Manuel Garcia-Rulfo in The Lincoln Lawyer

The Lincoln Lawyer, season 3 review

The Lincoln Lawyer, season 3, brings a new case to Mickey Haller (Manuel Garcia-Rulfo) and his group of associates. As usual, in this series based on mystery novels by Michael Connelly, things get very complicated and dangerous before it’s all over, but Mickey usually manages to win his case as a defense attorney in the end.

The Cast

The basic cast of The Lincoln Lawyer remains the same from seasons 1 and 2. Mickey is surrounded by women. We don’t see quite as much of his ex-wife Maggie (Neve Campbell) and his teen daughter Hayley (Krista Warner), but they are still in the series at times.

Jazz Raycole and Becki Newton in The Lincoln Lawyer

Lorna (Becki Newton) is married to Cisco (Angus Sampson) this season. She still has the same butt-ugly dog named Winston. Lorna takes the bar exam in this season and is working hard to become a full-fledged attorney. Izzy (Jazz Raycole) works more in the office in season 3 and does less driving. She’s reevaluating her desire to be a dancer.

Eddie (Allyn Moriyon) comes on board as Mickey’s driver. He’s always giving Mickey green drinks to make him healthy. Of course, they taste awful.

Yaya DaCosta in The Lincoln Lawyer

The prosecuter from the DA’s office, Andrea (Yaya DaCosta), is back and sharing a bed with Mickey on an irregular basis.

The new characters who form the basic mystery and court case in season 3 include Julian La Cosse (Devon Graye), the man accused of murder who Mickey is defending. He is supposed to have killed Mickey’s friend Gloria Dayton (Fiona Rene). The folksy but sharp prosecutor Mickey is up against in the case is William Forsythe (John Pirruccello). The judge in the case is Judge Turner (Merrin Dungey).

Important characters in the mystery plot of solving the crime are an investigator for the DA named Neil Bishop (Holt McCallany) and a DEA agent named James de Marco (Michael Irby).

The Plot

Julian La Cosse, a gay man who made his living scheduling meetings for escorts, is framed for the murder. The frame-up has something to do with Mexican drug cartels and corrupt people working inside the justice system. Both Mickey and his sort-of girlfriend Andrea declare several times that, “the system is fucked.”

This justifies Mickey using his clever courtroom tricks to get to justice in the case. The bad guys don’t want it solved, so he is in danger in many ways.

Thematically, this season is about guilt. Not criminal guilt, but emotional guilt. Mickey and some other key characters make decisions that turn out badly. People are hurt. The guilt is overwhelming. A good bit of the character development in season 3 involves how to deal with the guilt and how to keep on going. Or maybe quit and give it all up.

As happened in the first two seasons, the final moment of the last episode is a look into what the crime and mystery for the next season will be. The final episode of the season was filled with big, exciting, shocking, climactic moments. All these are signature story moves in Michael Connelly mysteries.

Women directors were scarce. Heather Cappiello and Paula Garcés directed 2 of the 10 episodes. You can see all three seasons of this mystery drama on Netflix.

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Comments

2 responses to “The Lincoln Lawyer, season 3 review”

  1. Ms Amanda Ellis Avatar
    Ms Amanda Ellis

    I really enjoyed this season though it’s hard knowing what’s coming, given I’ve read the stories that follow!

    1. Virginia DeBolt Avatar

      Ooohhh, I hope it isn’t something bad for one of our favorite characters.

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