Matty (Kathy Bates) and Olympia (Skye P. Marshall) still don’t trust each other, but this week’s Matlock proves they still have to work together if they want any chance of taking down Senior (Beau Bridges). When they focus on each other instead of actually getting justice for Ellie and the millions of others like her, innocent people end up in Senior’s crosshairs. Matty’s hot-and-cold behavior with the New York Times leads to an intrepid reporter going after the story themselves. A call to Jacobson Moore asking about “wrongdoing” in the Wellbrexa case puts Senior and the upper brass on red alert. The Jacobson Moore board of directors, including Senior’s ex-wife Eva (Justina Machado), arrives to batten down the hatches and sniff out who in the firm went to the press.

This seems like a perfect time for Shae Banfield (Yael Grobglas) to show up and use her human lie-detector skills (Where you been, loca?), but Senior is bringing in even bigger guns. Matty and Olympia find themselves up against Lester “The Wolf” Logan (James Lesure), the firm’s head of security, who has been brought in specifically to lead the leak investigation. The pressure is mounting, so Olympia and Matty have to put aside their power struggle to make it through this alive, but one of their closest allies is not able to say the same by the end of the episode.

A Reminder of the Power of Loyalty

This Matlock episode is really killing it when it comes to guest stars. Machado and Lesure are joined by Yvette Nicole Brown playing Nadine, the client of the week. She owns a chicken restaurant named after her grandmother and is suing her brother for opening a food truck copycatting her restaurants recipe and aesthetic. It’s a familial civil war designed to match Matty and Olympia’s current power struggle.

Some tense depositions and testimonial setbacks force Nadine to admit that the real reason she’s refusing to allow her brother back into her business is because it is the one thing that finally allows her to be seen. Her grandmother was the only person who saw and valued Nadine over her showman of a brother, and keeping the restaurant is the only way Nadine can maintain that feeling of being important. Olympia is able to convince her that she can stop a permanent schism from happening in the family and still maintain control if they negotiate the right contract.

In the end, Pierre gets back in the family business, but Nadine is still in charge and has her face on the sign, the napkins, and the cups. This is still her baby. The case also reminds Matty what’s most important to her about the Wellbrexa investigation, which opens a new path to negotiation with Olympia, once they get over the wolf-sized hurdle barreling towards them.

Emmalyn Takes the Fall for Matty and Olympia’s Mess in ‘Matlock’

Matty and Olympia have spent two full episodes fighting each other instead of making progress on finding dirt on Senior, so they need the shake-up in “Tomorrow Is Still Tomorrow.” Olympia is one of the first people called to meet with The Wolf. She follows Matty’s advice for making it through the interrogation but she screws up when she says she’d never call The Times if she was mad at the firm. Senior and the board never disclose that The Times is the paper that called, which implies that Olympia knows more than she should. A call for a second interview means she’ll have to turn over her phone and laptop, exposing all of her and Matty’s exchanges. They need a patsy to take the fall before Olympia has to hand over all of her devices.

That patsy quickly becomes Emmalyn Belvin (Patricia Belcher). She falls on The Wolf’s radar because she’s the office manager and is one of the few employees still working at the firm who was also there for the Wellbrexa case. Emmalyn runs a tight ship, but she’s no liar. She knows as soon as she’s called in that she’ll have to admit she’s the one who posted the original Reddit post about the missing documents. Matty is reluctant to see one of her true friends at the firm fall under Senior’s hammer, but there isn’t enough time to come up with a backup plan. Senior knows there’s a leak, so even handing Julian (Jason Ritter) over to The New York Times won’t get Matty the justice she wants for her daughter. They need Emmalyn to confess to being the Redditor and the leak so that Matty and Olympia can continue gathering evidence against Senior.

It doesn’t take a lot of manipulation to get Emmalyn to take the fall for them, but it does put a heavy burden on Matty’s conscience. As it should! Matty has had some close calls over the course of this investigation, but outside of temporarily pissing off Sarah (Leah Lewis) and some extra tension in her marriage, Matty hasn’t been confronted with the high stakes of this entire endeavor. Emmalyn is the first person to fall on the sword for the sake of her justice, and loses her retirement because of it (don’t worry, Matty makes sure she’s taken care of).

Emmalyn sacrificing herself so that Matty and Olympia can keep up the good fight is a wake-up call for both of them. They have a heart-to-heart after Emmalyn turns herself in and Matty concedes to letting Olympia be in charge, but reminds Olympia that this entire crusade is about Ellie. Olympia swears to remember that, and also to convince Julian to apologize to Matty, Edwin (Sam Anderson), and Alfie (Aaron Harris). The new goal may be to get him immunity when all of this is over, but Matty wants him to know his actions had dire consequences for real people.

These two still may not trust each other, but the bridge between them is starting to be rebuilt — thank God — and just in time. Senior is going to be on high alert even if a culprit was caught. And there’s someone potentially even more dangerous than Lester hanging around.

A New Threat Enters the Ring With Eva Munoz

The enemy of your enemy is your friend, but that doesn’t mean you should let your guard down. Olympia has an interesting meeting with Eva Munoz at the end of the episode. Eva is not only one of the managing partners and head of the Jacobson Moore Miami office, but she’s also Senior’s ex-wife, the one who made him swear off marriage. It’s clear throughout the episode that there’s no love lost between Eva and Senior. In fact, she delights in riling him up and getting under his skin. But is she ready to fully turn on her ex?

She shows up in Olympia’s office to question the new partner’s loyalty to the firm. Olympia suspects that Eva may be planning a coup — which would make her an ally in her and Matty’s current mission. However, Eva doesn’t fully play her hand. The implication is that she’ll be sticking around for a minute. Olympia and Matty need to make sure she is someone that can be trusted before they rope her in, but if Eva is looking to take Senior down, this may be just the person they need to start the next phase of the plan.

It’s really sad to see Emmalyn go. She was a great source of light in the office and very useful when Matty needed to sneak around the firm to get information. However, her sacrifice may be the thing that pushes Matty and Olympia back to being actual friends, and for that, I could not be more grateful.

Matlock continues Thursdays at 9PM ET on CBS. Episodes are available the next day on Paramount+.