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Michael Connelly’s bestselling Mickey Haller novels, like his other series, Bosch, have been adapted for the TV screen. Manuel Garcia-Rulfo plays The Lincoln Lawyer (on Netflix) so called because he used to function out of a Lincoln town car after gangsters torched his office. Now, he does have an office, but is still driven around in that Lincoln by the chatty Izzy (Jazz Raycole), a former client, who owes him fees.
Season 1, based on the novel The Brass Verdict was well-liked, so Season 2 drops a year later, in two parts of five episodes each for some reason, thankfully not too far apart. This season, based in The Fifth Witness, begins with Mickey Haller enjoying the fame that came with a successful win in the last season. He is on magazine covers, and TV shows, and the phone keeps ringing off the hook.
His two ex-wives Maggie (Neve Campbell) and Lorna (Becki Newton) are still connected to him—the first, also a hotshot lawyer, has a daughter with him, Hayley, who they jointly raise, and the second works in his office. Her new boyfriend, Cisco (Angus Sampson) is Haller’s investigator and buddy, but there’s no bad blood between them.
Haller takes the case of Teddy Vogel (Chris Browning, a bankruptcy consultant, who dodges a felony-burglary charge, thanks to him, but there is trouble brewing there. Later, he meets the chef of the restaurant where he is dining, Lisa (Lana Parilla) and has a brief fling. He discovers that she is having trouble with a developer, who want to gentrify the whole block and evict her from her home and place of work.
His friend, Detective Griggs (Ntare Guma Mbaho Mwine), tells Haller that the cops are reinvestigating the murder Jésus Menendez was accused of in Season 1, and things get complicated.
By the end of the Season’s Part 1, he has his back to the wall, and thrashed in a parking lot by two men—the scene with which the show opens. In Part 2 of the new Season, he will have to recover, fight back and win.
Mickey Haller happens to be the half brother of Harry Bosch—in the series of novels they keep dropping in to each other’s stories to help out; in the shows unfortunately, their paths do not cross. Haller, a smart, unconventional defence lawyer, who keeps prosecutors and judges always on their toes, is one Connelly’s most popular characters. He won’t stop at anything to win a case, but also turns down a client who lies to him. Manuel Garcia-Rulfo plays him with a smooth charm.
If The Lincoln Lawyer, created for the web by David E.Kelley, is a such an enjoyable legal drama, it owes some of its success to the actor’s performance, along with the bestselling author with a huge fan following. An added attraction are the beautiful locations of Los Angeles, of which films and TV shows can never have their fill.
The Lincoln Lawyer Seaison 2
Created by David E. Kelley
Cast: Manuel Garcia Rulfo, Becki Newton, Neve Campbell and others
On Netflix
