‘She wasn’t moving anywhere’: Matlock director talks Kathy Bates’ turn as Matty and who ‘cried all day’ for final episode

Warning: spoilers are ahead for episode 6 of Matlock Season 1, available to stream now with a Paramount+ Subscriptioncalled “Sixteen Steps”.

Matlock didn’t hesitate to take time from procedural legal matters to hit the emotional wallop with Matty’s story in the TV schedule 2024and that was certainly the case in “Sixteen Steps.” She nearly gave up her quest for justice after a health scare, only to get the last-minute break she needed. Kathy Bates’ performance isn’t the only heartbreaking performance in this episode, as credit in particular goes to one of the guest stars. Episode director and executive producer Kat Coiro spoke with CinemaBlend about “Sixteen Steps” and its most notable twists and turns.

The stress of the case of the week, with two mothers getting a second chance at justice for their deceased infant son, combined with his secret mission, took a toll on Matty in “Sixteen Steps”, when she had a panic attack that she fully believed was a heart attack until she was cured. It was enough that Edwin wanted her to abandon her subterfuge in trying to get into the pharmaceutical business at Jacobson Moore and focus on raising Alfie as a tribute to their daughter.

Having made no progress, she agreed to quit… only to receive news from Olympia and Julian the next morning that she was going to be transferred to Pharma, as she had wanted all along. Instead of giving up, she now has a chance against Welbrexa, and she told the two lawyers:

I wanted my chance. This must be a sign. I am where the universe wants me to be.

Given that it was a safe bet that the leading lady of the Matlock probably wasn’t going to give up on the central premise of the series, fans didn’t have to worry too much that Matty would really give up. But did she really intend to abandon the pursuit as Edwin had asked her to, when she had already put in so much work? I asked director Kat Coiro exactly that, and she said:

That’s a great question. Me and Kathy and Jennie (Syder Urman, showrunner) talked about it a lot, and we felt like she wasn’t moving anywhere. It’s been six episodes, and she hasn’t approached Pharma, and she’s dealing with all this business that has nothing to do with Pharma and is also very emotionally draining. That’s one thing we talked about a lot in the pilot is that she thought she was going to walk in and A leads to B, B leads to C.

It’s hard to blame Matty for not only having a panic attack, but also feeling like he wasn’t moving anywhere during “Sixteen Steps.” The affair was moving for all the mothers in the series, and surely also for many viewers. Kat Coiro explained:

I think she was ready to leave. The thought of thinking she had a heart attack, and what happens to Alfie if she gets really sick? And with Edwin, Sam Anderson from the pilot just melted all of our hearts, because he’s such a charming, warm, kind man, and that’s how he describes Edwin. For her, the idea of ruining Edwin and Alfie’s lives and feeling hopeless and not being able to go anywhere, I think she was ready to leave, and then it fell into her lap exactly where she wants to be.

Matty already felt guilty every time Alfie neglected his duties to help him with the case; a health issue naturally led her to focus on the family that still needed her rather than her quest to get justice for Ellie. The director, who also praised Always sunny in PhiladelphiaKaitlin Olson with a comparison to Kathy Bates, explaining why this particular episode’s case was difficult for the main character:

Each episode is a new tangent to get involved in people’s lives. In this particular case, she gets involved in the lives of women who have lost a child, and that brings her a lot of things. This is something she didn’t count on when she decided to do this. I think she thought it would be difficult and challenging, but not necessarily emotionally draining like it is in this episode.

The case of the week centered on two mothers who hired Jacobson Moore years earlier when their babies died from contaminated infant formula. Olympia and Julian failed to achieve victory at the time, but they were given a second chance in “Sixteen Steps.” Heartbreakingly, Olympia had to push one of the moms, Vanessa, to her emotional breaking point to gain the sympathy of the jury.

(Image credit: Brian Bowen Smith)

In fact, I had to compliment the director that “Sixteen Steps” made me cry in sympathy for the grieving mother, after the entire episode was built around her testimony. Add to that how the affair was also affecting Matty and Olympia, and of course I cried! Kat Coiro praised the guest actress who played Vanessa in the testimonial scene, saying:

She cried all day, and she was one of those brilliant actresses who cried even when the cameras weren’t on her, just so she could give her scene partners the same feeling as when we had the cameras on her. She really succeeded.

Apparently, even when the camera was focused on Skye P. Marshall’s cover or any of the other actors in the scene, the guest was still giving it their all and crying for them. I noticed that her approach seemed exhausting, and Coiro commented by saying “I like the actress” before elaborating:

We had, as I recall, quite a few callbacks to make sure we could reach the depth indicated on the page, particularly our mother breaking down in the courtroom. We played with it in a lot of different ways throughout the day, and that’s one of the keys to making this show: having a very clear vision, because the vision is on the page. And Jennie and Sara Rose Feinberg, who wrote this script, have a very strong vision, but you also have to make sure you have options. When I was directing that scene in the courtroom, we played with so many different options for when she cracks and how hard her outer shell is.

Even though the mother’s courtroom collapse helped the two women – who were expecting a baby – win the case and millions of dollars in damages, no one jumped for joy after what their cost the trial. Coiro explained how the scene played out from Matty and Olympia’s perspective:

For me, what’s really heartbreaking about her is seeing her broken and then seeing her put on this armor, and then Matty – understanding what it’s like to lose a child – knows that this armor is leaky, and that if Olympia could just get under there, she would show the jury how nice this woman is. But in doing so, it’s emotional manipulation, and there’s something that seems so horrible to Olympia, and so that was really one of the main things in the courtroom. We did it in different ways. Completely hard exterior, completely broken person. And there was something cathartic about the way it all played out in the edit.

It’s safe to say that Kat Coiro knew what really works Matlock when she considered directing “Sixteen Steps”, as she had directed three of the previous five episodes. This episode is packed with so many twists and emotional hits that it felt more like a finale than a midseason 1 episode, and the stakes get even higher as the series continues.

If you want to revisit “Sixteen Steps” — armed with a box of tissues, if you’re like me — after it airs on CBS, you can find it streaming on Paramount+. New episodes will continue to air on CBS on Thursdays at 9 p.m. ET, before Elsbeth. THE pairing of Elsbeth And Matlock is “perfect” according to one star, and both shows will definitely do well this fall before the TV schedule 2025 kickoff in the new year. Matlock has already been renewed for season 2.