Perry Mason is one of television’s most iconic legal characters. As portrayed by Raymond Burr (and dozen of novelizations) he was the prototypical legal eagle — fighting to the bitter end to vindicate his clients. The character was a blueprint for television attorneys for decades.
HBO’s adaptation of Perry Mason is about as far away from the television source material as you can get. Gone is the well-groomed, three-piece suit attorney with the piercing eyes and thunderous voice. Instead we’re given a boozed up, psychologically and emotionally damaged private investigator barely surviving an economic and spiritual depression.
Rife with unflinching brutality, sex and violence, it’s an easy criticism to say HBO went and gave the True Detective treatment to Mason. That should come at no surprise since True Detective scribe Nic Pizzolato was attached to the series with Robert Downey Jr. (who produced the series) in the titular role.
It is curious why Perry Mason of all characters was chosen to be placed in a gritty Depression-era pulp detective noir. On one had, had this been a show focused on Humphrey Bogart’s Sam Spade (Maltese Falcon) — the results would have been fairly the same and more fitting. In fact it didn’t even have to a be character of note, you could have given this character my name (actually, that’s a terrible idea) and they could have told the same story.
Yet, the concept of taking an iconic character and throwing them in a wildly disparate world from we’ve come to know them in — is wildly intriguing. Also, subverting the buttoned up lawyer and making them a morally questionable private investigator is a creative move that definitely is more interesting than rehashing the series as a court room drama.
If the goal of the Perry Mason premiere was to recalibrate our perception of the iconic character — mission accomplished. Matthew Rhys (The Americans) does a magnificent job taking the all-too-familiar down-on-his-luck, living in the bottom of a bottle, trauma scarred detective cliche to another level. Rhys makes Mason both incredibly sympathetic and incredibly pathetic — sometimes within the same moment. Watching him beg his wife to let him speak to his son on New Year’s Eve, after getting beaten up not just minutes before, is heartbreaking…until you realize how drunk and aggressive and horrible he’s being. It’s a complex performance the seismic character transition needed.
Outside of Rhys’ performance, which is bound to land him an Emmy nom, the world building of the new Perry Mason is as pristine and immersive as you’d expect. This should come as no surprise to HBO viewers as former Boardwalk Empire honcho Timothy Van Patten is at the helm of this series. The pulp novel vibe is so strong throughout the premiere it’s as if you could feel the cheap paper between your fingers in every scene.
Rhys, the world, the vibe and a strong supporting cast (including Juliet Rylance, John Lithgow and Shea Whigham) make the Perry Mason premiere a terrific hour of television. Yet, it’s the story that really lacks. The mysterious murder of a young boy and the implications it has to an evangelical church (headed by a female cult of personality) as well as Mason’s Hollywood extortion plot really doesn’t grab you. The church angle is nearly identical to the one from Penny Dreadful: City of Angels, while the Hollywood extortion feels like a JV version of the Danny DeVito plot in L.A. Confidential. There’s no hook, no punch — this episode is all about re-focusing your perceptions of the Perry Mason character.
Yet, there is hope for these plot deficiencies. The evangelical plot line has yet to introduce to one of the series’ main stars — the amazing Tatiana Maslany (Orphan Black). Much like Rhys, Maslany is an actress who instantly elevates any show she’s involved in. The series has also not introduced Chris Chalk (When They See Us) in the role of Paul Drake — a mainstay in the Mason series. However, instead of serving as Mason’s P.I. he is a police officer who knows more than he’s supposed to and is constantly under the hateful eye of certain characters we met in the premiere.
The Perry Mason premiere is a strong step in the right direction for a series that takes creative risks with its source material. It’s definitely a series True Detective fans can sink their teeth into and with the promise of two big-time cast main cast additions (plus the eventual inclusion of Lilli Taylor, Stephen Root) — Perry Mason is a solid summer season to check out.
Perry Mason airs Sunday nights on HBO and is currently streaming on HBO MAX.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rNATvJMPZaA
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