Matlock - Tricks of the Trade
Although we won't know the answer until the Fall, the question that I thought about over the course of the two-part season finale was whether or not Matlock has already jumped the shark. Having Olympia (Skye P. Marshall) discover Matty's (Kathy Bates) secret in the previous episode, the two form a temporary mistrustful partnership with Olympia willing to work together but determined to prove Julian's (Jason Ritter) innocence. The episode will close with a false ending seeing Olympia proved right and then the first of multiple cliffhangers where the show reveals Julian's complicity, just as Matty predicted. This leaves Olympia in a no-win situation (but, I'm guessing from the mention of all of the skills Olympia has learned from Matty's lies, she'll attempt to hide the truth from Matty while pretending to help search for the "real culprit").
At the same time, with Matty and Edwin (Sam Anderson) already bickering on whether or not they can trust Olympia, the second cliffhanger introduces a new family member in Alfie's (Aaron D. Harris) father whose addition could destroy Matty's home life. And that's far from the only drama of the episode as Simone (Andrea Londo) targets Sarah (Leah Lewis) blaming her for Billy (David Del Rio) ending their relationship, Billy's attempts to also end his on-again/off-again relationship with Claudia (Bella Ortiz) lead to unexpected pregnancy news, and Olympia is made partner in the firm (tying her to the company's well-being) leading to friction between Julian and his father (Beau Bridges). I've seen entire weeks of Days of Our Lives which were full of less soap-opera drama.
Of course the show wouldn't be complete without a case of the week which leads Sarah to have to defend a client (David Fumero) against manslaughter when her attempts to do a simple job for her own client goes terrible wrong. Here we get the case drama, the drama of Olympia threatening to fire her, and (in what may be the goofiest idea of the season so far) Sarah being self-conscious about breaking her tooth while snooping for evidence to save her client. I will say the case, and Sarah's victory, does seem to take action to heal a side-effect of Matty's decision making earlier in the season, although Simone's snooping seems to foreshadow more trouble next season.
