Perry Mason (Season 2) Episode 4 Recap & Ending Explained: HBO Max’s ‘Perry Mason’ returns with a new episode and maintains its air of mystery. Previously, we saw Mason trying to find his footing in the courtroom. While he started to fight for a cause he believed to be righteous. However, he was yet to become ‘court-appropriate mature’. But thanks to the firm support of Della and Paul by his side, he figured out a few pieces of Brooks’ questionable dealings before his death.
At the same time, Paul stumbled upon a piece of evidence that is bound to shake the entire course of their case and how they look at truth, justice, and the value of the law. We see three of them moving ahead in their personal relationships with their partners (and some surprises).
Spoilers ahead.
Perry Mason (Season 2), Episode 4 Recap
Did the Gallardo brothers really kill Brooks McCutcheon?
Episode 4 begins with Paul Drake (Chris Chalk) feeling disillusioned due to his recent discovery. Earlier, he met a gun dealer from the Gallardo brothers’ locality to collect the guns that they could have gotten hold of. One of the bullets matched the one found in Brooks’ murder evidence. But how is that possible? Does that mean the brothers lied to them about killing Brooks? He contemplates it by himself and then reveals this news to his wife, Clara (Diarra Kilpatrick).
She wants him to reveal it to Perry Mason (Matthew Rhys) whereas he wants Mason to keep digging into the case without knowing this detail. He reckons it is better if Mason learns about it directly in the court from the opposition. While Mason tries to fight a ‘just cause’, Brooks’ tycoon father, Lydell (Paul Raci) decides to stir up public opinion about Mason. He meets a radio programmer Frank Finnerty (John DiMaggio) to ask him to do the same through his dynamic delivery style. It is evident that Lydell isn’t happy with his dialogue with Mason earlier and sees him as a nuisance.
And for some reason, he wants to crush this justice-seeking lawyer’s spirit to stop him from snooping around in their family business. Perhaps he isn’t aware that Mason would fight for anything no matter how strong the opposing forces are. Back in Mason’s office, Della (Juliet Rylance) stays back a bit after their working hours. Her new diligent secretory, Marion (Jee Young Han) tells her about the new detail she found out about Noreen Lawson (the woman that Brooks possibly had an affair with the one who cannot function now without medical assistance).
It turns out, Lawson’s not her actual name and her maiden name is Taylor. Marion hopes to find out more about her brother – V. Taylor. Della tells her to have a good weekend and then to investigate it. Meanwhile, the ghost of Emily Dodson’s death still haunts her. So she calls her new crush, Anita (Jen Tullock) for an escape from that dreadful feeling. They drive to Anita’s retreat in Palm Springs and walk through all the fake movie props in that lavish MGM-owned villa. In that comforting silence, the couple finally gets real and close to each other.
Back at Paul’s home, he gets taunted and gets called Uncle Tom for his subservience to white men. His brother argues from his side and so does Clara. However, this remark stings even more because Paul is in a quandary. Should he fight for the truth and find if the brothers committed murder? Or should he fight for them, simply because they were easy targets of the hatred for the white majority? He wonders.
On the other side, Detective Holcomb (Eric Lange) continues with his investigation like Mason and his gang does. He wants to discover how Brooks was getting the money for his activities all over the city. During his search, he comes across the guy who Lydell previously tortured for asking to return Brooks’ debt.. The detective terrifies him just enough to learn that shipments were regularly coming into the city from outside, to deliver some produce. But why do they need it when the city has plenty? He can’t quite put his finger on it.
Meanwhile, Mason takes his son, Teddy (Jack Eyman) to teach him horse riding. On that ranch, Teddy’s new teacher, Ginny Aimes (Katherine Waterson) meets them. While teaching the techniques to the kid, she also gets some bonding time with Mason. She reveals that she is a divorced woman, who moved to L.A., where people only talk about tomorrow and not worry about the past. They both hint at their fairly obvious mutual attraction while the kid is left to ride the horse by himself.
Sofia (Stephanie Hoston) and Luisa (Onahoua Rodriguez) go to the prison to meet Mateo (Peter Mendoza) and Rafael (Fabrizio Guido). After the general inquiries about their health and well-being, Raphael hands a sketch to Sofia, saying it’s for Maria. Back at Mason’s office, Della walks in after the weekend with a complexion, slightly darker. She still hides her affair/relationship with Anita from him. While she hides her truth, he admits to forgetting to tell her about Linda moving into the city.
This transparency-pertaining dialogue gets briefly interrupted by Marion, who reveals Vincent as Noreen’s brother, who works in the city council. While still trying to process that new piece of information, Mason & Della face yet another shocking one. Paul walks into the office and reveals the evidence gun, proving the brothers’ guilt for Brooks’ murder. Della puts that gun in a locker, while Mason tries to keep the matter discreet until they speak with the brothers about it.
In the prison, the brothers finally confess to shooting Brooks after Paul confronts him for renting that gun on the same day. Mateo was the one, who pulled the trigger. He admits it. It petrifies Mason, who leaves the place hellbent on revealing the truth himself. Della tries to make him understand how they need to fulfill their duties as lawyers, despite knowing the truth. Della & Paul rummage through the technicalities to defend their clients. But Mason does not want to be a part of this ‘illusion of justice’. He sees justice as a matter of black and white, at least in the heat of the moment.
He goes to meet Thomas Milligan (Mark O’Brien) and the D.A. Hamilton Burger (Justin Kirk) hoping to get a plea bargain. He tries to manipulate Burger not lose his first big case as a D.A. However, the prosecutors do not budge and refuse Mason’s offer. Instead, they understand that Mason has found something substantial that has made him come to them. Until now, they were only fighting based on their prejudiced assumptions. Now his request makes them realize the strength of their side.
Mason, justifiably let down by these developments, meets his old pal, Pete Strickland (Shea Whingham) for a few drinks. They talk about Mason’s defamation by Lydell in the newspapers. Already unstable Mason gets triggered by it and decides to do something incredibly impulsive and petty. He takes Lydell’s racehorse out for a ride considering it his own way of retaliation. It achieves nothing but gives him the satisfaction (and adrenaline) that it achieved something.
While running away from the guards who find them, Strickland starts walking back home since his work starts in two hours. Mason insults him and calls him a bootlicker. Strickland makes Mason see his irresponsible and immature side for doing so.
Meanwhile, Della meets Camila Nygaard (Hope Davis) in her lavish villa, hoping to learn if there is any physical evidence of Brooks’ relation to the stadium. Camilla smartly pivots the dialogue to Mason’s absence and sympathizes with her for how women always need to be responsible while men like Mason can roam around being impulsive and reckless. Della opens up about her desire to start her own practice. Camilla shows empathy for her partnering with Mason to practice law. She understands the ropes that someone needs to climb to rise to the next level of recognition. However, it begs us to question her intention.
Does Camilla speak so openly because she genuinely cares about Della’s issues as a woman? Or is she only trying to hide some things related to Brooks’ deals? Or is she just plainly smitten by this lawyer, which becomes oddly apparent through their interactions? Maybe it’s more than one reason.
Mason goes to Teddy’s school to take him back home. He aggressively handles the situation owing to his stress. Ginny senses Mason’s rage and takes the kid to her side, feeling that he will be better off with her. Before leaving, Mason gets called out by a male parent for fighting for Mexican clients. He punches down that man and makes this terrifying impression on Ginny. On the other hand, Clara & Paul try to make the most of their 40 minutes alone at home. He dances with her to soulful music while she tries to ease his stress.
Perry Mason (Season 2), Episode 4 Ending Explained
What does Raphael’s drawing reveal to Sofia?
Paul goes to Gallardos’ neighborhood to meet the gun supplier to talk about the brothers. This man first puts a gun at Paul’s head and wants no trouble. However, Paul bribes him with some food and liquor and makes him speak. He mentions that the Gallardo brothers kept renting the same gun for days before Brooks’ murder. He admits that they kept practicing on a daily basis but has no idea how they got the money to rent the gun regularly.
Back at Mason’s house, he gets a surprise visit from Ginny. She says that she smoothed things out for Teddy at school after Perry’s outburst. She told them the truth that the other man started it. It makes you wonder what attracted her to come to Mason’s house since he was impulsively violent before. Is it him fighting for a righteous cause? Perhaps. Anyhow, Mason invites her in after playing around with the notion of spending the night together.
Back at Gallardos’ place, Sofia wakes up in the middle of the night with Raphael’s elaborate car drawing in her hand. She walks up to that car to find a bundle of cash hidden under the engine. Was that Lydell McCutcheon’s way of getting them to kill his incompetent son? Is that why the brothers agreed to do it? So that they can feed their family?
If added to Paul’s recent discovery that the brothers regularly practiced shooting, it seems like they were being paid by someone to master their shooting skills. Lydell seems like the most obvious person to get them to do it. But it can also be Detective Holcomb trying to get rid of Brooks as his successor to a casino.
