Perry Mason Season 2 Review

Perry Mason (2020-)
Season 2 - 8 episodes (2023)

Buy Perry Mason on Amazon Video (paid link)
Created by: Ron Fitzgerald, Rolin Jones, Erle Stanley Gardner (based on characters by)
Starring: Matthew Rhys, Shea Whigham, Eric Lange, Juliet Rylance, Chris Chalk
Rated: TV-MA
Watch the trailer

Plot
In booming 1932 Los Angeles, a down-and-out defense attorney takes on the case of a lifetime.

Verdict
This gets slightly more interesting as we get into the case at hand, but this show would work better if it were episodic or spread cases across a couple of episodes instead of one serialized  story. This season is too long for the case, and this show endeavors for dark and gritty to a fault. It's not enough for Mason to be the underdog, this has to constantly throw in roadblocks for dramatic turns. The best parts are in the courtroom, but most of this show happens outside of the courtroom.
Skip it.

Review
I didn't care for the first season. The name of the series felt like marketing and not true to the source material. It pushes the hard boiled cop genre with both hands. Can the second season improve upon the first? Though the first season serves as a preamble to what this show may become, Perry Mason (Matthew Rhys) didn't become a lawyer until the end of the season, acting as a private detective for most of the season.

Episode 1 - Matthew Rhys plays Perry Mason

In season two Mason is a civil lawyer trying to pay the bills. He's a bit of a grump and haunted by his past. We see the crime in the first episode, which of course will becomes Mason's case as he returns to criminal law. It's not a bad first episode, but it's not great.

Mason's case looks like an uphill battle with plenty of prejudice from the start. The judge does not like Mason's two clients. The father of the man the brothers killed tells Mason to back off which seems suspect. This season does a lot of table setting for this crime and the why. There are twists, turns, and plenty of reveals. Each episode presents a new wrinkle in the case, delaying the inevitable courtroom drama. At one point Mason gets a love interest which seems perfunctory. We delve into the life of Mason's partner Della Street (Juliet Rylance), but her plight never seems material to the plot.

Episode 5 - Juliet Rylance, Matthew Rhys play Della Street, Perry Mason

The courtroom aspect is the best part of this show, but you'll have to sit through most of the season. The conspiracy rapidly gets larger and Mason's case becomes all the more difficult. The problem is that you think Mason will come out ahead as that is how these stories play out. It looks doubtful, and that's what the show wants us to think. Can Mason free his clients?