Image via CBS
Published Mar 12, 2026, 11:00 AM EDT
Ryan O'Rourke is a Senior News Writer at Collider with a specific interest in all things adult animation, video game adaptations, and the work of Mike Flanagan. He is also an experienced baseball writer with over six years of articles between multiple outlets, most notably FanSided's CubbiesCrib. Whether it's taking in a baseball game, a new season of Futurama or Castlevania: Nocturne, or playing the latest From Software title, he is always finding ways to show his fandom. When it comes to gaming and anything that takes inspiration from it, he is deeply opinionated on what's going on. Outside of entertainment, he's a graduate of Eureka College with a Bachelor's in Communication where he honed his craft as a writer. Between The IV Leader at Illinois Valley Community College and The Pegasus at Eureka, he spent the majority of his college career publishing articles on everything from politics to campus happenings and, of course, entertainment for the student body. Those principles he learned covering the 2020 election, Palestine, and so much more are brought here to Collider, where he has gleefully written on everything from the SAG-AFTRA and WGA strikes to Nathan Lane baby-birding sewer boys.
The relationship between Matty (Kathy Bates) and Julian (Jason Ritter) has entered a new phase in Matlock Season 2. Last week's episode saw the titular septuagenarian lawyer finally reveal the whole truth about her identity to Julian, looping him in with Olympia (Skye P. Marshall) on why she's really working for Jacobson Moore. Although it took a while and a confrontation with Matty's grandson, Alfie (Aaron Harris), for him to offer a seemingly sincere apology for hiding the Wellbrexa documents and contributing to the death of Matty's daughter, they appear to be moving forward and forming a new bond. That starts with Episode 11, "Tail Lights," airing tonight on CBS.
Before it airs, Collider can exclusively share a new sneak peek that finds Matty and Julian working on a new scheme together to get them one step closer to real answers about the entire Wellbrexa cover-up. The pair stage a car crash, with Matty playing the part of the innocent, sympathetic old woman and Julian as the slimy Wall Street suit trying to blow off her pain as no big deal and blaming the fender bender on her. Matty almost acts a little too well, with her partner in crime almost breaking at being called an "entitled little man scone," but the ruse works. In rushes The Mentalist star Owain Yeoman as Ron Hanson, a sleazy injury lawyer who's all too eager to give Matty his card. By getting closer to him, they have an in to potentially gain more information from the man who helped dissolve the lab tied to the Wellbrexa study.
Not only does the scene fit into the occasionally silly legal drama of Matlock with some fun between Bates and Ritter, but it also shows how Julian and Matty are increasingly getting along now that they're fully on the same side. Matty and Olympia both need him in their corner, especially if they want to keep him from being legally implicated in the cover-up while still getting accountability from the real masterminds. There is a good side to Julian, but it's also weighed down by a ton of baggage that makes him hard to trust, even now. Episode 11 may go some way to building up the new dynamic between him, Matty, and Olympia so they can be a proper team.
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'Matlock's Latest Episode Pits the Lawyers Against a Landlord
While they continue to pull threads related to Wellbrexa, Matlock has a serious new case of the week to unravel as well. "Tail Lights" will also see the team working hard to prove a landlord is liable when a building collapses, and multiple people are injured or killed. However, the office is left stunned after finding that someone close to them has been arrested for misconduct involving the jury. It seems like a potential opportunity for the new lawyer in the room, Hunter (Henry Haber), who has taken the place of Billy following David Del Rio's firing ahead of the Season 2 premiere, to shine in this case and further ingratiate himself among the team after making a good impression with his first assignment. For now, viewers will just have to wait and see what twist creator Jennie Snyder Urman and the team have planned for what's shaping up as a consequential episode for the lawyers.
Matlock Season 2, Episode 11 airs tonight at 9 p.m. ET/PT on CBS. Check out our exclusive sneak peek in the player above.
Release Date September 22, 2024
Writers Nicki Renna, Jeffrey Lieber, Sara Rose Feinberg
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Kathy Bates
Madeline 'Matty' Matlock
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Skye P. Marshall
Olympia Lawrence
English (US) ·