Like many Gen Zs, I didn’t know there used to be a show called Matlock before this new version. But the new Matlock series introduces us to Madeline Matlock, an older woman who’s determined to get back into the legal field after 30 years. The last time she worked at a law firm was back in 1991, and now she’s trying to land a job at a prestigious firm called Jacobson & Moore. You might think her age could be a problem for such a high-powered place, but Madeline doesn’t let that stop her and manages to get hired by quickly showing the younger associates that age is just a number. How did she do it and what cases did she handle on her first day? We are about to find out. Also, as episode 1 comes to an end, we find out that Madeline Matlock isn’t her real name. She’s hiding something big about her identity, and that’s one of the mysteries we’re going to uncover in this episode 1 recap as well.
Spoilers Ahead
How did Madeline Matlock manage to get the job?
The opening scene of episode 1 introduces us to Madeline Matlock at a coffee shop, where she was pretending to be a helpless old woman who was struggling to find money to pay for her coffee. But in reality, she was carefully eavesdropping on a conversation between Jacobson & Moore’s client, Peabody, and his consultant, where she overheard that Peabody was willing to pay $23 million. She knew that she could use this information to secure herself a job at the firm. When she arrived at the firm, Madeline played up her “clueless old lady” act where she again pretended she didn’t know how to open doors or use the elevator because of being “technologically challenged.” By fooling everyone, she managed to get into the firm right when a meeting was happening about Peabody’s case. Julian, one of the lawyers, assumed Peabody would offer no more than $19 million. That’s when Madeline stepped in and confidently revealed that Peabody was ready to pay $23 million and ended up impressing everyone in the room. According to her, older women often blend into the crowd easily because they’re seen as less threatening or noticeable, which is how she managed to gather this crucial information in the first place. The lawyers were impressed, but they still had doubts as she was old and hadn’t been in a courtroom in years. However, Madeline made it clear that age was just a number, and if they refused to hire her because of age then that would be illegal. And just like that, she started working under the lawyer Olympia to help her with the case she was working on.
How did Madeline manage to win Olympia’s case?
Once Madeline started to work for Olympia, she quickly realized that Olympia was a workaholic obsessed with becoming a senior partner at the firm and couldn’t afford to lose cases because it would push her into corporate litigation and hence ruin her career goals. On top of that, her messy personal life, like her divorce from Julian and her secret relationship with another senior associate named Elijah made things even more complicated for her, as did her relationship with her ex-father-in-law Howard, as he was the CEO of the firm. Therefore, Madeline understood she had to work hard to stay in Olympia’s good books and help her win the case. So, she started to dig for information on the case Olympia was handling, about a man named Raymond Harris who had been wrongfully imprisoned for 26 years. He had been forced to confess to a rape and murder he didn’t commit because the police department back then had set him up. Though Raymond had finally been exonerated, he was only being offered $241,280 in compensation, much less than the 2 million dollars he had been previously promised. Olympia initially thought they had no chance to win this case, but Raymond’s daughter, Jordan, refused to back down. Madeline also argued that what the police had done to Raymond was cruel and humiliating, and they needed to fight back and go to trial by gathering solid evidence to present it to a jury to prove Raymond’s innocence.
Madeline, along with Olympia’s juniors, started investigating, when they discovered a woman named Carlin, who was a former prostitute and had survived an attack by a real rapist-murderer back in that time. Madeline tracked her down by getting information from Carlin’s old pimp, who was in jail. But when she found Carlin, things weren’t as simple as she’d hoped, because Carlin had turned her life around and she wasn’t the same red-headed prostitute anymore. She had gone through rehab, finished her studies, and was now living a quiet life in the suburbs with her family. That is why she didn’t want to drag her past back into the open and testify in court. Madeline understood Carlin’s hesitation, especially since her own daughter had struggled with addiction. But Madeline realized if she failed to convince Carlin then it would jeopardize Olympia’s career and Madeline’s own position, so she pushed her. Hence, Carlin eventually gave a crucial piece of information that even though she couldn’t testify herself, she remembered a man from across the street who had witnessed her running away from the attacker and had called 911. If Madeline could track him down, he could be the key to proving Raymond’s innocence. Madeline didn’t even need him to testify because she found the 911 call itself. The recording clearly showed that the man had described a different attacker, not Raymond. After digging through state records, Madeline uncovered this critical piece of evidence that had been intentionally hidden by the police precinct. Thus, Detective Ferguson finally admitted to the jury that the police did frame Raymond and forced him into a false confession by hiding this evidence. Therefore, in the end, Raymond was not only proven innocent, but the jury also awarded him 20 million dollars in compensation, which was a massive win for everyone!
What was the real identity of Madeline Matlock?
After winning the case, it was clear that Madeline Matlock had successfully secured her spot at the firm. Olympia’s junior associates even invited her out for drinks. But, earlier, we had heard Madeline tell a sad story about how her late husband had gambled away all their money and left her broke and in debt with no choice but to return to work. She also mentioned her grandson, Alfie, who supposedly did not like his grandmother as she was very strict with him. So, she claimed she had to get home quickly to look after him, which seemed believable, right? But it turns out Madeline was right about older women being discreet and believable. Because, after boarding a bus, she quietly slipped off at the next stop, where a limo was waiting for her! The driver took her to a massive mansion, where Madeline saw her husband (yes, the man isn’t dead) and their grandson, Alfie. And the biggest shock? They didn’t call her Matlock, but Mrs. Kingston. That’s when the truth came out that Madeline had created a fake LinkedIn profile, with the help of her husband and grandson, to get a job at Jacobson & Moore, as her real mission was to take revenge for her daughter who had died from opioid addiction, and she believed that one of three people, Howard, Julian, or even Olympia, had hidden a pharmaceutical document that could’ve taken opioids off the market ten years ago. Madeline had taken on this Matlock persona to get inside the firm and figure out who was responsible. Will she succeed in exposing the truth and send the guilty to jail? I guess we’ll have to wait and watch!
