'Perry Mason' Episode 2: Tatiana Maslany as Sister Alice set to make impressive entry as calculative preacher
'Perry Mason' Episode 1 introduced us to all the main characters but one -- Tatiana Maslany's Sister Alice McKeegan -- and the upcoming episode will roll out the red carpet for her. The promo of the episode released by HBO featured Maslany's character Sister Alice address members of the Radiant Assembly of God about Charlie Dodson, the one-year-old baby of a young couple who are members of the church. Charlie was kidnapped by a group of men for ransom, but despite receiving the agreed-upon price, they kill the baby and even go to the extent of stitching the baby's eyes open.
Sister Alice uses this incident to further strengthen the hold that she has over the members of her church by promising that the culprits will not escape from the clutches of God. The fact that Alice is using the incident to gain more mileage among the current members of the church, and moving towards gaining more members proves how unscrupulous she is. Is her belief in God sincere or is she using the church to earn money to support her lifestyle?
Alice's character and her dynamics with the titular character Perry Mason is one of the things that we can look forward to in the show. Mason has been investigating the kidnapping and murder of the Dodson baby after his acquaintance and oftentimes work partner E.B. Jonathan hired him. The case gained the attention of the public which led to the case and its investigators being monitored thoroughly. Yet, it seems as if the cops are doing a half-a**ed job of the investigation, which leads to false accusations against the parents.
All of this will be revisited in the upcoming episode and in addition, we will also see strife within Mason's side as E.B. finds out that the evidence that Mason has so far gathered will be of no use to him in court while defending the Dodsons. It goes to the extent where E.B.'s legal assistant Della Street (Juliet Rylance) has a loud row with him and even tells him to be a lawyer. She is raving mad at him, probably because E.B. has lost his touch as a lawyer and this case could make or break him.
Mason, on the other hand, is getting more involved with the investigation and with each passing day, he realizes that the case has gotten to him. Somehow, this case seems to remind him of days when he served in the army during the war. There is a blink-and-miss feature scene in the trailer of Mason's time during the war.
New episodes of 'Perry Mason' will air at 9 pm ET on HBO.