The Pop Culture Pundit

^{Netflix via YouTube}

Justice is finally being served in the form of The Lincoln Lawyer season 4 dropping on Netflix. After a nearly two-year wait, The show dropped on February 5 and went straight to the Netflix Top Ten (it’s currently sitting at #2, behind Bridgerton). I’m happy to report season 4 is worth the wait, filled with compelling twists and turns and in classic Lincoln Lawyer fashion, a finale cliffhanger that I’m sure we’ll have to wait another two years for resolution. 

Picking up on last season’s cliffhanger, Mickey (Manuel Garcia-Rulfo) has been arrested for a murder he did not commit after an officer pulls him over for a missing license plate and instead finds a dead body of a client, Sam Scales (Christopher Thornton). Now Mickey must defend his toughest client–himself–as he seeks to re-claim his reputation and clear his name. 

That’s a lot to unpack in a single, ten episode season, but the Lincoln Lawyer makes it endlessly watchable. We all know Mickey did not murder his client–but a lot of evidence sure seems to suggest otherwise. There’s the body cam footage of the officer where Mickey yells at the cop not to open his trunk; there’s the fact that Sam was killed in Mickey’s home as there was a bullet casing found in his garage; and there’s financial records that seem to imply Mickey was motivated by money to kill Sam. However, with all these twists in turns, it ends up being that this case is bigger than anyone could have imagined. The case concludes in perhaps the most dramatic fashion yet–though it may feel rather anti-climatic compared to previous seasons that ended with grand closing statements in the court room.

In The Lincoln Lawyer season 4, there are also many people from prior seasons who play an important role in Mickey’s trial. It’s best not to spoil them, because I was truly shocked by one that appeared in the ninth episode, but it reminds of a scene in fellow Netflix show Cobra Kai when Amanda LaRusso, Daniel’s wife, asks Daniel if he has any more ghosts from his past, and he’s like, “I don’t think so….actually, maybe.” Though the Lincoln Lawyer does not have a thousand previous Karate Kid movies to draw characters from, it does have three previous seasons, so watching those is important. The Lincoln Lawyer is based on a book series by Michael Connelly, however, so if you’ve ever read those you may be familiar with what happens in the series (though some plot points are different).

There are plenty of plots in The Lincoln Lawyer season 4–it’s not just about Mickey’s trial. Mickey’s associate, Lorna Crane (Becki Newton), begins gaining some experience as a trial lawyer after having passed the bar, and it’s compelling to watch her arc as she goes from frustrated to excited. She begins the season as Mickey’s co-counsel in his murder trial, but leaves after she realizes she doesn’t have enough experience. She then becomes counsel for a different client, and has a breakthrough in the case that leads to a professional success. It’s exciting to watch her joy at helping others get the justice they deserve.

However, you may be wondering: if Lorna drops out as Mickey’s co-counsel, who replaces her? That would be Maggie McPherson, usually a prosecutor, who also happens to be Mickey’s first ex-wife (it should be mentioned Lorna is Mickey’s second ex-wife, which is quite comical when you realize both his exes are representing him in court). Neve Campbell is always welcome on The Lincoln Lawyer–her chemistry with Manual Garcia-Rulfo is quite kinetic, and her back-and-forth with prosecutor Dana Berg (Constance Zimmer) in Mickey’s trial is a highlight of the season. I have hopes that Maggie and Mickey will reconcile romantically–it seems like their daughter wants it!–so maybe that will become a plot in the fifth season. 

After the events of season four, you’d think Mickey would catch a break and finally have some time to relax–but that seems rather doubtful. In the end, as Mickey grocery shops to make pasta, he catches the attention of a woman, played by the fantastic Cobie Smulders (Smulders has had a busy year between this and Shrinking). As she comes up to him in the parking lot, she tells him to duck, and a gunfight breaks out, with the FBI coming in and shooting someone who was trying to kill Mickey (honestly, how many people are trying to take this man out??? It’s exhausting). He thanks her for saving his life, and then asks who she is—and she says she’s his sister. 

WAIT, WHAT????

This seems like an adaptation from the books–in The Lincoln Lawyer series, Mickey has a brother, Harry Bosch–but Amazon already owns the rights to him as they had a seven-season TV show called Bosch–so now we’ll have…Harriet Blosch? Actually, I don’t know what her name is, but this may be more exciting because Cobie Smulders would be such a welcome addition. 

The Lincoln Lawyer season four is another compelling entry into the series, one that is more reflective on Mickey himself, exploring how he reacts when he’s the one in trouble. Like always, it ends on a cliffhanger and sets up an intriguing premise for season five. I guess while I wait for two more years to see what happens next, I can finally check in to Jurassic World Rebirth and see if the Lincoln Lawyer survived all those dinosaurs.