History Series / PerryMason2020

** Della has to stay in the closet about being lesbian due to homophobia. She and her girlfriend maintain separate rooms at their boarding house and can only occasionally spend the night with each other, in spite of being in a monogamous relationship. Hamilton Burger, being gay, also must keep this hidden. As a cover, [[TheBeard they pretend they're dating]].

** Della has to stay in the closet about being lesbian due to homophobia. She and her girlfriend maintain separate rooms at their boarding house and can only occasionally spend the night with each other, in spite of being in a monogamous relationship. Hamilton Burger, being gay, also must keep this hidden. As a cover, they pretend they're dating.

* FaceOfAThug: Ennis, the murderous corrupt cop, has a flat nose and weathered face. When describing him, Mason notes his "beady eyes."

** Perry and Pete discover that one of the kidnappers appears to have shot himself in remorse. However, further investigation reveals that the suicide was staged.

* ExternallyValidatedProphecy: In Season 2, Brooks is trying to attract a Major League Baseball team to Los Angeles. He points out correctly that Los Angeles is more than big enough to support a team--in 1930, LA was already the fifth biggest city in the country and was bigger than many eastern cities with teams--and that a baseball team in LA will do great. Everyone thinks he's an idiot and there is no interest from MLB. He's completely correct, although it would be a quarter-century from this time setting before the Dodgers relocated to Los Angeles.

* SpiritualSequel: HBO, Prohibition, crime, police corruption, racism, old timey show business, HolierThanThou hypocrites, UsefulNotes/WorldWarI veterans, Tim Van Patten directing, Creator/SheaWhigham, Creator/GretchenMol, Creator/StephenRoot... we sure this isn't a ''Series/BoardwalkEmpire'' sequel?

** Law enforcement's handling of the case is similar to [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christine_Collins the 1928 disappearance of Walter Collins Jr]]. The LAPD, searching for five months, failed to produce the boy (who was most likely killed); facing intense public scrutiny, they attempted to gaslight the mother into accepting a similar-looking child who said he was Walter, and then had her briefly committed to a mental institution when she wouldn't cooperate. Here, they go even further, slut-shaming Sarah and accusing Matthew of masterminding the abduction himself in lieu of any evidence. [[spoiler:The "changeling" aspect comes with Sister Alice "resurrecting" Charlie; even though the second baby looks little like him, Emily accepts it because of how desperately she wants her son to be alive again.]]

''Perry Mason'' is a 2020 TV series based on the iconic [[Franchise/PerryMason character of the same name]] created by Creator/ErleStanleyGardner. The show was created by Rolin Jones and Ron Fitzgerald and produced by Creator/RobertDowneyJr. It stars Creator/MatthewRhys as Perry Mason, Creator/JulietRylance as Della Street, and Chris Chalk as Paul Drake. Creator/TatianaMaslany plays Sister Alice, a charismatic evangelical minister; Creator/SheaWhigham plays Pete Strickland, Perry's partner in a private detective business; Creator/JohnLithgow appears as E.B. Jonathan, a lawyer who employs Perry as a private detective.

The series premiered on both HBO and Creator/HBOMax on June 21, 2020. A second season will be released in early 2023, with Creator/KatherineWaterston joining the cast.

''Perry Mason'' is a 2020 TV series based on the iconic [[Franchise/PerryMason character of the same name]] created by Creator/ErleStanleyGardner. The show was created by Rolin Jones and Ron Fitzgerald and produced by Creator/RobertDowneyJr. It stars Creator/MatthewRhys as Perry Mason, Juliet Rylance as Della Street, and Chris Chalk as Paul Drake. Creator/TatianaMaslany plays Sister Alice, a charismatic evangelical minister; Creator/SheaWhigham plays Pete Strickland, Perry's partner in a private detective business; Creator/JohnLithgow appears as E.B. Jonathan, a lawyer who employs Perry as a private detective.

* AluminumChristmasTrees: While the show may seem like it’s glossing over its Depression-era setting, Southern California was able to weather the brunt of the calamity much better than other parts of the country.

The series premiered on both HBO and Creator/HBOMax on June 21, 2020. A second season has been ordered, with Creator/KatherineWaterston joining the cast.

* LipstickLesbian: Della and her girlfriend Hazel are both quite feminine, and it's not obvious that they're lesbians until they're shown in bed with each other. Makes sense, considering this is [[DeliberateValuesDissonance the 1930s, and it's not like either of them could really dress butch openly even if they wanted to.]]

* LipstickLesbian: Della and her girlfriend Hazel are both quite feminine, and it's not obvious that they're lesbians until they're shown in bed with each other.

** The kidnapping and exchange of a child for profit, who turns out to be dead while the kidnappers disappear with the money, is taken from [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_of_Marion_Parker the 1927 abduction of Marion Parker]], and to a lesser extent [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lindbergh_kidnapping Charles Lindbergh Jr. in 1932]]. Like Marion, who was tossed from a moving car, Charlie's body is exchanged in a way (streetcar transfer) that helps aid their escape; like multiple theories about the Lindbergh baby posit, [[spoiler:his abductors killed him by accident]].

** The kidnapping and exchange of a child for profit, who turns out to be dead while the kidnappers disappear with the money, is taken from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_of_Marion_Parker the 1927 abduction of Marion Parker]], and to a lesser extent [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lindbergh_kidnapping Charles Lindbergh Jr. in 1932]]. Like Marion, who was tossed from a moving car, Charlie's body is exchanged in a way (streetcar transfer) that helps aid their escape; like multiple theories about the Lindbergh baby posit, [[spoiler:his abductors killed him by accident]].

** The murder which starts the series echoes both [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lindbergh_kidnapping the Lindbergh kidnapping]] and [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_of_Marion_Parker Marion Parker case]].

* VeryLooselyBasedOnATrueStory: The first season arc -- Charlie Dodson's kidnapping and murder -- is partially based on [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christine_Collins the 1928 disappearance of Walter Collins Jr]]. The LAPD, searching for five months, failed to produce the boy (who was most likely killed); facing intense public scrutiny, they attempted to gaslight the mother into accepting a similar-looking child who said he was Walter, and then had her briefly committed to a mental institution when she wouldn't cooperate. Here, law enforcement goes even further, slut-shaming Sarah and accusing Matthew of masterminding the abduction himself in lieu of any evidence. [[spoiler:The "changeling" aspect comes with Sister Alice "resurrecting" Charlie; even though the second baby looks little like him, Emily accepts it because of how desperately she wants her son to be alive again.]]

* {{Blackmail}}: E.B. is blackmailed by prosecutor Maynard Barnes to lose the case with information that could get him disbarred (it indicates he embezzled his clients' money in the past). He kills himself rather than comply.

* BrokenPedestal: After E.B. [[spoiler:kills himself]], both Perry and Della are forced to admit that their boss and mentor was a very flawed man.

* AdultFear: A baby is kidnapped and returned to its parents dead with its eyes sewn open.

The series premiered on both HBO and Creator/HBOMax on June 21, 2020. Trailers can be seen [[https://youtu.be/xnN7JFOjyoQ here]] and [[https://youtu.be/rNATvJMPZaA here]]. A second season has been confirmed, with Creator/KatherineWaterston joining the cast.

* InNameOnly: {{Zigzagged}}. The series starts out with Perry as a FilmNoir P.I. and not even in law school. However, halfway through season 1, he has to step in and defend their client after E.B. dies and no other trustworthy lawyer will take up the case. A letter is faked that makes it look like he apprenticed to E.B. for months. He then passes the bar exam and is sworn in as a lawyer.

* KarmaHoudiniWarranty: It looks like [[spoiler: Ennis]] will escape any punishment for his many crimes but he is then [[spoiler: murdered on Holcomb's orders]].

* NeverSuicide: Sgt. Ennis makes it look like George Gannon shot himself after killing the other two kidnappers (in reality Ennis murdered all three).

* ThePerryMasonMethod: {{Discussed}} and {{subverted}}. We see Perry trying this with Ennis on the stand, but then there is a cut to reveal that he is just rehearsing the examination with his associates (what we are seeing is his mental picture of how it will turn out). After some heated discussion, Perry is persuaded not to recall Ennis, since he will never get a confession in open court: all the evidence is circumstantial and Ennis will just deny everything.

** Perry and Pete do this to the LAPD report of the ransom drop. They examine the location and alternate questioning the evidence. One of them points out a flaw in the report, the other tries to defend it and then the first points out how the defense does not make sense. They conclude that three people could not pulled off the scheme as the report suggested and that a fourth man must have picked up the ransom and escaped through a walkway to a neighboring building.

* UnreliableVoiceover: While Detective Ennis lies through his teeth on the stand in "Chapter 8", the flashbacks that accompany his voiceover testimony show what he was really doing--meeting with the other kidnappers, murdering them, making George Gannon's death look like a suicide, murdering the wet nurse prostitute with a heroin hot shot.

The series premiered on both HBO and Creator/HBOMax on June 21, 2020. Trailers can be seen [[https://youtu.be/xnN7JFOjyoQ here]] and [[https://youtu.be/rNATvJMPZaA here]]. A second season has been confirmed.

-->''"The way I see it, there's what's legal... and there's what's right."''

* DarkerAndEdgier: In spite of being based on a relatively clean franchise that includes a long-running network television series, this is one of HBO's ''darkest'' series to date, with scenes of brutal violence and murders, mutilated corpses and graphic sex, a main character committing suicide, as well as society at large being described as corrupt and oppressive. The genre is FilmNoir rather than that of the original franchise. Your grandpa's Perry Mason this is not!

''Perry Mason'' is a 2020 TV series based on the iconic [[Franchise/PerryMason character of the same name]] created by Erle Stanley Gardner. The show was created by Rolin Jones and Ron Fitzgerald and produced by Creator/RobertDowneyJr. It stars Creator/MatthewRhys as Perry Mason, Juliet Rylance as Della Street, and Chris Chalk as Paul Drake. Creator/TatianaMaslany plays Sister Alice, a charismatic evangelical minister; Creator/SheaWhigham plays Pete Strickland, Perry's partner in a private detective business; Creator/JohnLithgow appears as E.B. Jonathan, a lawyer who employs Perry as a private detective.

** Della has to stay in the closet about being lesbian due to homophobia. She and her girlfriend maintain separate rooms at their boarding house and can only occasionally spend the night with each other, in spite of being in a monogamous relationship. Hamilton Burger, being gay, also must keep this hidden. Both of them pretend they're dating for that purpose.

* ThereAreNoCoincidences: Perry discovers that the fourth kidnapper escaped through a social club located in the building next to the ransom drop. He then sees that Det. Ennis is a member of this club. Ennis tries to claim that it is a coincidence but Perry is not buying it. When Pete investigates Enis, he finds a number of other "coincidences" that pretty much confirm that Ennis is involved in the kidnapping.

* UnresolvedSexualTension: Perry and Alice [[spoiler: after the trial, and free of their obligations, they share a moment in which she comments that neither of them should be alone. Perry's feelings are left unsaid.]]

* WhamLine: With a single word at the beginning of Emily’s trial, which EB assumed would be a breeze, becomes much harder.

'''EB''' ''(OhCrap face)''