TV Review: Perry Mason starring Matthew Rhys and Tatiana Maslany

Last Updated on July 30, 2021

Plot: 1931, Los Angeles. While the rest of the country struggles through the Great Depression, this city is booming! Oil! Olympic Games! Talking Pictures! Evangelical Fervor! And a child kidnapping gone very, very wrong.

Review: Perry Mason is a name that used to be synonymous with network television. The first ever hour long drama series on TV, the series starred Raymond Burr as the titular character, portrayed over 9 seasons starting in 1957. From 1985 to 1995, Burr returned for 30 television films. Perry Mason essentially invented the legal procedural format for the small screen. Based on the novels and short stories by Eric Stanley Gardener, Perry Mason has a wide bibliography of over 80 books which serves as the much more faithful HBO series starring Matthew Rhys. Produced by Robert Downey Jr, who was originally set to star as the lead, this series is nothing like the CBS series with Rhys very much the opposite of Raymond Burr's iconic performance. But, unlike the short-lived revival of the network series in 1973, this is a worthy successor and another great potential franchise for HBO.

Taking things back to 1932, HBO's Perry Mason is much more in line with the hard-boiled detective novels that started the franchise rather than spending a predominant amount of time in courtrooms, at least for the first half of the series. Spread over eight episodes, Perry Mason introduces Matthew Rhys as the World War I veteran and former farmer who barely makes ends meet as a private investigator. Pulled into a high profile case by his mentor E.B. Jonathan (John Lithgow), Mason begins to unravel a mystery that is far more complicated than he expected. While I could easily have seen Downey in this role, Matthew Rhys is a great fit for a take on Mason that is not nearly as flattering as Raymond Burr's performance. Rhys does a balancing act between making Perry Mason a lout and a lush and a half-assed investigator. Through flashbacks and a lot more back story than the character ever got in the novels or prior adaptations, we quickly see him ascend from struggling P.I. to the famed attorney many associate with his name.

While the prodecural format of the classic Perry Mason series is replaced by a more serial format, instead we have a series that is part noir and part pulp detective mystery that leads into a courtoom thriller. From the opening scene, some viewers may be instantly turned off by the lengths this series goes to show violent murders as well as graphic sexuality. It isn't worse than anything HBO has aired in the past, but it certainly feels very unlike your grandparent's Perry Mason. But, all of the key characters are here including Della Street (The Knick's Juliet Rylance), police officer Paul Drake (Gotham's Chris Chalk), and Hamilton Burger (Weeds' Justin Kirk). These characters are all faithful to the source material but with some updates that make them a bit more relevant for today's audiences. We also have Boardwalk Empire alum Shea Whigham as Mason's associate Pete Strickland and as we all know, everything is better with Shea Whigham.

There is also Tatiana Maslany's Sister Alice. Maslany rose to fame on the series Orphan Black and here does another transformation as a preacher who becomes integral to the case Perry Mason is investigating. For much of the series, her storyline runs parallel to the main narrative and comes into contact now and then. But, by series end, Maslany's performance is integral to the story being told here. I was not convinced for the first half of the season that the amount of screentime bestowed on Maslany was worth it, but her fiery take on the character was a highlight of the series and proves that she needs to headline another series of her own. Maslany shares a lot of screen time with Lili Taylor as her mother and Robert Patrick as millionaire parishioner Herman Baggerly. The cast here is excellent and the attention to period detail is impressive, making Perry Mason feel as authentic as Boardwalk Empire.

Perry Mason owes a lot to fellow HBO series True Detective and Boardwalk Empire. Producer and director Tim Van Patten was a primarily helmer on Terence Winter's Prohibition set crime series and the gritty, violent, and profane approach to this story is very reminiscent of Nic Pizzolatto's acclaimed anthology series. It is interesting to note that this series was originally developed with Robert Downey Jr in the lead and Pizzolatto showrunning. While Pizzolatto had no involvement in the finished product, there is still an echo of what his True Detective did for the crime procedural sub-genre without which we may not have this take on Perry Mason. Instead of being just another True Detective copy, showrunners Rolin Jones and Ron Fitzgerald (who have primary scripting duties here) make this something all it's own. Their tenure on Friday Night Lights and Weeds shows they can handle quality television drama. Van Patten is supplemented as director by Deniz Gamze Ergüven and the two filmmakers keep the hard-boiled visuals consistent. With a budget of over $70 million, Perry Mason definitely looks and feels authentic to the time period.

There are a lot of detective series on television and certainly a legacy tied to the name Perry Mason, but I was not expecting to be as engrossed by this series as I was. There are very dark and disturbing elements to this story but also a fair share of levity peppered throughout. This is a mystery that everyone will want to see solved and you will be on the edge of your seat along the way. My only quibble with the entire series is the twist that brings Mason into the courtroom which is far too convenient, but the writers don't make him a master litigator right off the bat. Perry Mason is an origin story that I never knew I needed. This series is gripping, violent, and an absolute must watch.

Perry Mason premieres June 21st on HBO and HBO Max.