The second episode of this season of The Lincoln Lawyer ended with Russell Lawson finally behind bars, thanks to Mickey’s meticulous plan. With that done and dusted, Mickey must take care of Lisa’s ordeal because she has been taken into custody on charges of Mitchell Bondurant’s murder. Is Lisa the killer, or is she being set up to hide something bigger?
Spoilers Ahead
Lisa Is In Trouble
Mickey reaches the police station to understand the situation at hand, to get a grip on what happened up until her arrest, and what the charges are against her other than murder. He initially finds it difficult to get a hold of her, but he tries to manipulate a fellow detective into helping him, but that does not work in his favor. The entire scene does a decent job of presenting the whole process of understanding the contacts and influences lawyers like Mickey would want to have over the cops so that they would come in handy in the future.
The whole setup seems like a tacky way to address the issue at hand, and there is no tension leading up to it. It was predictable from the beginning that Lisa could mean trouble, and that there is more to her than she lets on. Mickey’s attraction to her is making him behave the way he does, and he is unable to find a line between Lisa, the client, and Lisa, the girl he likes.
The two get to speak to each other, and he specifically asks her not to talk to anyone from here on about the case. She also talks about not being in the building, unlike what the police and the employees of the company are stating. She claims to have seen Bondurant at the coffee shop, and that was the extent of it. The viewers watching the show could sense something off about Lisa as a character. Mickey should have learned something from the Trevor case, about not fully trusting his client. This seems to be the running plot of the show till the end of Part 1 of this season, and hopefully, that will be continued in the second part. Overall, the plot is dry, and only time will tell if Lisa is the culprit or not.
Lorna And Cisco’s Rough Patch
Lorna and Cisco seem to be going through a slowdown in their relationship leading up to their wedding. There seems to be a communication gap between the two of them, which was initially not a problem, but Lorna starts seeing him disappear at odd hours and making payments from her credit cards at unknown places. Such situations are bound to happen as Cisco comes from a different background, while Lorna has worked her way up, and she has now reached a point where she feels good and happy for herself and feels like she deserves some answers. She feels a bit odd at law school as she realizes the professor who misbehaved with her in the first year of college and might have to interact with him on a few occasions.
Cisco, on the other hand, is trying to help his friend Kaz, but by the looks of it, this friend gets into trouble a lot, and it is always Cisco who ends up helping him out. It seems this is the reason why Cisco remains distracted all the time. He manages to finish all the work assigned to him by Mickey, but he is unable to make time for Lorna. Their relationship is just going through a phase, and they will most likely recover from this over a cup of coffee or just a talk.
Will Lisa Get Her Bail? Is She The Culprit?
Cisco confronts the professor who had misbehaved with Lorna, and this comes across as an expression of the love he carries for her. His presence was enough to make the professor feel intimidated. These tactics come across as negative ways to approach matters such as harassment. It might seem romantic to many women, but the whole point is for the woman to stand up to the men. What Cisco did sets the wrong precedent. Even though Lorna had made her stand clear to the professor, Cisco scared the man away with his stature, it undermines Lorna’s actions.
As the bail hearing begins, it is established early that Lisa might have seen Mitchell Bondurant, but there is no major proof to incriminate her. Mickey is going in all guns blazing to make sure Lisa is given bail, even though the prosecution tries to prove that she is at flight risk. Lisa runs a restaurant, and her family is from Los Angeles as well. She comes across as a strong-willed woman who is adamant about proving to herself and her people that there is no way she committed the murder.
The oddest thing about the whole case here is that there is no mention of the autopsy report or any pictures shared of the deceased. It is a dud setup because in the previous season, the case of Trevor’s wife’s death, along with the partner’s, was discussed with utmost intensity and vigor. In the case of Lisa’s charges, there is no sense of drama or urgency. She is finally given bail for two million dollars, as Mickey pays the amount to help her. He also makes her sign a bond for the rights to sell her story in the form of books or a movie, which would make him a bit of cash as well. This seems like a sound decision to ensure that he does not lose money. Mickey still does not sense that there is something off about this case.
What irks Mickey the most is Andrea, the prosecution lawyer who has had to remain undefeated in front of Mickey in past cases and who seems to have spoken to Maggie about Lisa’s case. Maggie herself is a criminal prosecutor, and Mickey was in complete disarray as he came to know Andrea had discussed the same with his daughter. He sees this as a conflict of interest and puts forward a motion to make sure Andrea does not meddle with the case. Maybe it was his way of making sure they put an incompetent prosecutor in charge, as he did not want to deal with Andrea. He would play any game to make sure he wins this case for Lisa, and it is obvious that they both like each other.
Maggie, too, confronts him about his intimate relations with Lisa, which he makes clear by stating that they slept with each other only long before the case was filed. Maggie was right about the uncomfortable tension between him and Lisa, which comes across as wrong to the viewers as well. This is equivalent to having a relationship with one’s shrink. It is unethical. If only Mickey could see things clearly, and it is obvious from his state that he is unable to make sound decisions. Mickey finally gets what Maggie is implying and asks Lisa to put a hold on their relationship until the case is over, as there is a lot of work they do, and he cannot seem to be manipulated by her. The episode ends with someone observing Mickey from their car. One might initially assume to be Russell, but it is most likely someone else who is keeping an eye on Mickey and wondering what his plans are from now on.
