In Matlock episode 4, "The Rabbit and The Hawk," Madeline Matlock (Kathy Bates) and Edwin (San Anderson) frantically search for Alfie (Aaron Harris), who has gone missing. Madeline spots that Alfie fell asleep in the office, as he was working on the case until very late. The thought of Alfie disappearing reminds the pair of when Ellie would go missing.
Alfie was up late because he found four redacted documents in the Wellbrexa pharmaceutical case. Alife has the locator number for the files. Madeline just has to somehow get into the documents room to access them.
Will Madeline find the files and discover who withheld evidence in the Wellbrexa case? Here’s what happens in Matlock episode 4.
Sarah needs help
Sarah (Leah Lewis) asks Madeline for advice on how to impress Olympia (Skye Marshall). Madeline tells Sarah that she’s too intense. Sarah’s biggest issue, though, is that she doesn’t listen. She didn’t even know Billy (David Del Rio) had a girlfriend, even though he’s mentioned Claudia dozens of times before. Sarah apologizes to Billy, who admits that her therapist knows Billy’s name because she talks about him so much. Billy then introduces Sarah to Claudia. They promise to help Sarah find a girlfriend.
A legal minefield
This week’s case revolves around the death of Sandy Walton. She died of respiratory failure from Legionella and she always believed that the building was at fault. After she died, Sandy’s husband Robert (John Billingsley), an eccentric artist, carried on her case.
But Olympia is told that she has to drop the Walton case. Senior (Beau Bridges) and Elijah (Eme Ikwuakor) are representing Foundate Financials, which owns the building where Robert and Sandy lived. Foundate also pays Jacobson & Moore $10 million a year.
Julian (Jason Ritter) says that if Olympia drops Walton it will send a bad message to their smaller clients. Even though it’s a legal minefield, Olympia insists they’ll be able to navigate it. Julian warns Olympia that while Senior might love her, he will stick a knife in her spine to win a case.
A mediator is brought in so the lawyers can reach a settlement. Olympia tells the mediator that there was Legionella in the watering tank and Sandy died with it in her urine. Senior says his client oversaw inspections in accordance with regulations, so their issue is with the health and safety officials. He also argues there are a number of places where Sandy could have got Legionella. Olympia wants $2.5 million. Elijah says they’ll give 10% of that, then hand the mediator a file.
It’s a study that shows the building’s air vents have a dangerous amount of toxins from a resin compound. This destroys Olympia’s argument that Sandy’s respiratory failure was caused by Legionella specifically. Robert admits that he uses resin in his art. He worries that he is responsible for his wife’s death.
Elijah punishes Olympia
Olympia asks Madeline to keep an eye out on Elijah through the case. When Elijah says their offer of $250,00 will go away after four hours, Olympia goes to see Elijah and attacks him for being hostile.
Later, Elijah apologizes to Olympia and admits it has been hard to work with her because he still wants to be with her. He then says he’s going to work out of the Dallas office for the month. He doesn’t want to, though. When Elijah leaves, she starts to cry. Meanwhile, it’s becoming increasingly clear that Julian still has feelings for Olympia.
Olympia receives a higher offer, but Senior pulls a trick
Madeline joins Robert at his apartment, as he looks for the paperwork to prove his art didn’t poison Sandy. Robert is a hoarder, though, and they have a massive mess to go through. While searching, they find a huge amount of water damage, which was caused by cheap pipes that were banned years ago. The trust also owns 72 other buildings across the country, which they’re likely to have neglected, too.
A new toxin report reveals that Sandy’s body was positive for black mold. Foundate offers Robert $6 million dollars. They also commit to doing mold remediation in their buildings and promise to set up a fund for anyone who can prove black mold caused their health problems. Olympia tells Billy and Sarah to contact everyone in the building immediately.
Madeline learns that Foundate has made a new corporate filing, which doesn’t make sense. It turns out they’re doing a Texas two-step, which is when a company is restructured so they can file for bankruptcy. Senior has already separated their liability from the assets. Ultimately this means that the settlement Robert just signed is worth nothing.
Olympia learns that Foundate still paid $4 million in accounting fees to do the Texas two-step. She tells Madeline that working there is a viper’s nest. As the pair still don’t want to be friends, Olympia and Madeline agree to be allies. Madeline tells Olympia she can trust her.
Madeline is too reliant on Alfie
At Olympia’s request, Madeline has been holding Robert’s hand through the case, as Olympia believes Madeline recently lost her husband too.
Later, Robert tells Madeline that even though he’s happy the building will be fixed, both he and Sandy wanted Foundate to suffer. Robert says he and Sandy used to fight all the time about the case. She needed justice. He needed time with her. He says that they ultimately had to compromise. Robert asks Madeline out on a date, but she says she’s not ready.
After much debate with Mrs. Belvin (Patricia Belcher), Madeline finally gets access to the document room. She locates the Wellbrexa archives and tries to quickly find the form Alfie has asked for. There’s nothing in them. There is another file that used to be full but is now empty. She asks Alfie, who is at school, to find out how many pages were in it and who signed it out for delivery. He just needs the locator number.
There are 342 documents missing. The signature was uploaded digitally, though, and Madeline will have to go back to the document room to see it. She finds the documents on a computer but can’t read the signature.
Alife has fallen behind with his homework. Edwin blames Madeline for using Alife so much, and she promises not to turn to Alfie as frequently.
When she does so again, Edwin scolds Madeline for asking Alfie for help while he was still in school. Alfie even faked a headache to leave early. Madeline and Edwin get into a huge argument. He says that she’s lost her moral center. She says that she won’t ask for anyone else’s help. He says he never wanted her to do it in the first place. They agree that no one in the house is happy.
When she returns home, Edwin apologizes to Madeline and says he hasn’t been there for her. They kiss and make up. She shows Edwin the document, saying it doesn’t match Julian or Olympia’s signatures, which she has. She sneakily took a photo of Senior’s signature in his office too, and it is a direct match. Now she just has to prove he was involved.
New episodes of Matlock air live on its regular night on Thursdays on CBS. Episodes become available the next day on Paramount Plus.
