'Perry Mason' characters Paul, Della find their voices in Season 2

Chris Chalk and Juliet Rylance say their characters Paul and Della -- a Black private investigator and gay legal secretary -- are finding their voices and subverting cultural expectations in Season 2 of the crime drama, Perry Mason, which is set in 1930s Los Angeles.

Airing Mondays on HBO, the show follows the titular criminal defense attorney, played by Matthew Rhys, and his associates as they seek justice for their clients.

Season 2 centers on the murder of a powerful oil family scion shortly after the trio solves a sensational child abduction case that involves a cult with powerful, well-connected members.

"He has a very active mind and he is also similarly very quiet because he is an observer and because he is a Black man in the '30s," Chalk told UPI about Paul in a recent Zoom interview.

"I often do things that surround social justice or something that is important to me," the Gotham and The Newsroom alum said.

"This is only adding to what I think is a great use of our medium, which is educating people and offering another point of view, touching on social issues. It reminds us that what we do is important and not just playing pretend."

Rylance agreed.

The Knick and American Gothic actress pointed out that being a gay, professional woman in this era also came with "a lot of risk and danger."

"Della is in a very precarious place. Her old boss has died. Perry and her and Paul are trying to set up this firm," she said. "At some point, she realizes she has to start finding her own way."

Of course, that isn't easy in this time and space.

"A lot of the themes actually are still themes that we are dealing with today in slightly different ways," Rylance said.

"This season is all about finding the confidence to speak up and find her voice in the actual career that she has chosen and in the romantic life she desires. It feels quite complex and detailed and personal this season."

The show is meant to entertain with loads of unexpected twists and turns, but it also holds up a mirror to the world in the 21st-century United States, in which issues surrounding race, gender, immigration and the law still divide the populace.

"Coming out of the years we've just been in, and the fact that we are dealing with the legal system and with society in America, these are very big themes. It feels like there is something to be learned from these characters just trying to survive in the 1930s," Rylance said.

The new season of Perry Mason arrived nearly three years after Season 1 premiered.

"Coming back was exciting, especially that break being a pandemic break in which the world was revealing itself to us," Chalk said, referring to the coronavirus health crisis and associated lockdowns around the world.

"It allowed us time to marinate, and we had better things to bring for our second season, not only for our writers, but for our audience. Any show where you get to come in and get another shot at the same person is miraculous. It was such a gift."

When Season 2 opens, Perry is reluctant to take on another high-profile case, which means neither Della nor Paul has enough work to do or money to bring home.

"They're both, in their own ways, frustrated and scared," Rylance said.

"There's definitely that feeling at the beginning of this season that Della can't get a read on where Perry is at all, which is scary, because if he's not OK, then she's not OK. If the firm collapses, that's it."

While Della is single and has only herself to look after, Paul has a wife and young child to support.

"This does not seem to be a priority for Perry Mason," Chalk said.

Rylance added: "We are relying on this guy, who is a mess. What starts our trajectory this season is: 'Who can we trust? Who can we rely on? And how do we protect ourselves and the people around us?'"

Paul isn't patient when dealing with Perry's loss of confidence and disorganization.

"He's not really good at this unhinged thing. Paul is having a tough go of it," Chalk said.

"He knew what he wanted and he gave it all up to save the Dodsons [in Season 1] and now he is stuck in the choice that he made and he is watching his kid be hungry because he wanted to save somebody else. Poor Paul. Paul is done for this season."

Perry Mason originated as a character in dozens of novels by Erle Stanley Gardner. The potboilers were adapted as radio plays and Raymond Burr played the hero on TV from 1957 to 1966.