root of the matter

“Ah! here I reach the root of the matter. He wanted you to marry him?”

I’m not seeing how any of these low-hanging cuts get to the root of the matter.

“That would be the benefit of an actual investigation conducted by the FBI. We don’t see how you can get to the root of the matter without that.”

“It’s that slow, Alabama drawl that he has, but he gets right down to the root of the matter and he’s a practical, solutions-driven kind of manager, so what you see is what you get. He’s an operator’s dream.”

To get to the root of the matter, we’ll need to take a trip back in time.