'Perry Mason' Episode 7: Secrets of Alice's past and those behind Charlie Dodson's death revealed
'Perry Mason' in its penultimate episode sees the titular character lose face in one of the toughest situations since the show began. A difference of opinion between him and his partner Pete Strickland (Shea Whigham) has progressed into a full-blown argument and the only thing that Mason (Matthew Rhys) tells his friend and partner is the fact that he wants to save Emily Dodson (Gayle Rankin) more than anything. He wants to save an innocent woman more than anything. Pete had lost track of Radiant Assembly of God elder Eric Seidel, however, not all is out of hand yet. During cross witness questioning, he had got Seidel to confess that the church was facing a deficit that was close to $100,000. This was the same amount that was asked as ransom when Charlie was kidnapped.
While the rest of the plot unravels over the episode, Mason still needs to prove all of it in court. The fact is Seidel wanted to keep the church afloat and so he decided to use George Gannon, who was the accountant of the church, and Ennis, whom Seidel had a connection with from the past to cook up a plot that would ensure that he would get the money and save the church. He knew about fellow elder of the church Herman Baggerly being the grandfather of Charlie and also knew that the man was good for it.
So he used George's affair with Alice, got the kidnapping under way and used a sex-worker to feed the baby. This lactating Chinese-American sex-worker has heroin in her bloodstream and yet breastfed the baby, which is what caused Charlie's death. The reason Charlie's eyes were sewn open was to ensure that the kidnappers could fool the parents and get their hands on the money. Since then, Ennis began the arduous task of covering up his tracks which included killing fellow kidnappers, asking a fellow officer to fake a report, and in this episode, even killing Seidel to ensure that there is no connection to him and the case of kidnapping. Just when you think it is time for despair, Mason decides that he would break Ennis on the stand and this is reflective of the Perry Mason that we have met in the novels.
Meanwhile, Sister Alice's story is also portrayed in depth in this episode. From when she was a teenage girl who was used by her mother to get the help of a passerby while their car broke down to now, the relationship between Alice and her mother Birdie is abusive. Take the fact that Birdie manipulated the entire reawakening of Charlie Dodson's incident by planting a baby to prove Alice's success, all of it to ensure that her power within the church stays intact.
It is not that Alice is not aware of Birdie's manipulation and the cycle of abuse that she is stuck in. She has lived with the voices in her head since when she was young and Birdie's manipulation is just another facet of life. She is now resigned to the fact that her life is controlled by Birdie and the final shot of the episode and her bitter smile is a reflection of the same.
New episodes of 'Perry Mason' drop every Sunday at 9 pm on HBO.