It’s everyone’s last day in court. All that’s left to present in Lisa Trammell’s murder trial are closing arguments from the defense, and then her fate will be up to the jury. It’s certainly been a journey. Way back at the beginning, in the first part of Lincoln Lawyer Season 2, Mickey Haller was flying high as the hottest defense lawyer in Los Angeles. His relationship with Lisa was romantic instead of professional, and it seemed like his caseload winning streak was sure to continue, especially when his efforts to help Gloria Dayton, aka Glory Days, resulted in the capture of her would-be killer. But then Lisa was arrested and charged with the murder of Mitchell Bondurant, and Mickey took on her case despite the extremely bad optics. Revelations came to light. Lisa was combustible as a client, prone to outbursts about her ex-husband Jeff, and a little unreliable when it came to keeping things professional. (Well, neither of them were always reliable in that.) Lorna and Cisco’s journey toward marriage had its own hiccups, especially when Cisco was forced to do stuff like orchestrate a secret weapons deal to get out from under a motorcycle gang’s thumb. It wasn’t always clear where The Lincoln Lawyer was going to drive itself next, and it turns out there’s still a twist or two left. But for now, what matters is Mickey’s presentation to the Gods of Guilt.
“You’re Mickey fucking Haller. You win cases. That’s what you do.” Lorna’s pep talk in the elevator helps power her boss past the media scrum outside the courtroom, and he rolls in confident with the closing they concocted over the weekend. And while Mickey calls prosecutor Andrea Freemann’s arguments compelling, he also declares her story to be a fairy tale. The state’s case against Lisa had no immediate witnesses to the crime, and a raft of evidence that just seemed a little too convenient. Lisa’s personal story, Mickey tells the jury, is what’s worth remembering. How she stood up to rich and powerful interests who did everything they could to take her down, and got framed for murder because of it. But did the state ultimately prove she did it beyond a reasonable doubt? “Right now,” he concludes, “if you have more questions than answers, you have no choice but to find Lisa Trammell not guilty.”
And the courtroom erupts when the verdict is returned.
With one win notched in eleven tries against Andrea Freemann – it’s a nice moment when she says “We both know you won’t beat me again,” and offers some professional courtesy in the form of a novelty mug – Mickey celebrates with Lorna, Cisco, and Izzy, declaring it a team win. Lingering questions about Alex Grant’s motives, and whether he might retaliate against Mickey embarrassing him in the courtroom – all that stuff isn’t their problem anymore, because their client is free and back running her kitchen at Elysium. Mickey eases into some time off, strolling the beach walk with Hayley, and that’s where he hears a familiar clamor. Street musicians, crowds, crashing surf, and power lifters pumping iron. The same sounds that emanated from his first phone call with Jeff Trammell, all those weeks ago. “Jeff” was never drifting south through Mexico, stoned on the beach in Ensenada. He was calling from Venice Beach the entire time.
If it was awkward the first time Mickey and Lisa slept together, right after his dinner at Elysium with Maggie, her impromptu pop-in to his home the night of the not guilty verdict and their resulting roll in the hay now stinks to high heaven. Because while Lisa really didn’t kill Mitchell Bondurant, that doesn’t mean she didn’t kill somebody else. Mickey, standing before Lisa as she tends to the cilantro in her back garden, the very herb she always said Jeff hated, points out a social media pic of the guy he met at his offices, claiming to be Jeff. In actuality, he was an out-of-work actor at her restaurant. And then he enumerates three glaring revelations. Lisa refused to sell her property to Bondurant. She was willing to rot in jail rather than put up the restaurant as collateral toward her bond. And she blew her top every single time Jeff was mentioned at all. The truth is that Lisa murdered her husband and buried his body in her garden, and the random mess with Bondurant threatened to expose the whole thing. She buried her past, alright.
With Detective Griggs dispatched to collect Lisa Trammell and her diabolical impersonation of Edgar Allen Poe’s Tell-Tale Heart, the team is free to attend the wedding of Lorna and Cisco, which they celebrate with a surprise reception at Izzy’s new dance studio. It’s an effective way to wrap up those characters’ arcs, and predictably, it also leaves Mickey Haller standing alone. (We don’t see Neve Campbell’s Maggie again, either, though she’s referred to as working hard and loving her new life in San Diego.) Even Hayley has friends to hang out with instead of her dad. Over dinner, David “Legal” Siegel warns Mickey to not sacrifice every single thing in his life to the altar of his job. Nevertheless, he’s cruising alone through the LA night in his convertible Lincoln Continental – still one of the coolest cars on the small screen – when Izzy calls about a new case.
Suddenly, it’s not clear if Glory Days ever actually made it to Hawaii like she promised, or even if the postcard she sent Mickey from there was real. (“You’re the only thing I miss about LA,” she wrote.) Standing in the LA County Morgue, Mickey is left to identify her body on a slab, with an associate of hers named Julian La Cosse accused of her murder. The Gods of Guilt aren’t done with Mickey Haller just yet. Whether or not we’re done with him will be up to the Gods of Renewal at Netflix.
Johnny Loftus is an independent writer and editor living at large in Chicagoland. His work has appeared in The Village Voice, All Music Guide, Pitchfork Media, and Nicki Swift. Follow him on Twitter: @glennganges