Claws – The episode opens with Madeline “Matty” Matlock/Madeline Kingston (Kathy Bates) giving Edwin Kingston (Sam Anderson) cues on how to manipulate people into giving him what he wants. She listens from her phone while he asks an employee (Deyo Forteza) for assistance in opening an email attachment for his grandson. The employee tells him that the sender needs to resend the original email. Edwin claims his grandson’s friend sent the email but has since died. Matty orders him to shut up. The employee says the attachment cannot be opened without accessing the friend’s email account. Matty and Edwin have no other option to move to Plan B which would require accessing Jacobson Moore Law Firm’s internal server. He reminds her that Alfie Kingston (Aaron D. Harris) can no longer be part of their mission and questions if the firm has a Genius Bar. An idea pops into her head. At the firm, Matty tells Sarah Franklin (Leah Lewis) and Billy (David Del Rio) that her laptop is messed up. Sarah is hyped about their star witness, Katya Novik (Andra Nechita), who was assaulted by prison guards. Billy urges her to take it down a notch. Speaking more calmly, she expresses how impressed she is with Katya’s courage and determination. He says she needs to date. Matty orders them to stop arguing and reminds them of their most recent failed case. Julian (Jason Ritter) sees an overly anxious Olympia (Skye P. Marshall) adding an energy drink to her coffee. She dares him to tell her to relax. Playing it safe, he suggests delegating tasks to her team before blurting out Victor the Viking is interested in their house. She receives a call from Katya saying she is unable to make their meeting. Sarah becomes even more stressed when she learns Matty is going to help Olympia prepare their evidence for the jury.
Olympia and Matty are waiting at a nail salon when Katya shows up for her shift high. Matty warns Olympia against building the case around Katya. Olympia says she has been sober for a year. Anxious, Katya tells them that she wants Warden Kenneth Larson (Chet Grissom) to pay. Olympia asks if she is using again. Katya gets defensive. Matty digs through her bag for a drug test. Katya confesses and vows to be sober for the trial. Matty insists she seeks treatment. Matty continues to urge Olympia to start from scratch with another plaintiff. Olympia asks what makes her an expert on addiction. Matty claims her mother was an alcoholic. Olympia reluctantly delegates the task of finding another plaintiff to Billy and Sarah. She wants to keep Katya as a witness, so the defense doesn’t go after her. Matty asks why she doesn’t try to get to know Sarah and Billy better. Olympia puts her in charge of Billy and Sarah before meeting Julian for lunch to discuss the sale of their house. Later, Matty scans Billy and Sarah’s three plaintiff candidates – Lauren Jarrett (Asha Etchison), Tiffany Lee (Monique Burias Shi), and Gabrielle Alvarez (Yuli Zorrilla). She says Olympia put her in charge of selecting a new plaintiff. Billy reluctantly accepts Olympia’s decision but Sarah, not so much. IT Kira Yu (Piper Curda) hits on Sarah who gets tongue-tied.
At the prison, Olympia compliments Warden Nicola Caruso (Kerry Cahill) for the improvements she has made since she took over for Larson. Tiffany Lee informs Olympia of her decision to step away from the case. Olympia notifies Matty who suggests trying Lauren. Matty asks Kira if ITs have access to employee emails because she would like to recover a Costco coupon. Kira says yes but coupons are a no-go. At the prison, Olympia fails to convince Lauren and Gabrielle to take over for Katya. At the firm, Olympia and her team are down to a few hours to find a plaintiff before their class-action trial starts tomorrow. Matty suggests someone gave Katya drugs, so she would relapse to stop her and the other victims from testifying. Olympia says that is a bit of a stretch. Sarah agrees with her. Matty questions if the dealer is a prison guard. Sarah and Billy are surprised Olympia and Matty are beginning to think alike.
Edwin and Matty go over their evidence to figure out what happened to the missing 365-document Wellbrexa case file. She stresses the need to get Kira’s laptop which would give her access to their emails. Hearing Alfie approaching, they hurriedly conceal their investigation board. He asks why it is closed but gets nowhere with his grandparents. Matty receives an alert regarding their denied request to access the nail salon CCTV footage. The next morning, Matty is at the salon getting her nails done. Sonia (Lynn Adrianna Freedman) tells her that Katya has gone AWOL. Matty asks if she saw Katya’s dealer. Sonia says no. Matty suggests he may be a prison guard and asks to access the salon’s CCTV footage. In court, Olympia rants about Babylonian King Hammurabi who prohibited his guards from abusing prisoners. At the salon, Matty live streams the CCTV footage for Olympia. A man enters the salon, conceals his face from the camera, and takes a seat across from Katya. Matty tells her about Katya going AWOL. A short time later, an anxious Matty is standing in front of a dilapidated multi-story building when Edwin arrives and embraces. She recalls going through the same thing with her daughter. Summing up courage, she enters to find a strung-out guy (Axel J. Gonzalez) sitting on the floor. With his help, she finds Katya sitting on a sofa. Katya questions why she didn’t say no to the drugs and pleads for help. Later, Matty and Katya arrive at the firm to find Olympia talking to Defense Attorney Josh Willis (Lonzo Liggins). Katya promises Olympia that she will get sober. Hearing this, Willis feels confident about going to trial. She scolds Matty for bringing Katya there. Upset, Matty asks what if she was one of her twins and demands Katya be treated with dignity. Billy and Sarah are upset with Matty because she didn’t call them, so they could go there together. Katya never recognized any of the guards.
Matty says the defense will portray Katya as an addict who just wants money. Edwin breaks down sobbing. She comforts him. Elsewhere, Olympia embraces her daughters. Julian gives her real estate portfolios for houses near the twins’ school. He promises the move will not traumatize them. Elsewhere, Matty tells Alfie about his mother getting her nails done for the prom. He questions if her love for him wasn’t enough to stop her from doing drugs. Matty assures him that his mother loved him more than anything. An idea pops into her head. The next day, Matty tells Billy and Sarah tell Olympia that the person harassing Katya may be a female. They demand to know why she didn’t call them yesterday as Olympia promised. Matty claims to have gotten distracted by a call from her grandson’s school about him skipping classes. Sarah shows Olympia the CCTV footage from the nail salon. Olympia recognizes the individual. Later in court, Olympia calls Caruso to the stand. Caruso boasts of her improvements at the prison. Caruso denies working at the prison when Katya filed her complaint. Olympia asks if she has ever met Katya. Caruso says no. Olympia asks if she got her nails done recently. Caruso says no and reveals her hands to the court. The nail salon footage is played for the jury. Olympia zooms in on a birthmark, the same one on Caruso’s hand. Willis objects but Judge Ryan Price (Atul Singh) reminds him that he approved her as an expert. Caruso tells the court that she felt the payout would be more beneficial for the prison than one drug addict. Olympia says the drug addict deserves dignity and respect.
Matty sets Sarah up to meet Kira on her lunch break. Matty manages to get Kira’s fingerprint on her phone. Billy shows Matty a dating profile that he made for her. While they finish setting up the profile, she asks why he never proposed to his long-time girlfriend, Claudia. He says there was never a man figure in his life. She assures him that he would make a good catch. Olympia informs them that the prison system has agreed to pay the plaintiffs $2 million each. She compliments Billy and Sarah. Later, Matty shows Edwin Kira’s fingerprint on her phone screen. He suggests getting Alfie to help her figure out what to do in the server room. She agrees but in moderation. Julian stays to have dinner with Olympia and the twins. She admits to being afraid to lose what they created in their home. He assures her that they will retain it all. Matty receives a message through the dating site. The individual recognized her. The episode ends.
Matlock Review
As the season reaches its halfway point, the direction pushes the story forward but only barely. Matty, now joined by Edwin, is one step closer to finding which of the Jacobson Moore attorneys took the physical Wellbrexa case file and never returned it.
Sarah and Olympia have always been high-strung characters but this episode was different. Leah Lewis and Skye P. Marshall seem to be competing for the most neurotic performance of the series. The audience may find it impossible to watch without the excitability rubbing off on them.
It’s doubtful the Kingstons will identify their target this season with another one looming. Edwin and Matty’s mission is the highlight of the series. The episode deserves a 5.7 out of 10.
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Jay Skelton is a fan of all television shows and movies. He tries his best to keep up with the latest foreign television shows and movies. Jay loves skinny dipping in the dark too.
