HBO has made the full first episode of its Perry Mason limited series available to stream via YouTube.
Based on the Erle Stanley Gardner character who’s been the subject of a 40-year book series and a wildly influential ’60s legal drama, Perry Mason follows the title character (Matthew Rhys), a low-rent private investigator haunted by his wartime experience in France and nursing a broken heart from his collapsed marriage. Along with his right-hand man Pete Strickland (Shea Whigham), Mason is hired by his mentor E.B. Jonathan (John Lithgow) to investigate the kidnapping of one-year-old Charlie Dodson, whose parents are being targeted for a $100,000 ransom. While navigating the Los Angeles underground looking for leads in his investigation, Mason realizes that there’s more corruption than anyone could’ve expected and that his case is more complex than he anticipated.
In addition to Rhys, Whigham, and Lithgow, the series stars Tatiana Maslany (Orphan Black) as Sister Alice McKeegan, the leader of the Radiant Assembly of God whose radio addresses wield great power; Chris Chalk (Gotham) as beat cop Paul Drake, who’s struggling to balance the responsibilities of being a husband and father against his desire to seek justice in a controversial and politically loaded case; Stephen Root (Barry) as District Attorney Maynard Barnes, an intimidating figure brimming with confidence; Veronica Falcón (Queen of the South) as Lupe Gibbs, the hard-drinking owner of a speakeasy whose career as a pilot has given her quite the reputation; Lili Taylor (American Crime) as Sister Alice’s mother and closest advisor Birdy McKeegan; and Robert Patrick (Scorpion) as Herman Baggerly, who hires hires E.B. Jonathan and Perry Mason to run a parallel investigation to the LAPD.
Perry Mason airs Sundays at 9:00 on HBO.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jGn2tLaYgdc
