Creators Rolin Jones and Ron Fitzgerald recently wrapped up the second season of their period series called Perry Mason. The show aired its first season on June 21st, 2020, and is actually inspired by a series of novels of the same name as the series released by American author Erle Stanley Gardener.
The show, Perry Mason, is a story about a defense lawyer of the same name as the title of the show. The series is based on the time of the Great Depression in the year 1932, when the entirety of the United States seemed to be suffering the consequences of probably the most infamous economic recession in history, except for one place, Los Angeles.
Perry Mason, the lawyer, is still dealing with the trauma of the world war and is still recovering from its shock and impact while also going through a rough divorce. It is at this time that he gets hired for a popular case of child kidnapping, and the story follows how Mason uses his skills to solve the case, which ends up affecting all those around him.
The show stars actor Matthew Rhys as Perry Mason himself, a private detective turned lawyer, along with Chris Chalk as Paul Drake, a patrol officer with a growing interest in detective work. Juliet Rylance as Della Street, a dedicated secretary to E.B. Johnson, played by John Lithgow, a regular at Mason’s office. The show has a vast cast of supporting and recurring actors who have been widely appreciated for their performances in the show.
Since the release of its second season, the show has received mostly positive reviews from viewers and critics, appreciating it for its amazing cinematography, great casting, and production of the show.
Perry Mason Season 2 Ending Explained
The second season of the show premiered its finale on April 24th, 2023, and it has left fans of the show a bit flustered. It did not end on the worst note possible, but it was not quite the best either. But with an ending that left fans divided, the show has definitely become one of the best this year.
Season two of the show brought to the characters the case of their life when Perry, Della, and Paul find themselves stuck defending the Gallardo brothers, who are two Mexican-American brothers convicted for the murder of the rich guy Brooks McCutcheon. Perry and Della are on the defendant’s side, but with the investigation going forward, the two soon realize that the brothers might not be actually innocent.
Their investigation revealed that Mateo and Rafael, the Mexican brothers, did not kill Brooks out of revenge; instead, the two were hired by Camilla Nygaard, played by Hope Davis, and the two agreed to blackmail and eventually kill Brooks because the latter had gotten the two throw out of their house that also led to a death in the family.
Della and Perry, even after knowing the truth, wish to win the case, even if it means hiding part of the truth. Episode seven revealed that it was the two brothers who did the deed, but it was Camilla Nygaard who had hired them because she wanted to shut Brooks up as he had found out about Camilla’s illegal business tactics, including the fact that she had been devising a plan to sell oil to Japan.
Even though the investigators knew the truth about Camilla, they had no actual proof, and in the end, they could only prove that it was Mateo and Rafael who killed Brooks. Perry and Della had tried to hide the murder weapon in a desperate attempt to save the brothers, but by the time the finale rolled out, this act of theirs was ready to come out as a major scandal that would very likely ruin their reputation in the game.
A Half-way Meet
It is Hamilton who approaches the two with a deal that could get them partially out of trouble, thus reducing the consequences of their actions. After knowing that the brothers were actually guilty and after finding out the cause behind their actions, Della and Perry had not really made any moves to protect the two.
So, when Hamilton offered a deal where one of the two brothers would have to confess and go to jail for at least thirty years, and the other could roam free, the two grabbed the deal with both hands. After much discussion, it was agreed that Mateo would go to prison, taking responsibility for the murder fully and somehow also being a good older brother.
Rafael got to walk free and attend the art school he desperately wanted to go to. But it is not like Camilla gets to walk freely as when Hamilton was offering the two the deal, Della and Perry, in return, gave him whatever information they had about Camilla’s doing. And it is just when Della meets up with Camilla to tell her that she knows what she has been up to that the FBI shows up at her office demanding to talk to her.
She is taken for questioning and further investigation, and her partner, Lydell McCutcheon, in Japan, is also sent a message letting him know that their little plan has gone rogue and he had better not come down to America because the consequences of that would not be all that great.
We know that Della and Perry had hidden the weapon of murder somewhere in Perry’s office and that hiding a murder weapon is not a very legal thing to do. So with everyone getting a taste of justice, Perry Mason gets some too. The weapon was found in his office, and he has to be punished for it.
A Sketchy End For Mason
Just before the end of the season, we see Perry wrapping things up back at home and saying goodbye to people that matter, one of them being his girlfriend or his ex, to be precise. He stops by Ginny Aimes, his ex’s house, to apologize for all the wrong he did to her, telling her that he should not have been so quick to judge and also letting her know that he will not be around for some time.
He asks her if she sees a possibility in the future where the two are together and happy sharing a relationship that is not affected by his mistakes, and Ginny seems a bit hesitant. She seems completely uninterested in the idea of building a relationship with him, but after some time changes her mind, giving Perry the opportunity to come back to her and convince her again when he is done with his prison time.
The season ends with Perry in jail for four months on account of hiding a murder weapon. The season end may feel underwhelming to some, considering all the action that had been happening in the previous episodes. But when one looks at the entire characters list, you realize that everybody shares a flawed human personality, and the ones who have done something even remotely bad face punishment, and that includes our main lead too.
Perry had mentioned earlier that he finally sees that justice can be achieved as long as one is willing to play dirty, and at times playing dirty will have consequences like going to jail for four months. Fans worried that going to jail might turn Perry’s personality into something even sadder, but the jail scene when Perry is on his bed clearly shows that there is something about him that is so drastically changed, and fans can actually look forward to it in the next season.
Perry’s flawed and morally gray character fits perfectly with the show Perry Mason’s messy ending. The finale episode of this season is important because it highlights a significant change in Mason’s character. While earlier, Mason would have abandoned the American Justice system if things did not go in a legally conforming way, this grown Mason realizes that you need to bend ways and laws to make the justice system work for you.
Even so, the ending of the season was happy for some and a bit bumpy for the rest, and this has made fans of the show even more eager and excited for the next season.
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