Perry Mason Chapter Four Review

For our review of the last episode of Perry Mason, click here.

Synopsis: Mason and Strickland lean on Virgil, again, for extra-legal assistance. Following Sister Alice’s recovery from a frightening episode, Birdy urges her daughter to renounce her claims about baby Charlie. E.B. faces the reality of his financial situation and takes his frustrations out on Della. (HBO)

The plot thickens. There is certainly more going on in this story and we start to get that acknowledgment in chapter four. Nevertheless, the power of the establishment (and money) appears at least at this point to be insurmountable and this pressure definitely took its toll on some of the characters. Meanwhile, a callback to the premiere gets his revenge on Mason.

Chapter Four began with Sister Alice’s flock of parishioners tending to her after her episode. However, not all were fond of what happened, none more than a family whose daughter gifted her a box of chocolates full of snakes. The elders of her temple also plotted against her by getting her to take back her previous statement (Sister Alice was against it). Meanwhile, E.B.’s financial struggles were taking their toll on him, trying to get Emily’s bail reduced (at least he got her protective custody after the beating she took). He took that frustration out on Della (who was also getting frustrated).

Mason and Strickland tried to use a ruse to get Virgil to perform another autopsy on George Gannon’s body who they stole (the suicide story didn’t match up with the evidence) for which he was vehemently opposed to. As a result, they simply dumped the body in his jurisdiction to force him to take a look at it. Mason and Strickland were adamant that there was a fourth man involved in the kidnapping (which there was). Upon confronting Barnes with this information, he presented him with evidence that E.B. stole from his former clients (the look on his face was something else), threatening to get him disbarred if he didn’t tank to the Dodson case (so there’s something to that theory as Barnes looked worried).

As Mason called to check in with his son, he was confronted by the comedian he exposed in the first episode (the photos had since been released). Going back to the office, he found E.B. asleep while trying to go through his old files after Della left him. Mason had a hunch about the mystery fourth man so he and Strickland retraced the day of the kidnapping. There was no way it could have happened the way it did without a fourth man. They eventually followed a bridge out of a nearby building, leading to Detective Ennis (who murdered the other kidnappers). Meanwhile, Sister Alice went off-script and stood by her words. E.B. also visited Emily ready to give up, despite believing that she was innocent, until she convinced him to keep fighting.

The episode ended with E.B. waking up and seemingly getting ready for another day until he appears to attempt suicide by filling his kitchen with gas.

This was a John Lithgow episode all the way and he shined with a fragile and nuanced performance of a vulnerable man on the edge. Who knows what will happen to E.B. in the next episode but the series is better with Lithgow in it. Mason will surely get to the bottom of things but the bigger question is what will the landscape look like by the time that happens? That part of the series has certainly been the strongest so far.

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Keith Noakes

The EIC of the coincidentally-named keithlovesmovies.com. A Canadian who prefers to get out of the cold and into the warmth of a movie theatre.