The Case of the Lawful Lazarus

Previous reviewers have given this episode a bit of a bad rap, citing it's difficult to feel sorry for a man accused of murder, who 10 years before had up and left his wife and very young children. He was a man who, for good or bad reasons, decided to marry a very wealthy woman, then found himself floundering in ways he never imagined. Perhaps he knew he was a bum, or perhaps realized that despite his best efforts, simply couldn't fit into the mold his wife had crafted for him. This episode leaves that to the imaginations of the viewers.

Whatever the case, this Lazarus realizes he's owed nothing. He also, I believe, had some warm feelings for the wife he abandoned, and who has now taken ill. Whether he was a louse, a fish out of water, or perhaps a little of both, he knew the man designated by his wife was a no-good so-and-so. At the very least, he could make the effort to save his children from him. He really was no good, as is revealed by the end of the episode.

I'm rating this as a 6/10 for the abysmal pace and depth of the script. Why did they see the defendant running away? What prompted him to do so? Did he stumble upon the body? With no explanation, we are compelled to assume this. Like many later episodes, this Perry Mason story is too much supporting cast and not nearly enough Perry, Della, Paul, Hamilton, and Sgt. Whatshisface (we less and less of Sgt. Tragg). It's too much interplay between everyone else, and this episode runs with it.

The defendant is only slightly better than the bad guys in this one. The fact that we are supposed to see him as a positive force is not in the card. Perry doesn't really look at his transgressions and off he goes. He deserted his family early on and did nothing to defend himself, throwing his wife under the bus. Not the best.

This was not an impressive script. In fact, one begins pulling for Perry's client to have been given the gas chamber when we learn that this dead-beat dad abandoned his wife and kids some ten years ago without even a note and then suddenly reappears wanting some control of the two kids life. This was not a character that the viewer can feel sorry for in any shape or form. Thus from the beginning this story was painful to watch.

Trevor Harris is the person that left his wife and two children ten years ago. When the wife is dying he suddenly returns wanting a say in how the children will be cared for after the death of their mother. Yet he does not want to care for the children himself- but wants a say on the future of the kids even though he left them without a word years ago.

Anyway when Trevor's wife dies, the children will be in the care of an uncle named Edgar Thorn. Trevor does not want the kids in his care and believes that the uncle is after the $150 million in the children's fund.

The uncle says that the reason Trevor left was that he embezzled $50,000 from the company and he has proof, in his safe, of the actual record on the theft. When Trevor tries to gets the records the Uncle is found dead and all the evidence points to Trevor killing the uncle because of the kids. Perry will defend him in court of the charges.

Not only was the background of Trevor Harris uncomfortable but the person playing him, David McLean, seemed uncomfortable portraying the character. This was a character that needed to show some forgiveness but instead we get a even more bad feeling about the guy by the way the actor seemed uncaring about the topic. Better actors may have helped but really it was just a poor script and one that Perry should have refused to defend.

This episode begins when a rich woman dies in the hospital. We find out that her husband Trevor abandoned her and their young children 10 years ago. Now he is falsely accused of murder and we are supposed to feel sorry him. When his wife dies nobody is at the hospital and all the family seems to be worried about is who is in charge of the kids (money). The family is rich, but all except one are pretty much creeps. Kind of the opposite of Bonanza where the Cartwrights are rich but always doing the right thing. Definitely a downbeat episode.

I agree with other reviewers who said that the story was slow and uninteresting. There were too many characters and not enough involvement of Drake and Street. I really miss Tragg, he of the smug smile and sarcastic comments, who sometimes joked with Perry toward the end of some episodes. Wesley Lau as Lt. Anderson just doesn't cut it. He played the role with way too much tension, too serious, almost snarling at Mason and the defendants. Get your undies out of your butt, Wesley! But hey, there's always the childish, impertinent, almost whiny Ham Burger to lighten the mood. In this episode, he was in classic form, overreacting to Mason's proper objections and throwing verbal tantrums. Overall not one of the best plots.