Matlock episode 17 recap: Matlock tells Olympia everything

Matlock episode 17, "I Was That, Too" opens on Olympia (Skye P Marshall) asking Matlock (Kathy Bates) again, “Who the hell are you?” Matlock tries to come up with an answer. Olympia says she knows there’s a car around the corner registered to an address in Westchester. She asks Matlock, “Do you live there?” Matlock admits that she does. Olympia tells Matlock to come back to the office with her.

Matlock says she can explain and admits this all has to do with her daughter. Olympia doesn’t even believe that Matlock had a daughter, calling her a master con-woman. Olympia takes Matlock to a secret office away from the others. She tells Matlock to write down every single lie she has told and why. Olympia is Matlock’s judge and jury. She’ll decide what happens next. She then locks Matlock in the office.

How will Matlock explain herself? Will Olympia believe her? Here’s what happens in Matlock episode 17.

Sarah and Billy decide to be single

Sarah (Leah Lewis) tells Billy (David Del Rio) that she’s taken a cease and desist case, even though Olympia would never allow her to do so. Sarah is just trying to take her mind off Kira (Piper Curda) being on a date with another woman as part of their open relationship. Billy pokes fun at how seriously Sarah is taking a simple letter.

Sarah realizes that she doesn’t want to be in an open relationship with Kira. Billy admits he’s about to split up with Simone (Andrea Londo), too. At least that makes a heartbroken Sarah feel better.

How will Olympia get a divorce for her pregnant client?

The heavily pregnant Amy Buckley (Eliza Bennett) tells Olympia she needs a divorce from her husband Grant (Michael Antosy), whom she calls angry and abusive. Grant has rescheduled her C-section to tomorrow morning at 9 am. Amy says the baby isn’t Grant’s, and when Grant discovers that, she doesn’t know what he’s going to do.

Olympia says divorces take time, and Amy can’t expect this to be done overnight. But when Amy explains how Grant controls and berates every aspect of her life, she says they can maybe get a temporary restraining order.

At night court, the judge (Nealla Gordon) tells Olympia that there’s not enough evidence to prove Grant is going to hurt Amy.

Grant then arrives at Jacobson Moore and sharply bangs on the door to get inside and take Amy away. When Olympia confronts an angry Grant, he gets in her face. Billy records it all. Grant says Olympia will be hearing from Senior (Beau Bridges), as the Buckley family are longtime clients at Jacobson Moore.

A livid Senior tells Olympia that Grant will give Amy a quick divorce tonight. Olympia realizes there must be something really bad in the prenup for him to agree. The prenup states that if Amy has had an affair, Grant gets the kid and Amy gets no money.

Olympia aims to get an annulment under fraud instead. They prove Grant told his priest (Tom Beyer) he would raise their kids in the church, even though Grant told Amy they would be raised as atheists. Amy tells the judge she wouldn’t have married Grant if he had insisted on them being religious. The judge grants the annulment. Amy goes into labor and gives birth to her daughter.

Matlock comes clean to Olympia

An emotional Olympia looks through Matlock’s lies. When she realizes Matlock is married and Edwin (Sam Anderson) is checking in to see where Matlock is, Olympia makes Matlock call Edwin and put it on speakerphone. After Edwin alludes to their investigation, Matlock explains to Olympia that two years ago, they found a 14-year-old Reddit post claiming that someone at Jacobson Moore hid documents that could have taken opioids off the market earlier and saved hundreds of thousands of lives.

Olympia says it’s obviously not true. Matlock explains that the document was a study about warning labels on opioids, and it was stolen on April 6, 2010, by Julian (Jason Ritter), during a fire drill.

Olympia is still livid at Matlock for blaming the listening device on Julian. She says she’s been paranoid ever since, and it has destroyed her life. When Matlock reveals that she has Olympia’s laptop, including the voice note from her dead father, Olympia storms out.

When Olympia returns, she tells Matlock she’s going to call the cops. But Matlock threatens to release all the information they have to the New York Times if she does, which will instantly ruin Julian. If Olympia helps her get the last piece of financial information she needs, they’ll make it clear to the paper that Olympia wasn’t Julian’s accomplice; she was part of the solution, and she is a hero.

After briefly helping Olympia with her current case, Matlock convinces Olympia to go to the document room to see for herself that the document is missing. Olympia does that but tells Matlock she doesn’t have an opinion or conclusion yet as she’s focusing on the case.

Matlock reiterates that she and Olympia are genuine friends. She insists OIympia has changed her life. She expected to come to Jacobson Moore and be invisible. But Olympia saw her. Whenever Matlock tries to talk about Ellie, though, Olympia tells her not to do so. Matlock just wants to finish what she started and expose Jacobson Moore. Olympia still doesn’t believe Julian did it.

After finishing Amy’s case, Olympia reads Ellie’s obituary. When Julian comes into her office, Olympia asks how they were suddenly able to afford their brownstone home years ago. He gives a vague answer that doesn’t sit right with her. Olympia goes to the locked office where Matlock is still waiting. Olympia tells Matlock to get up.

In Westchester, Edwin hears a knock at the door. Edwin and Alfie (Aaron Harris) open it to see Olympia and Matlock together.

Episodes of Matlock are available to stream on Paramount Plus.