The second season of the HBO Original Series Perry Mason (2020- ) premiered to eight weekly installments on March 6, 2023 through April 24, 2023. The season continues in the early 1930s, Great Depression era of Los Angeles, California. The aftermath of season one‘s Emily Dodson case influences the early story of season two. Jack Amiel, Michael Begler, Niko Gutierrez-Kovner, Elizabeth Baxa, Mauricio Katz and Pedro Peirano were writers for this season.
As with season one, viewership gained as the season progressed. While reported viewership was sluggish in season two compared to the original season from nearly three years ago, the season opens with the Mason and Street practice unfocused. Mason, as portrayed by Matthew Rhys, seems particularly stuck about where he wants to take the practice. Rather than focusing on a murder case, as with season one, the beginning of the season sees the practice focusing on civil and estate planning law.
It is through correspondence that we learn the nature of what had been bothering Mason. The planting of where the new season is headed begins with delving further into the personal lives of characters including Della Street, Hamilton Burger, Paul and Clara Drake and Pete Strickland. The story developing outside this line has to do with murder that just may have to do with more than the immediate facts at hand. Juliet Rylance, Justin Kirk, Shea Whigham, Chris Chalk and Diarra Kilpatrick portray Street, Burger, Strickland, Paul Drake and Clara Drake, respectively.
Brooks McCutcheon, as portrayed by Tommy Dewey, had the ambition of bringing a baseball team to Los Angeles. The wealthy oil man winds up dead, with brothers Mateo and Rafael Gallardo, of Mexican heritage and young, accused for the murder. The contemporary stories of ruthless businessman Lydell McCutcheon and Camilla Nygaard, a McCutcheon family in the oil business, sharpen into focus along the way. Paul Raci, Hope Davis, Peter Mendoza and Fabrizio Guido portrayed Lydell, Camilla, Mateo and Rafael, respectively.
The notions of family, professional ambition and leveraging private information for personal gain are three large themes explored through the course of the season. Who is guilty of what, and when, become crucial to how the season plays out. The lengths that individuals will go in defining and expressing just ends loom large among the stronger supporting elements that lend an uplift to the strength of the season as delivered. The means and the ends are points that I would focus on, should you reflect on the season or look to experience it afresh.
What particularly struck me as appealing with this season were the intersections of personal stories through the season on multiple levels. Moving through questions that have stick with United States cultural and political trends through time strikes my fancy as well. For these reasons, coupled with the storytelling, I grant the second season of the HBO series Perry Mason 4.25-stars on a scale of one-to-five.
Matt – Wednesday, May 17, 2023
Matt Lynn Digital 