The tale of Dino and Rob, two brothers-turned-lovers who fell out of love, also served as a catalyst for Olympia and Matty to confront the harsh realities of their own bond. Throughout this episode, Matty diligently tried to avoid rekindling Olympia's emotional wounds of anger and betrayal. But, alas, it was an impossible task. Whether Sarah asked Matty to recite one of her tales from the Cindy Shapiro saga or Olympia glanced at a photograph of herself on Matty's massive investigation board, her pain was palpable.
Last week, we saw Olympia visiting the Kingston estate, naively assuming it would be the beginning of a reconciliation. Yet, I was wrong. It transpired that Olympia simply wanted to inspect Matty's evidence against Julian and Jacobson-Moore. However, the big board failed to sway her. As the finale loomed, the two struck a deal: If Olympia could prove that Julian's brownstone funds originated from the Markston family trusts rather than a Wellbrexa payoff, Matty would delay her press release for a month. During this time, Matty could remain at the firm and continue gathering evidence, albeit without Olympia's team.
The catch? Olympia needed Matty's devious expertise—her "tricks of the trade"—to access those trusts. Despite her brusque and dismissive demeanor toward Matty, even muttering, "My inner thoughts are no longer your concern," she still sought out Matty's insights on how to extract information from Julian, his mother, and the woman who worked at Julian's bank, all without them realizing her true intentions. "How do you just use people? Like they don't matter?" Olympia asked Matty with undisguised disgust while strategizing. But then she followed her advice, and it worked.
The good news for Olympia was that Julian had indeed acquired the funds for the brownstone from the family trust. The bad news was that she also discovered Julian's secret safety-deposit box, containing—ta-da!—the missing Wellbrexa documents. Julian arrived at the bank as Olympia stood in the vault, staring at the papers in shock.
And so our cliffhangers began. One storyline ended at the bank, where Julian begged Olympia to forget what she had seen for their children's sake. Jason Ritter portrayed Julian's scenes in this episode with raw emotion, making the character's choices more understandable, if not entirely forgivable. Julian claimed he was just following Senior's orders. Meanwhile, Olympia had just been made a partner by Senior, making her beholden to Jacobson-Moore for her future livelihood. So what should she do?
The other storyline concluded at the Kingston estate, where Matty had set a 4 p.m. deadline for Olympia to reveal what she found at the bank. As the time ticked past four, Edwin grew impatient, convinced that Olympia had duped Matty. In fact, Edwin remained impatient throughout this episode as he talked about closing this chapter of their lives and moving back to San Francisco to engage in typical retiree activities. However, Matty enjoyed being the lawyer she had always wanted to be. So what should she do?
As mentioned earlier, the season's closing cliffhanger is the arrival of Alfie's father (summoned by Alfie without his grandparents' permission). While I am not overly invested in this subplot, I hope it distracts the Kingstons from their "alert the media" plan long enough for Olympia to make her intentions clear.
Regarding my expectations for next season, after last week's disappointment, I have given up on predictions. I do hope that Matty comes out into the open sooner rather than later. Season one thrived when the writers accelerated the Wellbrexa storyline, forcing Matty into decisions with consequences. Another season of her hiding in the shadows, lying, and manipulating...? Well, I am sure that would still be entertaining given the quality of Matlock's writing and cast. But I also believe these characters are capable of shifting gears and delivering something unexpected. After all, that is what made episode one of this show so buzzworthy. True surprise is in this Matlock's DNA.
