After a year of waiting, the third installment of The Lincoln Lawyer has just arrived on Netflix, and it’s been quite a treat to have L.A.’s sexiest lawyer, Mickey Haller (Manuel Garcia-Rulfo), and his tenacious legal team back in action.
Created by David E. Kelley (Presumed Innocent), developed by Ted Humphrey (The Good Wife), and currently co-helmed by Dailyn Rodríguez (Queen of the South), The Lincoln Lawyer comes from the same book series by Michael Connelly that spawned the movie starring Matthew McConaughey in 2011. The new 10-episode installment deals with wrongful accusations, threats from drug dealers, rogue law enforcement, and a tormented and incendiary Michael “Mickey” Haller, who feels a lot of guilt about the things he’s done, both in court and in his personal life.
One of the best parts of The Lincoln Lawyer is that Mickey is no ordinary hero, and it’s always up for debate whether his courtroom stratagems and moral compass are really justifiable – and the third season dives headfirst into that ambiguity.
The new season follows the events of The Gods of Guilt, the fifth novel in Connelly’s The Lincoln Lawyer series, and tests Mickey’s legal and personal boundaries. “The stakes are much higher,” Garcia-Rulfo told Esquire. “You’re following the case of a close friend of Mickey’s, so it becomes more personal and more emotional.” Recently, the Guadalajara-born actor has starred in films such as Down the Rabbit Hole and A Man Called Otto, and will soon be seen in Pedro Páramo and Jurassic World Rebirth.
When we last saw Mickey, he’d just learned that his friend Glory Dayton, aka Gloria Days (Fiona Rene), the sex worker who had helped him with the Menendez case, was found dead. “This one is personal, because it’s a client that he actually really cared about,” Rodríguez told Tudum. “Mickey very much is [wondering], ‘Did he have something to do with this? Could he have done more to help her?’” Haunted by his past decisions, Mickey is determined to seek justice for his former client and friend. “I’m going to find who did this,” Mickey growls, upset. “I’m going to find him and I’m going to bury him.”
The new installment follows the defense attorney as he unravels the case of Julian La Cosse (Devon Graye), a “cyber pimp” who arranges online bookings for various high-end prostitutes and who has been falsely accused of murdering Glory Days. As the prosecution accumulates evidence against La Cosse, Mickey and his loyal legal team become increasingly convinced that Glory’s suspicious death is linked to the Tijuana cartel’s top official, Hector Moya (Arturo Del Puerto), whom she ratted out to U.S. authorities. The truth, however, turns out to be much darker and more delicate.
Throughout The Lincoln Lawyer’s terrific new season, we watch as Mickey exposes a fearsome conspiracy of corruption within the LAPD and the DEA, and quenches his thirst for justice for both Glory’s death and Julian’s incarceration. Without fear of exaggeration, this installment has gotten a major upgrade from the Netflix original, and pits Mickey against the juiciest, most emotional, and explosive case yet.
A big part of why the third season works is because Rodríguez and team kept the main case at the center of everything. This focus keeps our attention where it should be, making the whole thing more intense and pointed. Beyond the courtroom and the failures of the system, the drama’s third season raises questions of morality around personal responsibility, guilt, and redemption, elevating the show and the viewing experience.
The third season of The Lincoln Lawyer is available to screen on Netflix now.
