HBO’s Perry Mason: A Slow Burn Reboot Of A Classic

HBO’s Perry Mason: A Slow Burn Reboot Of A Classic

By John Saeger

HBO’s Perry Mason is a reboot of Raymond Burr’s classic television show. The new take on characters first inspired by Erle Stanley Gardner’s novels bares little resemblance to the black-and-white series that ran for an unconscionable 271 episodes. Even though the new-look Mason first appears lost in its reset, a cast headlined by a spectacular performance from Matthew Rhys comes together as the series finds its dramatic payoff. 

When I first began watching Perry Mason, I was looking for a hard-hitting mystery series in the mold of True Detective. The comparison goes beyond a shared HBO platform. The premium channel was clearly going for a similar smash by capitalizing on the intellectual property of Gardner and investing $75 million dollars for an eight-episode series originally headlined by Robert Downey, Jr. 

What I found was a show that began as the second season of True Detective and slowly transitioned into the anthology’s exciting first run. Like the disappointing second act of the series, the first few episodes of Perry Mason had the look and feel of a hit. The set and cast were a dream backdrop for a prestige television series. Something, however, was fundamentally missing from the beginning of the series that creates a void. 

Over the first few hours of Perry Mason, the show introduces several secondary stories as it unveils characters. Mason is a hard luck P.I. who is struggling to make ends meet in L.A. His character has several wrinkles that bloviate the beginning of the series, rather than make a streamlined resurrection of Gardner’s detective. Scattering these developments over subsequent seasons would have enhanced the top-heavy episodes, rather than subtracting from the show’s development. 

The first season’s primary arc is the investigation of a murdered baby and a corrupt evangelical church. Much of this mystery unfolds in a way that is surprisingly grotesque, even for HBO. Flashbacks and dead bodies are more than just entertaining macabre, but a somewhat excessive showing of HBO’s production budget. The series is not for the squeamish and the gruesome corpses distract from what is not a focused story. The 2020 Perry Mason may not have had enough stories to last for eight episodes, something that hinders the show’s ability to grab viewers early. 

The initial issues are not with Rhys, who is made for the gumshoe role. Far from a hoaky network crime show where a slick Miami cop reveals clues with a doff of his sunglasses, Perry Mason is a throwback investigator with favorable comparisons to two of Hollywood’s most famous sleuth actors. Rhys plays the role with a perpetual sneer that resembles Humphrey Bogart, an actor whose everyman grit allowed him to become an icon in some of the most heralded film noir titles of his time.

The new Mason character itself is a Jim Rockford of a different generation. Like his Rockford Files compatriot, Mason is far removed from the glitz of Los Angeles. He is constantly dumped on by the elite of the City of Angels and slums out the Great Depression in a farm on the verge of bankruptcy. Not unlike the Jim Garner character, Rhys’ Mason is also beat up by the targets he is pursuing and does not paint a glamorous picture. 

As the case unravels, the stunted beginning to the series suddenly becomes a run of dynamic television. Midway through the season, Perry Mason snaps to life and delivers on its gripping potential. The show clicks into place as Mason transitions from private investigator to attorney. Many of the reinvented characters become much more relatable as their origin stories shed the dead weight of introduction. Mason and his cohorts Della Street and Paul Drake develop a chemistry that could play well in a second run of the series. 
Patience is a mantra to keep in mind for viewers watching the first bits of Perry Mason. The series is worth the wait for viewers craving a new detective character to latch onto. HBO has already renewed the series for season two. Rhys previously proved that he can be a leading actor over six gritty seasons on The Americans. He has the chance to grow as one of the most understated and underrated actors working on television with his new character.

About the Author: John Saeger is a music and film writer from Philadelphia. Since 2017 he has been writing his pop-culture blog Long After Dark, a site dedicated to the arts in the City of Brotherly Love and beyond. email/Twitter