‘Perry Mason’ Season 2’s Big Mystery: How’d This Show Go So Wrong?
The Knick is one of the great television triumphs of the past decade, so word that its showrunners Jack Amiel and Michael Begler were taking over Perry Mason was exciting—especially in light of that HBO series’ severely underwhelming first season. Alas, different stewardship can’t right this reboot’s wayward course, as its second go-round, which premieres Mar. 6, is as pedestrian and lackluster as its first. “At some point, Mr. Mason, you must find all of your righteousness just a bit exhausting,” says a judge to the title character. He doesn’t, but viewers likely will.
Perry Mason’s problems begin with the ill-fitting ways it’s chosen to reimagine its source material. While its hero (played with compelling sullenness by Matthew Rhys) continues to be a noble-at-heart 1930s crusader dedicated to unearthing the truth, upholding justice, and protecting the innocent—and despite pairing him with his right-hand compatriots Della Street (Juliet Rylance) and Paul Drake (Chris Chalk)—the show reconfigures just about every other aspect of author Erle Stanley Gardner’s work in pointless and unsatisfying fashion.
Of those alterations, the most egregious is the fact that it’s far less of a legal drama than a hardboiled detective story, with private eye-turned-defense attorney Perry spending infinitely more time and energy searching for clues than arguing in court.