Matlock Boss Breaks Down the 'Heartbreaking in the Best Way' Finale and What It Means for Season 2

[Warning: The following contains spoilers from the Matlock Season 1 finale, "Tricks of the Trade." Read at your own risk!]

Case closed? In its Season 1 finale, "Tricks of the Trade," Matlock officially confirmed who stole the Wellbrexa documents that could have taken opioids off the streets 10 years earlier. Julian (Jason Ritter) was the culprit, but it took a lot of scheming from Matty (Kathy Bates) and Olivia (Skye P. Marshall) to get to the truth. They manipulated a financial advisor at Julian's banks to allow Olympia to examine his financial records to see if Julian received a payout around the time the documents were stolen. She briefly believed that Senior (Beau Bridges) was the sole culprit involved in taking the documents, but when she was shown Julian's safety deposit box, she found the incriminating documents. 

Julian chose that moment to show up. He was ostensibly there to collect the documents after submitting his resignation to the firm after Olympia won the partnership battle. Julian was shocked to see his ex-wife holding the documents and immediately began to plead for her to help him get rid of the evidence. It was one of the most compelling scenes in a season filled with top-tier acting moments. 

While Olympia battled her conscience and loyalties, Matty helped Sarah (Leah Lewis) win her first solo court case. The young lawyer got herself into hot water offering to write a cease-and-desist letter for a friend-of-a-friend and wound up defending the man in a manslaughter case when that letter led to a physical altercation between him and his business partner. Sarah was able to pull out the win, and YouThree shared a victory hug after a tough second half of the season for their working relationship. 

Matty was then left waiting for Olympia to arrive at her house and explain everything that happened at the bank, but there was still one more surprise in store. Alfie (Aaron Harris) reached out to his biological father after Matty and Edwin (Sam Anderson) had discussed what would happen to their grandson if they became unable to take care of him. The mysterious man showed up on the Kingston doorstep ready to build a relationship with his son, and throw Matty and Edwin's plans for the future into chaos. 

TV Guide caught up with Matlock boss Jennie Snyder Urman to discuss the twisty finale and how these lingering questions set up a very exciting Season 2. 

At what point did you know that Julian was going to be the one who stole the documents and when did you tell Jason?
Jennie Snyder Urman: We knew in the writers' room fairly early. We had some debate, but we landed on that fairly early. I told him about it around maybe Episode 13, somewhere in there. I told him it was going to happen, but that it was going to be complicated. It was really going to open up new avenues for drama for him, Olympia, and our show. He was excited and I was excited.

At any point during the making of this episode did you tell him, "I think this is what you should submit for Emmy consideration"?
Urman: Let me tell you about the table read for this episode. I can't say enough about Jason's performance in the finale at the bank. He did this magical thing of making me empathize completely with Julian and say, "Yeah, he made a mistake," and that's so hard to do when we've been building to this moment for the whole season. At the table read, he came in with that performance. We were just all blown away at the table. We were so thrilled that he was going to get a chance to show all of these other sides to him because he's such a wonderful actor. I makes me so excited to write to that complexity in Season 2.

He was also incredible when Olympia told him that Senior sucks and they had that emotional moment.
Urman: Exactly. She had to manipulate him in the same way that Matty has had to manipulate people. Matty is showing her that sometimes you do these things when you feel like you don't have any other option. He is just so genuine and so accessible in those scenes. As an audience member you're like, "No, don't let it be him." When he looks at her and says, "Don't let me be defined by the worst thing I've ever done," I found it heartbreaking in the best way.

What compelled you the most about having it be Julian? I really thought it would be Olympia because of what she means to Matty.
Urman: I could not actually believe that [Olympia] would do it. It would obviously be a lot of conflict between them if she had done it, but I could not see this character we have been leaning on and has this moral backbone, and a sense of right and wrong. I couldn't see her doing it. I always want to let the character lead us a little bit. If something doesn't feel right, I pay attention to that. The other thing is that putting it on Julian and having him begging Olympia at the same time as Matty, who Olympia is furious with, just really puts Olympia into an interesting situation in the next season. Matty's drive can bump up against her drive in interesting ways. They can both want the same thing, which is justice, but want it achieved in different ways. That lets us access the women emotionally because they are the love story of the show. It's an epic love story so it's not always smooth sailing. There's push and pull so I didn't want Olympia to have stolen the documents.

How would you define Matty and Olympia's relationship at the end of the season?
Urman: It's complicated. There's a lot of hurt, but there's still a lot of love underneath. There's a lot of fear right now. Olympia was obviously, and rightfully, so betrayed by everything Matty did. Then in the finale, which is called "Tricks of the Trade" because Matty is teaching Olympia that in order to get something when your back is up against the wall, sometimes you have to hurt a little bit. You have to lie to people you care about, which is what that scene with Olympia manipulating Julian was about. That is showing Olympia a little bit of a window in to the why and how of how Matty could have done this to her. Then she finds out that Matty was right. That is going to change things.

Matty also gave her the one gift of not going with her to the bank. She trusted her enough in that moment to let her go to the bank alone. Matty took care of Sarah. She let her heart and her relationships overpower her pragmatism or her plan. Olympia felt what a sacrifice that was and what an act of trust that was. She's appreciative of that, and you felt that at the end when Olympia calls her before she found the documents. She says, "Now we're going to look at Senior. We're going to find him," and Matty says she'll help. You can feel a little bit of coming back together, working towards the same goal. Of course, everything changes when Olympia finds the documents. Where they are left is so complicated emotionally at the top of the second season. That's what we've been spending a lot of time in the writers room really combing through and making sure we find all of the subtleties and the nuances of where their relationship is.

Olympia does win partner in this episode, but Senior doesn't seem 100 percent congratulatory. Should we be reading into that interaction when he tells Olympia she got the promotion?
Urman: I can't really answer that because that wondering is part of the dramatic tension. I respectfully decline to tell you how worried you should be.

Another complicated situation is Alfie's dad, who is also introduced at the end of the episode. What provokes Matty to invite him inside when she and Edwin did not want him in Alfie's life?
Urman: He's there, and Alfie contacted him. They could hem and haw and debate when it was in their hands, but it is no longer in their hands. Alfie reached out. Alfie found him. He's at the front door so she has to deal with it. We'll be picking up pretty continuously from there in Season 2. This man's arrival throws everything into chaos in that house. We've had Matty have her differences with Edwin, but not real chaos in the house. They've all been rowing in the same directions and this character will destabilize that home life.

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There's a very dramatic montage of Matty taking down the evidence board, set to "Landslide" by Fleetwood Mac. What was the inspiration for that? It felt series finale-ish instead of season finale.
Urman: I wanted this finale to breathe and for every character to not be moving from plot point to plot point as we normally do. I wanted to really sit in the emotions of what has happened over the course of this season and what has been gained, and what has been lost. These relationships are so central to the reawakening that Matty has had in her life. There is a new landscape that she suddenly sees in front of her at 76 and these people have really touched her, and really changed her. It felt like a place for her to stop and really think about it ending now and reflect on these relationships. It's all building to this sense that Matty is not ready to give up being a lawyer. She wants to keep feeling seen in the world. These are all of the people who have seen her and have given her this new drive. We really want to honor that and it felt really emotional to show how far these characters have come.

Would you say that YouThree have fully healed after Matty stepped up and helped Sarah with this trial?
Urman: I think so. It was so warm and they all showed up for Sarah. Everybody was so excited and proud of her. It was a healing team moment. That's how it was envisioned.

Now we know that Julian is the one who stole the documents, will there be another big mystery in Season 2?
Urman: There is a big mystery that launched in Season 2. There are tentacles from this mystery, because we have to answer what is going to happen with this document at the launch. It opens a window and we launch. Big mystery. I think it's quite satisfying. The end of the second season is going to be really, really surprising.

Matlock has already been renewed for Season 2 and will return in the 2025-26 season. Season 1 is now available to stream on Paramount+.