What Perry Mason’s Chris Chalk Finds Most Depressing About The Series

The actor is frank about the still-prevalent anti-Black violence that’s echoed in the show. “All I have to do is remember that there’s less that I can say and a higher chance of dying,” Chris Chalk told the outlet, before adding, “Well, I can’t even say a higher chance of dying. A higher chance of no one giving a s*** that I died.” It’s a painfully truthful statement, one that the “Perry Mason” plot bears out: the titular character, a white man, is considered radical for actually caring about the rights or wellbeing of people of color during the ongoing Jim Crow era. Paul, meanwhile, sometimes comes face-to-face with people who clearly want him dead, including some who claim to be on the side of justice.

“That’s maybe the most depressing quality about doing Perry Mason,” Chalk said when the GQ interviewer pointed out that “the more things change, the more they stay the same.” He continued:

“Realizing the same things are happening by the same people and the same audience is watching and we seem to be crippled and unable to shift out of this monotony. And I think that’s why shows like this are important because hopefully we’ll see it and go, ‘We’re still doing this? Time to grow up, guys.'”