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's season 2 finale is just around the corner, and star Skye P. Marshall promises it will "change everything."
Season 2 has largely focused on Marshall, who plays Olympia Lawrence, and Kathy Bates' Madeline "Matty" Matlock, . It's also seen Julian Markston, Olympia's ex-husband, played by Jason Ritter, discover their investigation, and uncover the truth about what Matty is really doing at Jacobson Moore, revealing that Bates' character, whose real name is Madeline Kingston, is actually a wealthy, retired lawyer, using a false identity to infiltrate the law firm.
ScreenRant's Tatiana Hullender spoke to Marshall ahead of the show's on Thursday, where she reflected on the past two seasons of the Emmy-nominated CBS series, her relationship with Julian, and how the "emotionally expensive" fallout of the show's second season will touch each and every character in the Matlock universe.
Skye P. Marshall: I mean, our storylines, they don't rely on spectacle to feel big. It relies on consequence, and the stakes are deeply personal, whether it's between Julian and Senior, or me and Matlock, or Matlock and Edwin, and that makes those choices feel very heavy.
And so when people ask, "What's going to happen in the finale?" I'm like, "It's not about what happens, it's about what it costs and who's going to have to pay this price," because the finale is emotionally expensive in the best way. And I hope that the audience walks away just feeling richer. We don't give answers away easily on our show, but our audience also loves to sit in the discomfort of not knowing until the very end, and the finale will serve the truth with a twist, and no one will leave untouched.
Speaking of Olympia's relationship with Julian, Marshall said her bond with her ex largely had to do with his complicated relationship with his father Senior, played by acclaimed actor-director Beau Bridges. It's a dynamic that will all come "crumbling down" in the finale, Marshall teased, with Julian discovering his father's role in the Wellbrexa — a move that could see him turn against his dad, and even come to Matty's aid as she continues to try and keep the firm's secrets under lock and key.
Skye P. Marshall: I think her loyalty was easily accessible because she knew how deceitful Senior was and is. And she also knows and has witnessed how disrespectful and cruel he is as a father to Julian, and how Julian committed his entire adult life to feeling like he deserved his father's love. And so, Olympia, watching the history between Senior and Julian, I believe she gave him grace, knowing that he would have risked it all for his father's recognition and love, and that that was not by his own making, and that he was just a pawn on the chessboard, which is all going to come crumbling down in this finale. And I cannot wait for you all to see it.
Everything Else Skye P. Marshall Had To Say About Matlock's Season 2 Finale
ScreenRant: It's exciting, but scary too, because it feels like we're so close to the end of this arc, and then you don't know, is something going to go wrong with the arc, and then we're continuing in season three, or are we starting with a whole new, kind of like a new slate in season three?
Skye P. Marshall: So when we got the script for the finale of season one, I genuinely thought that I was going to get to the bank, go to the safety deposit box, open it, and that was going to be the big cliffhanger without seeing if the study was in Julian's safety deposit box or not. And so, I was so excited when I read the script, and I was like, "Yes, the audience gets to leave knowing that between Senior, Olympia, and Julian, it was Julian. We can all go on a break knowing that we know who was responsible for hiding the study." And Jenny and the writing team, our creative team, are so generous in knowing that, "I can give you this humongous secret. I can hand you the results of this mystery, and there's more."
But I'm so thrilled that the Wellbrexa — people that are responsible for ruining so many people's lives, which we all know is a real thing with the opioid epidemic — and I want people at home to feel touched and to feel moved by this finale. Let's just say if you thought you had us figured out, the finale politely and aggressively proves you don't.
ScreenRant: One dynamic that I did find a little surprising this season was that we got to see more between Sarah and Olympia, especially because she takes her frustrations out on Sarah and then apologizes in this last episode, and yet that apology was not immediately accepted, or she didn't immediately come back onto the team. Can you talk about what the workplace will look like with the members of her team who don't know what's going on?
Skye P. Marshall: That's a great question. Our finale stands heavy on the shoulders of justice, and it's beautiful for Olympia to see Sarah standing up for herself. Accountability is extremely important for Olympia. And with Sarah not instantly taking the bait and actually processing, that is a deeper level of emotional maturity that I believe is going to gain Olympia's trust fully back. And that really is the only way for Sarah to rejoin the team, because she doesn't feel like she is a part of the inner circle. And for her to stand her ground there, I thought that that was really beautiful for them to write the character that way, and not just jump and turn into sand in my hands.
But we are focused, in the finale, on Matlock achieving her wildest dreams, or not. And what does that do to her? And the rest of our team, our associates, the dice will fall as they may, because Matlock is on absolute fire. You start to see that Madeline Kingston, that torch that she carries, starts to shine through the eyes of Matlock, the mask that she wears. And that is the transformation that you'll see in the finale, the energy that'll lead us in as we walk out the doors of season two into the doors of season three. And those are two very different buildings.
Check out more of our Matlock coverage here:
The two-hour season 2 finale of Matlock airs Thursday, April 23, at 9:00 p.m. ET on CBS.
Cast
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Madeline 'Matty' Matlock -
Skye P. Marshall Olympia Lawrence
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