The BEST episodes of Matlock season 5

Every episode of Matlock season 5, ranked from best to worst by thousands of votes from fans of the show. The best episodes of Matlock season 5!

Don't be fooled by his down-home demeanor and country-boy ways; criminal defense lawyer Ben Matlock is worth every penny of his fee. Count on Matlock to visit the crime scene, scope out the clues everyone else missed, and dramatically reveal the real criminal during a climactic trial sequence.

Last Updated: 11/6/2024Network: ABC (US)Status: Ended
The Madam
star
8.60
10 votes

#1 - The Madam

Season 5 - Episode 3 - Aired 10/2/1990

A call girl blackmails her employer to stay on the payroll, and when one of them winds up dead, it's Matlock to the rescue.

Directors: Leo Penn
Watch Now:Amazon
The Trial (2)
star
8.52
31 votes

#2 - The Trial (2)

Season 5 - Episode 19 - Aired 2/26/1991

Matlock manages to figure out what's going on, but his competition ices him out of the final round...or so it seems.

Writer: Anne Collins
Watch Now:Amazon
The Brothers
star
7.94
18 votes

#3 - The Brothers

Season 5 - Episode 8 - Aired 11/13/1990

Lowell Carr is a brilliant plastic surgeon. When his partner is found murdered after the two had a loud argument about dissolving their business, he is the immediate suspect...until Matlock meets his twin brother, Gary.

Writer: Anne Collins
Watch Now:Amazon
The Celebrity
star
7.91
22 votes

#4 - The Celebrity

Season 5 - Episode 21 - Aired 4/30/1991

Ben defends a one time movie queen who is now a cosmetics mogul who is accused of murdering her ex-lover to prevent the publication of some revealing photos of her.

Directors: Leo Penn
Watch Now:Amazon
The Parents
star
7.72
18 votes

#5 - The Parents

Season 5 - Episode 14 - Aired 1/15/1991

Howard and Amy have all their dreams answered when Jill plans to give them the child she was carrying. After Jill changes her mind and is found dead, Howard and Amy are the prime suspects in her murder, and Matlock sets out to prove that the birth father may have also had a motive.

Directors: Harvey Laidman
Watch Now:Amazon
The Formula
star
7.68
19 votes

#6 - The Formula

Season 5 - Episode 17 - Aired 2/12/1991

Matlock receives a call in the middle of the night from a young man who once painted his house who claims he's been arrested for stealing the formula to cure baldness from a company who fired his friend and stole his work. Twenty-four hours later Ben gets another call from the same young man, who has been accused of murdering the man he claims he stole the formula for. The biggest problem is that none of what Jeff Duvall claims seems to be true; not only did Tim Crider not ask him to steal the formula, but he was never fired in the first place!

Writer: Anne Collins
Watch Now:Amazon
The Fighter
star
7.68
22 votes

#7 - The Fighter

Season 5 - Episode 12 - Aired 12/11/1990

When fighter Billy Leon is accused of murdering reporter Nick Underwood, a man he thought was his friend who announced in the paper that he was using steroids, Matlock agrees to take him on as a client.

Watch Now:Amazon
The Mother
star
7.68
28 votes

#8 - The Mother

Season 5 - Episode 1 - Aired 9/18/1990

Phyllis Todd confesses to the murder of her boss to protect her daughter. Matlock soon sees through his client's ruse.

Directors: Robert Scheerer
Watch Now:Amazon
The Biker
star
7.63
19 votes

#9 - The Biker

Season 5 - Episode 10 - Aired 11/27/1990

After Nicky, a well-known actor with a bad reputation, is murdered on his way into a premiere, a judge friend of Matlock's asks Matlock to defend his son Cliff, a biker who had been fired earlier from his job as Nicky's bodyguard.

Watch Now:Amazon
The Man of The Year
star
7.61
18 votes

#10 - The Man of The Year

Season 5 - Episode 15 - Aired 1/29/1991

Matlock is all set to be honored as the man of the year, but when his car breaks down and he's forced to ask his housekeeper for a ride, a simple twenty minute trip turns into a flat tire, a hostage situation, and an afternoon in jail.

Watch Now:Amazon
The Broker
star
7.57
21 votes

#11 - The Broker

Season 5 - Episode 11 - Aired 12/4/1990

When stockbroker Richard Wagner is murdered, his former partner Avery Campbell needs Julie's help to prove his innocence.

Directors: Robert Scheerer
Watch Now:Amazon
The Accident
star
7.56
16 votes

#12 - The Accident

Season 5 - Episode 20 - Aired 3/26/1991

Eugene Dobbs and Nolan Wheeler are the perfect combination -- Dobbs presents the cases, and Wheeler does all the legwork. After Dobbs is unable to keep the promises he makes to football coach John Kramer, Dobbs meets his maker one night at the office, with Kramer as the prime suspect. Matlock takes the case, in part to prove to Kramer that not all lawyers are schmucks like Dobbs, and in part because the list of people who want Dobbs dead is getting longer by the minute as Matlock and Conrad find an interesting link between Dobbs, the owner of a local water park, and Dobbs' wife.

Watch Now:Amazon
Nowhere to Turn (1)
star
7.54
26 votes

#13 - Nowhere to Turn (1)

Season 5 - Episode 2 - Aired 9/25/1990

Matlock has to defend himself against a charge of murder when a judge who issued a contempt citation against him is found dead.

Writer: Anne Collins
Watch Now:Amazon
The Personal Trainer
star
7.42
26 votes

#14 - The Personal Trainer

Season 5 - Episode 4 - Aired 10/9/1990

When personal trainer Harry Slade is murdered, Matlock agrees to defend his roofer, George Wilton, on the condition that George finish Matlock's roof like he promised. The case is complicated when it turns out that not only was Harry sleeping with beautiful blonde DeeDee, but also Bridget Laird, and Harry's wife and step-daughter!

Watch Now:Amazon
The Secret (2)
star
7.38
24 votes

#15 - The Secret (2)

Season 5 - Episode 7 - Aired 11/6/1990

Matlock sends Conrad to Chicago to collect the evidence that will prove his client is innocent.

Directors: Leo Penn
The Cover Girl
star
7.35
23 votes

#16 - The Cover Girl

Season 5 - Episode 9 - Aired 11/20/1990

Conrad is thrilled to introduce Matlock to his new girlfriend Carla Royce. When Carla's boss is murdered, Matlock defends the accused at her bequest.

The Narc
star
7.30
20 votes

#17 - The Narc

Season 5 - Episode 5 - Aired 10/23/1990

When Ed Tobias is found murdered after exposing his dirty co-workers to the top brass (they sold the drugs they didn't turn in), Lt. Brooks asks Matlock to defend his accused killer, Johnny Bauer, the only one in the unit who wasn't on the take. In between playing catch with Conrad, Matlock agrees to defend Bauer, even though he feels Bauer is just as dirty as his friends were because he knew what they were up to and he kept quiet.

Directors: Harvey Laidman
Writer: Phil Mishkin
The Critic
star
7.29
21 votes

#18 - The Critic

Season 5 - Episode 13 - Aired 1/8/1991

Matlock has known Sam Spelvin since he was six years old, so he agrees to consult on Sam's play, Lovers and Lawyers. Unfortunately, the play is truly awful. When noted critic John Bosley Hackett, who felt the play was truly one of the worst in history, is found murdered, Sam is arrested. Matlock agrees to defend Sam, even deferring his payment while they wait to see if the play is a success, and manages to find a few more people who would be more than happy to see Hackett dead...and to see Sam's play fail.

Directors: Robert Scheerer
Writer: Phil Mishkin
The Trial (1)
star
7.26
19 votes

#19 - The Trial (1)

Season 5 - Episode 18 - Aired 2/19/1991

When assistant D.A. Howard Wright is murdered in his workshop, the attorney general approaches Matlock and asks him to take on the assignment of special prosecutor. With Michelle and Conrad's help, Matlock begins to investigate Wright's past, and realises the man was spending money that he could not have earned legitimately. In investigating names that Wright had left behind, Matlock finds himself embroiled in a lawsuit involving Maxwell Toys.

Writer: Anne Collins
The Secret (1)
star
7.14
21 votes

#20 - The Secret (1)

Season 5 - Episode 6 - Aired 10/30/1990

When a gambler is accused of killing his bookie, Matlock agrees to take the case, believing that someone from the bookie's past is the guilty party.

Directors: Leo Penn
The Arsonist
star
7.00
15 votes

#21 - The Arsonist

Season 5 - Episode 16 - Aired 2/5/1991

Marvin Sheam and Sid Franklin have been in business for 32 years. When their bank loan is denied and they can't pay their bills, Marv tries to talk Sid into hiring an arsonist to torch their business so they can collect the insurance money and rebuild from scratch. Just before Marv has a chance to talk to the arsonist again, he winds up dead outside his daughter's wedding reception, and Sid gets blamed.

Directors: Robert Scheerer
Writer: Jim McGrath