Madeline’s Olympia’s Final Line in Matlock Episode 3 Exposes Her Biggest Potential Weakness

In Matlock Season 1, Episode 3, Madeline makes a cryptic comment that demonstrates her biggest potential weakness in the series. The third episode of the Kathy Bates-led legal drama centers on Madeline’s attempt to investigate Olympia’s files to prove that she was involved in covering up documents related to the opioid crisis. The episode’s story has many of the qualities that made Matlock so successful, including a subplot about Madeline having to try a case for the first time in her career.

Madeline spends most of this episode Matlock working with her 12-year-old grandson to find out what’s on Olympia’s phone and computer, only to be faced with several unexpected obstacles, including the expectation that Madeline will be in court so she can’t take a look at Olympia’s phone while the lawyer is trying the case. Thanks to another of her clever plans, Madeline manages to steal and access Olympia’s computer. Upon discovering a hidden file, she makes a cryptic comment to Alfie in response to its contents.

Madeline’s Matlock Episode 3 Final Olympia Line Explained

She’s remembering not to get too close

Matlock Season 1 Episode 3 ended with Madeline and Alfie surprised to discover that a hidden file on Olympia’s computer wasn’t the smoking gun they expected. Instead of proof that Olympia was involved in a cover-up, the pair discovered a voicemail from Olympia’s late father wishing her luck on the bar exam and saying he was proud of her. This discovery caused Madeline to comment: “We are not friends.”

Madeline’s comment echoes one Olympia made when the two did a victory dance together after Madeline’s closure helped them win a case, making it seem like she was just reinforcing Olympia’s claim that they are nothing more than business partners. However, the comment has much more meaning than that. It is clear that Madeline sympathizes with Olympia’s feeling of loss after Olympia fails to retrieve her father’s voicemail from the computer that Madeline exchanged for Olympia’s real machine, and she needs to remember to maintain emotional distance.

Madeline’s need to remember this is especially poignant considering why she’s seeking revenge. Madeline’s daughter is dead, as is Olympia’s father, so the two could easily bond over their shared feeling of tragedy. Furthermore, Olympia’s use of the recording to motivate herself recalls the meaning of MWBSP in Matlock season 1, episode 2. However, Madeline has a job to do, and so she can’t afford to get carried away by these kinds of feelings.

Matlock shows how Madeline’s empathetic side can result in her downfall

She could easily start to see her enemies in a different light

Like many people who have suffered a tragic loss, Madeline has an overabundance of empathy for others who are feeling similar pain. Her empathy is on full display during her closing argument in the case she is asked to try; Although she was initially skeptical of her client’s allegations of sexual harassment, after recalling her own workplace experiences, she manages to deliver a powerful closing by explaining why justice in this case is so important.

That kind of empathy is useful in court, but it’s a risk when it comes to Madeline’s revenge plan. The recording she hears of Olympia’s father makes Olympia sound more like Madeline than Madeline imagined. If Madeline begins to identify with Olympia’s grief over losing her father, with her insecurities when she was in court, and with her determination to make her late father proud of her, it will be much more difficult for her to continue seeking revenge against her. .

Madeline needs to keep her distance from her co-workers for her Matlock revenge plan to work

It’s better for her scheme to see them all as faceless enemies rather than imperfect human beings.

When she began her revenge scheme, Madeline’s thinking was very black and white. The lawyers whose firm she hoped to infiltrate were monsters who put profit above human lives, not flawed people who had some redeeming qualities. although they also did horribly unethical things that resulted in unnecessary deaths, including the death of Madeline’s daughter. It is vital to Madeline’s plans that she continues to see these lawyers in this way.

If Madeline gets close enough to her coworkers to see them as equally human to her and her daughter, she will feel guilty about carrying out her plans and will likely not carry them out. That’s why, Matlock it included Madeline’s cryptic comment in response to hearing Olympia’s father’s message, because Madeline needed to remember not to fall into the trap of seeing Olympia as someone who was like her in important ways.