'Perry Mason' Episode 1 Review: Grit, character and personality occupy an origin story missing in the novels
Erle Stanley Gardner's Perry Mason is infamous for being a criminal defense attorney who always manages to prove his client's innocence in an elaborately set courtroom scene. Hours of legalese, objections raised and sly interrogation gives Mason the clues to solve the case of his clients and come out victorious. In all of the books though, the one thing the author never managed to do is draw a hook into who Mason really is.
Why does he do what he does? His driving force or even his personal life — none of it is explored and that has become an unexplored territory that the HBO's new show 'Perry Mason' starring Matthew Rhys in the titular role hopes to traverse. So far, it looks interesting.
Just one episode in, the shows give off a vibe of any run-of-the-mill crime drama, but on closer inspection, the intention behind what the show hopes to achieve becomes clear. It is to give a whole new life to Perry Mason. Fans of the novels and Raymond Burr's TV show only know him to be an excellent criminal attorney. This show digs deeper, into the darker crevices of Mason's mind, to show us who Mason was before he became a criminal defense lawyer.
Mason is currently a detective for hire who lives on the farm that was left to him by his father. He holds on to this piece of land dearly, while trying to pay his bills (unsuccessfully) doing odd jobs including tailing celebrities to movie studios to catch them red-handed while they violate moral clauses. Mason is divorced and is father to a nine-year-old son Theodore aka Teddy. His ex-wife happens to be his son's custodian and she refuses to let Teddy get in touch with his father. Even his birthday gift is returned unopened and this hurts Mason.
He is a former war veteran, who was discharged from the army for bad conduct and there is a lot that is brewing under the surface here. For all the time that Gardner chose to not delve deeper into Mason, the HBO show does the opposite. So now, we have a broke detective who gets beaten up by one of his clients' goons for overcharging.
Mason's sense of judgment is not as sharp or flawless as it is in the novels. Which is what leaves him at the mercy of the said movie studio head, because the lawyer that we have come to know through Gardner's works will never be left at a disadvantage. He always finds a way out, and magnificently at that — born from the same mold as James Bond minus all the women, cool gadgets, and risk to life and limb of course!
However, it is sharp enough for him to smell something fishy about a case that he gets handed by his often-times benefactor, lawyer EB Jonathan aka EB. 'Perry Mason' Chapter 1's opening scene sees a young couple struggle to stay calm as they negotiate with kidnappers over a call. Their son, Charles Dodson, has been kidnapped for a huge sum of money. Despite delivering the agreed sum, the couple finds their son killed with his eyes stitched open and this terrible death has become fodder for frontpage headlines in loud capitals. This death is not treated lightly. On the contrary, Mason, who had just a day ago alluded to having seen much worse (a reference to days served during his deployment possibly), is shocked and deeply affected while he inspects the remains of Dodson.
EB has hired Mason to look into Charles' death because his clients and friend of his clients do not trust the LAPD to do its job. Mason agrees with the sentiment and takes on the job for the money. He begins to investigate and within the first few hours, there are loopholes that cannot be explained if he were to believe the testimony of Charles' parents.
He is sure that there is more to this death than meets the eye and by continuing to investigate the case for E.B. Mason finds him at the very edge of a dangerous cliff. For a man who is deeply troubled by the woes of his life, the case has the potential for being a safe escape and from the looks of it, Mason is ready to deep dive. New episodes of 'Perry Mason' will drop on Sundays at 9 pm ET on HBO.