Perry Mason Series 2 (2023)

This Never Happened 
To The Other Della

Perry Mason
Season 2 - 8 episodes
March - April 2023
HBO 
Chinese Blu Ray 

Warning: Some spoilers

So the second and, regrettably, final series of the latest incarnation of the Perry Mason TV show, very loosely based on the novels by Erle Stanley Gardner, sees the return of Matthew Rhys as Perry, his now partner Della Street, played once more by Juliet Rylance and the excellent Chris Chalk as his investigator (and ex-cop from the first series), Paul Drake. 

And it’s all pretty great... perhaps even better than the first season. 

This one involves the murder of the son of the boss of a corrupt, crooked oil man and two young men who are accused of his shooting. Sworn off criminal cases since the outcome of the first season, Perry and the gang go right back into it, defending the two gentlemen but, as we soon find out, through the course of the investigation, the two may not be as innocent as they at first seem. 

And like the first one, the show does some great work looking like a somewhat authentic 1930s milieu. I spotted a drawing of a certain big ape in the background of one of the shots (one of the two accused is a good artist and is accepted into art school... although he only hears about this after he is being held with his brother in a jail cell) dated it for me as being set in 1933 and, yeah, it’s confirmed later when Perry takes his young son to see King Kong (reviewed here) at the cinema. 

It all feels right to the period and, I’d have to say the art direction on this show is absolutely awesome. And, of course, the language and colour of the streets is perhaps more reflective of the times than, say, a movie of the time made contemporary to that period would be allowed to be (much like the use of language, slang and attitudes found in a James Ellroy novel set in, say, the 1940s or 1950s). 

The cast are all terrific and, although Perry’s former ‘friend with benefits’ Lupe, played by Veronica Falcón, returns for the first episode, she’s moved out of the narrative fairly quickly in order to build a new romantic interest for Perry in the shape of his son’s teacher, played by the always watchable Katherine Waterston. Another new actor to this, but only for the first couple of episodes and, used something as a plot device, is Sean Astin as a greedy and expanding store owner. 

Shea Wigham returns as Perry’s former investigator Pete Strickland but, now working for Hamlton Berger (a returning Justin Kirk), he has to balance his friendship with Perry with the fact that he is working against him in the case that Perry is working on and, yeah, the two do come into some pretty heavy conflict which has big repercussions for Perry as he finishes this second season. 

Also on board this time is the great Hope Davis but, her character is used in an interesting way and, though she doesn’t exactly have a huge spotlight in the series, she does have a lasting presence on the proceedings. Della Street also has a new flame in this, with Jen Tullock playing a character who, while not named as such, is based on real life Hollywood screenwriter Anita Loos. And the two of them are pretty good together in the show, it has to be said.

Okay, it looks like this is one of my shorter reviews but, this show really had some bite to it and I thought it was absolutely brilliant. Gritty in all the right places and with some really great cliffhangers. The conclusion of the trial is not about the sudden piece of shock evidence which gets everyone off and, though there is some big evidence given, it’s mostly resolved behind closed doors and, well, there are repercussions for Perry due to something which is found hidden in his office when the opposing legal team have broken into it... lets just put it that way. I would love to see where a third season of Perry Mason would go but, alas, this one doesn’t seem to have been renewed, for whatever reason. A pity. Despite rumours to the contrary, we are not yet living in a time of television of great quality so, when a show does come along which does absolutely everything right, you’d like it to keep going.