Note: This story contains spoilers from “Matlock” Season 1, Episode 11.
While Kathy Bates’ Matty seems to be pulling off the facade of the century in CBS’ “Matlock,” she raised some flags for jury consultant Shae, which actor Yael Grobglas said is “Matty’s worst nightmare.”
“Matty has won everybody over. Her cover story has been working, but when you find someone like Shae — this is what she does. She can tell when someone is lying,” Groblas told TheWrap. “She knows instinctively something is off from the first moment she met Matty, but she cannot put her finger on what and it’s been bothering her ever since … She knows she’s lying.”
As Shae sets her mind on getting to the bottom of what Matty is lying about, she launches her own investigation into the titular lawyer, with the help of Sarah (Leah Lewis), who also turned on Matty after she named Billy (David Del Rio) as lead on a case instead of her. Shae even reaches out to an old work associate of Matty’s in Georgia from the one mention of Matty they found online, and meets him for lunch.
“I can tell that you are lying — I don’t know if it’s a big deal or a small deal, but it’s I’m not going to tolerate it, and I need to find out what it is,” Grobglas said of Shae’s thinking. “That’s Matty’s worst nightmare, and for Shae, it’s also where she has her fun.”
Shae’s investigation quickly halts after her lunch meeting was outsmarted by Matty, with Shae actually meeting with an undercover Edwin (Sam Anderson), who posed as a former manager of Matty’s. Matty confronts Shae after the meeting, warning her she’ll be filing another complaint against Shae for harassment, which will trigger an investigation.
As for whether Shae’s suspicion of Matty continues despite telling Sarah they need to back off their investigation, Grobglas remained tight-lipped about how the rest of the season plays out.
Below, Grobglas unpacks similarities between Shae and Petra on “Jane the Virgin,” applauds Kathy Bates as a “masterclass” in professionalism and teases what’s to come for the rest of the season.
TheWrap: How is it to be the first Jane the Virgin alum to get a big role in Jennie Snyder Urman’s “Matlock”?
Grobglas: It was a real honor. Jennie had hinted to me that she was going to write a role for me, which was a huge compliment, of course. But I didn’t know anything about it until the time came. I think the first thing she told me was that her nickname was going to be “The Meerkat,” and I was like, “Perfect. I love this.” One of my phone backgrounds at some point was a meerkat for years, and I don’t think she knew that. When she told me what she was going to be about, I just fell in love with it. I will work with Jennie forever on everything — you have someone who’s going to write to your strengths and whatever it was going to be, I knew it was going to be brilliant and interesting and so multi-layered, like everything she does.
Do you see any similarities between Shae and Petra from “Jane the Virgin?”
Both me and Jennie were focused on finding the differences as well, and actually, it turned out to be easier than I expected. Yes, they have this rigidity to them, which Petra has kind of lost on purpose throughout the “Jane the Virgin” seasons — she became sort of a little looser as she came into herself and relaxed a little bit. With Shae … she’s an expert at reading body language, and funnily enough, I had taken a course in body language years ago, probably 12 years ago, so I’ve always been fascinated by this, and it helped me figure out what she’s looking for when she’s reading people. Someone who is an expert at reading body language would therefore also be hyper aware of themselves — I don’t think they would be quick to put their foot in it — she’d be very aware of what she’s doing. It’s not necessarily that she’s naturally extremely uptight. I think she’s just very aware. She’s very conscious of everything going on. She doesn’t sort of do to anything unnecessary because she knows what gives people away.
Shae has some tense interactions with Matty, especially in this episode. What’s it been like to play that opposite a legend like Kathy Bates?
Watching Kathy is honestly just a master class. It’s so inspiring to see someone who’s had this immense, incredible career and shows up every day so prepared, so incredibly professional. She shows up every day, works incredibly long hours and is kind to absolutely everybody. If there’s anybody new, even if they’re there for one line, she will come up and introduce herself and introduce everybody else, and make sure everybody’s happy and comfortable. Everybody who’s starting out in this business should take a page out of the Kathy Bates book in how to be a fantastic actor. But also just how to show up every day on set and understand how lucky we are to be there, and what kind of work you need to put into it.
[The] first mission for me was don’t shake from nerves when acting with Kathy Bates. Once I got over that, you get a real opportunity to play. She gives so much that you have so much to work with — you can just react to the things that she does, and you don’t have to even overthink what you’re doing. I’ve seen in a couple of episodes, the moments where she threatens me and and I don’t think I was even aware of what my face was doing, and when I watched it, you can definitely see that as Yael, I am terrified, in the best way, because she’s a brilliant actor.
Earlier this season, we learned that Julian cheated on Olympia years ago with Shae. What do you imagine happened between them?
That reveal happened in an episode when I wasn’t there, and I had a suspicion that this was coming, but I wasn’t sure, so when I got the next episode, the one I was in, and I was like, “alright, everyone’s angry at Shae — what happened? Why is Olympia avoiding her like the plague?” And then I found out and my suspicions were confirmed. You’re going to get some insight into [what happened between them] in later episodes, and it’s definitely intriguing to see where this leads Shae and Olympia’s relationship.
At the moment, Olympia is avoiding her, so Matty is kind of acting as a go-between — it’s definitely creating an interesting dynamic in the office.
What can you tease about how the rest of the season plays out?
Lot of twists and turns in all the different storylines — that’s what I love about “Matlock” in general. It’s multilayered, it deals with the opioid [crisis] and everything that Matty is dealing with with her daughter’s addiction, and on the other hand, … there are different cases that deal with other current issues, and give some insight into that. They’re dealing with ageism … which, as a woman, I found so fascinating and brilliant and just a wonderful topic to dive into and and so all of these different avenues.
Have you all had any conversations about Season 2 yet?
No, I don’t know anything about it yet. Jennie is always like this — on “Jane the Virgin,” I didn’t know I was having a twin sister show up until I was at the table read. It’s part of the magic. I think she secretly really likes to see our just big reactions to reading what comes next. I love it, and I can’t wait to see what the future brings.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
“Matlock” airs Thursdays at 9 p.m. ET/PT on CBS and streams the next day on Paramount+.