawyer, this second season spends an equal amount of time making Della Street into far more than the secretary she was in the novels and original series. Juliet Rylance performs excellently as the closeted Della who gets the chance to grow into a legal expert in her own right. She also gets an intriguing subplot involving Hollywood screenwriter Anita St. Pierre (Severance‘s Jen Tullock). The portrayal of gay romance in the 1930s was significant in the first season and handled even more deftly this time. Taking over as Mason’s key investigator from Pete Strickland (Shea Whigham), who is still a major character, Chris Chalk is another talented actor given more time to shine. Paul Drake gets a lot more screen time this season as he works alongside Mason and Street while giving us a different look at the racial tensions in Los Angeles during the era. Chalk is really good in this role, and I love how Paul Drake is very different than how he was portrayed in any other Perry Mason adaptation.
With season one showrunners Rolin Jones and Ron Fitzgerald departing, new lead writers Jack Amiel and Michael Begler stepped in and did not miss a beat. The consistent plotting and intricacy of this season’s storyline is on par, if not better than last season, thanks to a nuanced portrayal of justice. This season’s story is not cleanly divided into innocent or guilty and presents a complex investigation that did not go where I had expected. Early in the eight episode season, the narrative I was predicting turned dramatically with the story going somewhere unexpected. I appreciate that this season’s storyline will likely rankle some viewers who want a nicely packaged Law & Order style resolution, but echoing real life while maintaining a dramatic story is what Perry Mason is becoming known for. Justice is done, but not all parties involved get away unscathed. In fact, this season goes in a direction that will completely change what the third season will potentially look like if critics and audiences react to it as positively as I have.
The second season of Perry Mason is once again peak HBO television. From the beautiful and sultry jazz score from Terence Blanchard to the atmospheric production design, Perry Mason is a whodunit that relies far more on giving us layered character portraits than a smoking gun and chalk outlines on the pavement. This is not your father’s Perry Mason, and I am thankful we have a second season that is just as damn good as the first. Matthew Rhys, Juliet Rylance, and Chris Chalk have become the definitive Mason, Street, and Drake. There are few series on television that can match Perry Mason‘s blend of drama, mystery, and cool while still telling a relevant story about social issues that echo the world today. If there is anything wrong with this series it is that we are all going to have to wait over a year before we get to see these characters take on their next case.
Perry Mason premieres on March 6th on HBO.