... but in fact it was very well done and an unusual showcase for Raymond Burr's versatile acting talent as he breaks out of his attorney persona.
The son of a man being sued over the theft of intellectual property from a now deceased boss decides to frame Perry for bribery by getting his look alike, a sailor on a fishing boat (Burr in a double role as Mr. Grimes), to dress up and imitate Perry and have him very publicly toss a witness in the case an envelope with ten thousand dollars in it along with instructions as to how to answer any questions put to her on the stand. The witness breaks down on the stand and testifies of his bribery attempt, and she has the ten thousand dollars to prove it. This undermining of Perry's credibility causes the rare occasion of Mason losing a case. But now he could be indicted for suborning perjury, so he must get to the bottom of what happened.
When I say that Grimes is a Perry Mason look-alike, that is a very loose description. Grimes is aptly named as he doesn't look like he's bathed in a month of Sundays and has a cockney accent and a very rough way about him.
An interesting factoid - One of the supporting players in this episode is Henry Beckman who you may remember, if you are old enough , played old salt Captain Clancey on Here Come the Brides from 1968 to 1970. His portrayal is so close to that of Raymond Burr's rendition of Grimes in this episode that I have to wonder if he used that performance as an inspiration for his own in that TV series.