He Rides Again

Jerry wakes up the next morning to find that his life has been changed. He’s now an assassin target, one who must protect himself from those who would harm him. He quickly learns that the life of a defence lawyer is not as glamorous as he thought it would be. But he’s determined to make a name for himself and protect those he cares about.

Mickey Haller gets a call from Lorna, who he has listed as “Second Wife” on his phone. She tells him that she’s running the practice and has received a call from the Chief Judge, Mary Holder. Mickey isn’t had a case in over a year and it could be that he’s being assigned one here. Fingers crossed!

Mickey stops mulling about on the beach and gets himself dressed up ready to go. On the way, he receives a call from his first wife, Maggie, who reminds him to pick up his daughter Hayley at 6pm sharp that night. As the camera pans down we see his licence plate reads “NTGUILTY.” Cue eye-rolls!

Mickey tells the judge that he used to be a great lawyer, but then he met Jerry Vincent and things changed. Mickey says that Vincent was a really bad lawyer and he was able to beat him in court. The judge is impressed by Mickey’s story and decides to give him a job as an assistant prosecutor.

Mickey is taken aback when he is informed that he will be the first client on the new caseload for Holder. Every client has a right to move on, Holder informs him, but it also means that Mickey gets first shot at everyone on the roster. ..

Mickey is an interesting character. He’s had a surfing accident 18 months ago that led to him becoming addicted to painkillers. He’s not the best at defending people, but he’s got a good heart. ..

Lorna joins Mickey as he shows up at Mr. Vincent’s practice. The thing is, the whole place is off-limits as police claim it’s a crime scene. They’re both told to leave by Detective Griggs, given they’re “contaminating the crime scene.” Mickey flexes his legal muscles but in doing so, is inadvertently made a suspect. The detective eventually does leave though. ..

Mickey is thrown into the thick of a case when he’s called to court to help with a continuance for a girl who is an addict and has been caught stealing. The suspects and their family are not happy, as Izzy speaks to Mickey and reveals what happened. She was caught stealing a necklace while high, and now needs Mickey’s help to get it back.

Mickey is back in the swing of his Lincoln swagger, driving from place to place and meeting numerous different clients. The most prolific, of course, is Trevor Elliot who happens to be on the rooftop playing basketball. I’m sure that must be annoying to accidentally knock a ball off the edge. Anyway, he claims it’s open season against him, having had to wait 5 months for his day in court. Mickey promises that he’s better than Jerry and will get up to scratch on his case and help him out.

Cisco eventually agrees to work with Mickey on the Trevor Elliot case. While talking though, Mickey realizes he’s running late and races up to collect up his daughter. Maggie is not exactly happy, pointing out that this isn’t the way to go to get joint custody of Hayley. Still, she’s happy to see him anyway.

With nine days to get up to speed on the case, it’s a daunting task for three people. The thing is, there’s another side to this that makes things that much harder. The detective from earlier, Griggs, shows up with a file showing what Mickey is up against. Griggs confirms that someone targeted Jerry specifically. There’s something on the laptop that had him killed, something that appears to be nestled deep in the files. ..

Mickey is in danger and could be next if he’s caught with the tainted Chalice.

Mickey calls out the necklace in question, believing it to be a counterfeit and not the real article. Not only that, but he has brought a jeweller to verify his concerns. So just like that, the case is thrown out completely. Izzy is allowed to go free so Mickey encourages her to sign on as his new driver. ..

Mickey turns his full attention to the Elliot case, walking all over the crime scene to get a feel for what happened. He also visits the victim’s family and friends to get their perspectives on what happened. ..

According to Trevor, he was working on a computer game when he came home from work and found his wife dead. In the pool of her own blood, she was still alive but for the blood that had pooled around her. This image will haunt him forever.

As he drives away from the scene of the cheating wife’s murder, Mickey realizes he’s being followed. He decides to take a detour and go back to the scene in order to investigate further.

The Episode Review

The first episode of The Lincoln Lawyer feels like a CBS pilot, which is unsurprising given the show was originally in development with that very studio before Netflix took the reigns. ..

The show starts off with a bit of exposition dumping, followed by a cheesy “NTGUILTY” number plate. There’s enough here to whet the appetite, but it’ll be interesting to see if the show takes on a more episodic nature with different cases dotted throughout. ..

The first episode of the new season was a simple but enjoyable way to set the scene for what’s to come. ..