The three-year hiatus is over, and Perry Mason is back on HBO. We are into episode two of the show’s second season. The episode takes viewers deeper on a thrilling ride through the seedy underbelly of 1930s Los Angeles.
Despite not wanting to get involved in it, and for a good reason, Mason gravitates toward the mystery of Brooks McCutcheon’s murder.
By the end of the episode, he finds himself at the epicenter of the media storm about to take over the city, whose shaky foundations will be tested as the case unfolds.
Let’s get into more details and find out who the killer is.
Rafael and Matteo Gallardo are arrested for the murder of Brooks McCutcheon. The cops claim that the evidence against them is overwhelming. The DA is convinced that they can send the Gallardo brothers to prison for life.
The lawyers appointed to them also seem to have accepted the reality and haven’t even bothered to contact their families. Having read about the Emily Dodson case, the Gallardo family comes to Mason’s office, asking for help.
Despite the repeated pleas, Mason doesn’t want to pursue the case. But then, a conversation with Strickland makes him think. He gets so obsessed with one detail that he can’t help but break into the lot where the victim’s car, where he died, is kept.
Perry Mason is convinced that the Gallardo brothers couldn’t have killed Brooks and ultimately decides to take the case. Unknown to him, several factors are working against him. Fake evidence is being planted, and potential witnesses who can unravel the whole thing are being killed.
Along with the assistance of Della and Drake, Mason embarks on a dangerous path to discover the truth behind Brooks McCutcheon’s death.
Who are the more likely suspects so far?
While the city will try to frame the murder on Mexican immigrants, it seems evident that Brooke’s killer is either one of the characters we meet in Season 2 Episode 1 or someone connected to them.
Here are some of the potential suspects in my eyes:
- Gene Holcomb could have quickly murdered Brooks. After all, the first season ends with him murdering his partner at someone else’s behest. He doesn’t enjoy simply being Brooks’s muscle, as he asks to be partners. He also wouldn’t necessarily need motive, just orders.
- Lydell McCutcheon may be Brooks’s father, but he sees his son as a significant liability. He’s also got enough power and influence to push the DA to pin the murder on patsies.
- The Lux Liner Owners, whom Brooks sabotaged, might be pissed off.
- Sunny Gryce, the skeevy grocer whom Della and Perry work for. This storyline promises something darker and more exciting.
- Brooks’s Mistress, because she did not seem happy to be first choked and then later ignored on the boat.
The first episode introduced us to the world of Brooks McCutcheon. As the son of a wealthy man, he had many resources at his disposal. However, his father didn’t find him competent enough to do anything worthwhile.
Brooks had ambitions of his own, but by the end of the episode, it was more or less clear that things would not work out for him.
He was also revealed to be corrupt and vile. He was involved in shady things, so it makes sense that one of those things claimed his life.
Both Mason and Della discover surprising things by looking at them in more detailedly. Della tracks down his finances and realizes that Brooks might have been broke despite being an oil scion. She finds a financial trail that proves Brooks’s involvement in corrupt practices.
It, particularly, has to do with Morocco, a boat that has racked up much money in unpaid bills. It would get broken, then repaired, then liquidated.
Mason and the team figure that Brooks’s death could have something to do with the people he owed money to. Perry crosses paths with Holcomb on his and Drake’s visit to one of McCutcheon’s to inquire about what’s happening with the boats.
In the kitchen, Drake converses with the staff to discover that the financial situation might have been direr than they imagined. We further find that the products on the ship come from Charlie Goldstein.
In the following scene, Charlie is brutally murdered, and Mr. Crippen, another wealthy man with ties to McCutcheon, is notified of the act.
Satisfied with the news, he burns a piece of paper which reveals that Brooks McCutcheon had received a subpoena too.
Isn’t it a coincidence that both men died soon after being served? Mr. Crippen was involved in the murder of Goldstein. There can be a possibility that he was involved in the murder of Brooks McCutcheon too.
From what happens in the episode, it is clear that someone compelling is at the helm, and they are not beyond setting up two innocent people to take the fall for the murder. In one scene, a mysterious man plants something that Drake recognizes as a Santa Monica number.
Considering that the man does it in front of the person in charge of keeping the evidence safe, it can be assumed that this man works in law enforcement.
In any case, Mason is against a mighty group of people, more influential than the ones he handled in the first season. While his previous case was spawned by mistake, this one comes from a place of solid intention. The people seem highly motivated to keep their secrets from the rest of the world in the dark.
Whoever threatens them will probably have to pay a hefty price with their life. There might also be a threat to Mason’s life as he digs deeper into the case. We must wait and watch the future and how Mason catches the natural killer.
About Perry Mason (2020)
Perry Mason is an American period drama television series based on the character of the same name created by Erle Stanley Gardner. It focuses on the origin story of famed defense lawyer Perry Mason. The series was developed and written by Rolin Jones and Ron Fitzgerald and stars Matthew Rhys in the title role.
Long before Perry Mason became the legendary lawyer that he was, he was a PTSD-ridden war vet struggling to find his place in the world. His first test as a lawyer was the gruesome killing of a child who was kidnapped and returned with his eyes sewn open. His next case is to reveal the true killer of Brooks McCutcheon.
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