Editor’s note: The below recap contains spoilers for Matlock Episode 11.
After a few weeks of questionable decisions, Matty (Kathy Bates) is back on well-executed defense in Thursday’s Matlock. She’s been letting her blind loyalty to Olympia (Skye P. Marshall) impact her thinking and get her stuck in tough corners when it comes to work and the Wellbrexa case. In this week’s episode, Matty realizes she needs to get her ongoing feud with Shae Banfield (Yael Grobglas) under control and starts building actual defensive measures against the human lie detector.
It seems like Shae is backed into her own corner after Matty is finished with her this week, but our girl may have also exchanged one dangerous shark for an even bigger one. Everything’s messier as we barrel toward the back end of the season, and Matty needs to move quickly if she wants to figure out who hid the all-important documents before someone figures out what she’s really up to. Let’s unpack.
A Tech Bro Wants To Save the World in ‘Matlock’ Episode 11

Image via CBS

The Matlock cases of the week run the gamut of being directly relational to Matty’s current hurdle or seemingly irrelevant to Matty’s biggest problem of the week. This one leans closer to the former, as Christopher Gorham shows up as a climate-change-wary tech guru named Ben who’s out to remove his biggest competitor in rain-creation technology. Senior (Beau Bridges) puts Olympia on the case to lure Ben in as a permanent client. Olympia manages, with the help of a warring YouThree, to impress Ben when she uncovers that he is the one leaking his own intellectual property so he can sue and dismantle the competing firm.
They settle the case, and he promises his business to the firm if Olympia will handle his next case, which makes Senior very happy. However, it doesn’t necessarily convince Senior to vote for Olympia over Julian (Jason Ritter) in the upcoming partner battle. Olympia does not seal the deal when it comes to the partner vote and thus will have to continue that fight until it’s decided who will stay between her and Julian.
Sarah Finds a Dangerous Ally in ‘Matlock’ Episode 11

Image via CBS

The real drama for Matty this week is with Sarah (Leah Lewis), who she screwed over while dealing with the decoy recording pen in Billy’s (David Del Rio) office. True to her word, Sarah comes in this week ready to destroy Matty, and teams up with Shae to get the job done. After a few lackluster Shae appearances, this episode was finally the kind of pressure I wanted to see on Matty. No one really cares what happened between Shae and Julian; what Shae means for Matty and the Wellbrexa case has always been the draw of the character. A vengeful Sarah and a keen Shae is an intimidating combo, but luckily, Matty is ready to take them both on. When Matty realizes that Shae and Sarah are working together, she and Edwin go one step further to bait Shae into going all the way to Georgia to try and find out if Matty is who she says she is. Shae thinks she’s meeting with one of Matty’s old colleagues, but instead, a disguised Edwin (Sam Anderson) sings Matty’s praises.
The second visit gives Matty enough proof of Shae’s meddling to file an HR complaint and the human lie detector officially has to back off. Meanwhile, Billy chews out Sarah for being so preoccupied with getting revenge on Matty that she never considered he might have truly been the better lawyer for the case. She tries to make a peace offering, but Billy is done being talked down to. So, have we officially seen the last of YouThree in true partnership? The silver lining is that Sarah is able to guilt Olympia into being her mentor. Olympia isn’t thrilled about the arrangement, but Sarah is so excited that it should certainly distract her from further Matty investigations.

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There’s More To Worry About Than Shae in ‘Matlock’ Episode 11

Image via CBS

Our girl survives the Sarah and Shae team-up, but that HR complaint makes its way to Senior’s desk. He comes to “check” on Matty, but all he really does is reiterate that he’s very fond of Shae and he’s not happy about Matty going to HR. Shae may be scared into backing off, but the last thing Matty needs is Senior getting into her business. She should watch out for that one. The trouble isn’t for nothing, though, as Edwin discovers during his meeting with Shae that she worked in marketing before coming over to Jacobson Moore. Now, he and Matty are convinced the missing documents were related to the marketing campaign that helped flood the market with opioids. So, Shae is no longer an obstacle to be avoided, but a potential key puzzle piece in the Wellbrexa case.
The discovery is necessary to put Matty and Edwin back on the same page. They’ve been at odds since Matty’s panic attack and even more so after she refused to investigate Olympia anymore. Matty thinks they should start looking for Alfie’s (Aaron D. Harris) biological father in case anything happens to them and they are too old to raise their grandson. Edwin doesn’t agree, so he lies to Matty about finding the e-mail from a “friend” of their daughters that he received after her funeral. It looks like Edwin is ready to start an investigation of his own behind Matty’s back. That’s not going to be good for the partnership at all. A real break in the Wellbrexa case is due soon, but the real question is whether Matty will be ready to handle whatever the facts reveal. She was back in top form in this episode, but she has developed a lot of blindspots over the season that could change how this all shakes out.
Matlock continues Thursdays at 9 PM on CBS. Episodes are available to stream the next day on Paramount+.

Matlock

Matty is back to scheming instead of recovering on Matlock Episode 11.

Release Date

September 22, 2024

Network

CBS

Writers

Jennie Snyder Urman

Pros & Cons

Shae putting pressure on Matty is the kind of tension that makes this show sing.
We love to see Billy standing up for himself, because Sarah needed calling out.
Edwin getting in on the game is always a delight.

Matty and Edwin keeping secrets can’t go anywhere good.
It’s disappointing to see YouThree so dysfunctional.