‘Perry Mason’ Season 2 Finale: Case Closed
Season 2, Episode 8: ‘Chapter Sixteen’
Camilla Nygaard lies back silently as yellowjackets, held by tweezers, sting her repeatedly under the eyes. A filmy mask is laid atop her face, “American Psycho”-style. Flowers are placed upon her eyes, making her look like a horticultural horror straight out of “The Last of Us.” If it wasn’t clear already, the opening scene of this season finale makes it so: She’s a monster, and here, she finally looks the part.
But if you thought this story would end with the monster safely defeated and the world set to rights, you’re mistaken. Just as the first season of “Perry Mason” hinged on the myth-busting idea that no one confesses on the witness stand, this one bursts the happy-ending bubble.
Granted, things could be a lot worse. Utilizing Camilla’s attorney, major-domo, and hitman-hiring go-between, Phippsy, as an erstwhile ally, Perry and his team recover her cache of incriminating photos on all of Los Angeles’s major players, neutralizing her blackmailer’s hold over the closeted district attorney Hamilton Burger. (Not to mention averting the potential extortion of the similarly situated Della, who finds and hides the pictures of her and her lady friend Anita before anyone else can see them.)
With that out of the way, Burger is finally free to hash out a plea deal with Perry on behalf of the Gallardo brothers. The older sibling, Mateo, who pulled the trigger on Brooks McCutcheon, takes the rap all by himself and is sentenced to 30 years without parole; not great but better than the noose. His artistically gifted kid brother, Rafael, walks out of the courtroom a free man.
Source: The New York Times
