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A few adjectives to describe\u00a0Matthew Rhys<\/strong>\u2019s portrayal of\u00a0Perry Mason,<\/em>\u00a0the second season of which wrapped Monday night: Sad, tired, righteous, and certainly irascible\u2014as Assistant DA Hamilton Burger (Justin Kirk<\/strong>) wonders about our sour antihero in the season premiere, \u201cDoes everyone feel Mason hates them, or just his friends?\u201d Throw each of these descriptors back at Rhys, though, and they\u2019ll elicit a knowing giggle. \u201cThat\u2019s my wheelhouse!\u201d the Emmy winner says over Zoom. \u201cIt\u2019s a state very close to my heart, that kind of melancholy sadness. I\u2019m like, that\u2019s how I live 24\/7. It\u2019s not a stretch to me!\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n The big shift this year occurred as the HBO drama welcomed some heavy doses of acerbity too. \u201cThey did say, \u2018In season two, we want to open up that humor in him a bit,\u2019 which concerned me slightly,\u201d Rhys says with a smirk. \u201cBut just to see the sarcasm that sits so easily on his shoulders\u2014it\u2019s how I live my life.\u201d<\/p>\n The second season of\u00a0Perry Mason,<\/em> which HBO initially ordered as a limited series,\u00a0emerged as an unlikely watercooler smash these past few months, its comfort-TV procedural stylings enhanced by rich noir atmosphere, nuanced characterizations, and a stacked ensemble of top-shelf character actors. As a followup to 2020\u2019s debut season, which was a hit but met with more mixed reviews, season two is sunnier\u2014both literally, in the expansive \u201930s Los Angeles locations, and in its protagonist\u2019s new outlook. As the season begins, Mason has a bona fide law practice and a case that takes him and partner Della Street (Juliet Rylance<\/strong>) through the depths of conspiracy and absurdity.\u00a0<\/p>\n Rhys\u2019s utter affinity with every aspect of this character is evident both in his performance and in our conversation about the surprising success of this encore season. (Warning: Spoilers about Monday\u2019s finale follow.) \u201cMatthew is so incredibly funny\u2014he\u2019s got that inside of him,\u201d says\u00a0Michael Begler,<\/strong>\u00a0co-showrunner of season two with\u00a0Jack Amiel<\/strong>\u00a0(The Knick<\/em>). \u201cAnd I feel that a show needs to breathe\u2014if you\u2019re just pounding it into somebody all the time, it\u2019s exhausting.\u201d<\/p>\n The relatively upbeat season saw Perry, Della, and friends untangle the mysterious murder of Brooks McCutcheon (Tommy Dewey<\/strong>), an oil scion with a very bad rap around town. Our heroes wind up defending two Mexican American brothers, Rafael and Mateo Gallardo (Fabrizio Guido<\/strong> and\u00a0Peter Mendoza<\/strong>), who\u2019d irrefutably pulled the trigger on Brooks\u2014the question is why, and who put them up to it. A chain of red herrings and conflicting motivations lead to baroness Camilla Nygaard\u00a0(Hope Davis<\/strong>), a business rival, as the big bad. \u201cOne of the earliest photographs that I saw while doing the research was of a couple on Venice Beach with this forest of oil derricks in the background,\u201d says Begler. \u201cI was just so taken by that\u2014like, holy shit, this is an oil town. Imagine the power and the wealth that\u2019s behind that.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Perry\u2019s shady tactics are successful enough to get Camilla caught and one Gallardo brother off\u2014and, uh, illegal enough to get himself thrown in jail for a bit, marking our final shot of the season. The mood is strangely, appropriately content; maybe even a little comic. \u201cTo get to that final image of a guy who is now probably at his best as a lawyer, and as a human being, having done right by his clients, sitting in a jail cell\u2014we just love that irony,\u201d says executive producer\u00a0Susan Downey.<\/strong>\u00a0\u201cIt feels so perfectly\u00a0Perry Mason<\/em>.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n This feels like the season that the show figured out exactly what that means. The initial run of episodes, developed by creators Rolin Jones<\/strong> and\u00a0Ron Fitzgerald<\/strong>\u00a0(neither returned for season two), nicely set the case-a-season, noir-drenched template for\u00a0Perry Mason,<\/em> adapted from the character originally created by author Erle Stanley Gardner (and popularized in the 1957 series). Yet it also built toward Perry\u2019s establishment from PI to lawyer, playing like a kind of prestige origin story. Here in season two, we got to see that legal operation in full effect, from the man himself leading the new firm to the vibrant worlds of those with whom he joins forces. Della begins a passionate affair with screenwriter Anita St. Pierre (Jen Tullock<\/strong>), while ex-cop Paul Drake (Chris Chalk<\/strong>) proves himself anew as he works alongside Perry for justice.\u00a0<\/p>\n But of course, Rhys\u2019s commanding, tragicomic turn remains the grounding force here. Nobody does downbeat crime-solver better. He rides his motorbike and endlessly chases down leads. He gets into the most gloriously pathetic fistfight with\u00a0Shea Whigham<\/strong>\u2019s frenemy, Pete. \u201cShea was smoking so hard,\u201d Rhys recalls of that season highlight. \u201cI was like, \u2018Dude, stop smoking those cigarettes.\u2019 It was, like, 97 degrees. It was so hot. We\u2019re smoking and we\u2019re fighting. At the end, we both wanted to puke.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Into the wee hours of the night, Perry slumps around a whole lot too. \u201cI worked on my body language to look kind of beaten,\u201d Rhys says. \u201cI wanted his shoulders to be slumped a little more, his heels dragged a little more. Just an overarching sense of\u00a0defeated.<\/em> That physical energy only changes really when the momentum gathers.\u201d It\u2019s no wonder, then, that Perry finds true peace only in that jail cell, after a job well-done-enough. Or why Rhys\u2019s work builds to an unexpectedly rousing place in the finale\u2019s closing arguments, as Perry orates the season\u2019s themes concerning what justice actually looks like, between the \u201chaves and the have-nots,\u201d as Begler puts it. \u201cHe has a very basic but intense sense of right and wrong,\u201d says Rhys, who\u2019s also an executive producer. \u201cThere\u2019s an unsentimentality to him.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Rhys reveals that the closing-arguments courtroom scene went through \u201cmany, many different versions.\u201d He and the producers would watch Paul Newman in\u00a0The Verdict,<\/em> which Rhys calls \u201cthe best version of Mason, right there.\u201d The actor kept pushing for something a little smaller, subtler. \u201cIt was usually me going, \u2018No, less, less. He can\u2019t deliver some kind of dramatic number at the end,\u2019\u201d Rhys says. \u201cIt has to be true to who he is from episode one of season one. It was a lot of holding back.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n That balance\u2014of honoring how\u00a0Perry Mason<\/em>\u00a0began while pushing it in its second season\u2014haunted Begler as he and Amiel got to taking over showrunning duties. \u201cIt was very intimidating,\u201d he says. \u201cIt\u2019s an aircraft carrier\u2014there\u2019s so much behind it.\u201d The production is deceptively massive. Rhys remembers coming onto the show shortly after wrapping\u00a0The Americans,<\/em> the beloved FX drama on which he\u2019d often film an episode within seven days. He learned that a\u00a0Perry Mason<\/em> episode takes three to four times that. \u201cI was like, What the fuck are we waiting for? What the fuck is going on?\u201d Rhys says with a laugh. \u201cI was like, I\u2019d have shot two, three scenes by now. I had to slow my own brain down and kind of go, Okay, this is the pace. It\u2019s a big show.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n Indeed, it\u2019s an undertaking. You see that in the exacting cinematography and lighting, which not only recreates a period and a world, but an era of filmmaking; in\u00a0Terence Blanchard<\/strong>\u2019s gorgeously transporting score; in the remarkable company of actors, from Hope Davis\u2019s imposing grandeur to\u00a0Paul Raci<\/strong>\u2019s ruthless tycoon; and in the range of story lines, which boldly explore racial and sexual tensions as a core part of the show\u2019s tapestry of how intractable systems keep certain people down. The romance between Della and Anita marked a sweet, sexy highlight for viewers. \u201cWe won it in casting,\u201d says Downey. \u201cThe minute we saw them together, we just knew it was perfect.\u201d<\/p>\n Will the renewed word of mouth be enough to secure a third season for the HBO drama? While there\u2019s some spilling on what\u00a0would<\/em> come next\u2014don\u2019t count out a Camilla return, but expect a new case to kickstart a new season and Perry to have finished out his brief sentence\u2014Begler has some ideas to further build out the\u00a0Perry Mason<\/em>\u00a0LA lore. \u201cThere are so many pockets of this city that have not been explored and go against expectation,\u201d he says. And one senses, talking to Rhys, at least, that the feeling is they\u2019re just hitting their stride. Or maybe that he\u2019s just having too much fun to stop. \u201cThe motorbike was fun. The horses were fun. Fighting Shea, swimming in the ocean, being on boats\u2014it was a lot of fun. Like a\u00a0Boys\u2019 Own<\/em> adventure for six months.\u201d All thanks to\u00a0Perry Mason.<\/em>\u00a0Who knew?<\/p>\n
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