Kokomo Tribune Entertainment NOW
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Entertainment Now | March 4 - 10, 2023 By Dana Simpson TV Media A mid a jazzy Christmas cel- ebration on a dark Los Angeles street in 1931, a fedora-clad man cradles a bundled blanket, its woolen plaid bright under the light of a single streetlamp. As the music turns somber, a gravelly voice comes over the telephone to in - struct a local grocer and his wife, both shaking with fear, to leave $100,000 on the desk behind them and meet an approaching streetcar. The opening scene to "Perry Mason" is neither easy to watch nor easy to forget, yet it's been nearly three years now since this pilot aired. Thankfully, fans of the series led by Matthew Rhys ("The Americans") no longer have to wait: Season 2 premieres Monday, March 6, on HBO. While the title "Perry Mason" may sound like just another cop drama named for its leading char- acter, viewers of a certain age may well remember otherwise. The original series, created for CBS in 1957 and starring "Rear Window" (1954) actor Raymond Burr in the titular role, followed defense at - torney Mason throughout his slog of cases as he worked his magic to clear each client while always managing to expose the real crim- inal in the process. And while there are many similarities between the two shows beyond the name, HBO's version is quite a bit edgier than its CBS counterpart. In HBO's "Perry Mason," Ma- son is a private detective operat- ing on the streets of Los Angeles in the early 1930s. Bedraggled and downtrodden following his time serving abroad in World War I, Ma- son has since returned home to a failing America; a country crippled by loss of life, financial devastation and deep-seated corruption. Sadly, the L.A. police force is also deeply affected. Determined to make some cash while helping people in need, Mason tries to set his own personal troubles aside to focus on the heart of the matter: justice. As a result, Mason eventually turns to a career in law in order to help his clients to the best of his ability. The first season's eight episodes center largely on the kidnapping of baby Charlie Dodson, men- tioned above. To avoid spoilers for those not yet immersed in the L.A. noir series, suffice it to say that the season unfolds with suspicion fall- ing on little Charlie's parents, Emi- ly (Gayle Rankin, "GLOW") and Matthew Dodson (Nate Corddry, "The Circle," 2017); the members of their evangelical church, includ- ing Sister Alice McKeegan (Tatiana Maslany, "Orphan Black"); and several others in their community, all of whom have the financial mo- tive to extort $100,000 from the couple during the Depression. Moving forward into Season 2, it's 1933 and Mason finds himself thrown headfirst into a new case for another eight-episode run. This time around, the legal situation at hand is much more high-profile, leading those closest to Mason to question his ability to manage so much pressure in the wake of last season's outcome. Putting all of his resources into civil rights rather than criminal justice, Mason takes on a new angle in his life. Be that as it may, his old demons are very much still in the shadows. In a two-minute 40-second trailer released Feb. 8 by HBO Max, the streamer sets the scene for a massive racially motivated arrest, presumably at the beginning of the season. When two young Mex- ican men are arrested in connec- tion with the gruesome murder of a California oil family's scion, Ma- son has a hunch. After teaming up with fellow detective Paul Drake (Chris Chalk, "When They See Us") to discuss the possible motive for pinning the crime on these two men, the pair compile their case and prepare to take it to court alongside Mason's legal partner, Della Street (Juliet Rylance, "The Knick"). It isn't long before those involved "uncover far-reaching conspiracies and force them to reckon with what it truly means to be guilty" (per HBO). Among the returning cast members this season are also Shea Whigham ("Gaslit") as Pete Strickland, Veronica Falcón ("Why Women Kill") as Lupe Gibbs, Eric Lange ("Escape at Dannemora") as Det. Holcomb, Diarra Kilpatrick ("American Koko") as Clara Drake and Justin Kirk ("Weeds") as Hamilton Burger, while a plethora of new characters also step onto the scene. Hope Davis ("Your Honor") joins the cast as Camille Nygaard, an "elegant business leader who becomes a companion" for Della (per Collider). Katherine Waterston ("Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them," 2016), meanwhile, plays Ginny Aimes, a cheerful teacher at Mason's son's school, and Jee Young Han ("Santa Clarita Diet") stars as Marion Kang, Ma- son's newest legal secretary. Sean Astin ("Lord of the Rings: The Fel- lowship of the Ring," 2001), Mark O'Brien ("City on a Hill"), Jen Tull- ock ("Severance"), Paul Raci ("Sound of Metal," 2019), Tommy Dewey ("The Mindy Project") and Wallace Langham ("CSI: Crime Scene Investigation") also star. Perhaps the biggest new roles in the series, though, are occu- pied by Fabrizio Guido ("Mr. Igle- sias") and Peter Mendoza ("From Scratch"), who play the Gallardo brothers, Rafael and Mateo. Ac- cused of a heinous murder, seem- ingly to take the heat off a better- connected killer in the community, the Gallardo brothers are lucky to have their Aunt Luisa (Onahoua Rodriguez, "Veronica Mars") in their corner with Mason. After all, despite his demons, Mason is the best man for the job. Grab your fedora and travel back in time to the last year of pro- hibition when "Perry Mason" makes its way Monday, March 6, to HBO. Matthew Rhys, Chris Chalk and Juliet Rylance in "Perry Mason" 'Perry' Part II: HBO reboot returns for more '30s drama 2 | Cover story Grindstone Charlie's 1 x 4" Moore's Home Health 5 x 2"