After Matlock (Kathy Bates) deduced that Emmalynn Belvin (Patricia Belcher) was the whistleblower at Jacobson Moore, in Matlock episode 16, “The Johnson Case,” Belvin now waits on a park bench. But Matlock isn’t ready to reveal herself to Belvin yet. She’s planted a burner phone underneath Belvin’s bench.
When Belvin answers it, Matlock is using a voice modulator. Matlock wants Belvin to confirm the timeline of events that saw Jacobson Moore conceal the WellBrexa documents. But Belvin won’t talk until Matlock reveals herself. Belvin says Matlock’s timeline is wrong, then hangs up.
Matlock tells Edwin (Sam Anderson) that she’s not sure if Belvin is bluffing. They need to find out if Belvin is telling the truth. Matlock says she’s going to use the stick, rather than the carrot, on Belvin.
What will Matlock do to Belvin? Does she still think Olympia (Skye P Marshall) is the one who hid the files? Here’s what else happens in episode 16.
Who killed Linda Gallo?
Olympia’s old friend Amina (Azie Tesfai) asks Olympia to help Isabella. Isabella was on the jury 21 years ago when doorman Eugene Molina was found guilty of killing one of the tenants, Linda Gallo. But the time frame never made sense, and Isabella always knew he didn’t do it.
Isabella tried to argue for Eugene. But after the other jury members incessantly put pressure on her, she caved and Eugene was found guilty. Isabella has felt guilty ever since and assumed one of his appeals would work.
When Olympia and Matlock go to speak to Eugene in prison, though, he’s not interested. Matlock realizes Eugene is afraid of getting his hopes up again. He eventually opens up, and Olympia believes that he didn’t do it. But since Eugene has no more appeals left, they have to devise a new strategy to get him out.
Olympia decides to use Isabella’s trauma in the jury room to get Eugene free. When they try to sue the head of the jury Mr. Foster, Olympia tells a judge that they have to open up Eugene’s case again to see if there really was cause for doubt. The judge gives them 48 hours to prove Eugene didn’t do it.
Billy (David Del Rio) and Sarah (Leah Lewis) interview Cheryl Clauson (Kara Gibson), a former tenant who gave a statement to the police, but was never brought to the stand. Cheryl says she heard an argument between Linda and her grandson, Roger, over his eight-figure inheritance the day before she died. Roger wasn’t even mentioned in the notes, as the lawyers had their eyes set on Eugene.
Matlock, Billy and Sarah go to talk to Roger, who vehemently denies being involved. Billy manages to swipe a half-eaten sandwich from Roger’s lavish house as they’re kicked out.
They need to have it tested for saliva. To do that, they need approval from the district attorney. Olympia asks for help from DA Andrew Park (Andrew Ghai). Park is initially reluctant but has a change of heart. Still, the test comes back negative for Roger’s saliva.
But on the stand, Park testifies that he ran the saliva through their database and it matched with a three-time convicted felon who died in prison six years ago while serving a sentence for burglary. The felon had catered an event at Linda’s house the day before. Park says his office has been working all morning to get Eugene released.
Matlock gets personal with Belvin
Matlock sends Belvin a note. She will take matters further and do something to Belvin’s dog Barry Manilow, if Belvin doesn’t answer her call at 3 pm tomorrow. When Matlock calls, Belvin still doesn’t answer. Matlock tells Edwin they need to escalate their plans.
Fully trusting Matlock, Belvin asks Matlock to look after Barry Manilow while she has “surgery.” Then, not realizing that she’s messaging Matlock, Belvin insists Barry Manilow is under protection now and there’s nothing they can do. Later, Matlock lies and tells Belvin that she gave Barry Manilow to Belvin’s friend Adam.
This provokes Belvin to reveal the timeline. There was a fire drill at 11:30, which is when the document went missing. When the fire drill goes off, keycards are no longer required. Julian (Jason Ritter), Olympia, and Senior (Beau Bridges) were the only people from the Wellbrexa case who didn’t sign into the fire drill. Since Senior was in Australia, it was either Olympia or Julian.
After looking through documents, Edwin sees that the Wellbrexa documents couldn’t have been taken by Olympia, as she was in court at the time of the fire drill.
Is Olympia leaving the firm?
As Olympia walks through the office, everyone is looking at her inquisitively. Elijah (Eme Ikwuakor) explains that the partner board and some of the corporate clients are unhappy with her performance, as they think that the Slamm’d class action took down one of their own. They don’t think she’s partner material.
After the Eugene case gets press attention across the city, Olympia insists the board won’t be able to say she’s no longer partner material. Olympia asks Amina for a favor regarding the Johnson case. When Sarah hears about this, she deduces that Olympia wants to leave the firm. Especially since there isn’t actually a Johnson Case. Sarah thinks Olympia wants to become a public defender.
Sarah wants Matlock to ask Olympia if she’s leaving. Olympia admits she’s been thinking about it, especially as it would be better for her family not to work with Julian. The only reason she hasn’t left yet is her friendship with Matlock. Later, Olympia tells Billy, Sarah, and Matlock that she has decided to stick around.
Olympia corners Matlock
It turns out that the Johnson case is actually about Matlock, though. Olympia corners Matlock on the street. She pieced together that Matlock isn’t who she said she was after Julian insisted that he never put the recording device in Olympia’s office. Then Olympia found Alfie’s wallet with a Westchester ice-cream card in it, even though Matlock insists they live in Queens. Also, Olympia had Matlock’s car plate traced, after her sister Bitsy drove to court. The episode ends with Olympia asking a startled Matlock who the hell she really is.
Episodes of Matlock are available to stream on Paramount Plus.
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