In the hit CBS series, Matlock, Madeline “Matty” Matlock (Kathy Bates) presents herself as a doddering grandma to the people around her. She pretends to be hopeless with technology and fairly dependent on others. But the real Matty is actually disciplined and quite conniving. She’s fooled everyone at Jacobson Moore into thinking that she’s helpless, when really Matty has been using her influence to investigate how someone at the firm covered up how dangerous opioids really are (which she believes led indirectly to her daughter’s death from an overdose).
As viewers, we know that Matty is actually a fearless woman who has devoted her life to bringing about justice regarding the Wellbrexa case, and that she’ll do anything to accomplish this goal. However, there’s one episode in Season 1 where Matty lets her mask fall, and uses her history and her own vulnerabilities to succeed. Turns out I’ll be using those scenes as inspiration when I want to bring out my own inner badass.
Matty Takes on a Challenging Case in Episode 3 of ‘Matlock’
So much happens to Matty as Season 1 unfolds. By the end of the season, she’s made huge strides in her Wellbrexa investigation, and she’s rediscovered her love of the law. But there’s an episode early on that I’m still thinking about many months later. In Episode 3, Matty’s team is tasked with defending a woman named Alex (Danielle Larracuente), who is suing her employer for wrongful termination. Her boss, Jeremy (Chad Coe), sexually assaulted her at a party, and her job performance suffered after this horrible event. Alex believes that her career was sabotaged because of Jeremy’s actions. Olympia (Skye P. Marshall) takes on the case because she’s sympathetic to Alex, but Matty is skeptical that they can win the case at first. She displays a victim-blaming perspective, judging Alex for drinking at the party and for dressing provocatively. Matty believes that the assault could have been prevented had Alex made different choices. Matty doesn’t realize initially that her point of view is wildly out of date, but it’s just how people would have spoken about victims when Matty was an up-and-coming lawyer. Luckily, when it comes to the trial date, Matty evolves, learns the mistakes of her ways, and is able to defend Alex to the best of her abilities.
‘Matlock’ Episode 3 Showcases Matty’s Impressive Courtroom Skills
Initially, Matty plays up her “old lady” persona, allowing her phone to go off in the courtroom, but then she decides to use her own unique strengths to reveal the brilliant lawyer she actually is (underneath her fake Matlock personality). Matty is completely honest with the jury; she explains that she started off by judging Alex for her choices. In her day (and still kind of now), women were the ones who were blamed for any harassment or assaults they endured. By Matty admitted that she acted harshly towards Alex, she immediately won the jury over with her straight-forward approach.
Then Matty admits something truly courageous. She confessed that when she was a young lawyer, she was also assaulted by a co-worker named Greg. Matty says that she decided right away to make her dreams smaller, so that she could keep herself safe. Because Greg was a litigation lawyer, Matty decided to go into contract law. Even though Matty has demonstrated she’s got the skills to crush it in the courtroom, she feels more secure steering clear of Greg back then. It became safer to hide herself away in an office, rather than stand up in a courtroom.
Matty’s honesty in this scene makes her a true legend in my eyes. She uses her own vulnerabilities and her personal history to connect with the jury. Even though her trauma is difficult to talk about, Matty decides not to stay quiet any longer about this painful experience. Matty is able to win the case for Alex, and the jury ends up asking if they’re permitted to reward Alex with an even larger settlement than what Alex was requesting. Alex is awarded a \$9 million payout, and Matty is vindicated that she can actually hold her own in a courtroom. No matter what Greg did back in the day to wreck her spirit and her dreams for her career, Matty is demonstrating that it’s never too late to prove your adversaries wrong.
I Wish ‘Matlock’s Matty Could Take on My Enemies, Too
The aspect of Matty’s speech that was so inspirational to me is that she used her pain as a driving force. Instead of being crippled by what happened to her, Matty utilizes it to achieve her goal and find strength. She demonstrates that sometimes getting even with your demons is all about bringing them out of the darkness. Getting revenge would be sweet retribution for anyone who’s been harassed or assaulted (or even just treated unfairly), but Matty allowed me to see how following your dreams can actually be the best form of retaliation.
Watching Matty be so fearless makes me wish I could recruit her to tackle my own enemies. If only I could be just like Matty in sharing my own experiences and being so bold in my truth. Even if I won’t necessarily get to stand in a courtroom to take down the people who have wronged me, the scene with Matty will serve as a great reminder that it’s possible to use honesty and vulnerability in order to triumph. We don’t get many other cases in Season 1 where Matty gets to show off her litigation skills in the courtroom, but this scene was reason enough for me to wish Matty could accompany me in life — even if just to serve as inspiration to fight back whenever possible. I personally would love to see her display this take-no-prisoners spirit even more going forward. I guess for now, since Matty is a fictional character, I won’t be able to recruit her to battle my enemies, but I’ll use this episode as inspiration next time I need to do some fighting of my own.
