The Brass Verdict
Why did McSweeney attack Mickey?
Episode 10 of The Lincoln Lawyer begins with Mickey Haller being dealt with as a loose end, as he wrestles with McSweeney in the spotlight of the car headlights. Thankfully, Griggs shows up with his officers, breaking this up. McSweeney though, tumbles off the top of the cliff to his doom. Griggs finally gets up to scratch on what’s happening here. Trevor Elliott paid off McSweeney to kill Lara and Jan. He’s also juror number 7, the one who went missing earlier in the season. Not everything is falling into place though, given we still don’t know who killed Jerry in the parking lot.
Why couldn’t Glory testify in court with Menendez?
For now, the attention turns to Glory Day. Lorna arrives to see her and points out that Jesus Menendez is innocent. She’s afraid of the real killer, especially as he killed her friend. That guy happens to sport a tattoo on his left forearm. Lorna hands over a business card and encourages her to stop running. Glory shows up at the office and admits she needs to be protected by the police. Back then, a Vice officer called Linda Perez showed up at her door and promised to mess up her life if she testified for Mickey. The reason Glory ran is because of this crooked cop, not because of Menendez. Mickey takes this news to Griggs, pointing out that Perez was denied a promotion twice and believes that Officer Winters had her scare off his witness so she wouldn’t testify.
What happens to Trevor Elliott?
Griggs refuses to investigate, sending Mickey over to see Trevor Elliott instead, who apparently has a big announcement. Infront of the press he’s on the verge of talking about the next stage of Parallax Games… when Carol Dubois shows up and shoots him three times. Off the back of this, Mickey believes Trevor didn’t have Jerry killed and he wasn’t lying when he said he didn’t care about his murder. Nestled in the middle of this, there’s extra drama involving Harold Casey, the biker, who hasn’t been charged anything for recent pro bono work. Cisco decides to head off and visit Casey himself, who confirms that Mickey was doing Cisco a favour and covering for him. Cisco refuses to allow this any further, telling him that any debt that needs to be paid can go through him. He wants Mickey out of this and not to have any part of the rivalry they have. In the middle of this, Maggie learns from Lankford that the recording of Soto’s confession is garbled and it can’t be used. Maggie has faith that she can get a good result for her client but Mickey isn’t so sure. Anyway, it’s back to the Menendez case for now as Glory takes the stand in court and speaks about Linda Perez and her grudge against her. Next up, Linda takes to the stand and with footage, shows her in a service elevator heading up to Glory’s room. This is a direct contradiction to Linda’s earlier statement, and something that the judge comes down hard on her for. Anyway, Perez points out Lankford was a part of this and that she struck a deal with him. He’s livid when he finds out and can barely control his rage in the courtroom.
What happens with the Soto case?
That night, Maggie arrives to see Mickey and explains that she’s put everything into her case. She built everything around Lankford’s testimony but now it’s worthless and can’t be used to take Soto down. Mickey bites back, admitting he had no idea that Lankford was part of this. The pair end up having an argument, with Maggie admitting that she can’t look past this and doubts they’ll be able to get back together. With the Soto case completely dead, that means Soto is going to go free. Even worse, Maggie is also going to be dropped from her position. When she shows up in court to hear Soto has been found not guilty, everything looks to be going wrong. Only, suddenly Sarah Walker, an assistant United States attorney, appears and quickly arrests Soto for human trafficking and conspiracy. The feds have him now and through Maggie’s contacts, it looks like he’s going to go down after all.
Who shot Jerry and had Mickey’s car bugged?
Mickey heads back to see Mary Holder, who wishes him well and all the best in the future. As for Mickey, he has one last card to play. With Mickey called in for jury summons earlier in the season, it’s got him thinking over who could have the power to do that. Someone like… Judge Holder herself perhaps? The anonymous note sent to Judge Stanton was actually planted by Mickey himself. The day after he sent it, McSweeney disappeared. This was a ruse to test the waters, where he realizes Holder was the one who had McSweeney try and kill him, along with her hiring a shady PI firm to bug his car too. Holder promises to end him if he goes public with this but Mickey’s story is pretty airtight. In fact, he and Cisco have done their homework and realize McSweeney was one of Holder’s husband’s former clients. This gave the Feds cause to wiretap her and, thanks to Griggs’ help, they have more than enough to arrest her and take her down.
How does The Lincoln Lawyer Season 1 end?
So the season ends with Maggie leaving her office, Cisco riding off on his bike, Lorna and her pug applying for law school while Mickey heads back out surfing again. However, he’s watched from the shore by a man wearing black… and sporting a tattoo on his left arm.
The Episode Review
One final twist wraps up what’s otherwise a rather messy final chapter of this show. I genuinely think every random case in this series should have been cut completely and focused exclusively on the Trevor Elliott murder case instead, which is by far the mot interesting part of this show. All the malarkey involving Soto, Cisco and Menendez ultimately feels rushed and under-developed. Not only that, but characters like Lorna and Cisco just feel like one-note archetypes with very little to go on. What is Cisco’s big deal that he’s entered with Casey? I guess we’ll have to wait but these sort of niggling questions are left unresolved for sequel bait at the end of this chapter. However, there is a case to be had for this one being renewed. After a shaky few chapters to open proceedings, this one has settled into a more consistent rhythm. Episodes 8 and 9 have arguably been the best of the bunch, and that’s mostly because the show has focused almost exclusively on the Elliott case. The Lincoln Lawyer certainly isn’t bad show though, and there’s enough here to whet the appetite for more. Whether audiences will feel the same way though, is left up for debate.
