Editor’s note: The below recap contains spoilers for Matlock Episode 10.Matty (Kathy Bates) is getting too comfortable on Matlock, and it’s starting to lead to big mistakes. After refusing to continue any investigation of Olympia (Skye P. Marshall) in last week’s episode, Matty turns her attention to… helping Olympia win the partner race instead of trying to spend more time with Julian (Jason Ritter).
The pursuit gets messy when Mrs. Belvin (Patricia Belcher) accidentally takes the recording pen from Julian’s office to get a card signed by the office for a colleague’s widow. Matty has to work double time to get a duplicate pen and switch it out in case anyone discovers the real one and can trace it back to her family. She sets the new pen to be traced back to Julian and makes it look like he had bugged Olympia’s office to help him win partner, which inspires Olympia to push for Julian’s financials to be investigated before they finalize their divorce. Matty is convinced that the forensic investigation of Julian’s bank accounts will help her pin him as the one who hid the Wellbrexa documents. However, the process of getting Olympia to pursue the investigation causes Matty to make an enemy out of Sarah (Leah Lewis), and that could have devastating consequences going forward.
Matty Defends the Elderly in ‘Matlock’ Episode 10

Image via CBS

There are two cases of the week in this week’s episode of Matlock. Initially, Matty, Sarah, and Billy (David Del Rio) are focused on defending an assisted living facility from a wrongful death suit after one of their residents dies in his sleep. The investigation requires Matty and Sarah to pose as grandmother and granddaughter, which reveals that Sarah is adopted and grew up with a white family. It makes her particularly sensitive – a word almost never associated with Sarah – about people questioning her heritage. As the team investigates the assisted living facility, Autry (Hal Williams), the key witness in the Michael Casey (Brandon Marcel) case earlier in the season, arrives at the firm to ask for Matty’s help. Autry supplies game-changing help with the assisted living case, and so Olympia allows YouThree to defend Autry against the tenant board that is trying to kick him out of his apartment.
Autry’s contribution to the assisted living case helps Matty figure out that the resident was actually killed by his girlfriend Lucille Morris (Joanna Cassidy) in an assisted suicide, which freed the facility of any wrongdoing. Meanwhile, Billy proves that Autry was set up by his neighbor, who wanted to buy his apartment and took drastic measures when Autry refused to sell. Autry gets to keep his place and Billy gets his first trial win, but Billy trying the case in the first place is where Matty screwed up.
‘Matlock’ Episode 10 Leads to the Implosion of YouThree

Image via CBS

When Olympia says that YouThree can take on Autry’s case, it’s decided that it will be either Billy or Sarah’s first solo day in court, with Matty tasked with choosing which one will take on the task. She’s initially leaning toward Billy because Sarah seems to rub Autry the wrong way. (Her direct nature is not his cup of tea.) But when Matty and Sarah are at the assisted living facility, they run into a patient with dementia. Matty panics as the patient grows agitated, but Sarah seamlessly steps in to calm the elderly woman down, singing to her to soothe her nerves and walking her back to her room. Afterward, Sarah reveals that her adopted grandmother had dementia. They had been very close until she was diagnosed, and when Sarah came back to visit during college, her grandmother had forgotten who she was. She would freak out and refer to Sarah as “that Chinese girl” until Sarah stopped introducing herself as her granddaughter.
The touching moment and vulnerability confirm to Matty that Sarah is absolutely worthy of compassion and will do a great job on Autry’s case — but the very next day, Matty needs to switch the recording pens. When Billy catches Matty going through his desk, she gives him the Autry case to explain why she was digging around. In other words, Matty boots Sarah off the case to save her own butt after Sarah revealed something intensely personal about herself. Matty knows how difficult it was for Sarah to tell her that and the amount of trust it took for her to do so, yet she still takes advantage of it. It’s a panicked decision to hand the case over to Billy, but insulting Sarah and violating that freshly earned trust earns Matty an enemy she can’t afford to have.

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Sarah is ready to go scorched earth at the end of the episode. Have we ever witnessed Sarah not achieve her goals? Her threat to Matty isn’t her usual ambition showing. This is personal, and Matty needs to be hyper-aware of Sarah going forward. It’s also sad to see YouThree split up. They haven’t been on the best terms since Olympia officially made Matty the favorite, but they were such a great team in the beginning. With this new fracture, it’s hard to see how they’ll ever get back to being what they were. And if Olympia’s forensic investigation of Julian’s financials doesn’t give Matty what she needs to prove he hid the Wellbrexa documents, what was all of it for?
Matty’s judgment has already come under scrutiny with her full-chest defense of Olympia, and this week doesn’t improve the situation. Backstabbing Sarah is shortsighted and potentially game-ending for Matty getting justice for her daughter. Matty’s investment in Olympia has started to cloud her objectives and priorities. It felt like vintage Matty to switch out the pens, but the cost of doing so is higher than any of the other schemes she’s pulled off so far. This friendship with Olympia has caused Matty to lose her edge, and that’s deeply concerning as we head into the remaining third of the season.
Matlock continues Thursdays at 9 PM on CBS. Episodes are available to stream the next day on Paramount+.

Matlock

Matty’s short-sighted, and it’s a bad look this week in Matlock Episode 10.

Release Date

September 22, 2024

Network

CBS

Writers

Jennie Snyder Urman

Pros & Cons

Love any opportunity Matlock finds to let Leah Lewis sing!
Billy gets a spectacular win in court.
Autry should be made a recurring guest star.

Matty backstabbing Sarah is a really low moment.
The pen switch is one of the most convoluted schemes yet.