'Perry Mason' Episode 5 marks beginning of Mason as criminal attorney and here's how he became one
The beginning of Episode 5 'Perry Mason' begins with EB's (John Lithgow) death as expected. The one who finds EB in the morning after he gases himself is Della Street (Juliet Rylance). Despite having had a huge row with EB recently over how he was a coward especially in Emily Dodson's (Gayle Rankin) case, Della is heartbroken over EB's death. It is clear that EB killed himself and so Della manages to bring EB to his home where his kids and grandkids live with Mason's (Matthew Rhys) help.
However, when they do reach EB's town they realize that for all the good choices that he had made in representing and defending the innocent, he was not a good father. In fact, he is a terrible father who ignored kids and wife while following the hot life in the big bad city of Los Angeles. So neither Della nor Mason receives a warm welcome from his family and there is no funeral. The question that Mason has for EB's son is why are his kids or grandkids not at the cemetery and the answer he receives is that EB doesn't deserve attention because he didn't give his kids any.
After seeing this, Mason has a moment of truth experience and realizes that he is now doing the same that EB did in the past to his kids and he leaves town to go visit his son and if possible repair the relationship that he had single-handedly managed to fracture. He had assumed that what was frayed can be repaired but it is clear that his ex-wife is no longer interested in Mason playing the role of a father. She does let him spend some time with his son after he tells her that EB's dead. However, she makes it clear to him that he is not staying for dinner. Playing the role of a father? Linda tells Mason that the ship had sailed a long while back. At this time, Mason also hears about the court-appointed lawyer for Emily and hurries immediately back to Los Angeles to find a scumbag lawyer Frank sitting where EB used to sit.
For all his faults in personal life, EB was a great lawyer and Mason is unable to see his seat being taken away by a man who constitutes the filth of the lawyer population. Della had tried to find a different lawyer for Emily since news of Frank being appointed was made official, however because of the power of Emily's father in law who has stakes in the case as well. Herman Baggerly is dead set on proving Emily guilty only because Sister Alice has now allied herself with Emily instead of him. So no lawyer worth his salt in town is ready to take this case on. Then there is the matter of the District Attorney Maynard Barnes forcing Detectives Ennis and Holcomb to fake police reports in order to ensure that their case against Emily isn't proven wrong.
That's when Della comes up with a brilliant idea and this episode also marks the beginning of who we know Perry Mason to be in the present -- a criminal lawyer who does his investigations even better than the detectives involved at times. Della certifies Mason with proof of apprenticeship under EB the last 30 months which makes him eligible to take the bar test. He gets help from Assistant District Attorney Hamilton Burger, to pass the test and the two ally with each other in the hopes of bringing Barnes down. The episode ends up Mason passing the bar test and taking the oath of attorney. He has managed to get Emily and Alice on his side, so all that is left is to tear apart the case that the District has against Emily. What we can expect to see is Paul Drake possibly testify against Ennis and Holcomb after all the different ways that he has been oppressed recently.
The new episode of 'Perry Mason' will air on Sundays at 9 pm ET on HBO.