When we left Mickey Haller in Episode 5 of The Lincoln Lawyer (“Suspicious MInds”), second ex-wife and dedicated office manager/legal aide Lorna Crane was telling him to go fuck himself, first ex-wife Maggie McPherson was reserving a few choice words for his selfish antics, and Mickey himself was receiving a beatdown at the hands of two goons clearly hired to send him a different kind of message. After a break, the series is back, and in the second half of season two Lisa Trammell’s murder trial is finally set to begin. But Mickey has some recovering to do first, since he was left lying in a bloody heap beside his Lincoln Navigator with a busted arm, broken ribs, and a liver that looks like it was taken out of his body and stomped on. It was Izzy who found him, called the medics, and stayed with him at the hospital until he came to. She feels terrible and guilty because it was her on-again off-again girlfriend Ray who Henry Dahl paid for access to the Navigator and those files in the back, especially the one signing Lisa’s life rights over to Mickey. But Mickey’s not angry with Iz. Lying in his recovery room, he’s been doing some thinking. “Alex Grant doesn’t want us connecting him to Bondurant’s murder,” Mickey tells Cisco. “That part makes sense. What’s weird is how they ambushed me while I was looking for a contract that Dahl stole out of my Lincoln.”
Here in The Lincoln Lawyer Season 2 Episode 6 (“Withdrawal”), we’re finally getting some clarification on the motives of Dahl, the smarmy true crime podcaster. And we finally lay our eyes on Grant (Michael A. Goorjian), also known as Kazarian, the rich property owner with Armenian mob ties. In the kind of nifty sting operation that is a strength of The Lincoln Lawyer in both storytelling and editing, Lorna and Cisco tap a con man and Internet scammer named Sam Scales (Christopher Thornton) for help. His debt to Mickey will be expunged if he builds them a fake brokerage website that will lure art lover Grant into the open. When he arrives at the gallery that’s actually a front, the painting he thinks he’s buying is revealed to be…a subpoena to appear in court.
“Are you insane?” This is a question Lorna seems to ask Mickey quite a bit. (She’s not alone in that.) But his unconventional lawyering instincts won’t be swayed. Mickey wants Grant on the stand, in front of a jury, and to have lots of cameras there. He wants Grant’s reputation to be publicly threatened, and he’s willing to gamble that he’ll talk rather than plead the fifth. After all, why would an innocent man refuse to testify? The ploy works, to the frustration of prosecutor Andrea Freeman, but the judge warns Mickey that he’ll need more than the suggestion of impropriety between Grant and murdered developer Bondurant to make it relevant to Lisa’s defense.
In the hospital, Lisa was clutching at Mickey’s hand like he was still her lover, which seems like a problem. (Speaking of impropriety.) But she gets Dahl to meet with Mickey, who leans on him to admit that he stole the contract. Cisco’s research revealed a link between Dahl and Grant, through a media shell company owned by the latter that produces Henry’s podcast. It was Grant who bankrolled the bribe to Izzy’s ex, and the bail money that sprung Lisa on the murder rap. Because as Mickey says, “It’s about making sure that Lisa takes the fall for Mitchell Bondurant’s murder. These guys have been setting her up this whole time, and they’ve been using you to do it.” When Mickey also tells Dahl that now he works for him. Henry is still uppity, but compliant. He’ll be used as an influence on Grant’s long game.
When Mickey woke up after the attack, Maggie was there in his recovery room. Their most recent harsh words forgotten, Maggie says she was worried he might have been killed. “You think you’re invincible, but you’re not.” (Indeed, we also caught a flashback while Mickey was in recovery, to his childhood in Mexico and his mother saying exactly the same thing.) When Izzy drops a discharged Mickey at home, Maggie and Hayley are both there, and it might’ve almost been domestic bliss if it wasn’t a mirage of the married life they could never fully make work. Which is why it’s even more surprising when Mickey and Maggie make out and then sleep together. “I think you’re gonna have to be on top,” he says, wincing from his bruises. Hubba hubba.
Neve Campbell has not been in The Lincoln Lawyer enough this season, and she’s fantastic in these scenes, as Maggie and Mickey find each other again. But just as quickly as it happened, their lives take another unexpected turn. In an emotional scene that gets the best out of Campbell and Manuel Garcia-Rulfo, Maggie tells Mickey that she’s accepted a job as head of major crimes for the DA’s office in San Diego. “I love you,” she says. “I always have, always will. But it doesn’t work.” And so she craves distance from him, as much as she does the professional challenge of the new position. Mickey processes all of this, because he must. But the way it was left, doesn’t it feel like the possibility of them getting back together could ultimately still be in play?
Mickey’s behind the wheel of the ‘64 Lincoln convertible for an invigorating ride in the LA sun. He’s out of the hospital, the cast is off his arm, and while Maggie’s news was a shock, their evening together was wonderful. Lisa Trammell’s murder trial is set to begin, Mickey’s investigative angles have started to bear fruit, and he’s not even taking the prescription pain pills prescribed by the hospital. “I’m done with those,” he tells Izzy, who like her boss is a former addict. “I have a trial to prepare for. No distractions.” Mickey’s in such a good mood, he just laughs when he sees one of his lawyering advertisements on a bus bench. Not even somebody drawing dicks on his face is gonna distract his chill.
We’ll see how Mickey stays once Lisa’s trial begins in earnest.
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
