# Perry Mason on HBO **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** tv-shows-scripted, hbomax-wb-dc\ **Created:** [June 22, 2020, 11:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perry-mason-on-hbo/911306 "2020-06-22T11:44:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2020, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perry-mason-on-hbo/911306/101 "2020-07-31T17:55:14Z")
Thanks. Never noticed him before. ---
**Author:** ![Sherrerd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sherrerd/32/8_2.png) [@Sherrerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sherrerd)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2020, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perry-mason-on-hbo/911306/102 "2020-07-31T23:05:18Z")
> [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](#): > > > [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > > > I recently saw _Bad Times at the El Royale_ , BTW, a dark, very Coenesque crime movie (which I recommend). The actor who plays Pete, Perry’s detective partner, has a small role as a prison doctor. > > Shea Wigham? He pops up in a lot of places. To me he will always be Steve Buscemi’s brother from _Boardwalk Empire_ (made by the same people who did _Perry Mason_.) There are a number of character actors whose presence in a project is a pretty reliable indicator of the project’s being worth viewing. Wigham is one of them. (This because reputable producers and directors like to hire people who can act, of course.) I’m enjoying this stage of the mini-series; the court-room stuff is being well handled, with the exception pointed out by Elendil\_s\_Heir (of actors being placed so as to obscure the view of the jury members). ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2020, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perry-mason-on-hbo/911306/103 "2020-08-01T00:43:07Z")
I now see that Wigham played a chauvinistic jerk of a Minnesota sheriff in S3 of _Fargo_. I didn’t know who he was at the time. ---
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2020, 1:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perry-mason-on-hbo/911306/104 "2020-08-03T13:32:55Z")
We know Della, Perry , Drake , and Burger survive. Unless they want to change it from the TV series. I guess Drake quits or he could be fired. ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2020, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perry-mason-on-hbo/911306/105 "2020-08-03T15:37:53Z")
Another great episode – getting better and better, and can’t wait for the finale. SPOILERS for the latest episode: Near as I can tell, this is the most likely explanation for the baby “miracle” – Alice is at least partially a true believer, and she really thought she was going to resurrect the baby. Her mother is a cynic and a con artist, and she knew her daughter couldn’t… but once the announcement was made, she scrambled to make it possible. She dug up the baby’s body and probably burned the remains, leaving the casket empty (like Jesus’ tomb, since she couldn’t leave a live baby in a casket for days), and somehow acquired a baby, arranging for it to be left or placed on Virgil St (or wherever they ended up). And maybe Alice is finally tired of her mother’s bullshit. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2020, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perry-mason-on-hbo/911306/106 "2020-08-03T15:40:40Z")
We also learned what happened to the baby and why he was kidnapped. ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2020, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perry-mason-on-hbo/911306/107 "2020-08-03T16:11:51Z")
Right. But there are still some mysteries – was Alice or her mother involved? I think Alice was not, but her mother may have been. How much does the DA know, and if he knows the truth, why does he want to cover it up? Is he involved? Is the judge wholly on the take, or just partially, or does he just naturally favor the prosecution? ---
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2020, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perry-mason-on-hbo/911306/108 "2020-08-03T16:13:26Z")
If S1 ends without Ennis being confronted on the stand I will be disappointed. It looks like the baby switch theory is off the table, but if Alice’s mom was somehow able to dig up the body without anybody noticing the grave was disturbed, I’m certainly not liking that explanation. I’m just wondering if the body was taken out before burial to avoid any kind of toxicology testing. And is the suture thread itself no longer an investigative topic? ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2020, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perry-mason-on-hbo/911306/109 "2020-08-03T16:23:27Z")
Another thing; what is the status of the baby’s father? Is he being tried separately? Because he really was guilty of something and yet the entire trial is about the one person who was wholly innocent. ---
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2020, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perry-mason-on-hbo/911306/110 "2020-08-03T21:27:43Z")
I don’t see the need to make Burger gay. I guess we are to think her mother let Alice be raped as a child when they had no money? ---
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2020, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perry-mason-on-hbo/911306/111 "2020-08-04T01:14:02Z")
I can never figure out how spoilers are supposed to work in this thread, but in any case, yes, that’s what we are supposed to think. that was an effectively creepy scene given how friendly and helpful the guy seemed at first. ---
**Author:** ![Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eyebrows_0f_doom/32/3119_2.png) [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eyebrows_0f_Doom)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2020, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perry-mason-on-hbo/911306/112 "2020-08-04T03:18:17Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > Another thing; what is the status of the baby’s father? Is he being tried separately? Because he really was guilty of something and yet the entire trial is about the one person who was wholly innocent. What was he guilty of? He wasn’t part of the kidnapping plot. He’s just as innocent as Emily. I did roll my eyes a bit that _of course_ when their car breaks down in the middle of nowhere, the one person who passes by just happens to be a pedophile. Oh, and a baby that nurses _once_ from a woman while she’s high on heroin will suffocate? Is that a thing? That doesn’t sound remotely medically accurate… ---
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2020, 6:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perry-mason-on-hbo/911306/113 "2020-08-04T06:08:50Z")
> [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](#): > > Oh, and a baby that nurses _once_ from a woman while she’s high on heroin will suffocate? Is that a thing? That doesn’t sound remotely medically accurate… I also wondered about the historical accuracy of making a Chinese woman (albeit a Californian woman) a Heroin addict (capitalized 'cause it’s a brand name…). I thought that in the mid-war period opium smoking was still popular in the Chinese community. In any case, no, people in Heroin withdrawal don’t suffocate. Worst case, they dehydrate. Anyone: was the ‘suffocation’ inherited from the book? Also, if _I_ had been sisters mother, I would have just gone with the empty grave: "Why seek ye the living among the dead? He is not here, but is risen: " (Luke 24:5-6) ---
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2020, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perry-mason-on-hbo/911306/114 "2020-08-04T14:47:02Z")
> [@Melbourne](#): > > In any case, no, people in Heroin withdrawal don’t suffocate. Worst case, they dehydrate. I imagine the baby’s issue wouldn’t have been withdrawal, but overdosing. If we’re just understanding the cause of death now, doesn’t that mean that no autopsy was ever performed? That seems really unlikely in a murder case. ---
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2020, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perry-mason-on-hbo/911306/115 "2020-08-04T16:39:56Z")
Most people who die of heroin, die of suffocation. Essentially they just stop breathing. The baby’s death seems very plausible. With respect to the autopsy, I’m just assuming the coroner saw the suffocation and assumed it was asphyxiation, and did not do toxicology. I do have to say I was very confused at the crowd becoming angry when the casket was empty. That seemed exactly, as someone noted, like the resurrection. I also agree with the comment that it was a little over the top to have the one Good Samaritan be a predator. It’s part and parcel of the series enjoying rubbing our noses in pretty much anything. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2020, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perry-mason-on-hbo/911306/116 "2020-08-04T16:46:58Z")
> [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](#): > > > [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > > > Another thing; what is the status of the baby’s father? Is he being tried separately? Because he really was guilty of something and yet the entire trial is about the one person who was wholly innocent. > > What was he guilty of? He wasn’t part of the kidnapping plot. He’s just as innocent as Emily. I thought the father staged the kidnapping to cover his gambling debts. Or was that just the theory that the police had to explain the crime? ---
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2020, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perry-mason-on-hbo/911306/117 "2020-08-04T16:48:18Z")
> [@Maserschmidt](#): > > I do have to say I was very confused at the crowd becoming angry when the casket was empty. That seemed exactly, as someone noted, like the resurrection. I think when they outlined this episode, it was: “casket is empty. Chaos ensues”. But they went a bit over the top. Following up on the language discussion from last week: describing the deceased prostitute as a “hop-head” is maybe the only purely 1930’s slang they’ve used so far. ---
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2020, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perry-mason-on-hbo/911306/118 "2020-08-04T16:51:05Z")
That was the theory at the time. It now seems that the kidnapping involved church leaders, to cover the church’s debts. ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2020, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perry-mason-on-hbo/911306/119 "2020-08-04T17:04:46Z")
I think there were two groups of fanatics at the cemetery – the pro-Alice and anti-Alice fanatics, and violence/chaos was pretty much inevitable. ---
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2020, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perry-mason-on-hbo/911306/120 "2020-08-04T19:43:24Z")
One thing I’ve noticed, the 30’s LAPD is terrible at crowd control. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perry-mason-on-hbo/911306.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perry-mason-on-hbo/911306.md?page=7)