“Perry Mason” perfectly and methodically lays out a compelling and expanding mystery (which is, after all, the main attraction in a genre story), while giving remarkable shape to characters whose stories will resonate with a modern audience. ... Not a drop of talent is wasted here.
Despite a slow start, “Perry Mason” is an easy series to become engrossed in. Incredible production design and a first-rate cast will make you feel like you’re in the middle of the action.
Perry Mason is one of the most well-acted, well-dressed, compelling shows on television in a long, long time. Every cast member puts their soul into their role, and the writing is superb -- this is not the kind of show you can watch while playing on your phone or you're going to miss out. The story is tragic in a devastatingly human way, but you do not leave feeling hopeless. It is great storytelling behind a gritty whodunnit.
People shocked that a modern reboot of a show (which, I don't care to call it that -- it's an adaptation of the novels) is very different than its **1950's** counterpart, frankly, need to get a grip. If you want a show that won't be accused of going "woke" for daring to have a Black person in it, you can go watch Succession.
What makes “Perry Mason” absorbing is how well the show balances the sorrow of the case Mason is investigating – an infant has been kidnapped, and killed – with vintage touches, including a terrific cast.
A simultaneously gorgeous, gritty, and sometimes downright gory period piece filled with fine performances, but also overloaded a little with B and C storylines that could have been streamlined or cut. The excess fat in Perry Mason is a flaw, but not enough of one to detract from what is, overall, a fine and absorbing season of television.
It is not, by any stretch of the imagination, Perry Mason. ... There is very little to like about him, but Rhys is an excellent actor who imbues the character with a sorrow that makes us – just – want to root for him. It is hard to take this drama on its own terms, because its creators clearly don’t want us to; they’ve hitched their wagon to the Perry Mason name, and have thrown in re-imagined versions of familiar characters.
Gripping, compelling, great storytelling. This isn’t your grandparents’ Perry Mason. Love the Raymond Burr series. Also love what HBO did with this version of Mason. Hope there will be a season 2. Matthew Rhys, Jonathan Lithgow, and supporting cast are awesome.
Not very faithful to the books. Not remotely like the 1957 TV show. The atmosphere is drab for LA in the 1930s. The acting is marginal. The story line is marginal. The extraneous morality is marginal (really vulgar). Della Street - a lesbian? We'd give this "don't waste your time as it's quite disappointing".
Basically this is a re-imaging of the show where the titular character is a lazy, sad sack of a man. They invent reasons for him to wallow in self-pity and he's an idiot to boot. His female assistant is, of course, the brains. Add a obnoxiously choking amount of wokeness and you get this mess. I watched season 2 in the hopes they turned it around but they made Perry even more of a dullard.
We kept waiting for it to get better but it just kept getting worse. There were a LOT of plotholes, a lot of things that were never explained, and a lot of frustratingly unresolved threads. At the end, one of the characters says something the writers clearly thought was really clever, and then smiles knowingly and walks away from the other character. It wasn't clever - it made no **** sense. My wife and I were both pulling out our hair and screaming at the TV. Just skip this one.