Matlock – Episode 5 “Claws” Recap & Review

Claws

Episode 5 of Matlock starts with Matlock sending her husband to an IT shop. She wants to get access to the original email on Olympia’s laptop and see the attachments. Her husband’s mission is unsuccessful since he is informed that the only way to retrieve the email is to access the original sender’s account. This forces Matlock to devise a new plan to check the firm’s cloud server. She gets to the office and lies about having a problem with her computer. Sarah advises her to email IT and the department sends Kira, who Sarah starts crushing on.

In the meantime, this week Olympia is working on a case involving abuse of power in a prison. Their star witness is Katya Novik, but she is late for her prep. Sarah is in awe of Katya since she rallied other prisoners to report the harassment and abuse they suffered at the hands of the prison guards. At the same time, Julian wants to talk to Olympia about selling their house. Olympia is not sure if she and the twins are ready to move.

As the case heats up, Katya starts lying about why she can’t make it to the meeting. Olympia asks Matlock to come with her to Katya’s workplace. At the office, Billy helps Sarah make her dating profile. He also makes one for Matlock. Meanwhile, Matlock realises that Katya is using again and they can’t use her statement.

To save the case, Olympia asks Matlock to work with Sarah and Billy and decide who among the other witnesses should be their star witness. However, none of the remaining witnesses want to speak up anymore. They seem scared, and Matlock and Olympia struggle to find out why.

Matlock starts looking into the man who gave Katya the drugs, but that leads nowhere. The more Matlock works on this case, the more it reminds her of her daughter. She drops by the salon the next day and gets new nails. She also convinces the manager to give her CCTV footage of the day Katya slipped. At the court, Olympia tries to put up a strong front to avoid tipping her opponent that there is trouble in her camp. 

After her salon appointment, Matlock calls Olympia and updates her. Olympia asks her to find Katya and to loop in Sarah and Billy. However, Matlock calls her husband and goes to find Katya on her own. Katya begs her to help, and she drives her back to the firm. Unfortunately, they run into the prosecutor and he refuses to give them an offer since their star witness is high and unreliable. Olympia lashes out at Matlock, but the latter scolds her back. She reminds Olympia that Katya is a human being and deserves help if she asks for it. 

The next day, Billy and Matlock try to help Kira and Sarah spend more time together. Matlock also comes up with a plan to lift Kira’s fingerprints so she can use them to access the firm’s cloud. She later talks to Alfie and tries to comfort him. Alfie is struggling with why his mom couldn’t stay sober for him. As they talk, Matlock realises that they have been looking at the wrong person. The one who made Katya vulnerable was not the dealer, but the customer she had before him. 

Instead of giving the information directly to Olympia, Matlock tells Sarah and Billy. They are angry with her for never calling them when she went to get Katya. Once again, Matlock lies that she forgot after getting a call from Alfie’s school. In the end, the gang tells Olympia and they head to court.

Sadly, it turns out that the customer in question is the new warden at the prison. Olympia corners the warden in court while she is giving her statement. It turns out that the warden wanted the money to go back to the prison instead of Katya. Ultimately, Olympia wins the case and gets a two million payout for each of the victims. Also, Olympia helps Katya start her treatment.

Later, Julian talks to Olympia about moving. He has already handled the logistics to make it easy for Olympia to decide. She agrees to move and start a new chapter for their family.  After wrapping up the case, Matlock and her husband agree to bring in Alfie to help them. The episode ends with Matlock getting a message from the dating site Billy set her up on. Unfortunately, someone recognised her from the profile.

The Episode Review

Things are beginning to move along for Matlock’s revenge plan, but it is also getting riskier. There are only so many lies she can keep up with. Now, someone has recognised her and her gig might blow up on her face if she doesn’t handle it well. This case also touched on a sensitive and personal issue for Matlock and her husband. They lost their daughter to her addiction. Seeing Katya like that must have stirred a lot of painful memories for Matlock.

On the other hand, it is cute to see how Sarah has a crush on Kira. Sarah can be intense and too focused on winning, but maybe Kira will help her tone it down a bit. I don’t envy Billy. He has his work cut out for him with Matlock and Sarah. It is not easy to play cupid for these two women than being,