'Perry Mason' Chapter 2: Demons from WWI trenches haunt the detective, but justice for Charlie trumps it all
'Perry Mason' Chapter 2 takes the detective back to a time when he was forced to do things he didn't like in the name of the greater good. Working on the case of baby Charlie Dodson's kidnapping and death, has brought back memories from the time when Mason fought in World War I. He remembers the particular incident where he had to lead a team of soldiers over the top into the No Man's Land but things go wrong quickly and all around Mason, there is death and mayhem. The scenes that Mason recalls, take him back to the choices that he had to make.
It is time again for Mason to make a choice and this one is not easy. After Charlie's father, Matthew's secret gets outed by the cops, Mason is under pressure to find a lead that would help EB (John Lithgow) get Matthew out. The fact that Matthew was targeted by the kidnappers despite being just a grocer because he is actually the son of Herman Baggerly, a very powerful man gives Matthew the motive. Detectives Ennis and Holcomb manage to fake a witness statement and put Matthew at the scene of crime making him a liar.
While investigating Matthew's alibi, Mason speaks to Emily again and her neighbor too. That's when he finds out something strange. Turns out, in her husband's absence, Emily has been on the phone a lot. Upon investigating further, Mason finds out that Emily had an affair with a man from church, George Gammon. He happens to be one of the four men who had planned Charlie's kidnapping and considering Emily has had an affair, she could very well have been a part of it all too.
However, before Mason could figure out anything, he had to reveal to Emily that George is dead. His body was found with his head shot off at his home, which is weird considering he had fallen to his death from three floors above after being followed by Detective Ennis. Only two of the three dead bodies were found at the scene of the crime with George being moved. The more Mason investigates the case, the more confused he gets because he struggles with separating Emily's cheating ways with the crime that he is investigating, but he also believes that he is right in pursuing the avenue of investigation that could lead to Emily getting arrested.
When he takes his new lead to EB Della Street is completely against the idea of using Emily to get Matthew out of prison. The one thing that she said, which struck Mason deeply is that "infidelity is not murder". So despite choosing to rat out on Emily with EB's help, Mason is not convinced that the crime was committed the way the police are playing it out to be. From the looks of it, he will continue to look into the case despite EB's attitude. After Emily was dragged out of her son's funeral service, the weight that has come with Mason's decision has increased and this will influence him further to look at the case closely.
New episodes of 'Perry Mason' drops every Sunday at 9 pm on HBO.